Breaking news: Aus Tour selection [Merged]

[talksport]

Any where near Team India 1. Murali Karthik What utter trash he bowled in Sydney at the other end when Kumble was bowling with the Tail up.... 2. Parthiv Patel Chances were created and dropped. Some critics would say he single handedly is responsible for India not to win 3. Steve FACKNOR I have said it all. Is he retired yet.

[The Outsider]

Luckily Tauffel is not eligible to umpire in the series.

[The Outsider]

Yuvraj should open at the Boxing Day Test Match The guy deserves a spot after his superb innings at Bangalore. Unfortunately, there is no place in the middle order and all talks about Dravid opening don't make any sense for the simple reason that he does best at number 3. Advantages of opening with Yuvraj : 1. We'll play our seven best batsmen. 2. His superb innings here will be justly rewarded. 3. Gives us an attacking option at the top of the order like Sehwag. 4. He is more comfortable against bounce than lateral movement. 5. A left-right combination at the top of the order. I think it's up to Yuvraj now to step up and take on the challenge. My gut feeling is that he will be given this option in light of Gambhir and Karthik's failures at the top against Pakistan.

[Ram]

It will one hell of a tough choice to make. Personally, I dont think Yuvraj has what it takes to open in a test match. I remember him opening in the Chennai test match against aus in 2004 and the Aussie bowlers were all over him. But he has been a different batsman since, so who knows. .

[kumble_rocks]

Got to agree with OP. Plus the fact that he is willing to open ! I would open with Yuvi or Ganguly who is in a terrific form plus has the experience to open considering the fact that he is still our ODI opener. No point in risking out of form Dravid as a opener. BTW, both Yuvi and Ganguly have opened only once in Test cricket. So not enough statistical data to gauge their prior performance at that slot. I guess it's anybodies guess who would make the better choice. Both are willing to open, in fact Ganguly was willing to open at the Karachi test couple of years ago with his head on the line... I think he would make a better choice considering the form and the mindset he is in ..

[talksport]

No, He has no Opening experience ! Top 3 has to be specialists !!! Three out of Tendulkar,Ganguly,Laxman , Yuvraj should be played..... India needs a Coach now to make tough decisions.

[Cricketics]

i am not sure how Yuvi will go with the new swinging ball.. but yaa there is no harm in trying.. but just for that harm.. we should keep in reserve the specialist opener and that is Aakash Chopra.. in the 16 man squad, Aakash Chopra's name should be their.. in bold text..

[coffee_rules]

Chopra made interesting under-50 scores and since Sehwag was on the other end in '04, the partnerships were 80-100 odd. Without Sehwag, Chopra's partnerships will be of no use. Chopra worked only because of Sehwag. jaffer can't be sehwag. He will score at 50-60 RPO and not at > 70 RP0 in tests, like Sehwag did.

[Cricketics]

u can't associate each of chopra's knock with sehwag.. chopra is a different batsman now days.. he has improved a lot.. he doesn't need a sehwag like batsman along with him everytime.. even a player like jaffer on the other end is good.. he bats his own way and is handy for the team..

[Bumper]

Yuvraj just scored 169 at no. 6. Why should he open ? Why should we lose the BEST and the MOST promising youngster to the new ball, when we know that he does not have the technique to handle it. He is in surreal form at the moment, the sort of form, in which he can crush anything thrown at him. He is one batsman, who deserves to be protected from the new ball. Dravid is struggling at no. 3. Thanks to KKD, Gambhir, he's been a virtual opener thru out the series. Plus he is not scoring the BIG runs he used to. IMO, there is little risk in opening with Dravid. He also seems the best equipped interms of technique to open. The other option would be Sachin, but he will likely not agree & is in better form than Dravid. How retarded do the selectors look, getting ahead of themselves, naming Gambhir & Chopra in the squad, leaving Sehwag out ? They've been exposed by Gambhir & KKD already in this series. I'd take neither of KKD, Gambhir, Chopra to Aus.

[Predator_05]

Playing a middle order batsman out of position is stupid. Yuvraj would never cut it as an opener. Stick with the specialists.

[DesiChap]

Yuvi should NOT open. WE have to open with Jaffer and RD.

[Lurker]

Shwetabh is correct. We got to play Yuvraj and if number 1 slot is the only vacant slot so be it. Also Yuvraj's game might actually stand to gain playing on a pitch with even bounce and fast pace. Plus I am more than sure that Yuvraj can play Tait/Lee/Johnson with comfort. Had there been Mcgrath I would have thought twice but Tait-Lee-Johnson dont scare me, and I am sure Yuvraj wouldnt mind it either. But if that being the case he better be told about it and made to play a few games as an opener in tour starters.

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

Murali wont be picked since not more than 2 spinners would be in the squad. Parthiv was a disaster in '04 but his keeping has improved and I dont thnk he could do any worse than Dinesh Karthik in Bangalore.

[coffee_rules]

Why not Dhoni to open?

[jf1gp_1]

The guy deserves a spot after his superb innings at Bangalore. Unfortunately, there is no place in the middle order and all talks about Dravid opening don't make any sense for the simple reason that he does best at number 3. Advantages of opening with Yuvraj : 1. We'll play our seven best batsmen. 2. His superb innings here will be justly rewarded. 3. Gives us an attacking option at the top of the order like Sehwag. 4. He is more comfortable against bounce than lateral movement. 5. A left-right combination at the top of the order. I think it's up to Yuvraj now to step up and take on the challenge. My gut feeling is that he will be given this option in light of Gambhir and Karthik's failures at the top against Pakistan.

A big NOOOO... lets learn something from VVS as opener and middle order batsman, two different players. Also if you reward Yuvraj for his superb innings they what about Kartik who had a great season. Yes yuvraj can open and if he survives the first 10 overs he could even get a big one but Yuvraj has little or no exp at top of the order and asking him to open in Aus is to much. I would rather go with Sehwag than Yuvraj as opener.

[jf1gp_1]

Why not Dhoni to open?

Open and keep ? noway

[guju24]

Luckily Tauffel is not eligible to umpire in the series.

true...also he is OZ so he cant be in test but he will be there for one day.............

[DesiChap]

1) MK will not be picked in the 16. We will not have more than 2 spinners 2) PP will be a passenger at worst and probably will not be picked 3) Facknor is the only scary part, wonder if the officials have been anounced.

[Dirty_South]

HS and AK will be the spinners No way that PP would be playing in Aus Well only God (no , not Sachin :D) can save us from Facknor