Will Virat Kohli's 5 bowler strategy work?

[Bigg Brother]

Virat has already stated of playing with 5 bowlers and Six batsmen strategy before leaving srilanka giving more responsibility to bowlers.. He wants Ashwin,Bhajji,Bhuvi to contribute with Bat lower down the order. But for me it won't work longer. It is good for the team that Kohli realizes that 5 bowlers for India won't work looking at the fragile batting we have.Rohit Sharma will be our No.3 who is along with Saha a free wicket. Nobody knows When will we be able to see "Vintage"Kohli back in the form.So Indian batting is heavily realiable on openers mainly on Vijay. With this situation 5 bolwers is reciepe of disaster mainly when you have Bhajji,Aaron among them. So,Virat kohli should realize that it's not the quantity but "Quality"matters!!

[swatpulla]

It definitely worked in Bangladesh where we were in a position to end the test match in 3 days. Given that Lankan bowling attack is quite weak and pitches there will be flatter and slower, it is in our best interest to have as much variety in our bowling attack as possible.

[tweaker]

Virat Kohli,theory of 5 bowlers,will work when the wicketkeeper is a good batsman.With Saha as the wicketkeeper,this is notpossible.One of the option may be to use Rahul as wicketkeeper,but he is not a regular keeper for his state also.In this lineup Rohit Sharma is a walking wicket.Kohli should play safe & should go for 4 bowlers only

[Bigg Brother]

It definitely worked in Bangladesh where we were in a position to end the test match in 3 days. Given that Lankan bowling attack is quite weak and pitches there will be flatter and slower, it is in our best interest to have as much variety in our bowling attack as possible.

It worked in Bangladesh because Bangladesh is joke in test cricket.Dhawan who was horribly out of form in tests piled up runs against team who played with one seamer and gave away new ball to part timer seamer Saumya(It was laughable). Even after openers' good start,Rohit failed to score and Kohli and saha couldn't read googly. Bangladesh was forced to follow on-thanks to Ashwin.Bhajji was given free wickets and nobody knows what Ishant did in that test.

[silly_point]

Give some time to new captain and his antics, against quality teams at home and away. Also the combination of bowlers is an issue, with constant injuries and no better benchstrength.

[Bigg Brother]

Give some time to new captain and his antics' date=' against quality teams at home and away. Also the combination of bowlers is an issue, with constant injuries and no better benchstrength.[/quote'] Not denying that but Inclusion of Bhajji at this stage gives idea about how good his antics are.I also hope that 5 bolwers strategy would work.

[maniac]

No it won't....because usually teams that can afford a 5th bowler usually have a capable allrounder to fill in that role. For eg;Watson,Kallis,Matthews,C.Anderson hell even Hafeez...we do not have that Luxury. Playing 5 average bowlers will not make much of a difference and given the fact that we do not have established batsmen at the test level yet in our line up it is a recipe for disaster. SOme say Ashwin will make up the Allrounder spot in tests but even though his batting is pleasing to the eye and he has played some cameos and averages decently,he is still not consistent enough.

[Austin 3:!6]

No it won't....because usually teams that can afford a 5th bowler usually have a capable allrounder to fill in that role. For eg;Watson,Kallis,Matthews,C.Anderson hell even Hafeez...we do not have that Luxury. Playing 5 average bowlers will not make much of a difference and given the fact that we do not have established batsmen at the test level yet in our line up it is a recipe for disaster. SOme say Ashwin will make up the Allrounder spot in tests but even though his batting is pleasing to the eye and he has played some cameos and averages decently,he is still not consistent enough.

Ashwin is a test all rounder.

[swatpulla]

It worked in Bangladesh because Bangladesh is joke in test cricket.Dhawan who was horribly out of form in tests piled up runs against team who played with one seamer and gave away new ball to part timer seamer Saumya(It was laughable). Even after openers' good start,Rohit failed to score and Kohli and saha couldn't read googly. Bangladesh was forced to follow on-thanks to Ashwin.Bhajji was given free wickets and nobody knows what Ishant did in that test.

I disagree. Our biggest concern is the ability to take 20 wickets, for that, we need as many bowling options as possible. By going a batsman short, we can accomodate someone like Aaron, a gamble we can afford given batting friendly Lankan conditions.

[maniac]

I disagree. Our biggest concern is the ability to take 20 wickets' date=' for that, we need as many bowling options as possible. By going a batsman short, we can accomodate someone like Aaron, a gamble we can afford [b']given batting friendly Lankan conditions.

Srilanka have produced some of the most result-oriented pitches in the last few years. The ball swings prodigiously the first 1-2 days there and obviously starts turning square from day 3 onwards...now this is a matter for high concern as Spin and Swing has been our biggest downfall recently. Gone are the days when Pace and Bounce or Short-pitch bowling was what used to own us as our current Generation bar Raina are much better at that but unfortunately their technique against Spin and swing bowling has deteriorated rapidly.

[gattaca]

In subcontinent conditions we will be ok with saha. It is when we tour aboard we might be found with this strategy. So might work for short term. Long term it will be tough. Although I would see dhonis average away from home and compare with saha in upcoming tours.

[MCcricket]

First thing intent, it shows Virat wants to win unlike Dhoni who was there for experience, lol.Saha n Ashwin R proper batsmen n to me all rounder s so better replacement for Jadeja who could not bat in test n same with Dhoni. Most importantly will be a change of strategy n field placements as Dhoni was ultra defensive,a captain has to apply fields based on the Bowler, Dhoni only knew how to play n captain in odi n had only one way of captaining, Ishant should be asked to bowl short spells with intensity, Aaron n Umesh as strike bowlers try to bowl full n extract swing n seam, also reverse with occasional attacking bouncer, Shami can be applied to bowl longer spells n keep control along with Bhuvi, also Shami n Other bowlers need to raise their bowling fitness What India needs most is a left arm pacer with pace n a mystery Bowler like K Yadav or a good leggie,Dhawan m not sure about him in test but Rahul seems good n KJadhav should be given a go ,Kohli might be a very successful captain n he needs to build his team

[Lannister]

Don't we have any better keepers than Saha. I don't trust his batting when we are playing with 5 bowlers.

[rkt.india]

It is not a long term solution. No team can sustain for long playing 5 batsmen, especially, when two of those are Dhawan and Rohit. Pujara is suddenly out of favor who we have seen playing some of the best innings ever played on turning tracks. His 131 at Wankhede against Swann and Panesar and his two innings at FSK against Aus were masterclass. Rohit and Dhawan cant play such innings on tough pitches even in their dreams.

[urbestfriend]

It is definitely a positive sign and will have a positive results in coming days. Ashwin is a test allrounder, and BK should be told to focus on his batting too.. I'd go with three spinners in Lanka, Bhajji, Ashwin and Mishra.

[bihutoli]

The five bowler strategy should make Bhajji, Ashwin and Bhuvi permanent fixtures in the test team. Two additional bowling spots, probably Yadav and Ishant at present given Shami's injury. Once Shami is back, I hope Ishant sits out, but since he's the self declared bowling lead, it probably means Yadav sitting out. Shami is no mug with the bat, and I hope Saha comes through with his batting. It'll really be nice to have a genuine wicket keeper, which we haven't had for ages now. I don't mind the five bowler strategy especially in sub continental conditions. If our top 5 batsmen click, which they should in sub continental conditions, it gives us a better chance to bowl out oppositions, given we don't have any all batsmen who can bowl a bit.

[vishalvirsingh]

if india has to play 5 bowlers than Binny may get a chance as the 5th bowler some times.... Binny is a good batsman and I guess a clever foxy bowler...so if I have to pick a guy between bhuvi and Binny - some times I may pick Binny ( at least where I would wanna the batting to become strong)... for me bhuvi is a bowling all rounder and binny a batting all rounder..

[vishalvirsingh]

I was a big BINNY critic but he has shut me up by his performances.

[tweaker]

Don't we have any better keepers than Saha. I don't trust his batting when we are playing with 5 bowlers.

Selectors are trying new keepers with the A side .First we had Uthappa,Samson in Zimbabwe,Naman Ojha against Australlia A ,now Ankush Bains ,Sheldon Jackson are selected against South Afrika A .

[G_B_]

forget his bowling strategy. his batting form is the issue. India need to play 7 batsman to cover for dud batsman. Play 2 spinners who the bowling load is not too much on the two pacers.