Which one of these batsman should miss the First Test?

[riya]

Sehwag ,based on his current form .Let him do some batting practises in the Aussie conditions.I would love to vote Jaffer too .But can't drop for the current form sake . But i doubt he can carry on his flat track performances to the Aussie land .

[Guest HariSampath]

Or....lets sit out Kumble, Sachin, Zaheer, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Ganguly, RP, etc....and let Chetan Chauhan, Dr MV Sridhar, and Sharad Pawar play the boxing day test

[Guest HariSampath]

and Laloo Prasad ...for declaring India winners irrespective of who scores how many runs..

[coffee_rules]

A lot depends on the tour game (20-22). If Sehwag shows some semblence of form, he will be played instead of Kartik. Yuvraj would sit out the first test anyway. No way would they experient Dravid to open as that is the only way Yuvraj can play in a test, if all are not injured. Voted for Yuvraj. He is the future, why play him in the present?

[Ram]

Wow, this must be one of the closest polls in on the board in a long time. Both Yuvraj and Sehwag are neck and neck. And actually, this is a good sign for Indian cricket, we now have more players than we can accommodate.

[fineleg]

and Laloo Prasad ...for declaring India winners irrespective of who scores how many runs..

Hehe...did LPY actually say this?

[Anakin]

A lot depends on the tour game (20-22). If Sehwag shows some semblence of form, he will be played instead of Kartik. Yuvraj would sit out the first test anyway. No way would they experient Dravid to open as that is the only way Yuvraj can play in a test, if all are not injured. Voted for Yuvraj. He is the future, why play him in the present?

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[bharat297]

Wow, this must be one of the closest polls in on the board in a long time. Both Yuvraj and Sehwag are neck and neck. And actually, this is a good sign for Indian cricket, we now have more players than we can accommodate.

However the issue is ... are any of them reliable?

[Shehezaada]

don't think so hari...if lacchu is injured, then it's a straight swap for yuvraj...if he's fit ,India plays Virender Sehwag Wasim Jaffer Rahul Dravid Sachin Tendulkar Saurav Ganguly VVS Laxman Mahendra Singh Dhoni Anil Kumble Zaheer Khan Ishant Sharma RP Singh

[Ram]

However the issue is ... are any of them reliable?

Yes, that is a sepate issue. But I dont recollect many instances in the past when we had to debate so fiercely on who has to be picked. That so many places ( opener, middle-oder batsman, pacer) are open in our side despite us doing so well means things are going in the right direction for us.

[fineleg]

mm, wake up :D we are debating becos we dont have excellent opening pair with a settled look. not a particularly good thing :D middle order is looking good :thumbs_up:

[Ram]

:D Karthik's place is gone, even though he top-scored one series ago. Yuvraj scored a 100 in the last match he played, he is still not a certainty. Ishant Sharma took a 5-for the last time he bowled, he too may not play. The message from the Indian team is clear - Perform consistently, or perish. :two_thumbs_up:

[Desi Cartman]

I wish we had the same issue in the bowling department !

[bharat297]

Yeah ... in the bowling department ... I am leaning towards Pankaj because he can swing the ball away.

[Guest HariSampath]

If anyone wants to get an indication of 11 for boxing day, just see all the statements of Kumble "Sehwag will be key player" "Challenge how to accomodate Yuvi" "aggressive approach to win down under" "batsmen hold the key, if we have runs on the board, we can take 20 wkts" To me, this means both Sehwag and Yuvraj are certain choices, meaning only one solution: Dravid or Laxman out. Between Dravid and Laxman, it is a question of whose "current claim" as related to previous test performance of Dravid and Laxman or claim over last few tests performances is the decision factor. If it is the former, Dravid plays or if it is the second factor, Laxman plays

[fineleg]

If AK resorts to this "Sehwag should play", then Laxman will be "recovering from injury" at MCG and will sit out.

[Guest HariSampath]

If AK resorts to this "Sehwag should play"' date=' then [b']Laxman will be "recovering from injury" at MCG and will sit out.

Or Dravid can always sprain a hamstring in the nets :D

[Guest HariSampath]

btw....has Sachin "recovered" fully from that injury ?? maybe we have an easy solution if Sachin doesn't want to risk his knee :D

[fineleg]

Lot of "recovering from niggle/injury options" :P

[SachDan]

Btw ... I was being sarcastic, and I hope you are too in you're reply, otherwise thats a bit odd. In any case, I can't think of anything stupider than to drop Sachin at this stage. His current form in both forms of the game is ... better than Yuvraj's. Yuvraj did well in the opportunity given to him, but Tendulkar has ... * Form * Experience * Technique * Past Success against Australia * Past Success in Australia * Superb career record all going his way. Australia know how important Tendulkar is to our chances this series and that is why their mantra this series (as has been publicly revealed) is "Operation: Get Tendulkar". Leaving Tendulkar out will be doing Australia a big favour.

Bharat, you have described how important Sachin will be for us in Australia...:two_thumbs_up: