Curious case of Mohali: selection conundrum?

[_ramkumar]

Mohali is considered to be the most seamer friendly wicket in India. The pitch has a reputation for being lively and supporting pace bowlers, however in recent days it has slowed down and assists spinners as well. Last three Ranji matches held in Mohali were    

                                                                                           RESULT

1. Delhi v Odisha at Mohali, Oct 27-30, 2016                 drawn     no standout performance with the ball
2. Punjab v Gujarat at Mohali, Oct 15-18, 2015            drawn       S Ladda 5/133, R Bhatt 8/155
3. Punjab v Railways at Mohali, Oct 1-4, 2015             PB won     B Sran   6/61, V Khanna 8/97

 

• Pace vs Spin

                                Pace           Spin         Total

Delhi vs Odisha            11              14           26                    

Punjab vs Gujarat          3              18            24                    

Punjab vs Railways       12             11            25

Total                           26             43            75

• Day wise breakdown of wickets

Usually Day 1&2 are considered to be pace friendly and Day 3&4 Spin friendly but data show the pitch is spin friendly but data here shows inconsistency

        Bowling         Day 1    Day 2     Day 3   Day 4   Total

• Pace            5           4          13         4         26  
• Spin             8           13         10        12        43

         Total           15           18         24        18        75

with the inclusion of Bhuvi there is a selection conundrum now.

Should we play 3 pacers or 3 spinners?

Should we stick to the winning combination?

Hardik or Bhuvi or Jayant? Which All rounder to play?

Has Umesh and Jaddu done enough to retain their spot?

Please discuss below.

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by laaloo
incomplete post.

[Malcolm Merlyn]

Extremely good OP.

 

@_ramkumar

 

Please introduce yourself in the intro thread.

[Malcolm Merlyn]

@rkt.india

@express bowling

@vishalvirsingh

@Rightarmfast

[Cricketics]

Good post Ramkumar.

Yes, it is early in the season and Mohalinmight not offer as muc assistance for pace bowlers as it would in January or Feb. Just my gut feeling.

 

I would go with 2-3 combo like Vizag test. 

 

In fact, play the same team. 

[Cricketics]

1 minute ago, _ramkumar said:

I am from Tamil Nadu. Currently an engineering student at NIT Jalandhar.

 

 check that thread out and you can share how you were able to locate us etc

[Laaloo]

Wow nicely done and impressive poll. I edited to make it public. Just wanted to see all dhoni fans saying no for umesh yadav lol

[MechEng]

Cook is slowly coming back to his best, should try bringing in Unlucky Sharma instead of Bhuvi? Cook is his bunny.

[MechEng]

Btw, this is the most neat and well presented OP I have seen in a long time.

[Malcolm Merlyn]

I feel the pitch will be like the one we got for last SA test.

[jalebi_bhai]

Vijay

Rahul

Pujara

Kohli

Rahane

Ashwin

Saha

Pandya

Jaddu

Bhuvi

Shami/Umesh

 

Pandya to debut. Shami plays if fit. 

[_ramkumar]

5 minutes ago, Malcolm Merlyn said:

I feel the pitch will be like the one we got for last SA test.

But if the pitch is pacer friendly we can experiment with hardik as the third pacer, if its like the last SA test pitch  hardik won't get a chance this series.

[bowl_out]

Remove Jaddu. Get Bhuvi in..

Go with three pacers (Shami, Bhuvi, Umesh) and 2 spinners... 

 

Replacing Umesh with Pandya is an option they can consider, given that the third pacer will be under-used.. Pandya can add some more strength to the lower order batting.

 

Vijay 

KL

Pujara

Kohli

Rahane

Ashwin

Saha

Jayant

Pandya / Umesh

Bhuvi

Shami

[jalebi_bhai]

9 minutes ago, bowl_out said:

Remove Jaddu. Get Bhuvi in..

Go with three pacers (Shami, Bhuvi, Umesh) and 2 spinners... 

 

Replacing Umesh with Pandya is an option they can consider, given that the third pacer will be under-used.. Pandya can add some more strength to the lower order batting.

 

Vijay 

KL

Pujara

Kohli

Rahane

Ashwin

Saha

Jayant

Pandya / Umesh

Bhuvi

Shami

Don't you think two offies make the spin attack a bit too one-dimensional?

Edited November 22, 2016 by jalebi_bhai

[G_B_]

what an op.....

[express bowling]

1)  Test match pitches are not necessarily similar to domestic match pitches in the same venue.  We are seeing this often in India too.

 

2)  Mohali has helped spinners more than seamers in the last 2 test matches. Here is a complete list of test matches played in Mohali.  It has been a ground which has favoured the Indian team mostly, after the debut match in 1994.  We have won 6, lost 1 and drawn 5 matches there.

 

 

Match result list

Winner	Result	Margin		Match	Start Date
West Indies	won	243 runs		India v West Indies	10 Dec 1994	Test # 1278
	draw	-		India v Sri Lanka	19 Nov 1997	Test # 1385
	draw	-		India v New Zealand	10 Oct 1999	Test # 1462
India	won	10 wickets		India v England	3 Dec 2001	Test # 1574
	draw	-		India v New Zealand	16 Oct 2003	Test # 1662
	draw	-		India v Pakistan	8 Mar 2005	Test # 1738
India	won	9 wickets		India v England	9 Mar 2006	Test # 1788
India	won	320 runs		India v Australia	17 Oct 2008	Test # 1889
	draw	-		India v England	19 Dec 2008	Test # 1901
India	won	1 wickets		India v Australia	1 Oct 2010	Test # 1972
India	won	6 wickets		India v Australia	14 Mar 2013	Test # 2081
India	won	108 runs		India v South Africa	5 Nov 2015	Test # 2186

 

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/ground/57991.html?class=1;template=results;type=aggregate;view=results

 

3)  I will want a clear idea abouut the pitch before choosing my 11.

 

4) If it is a standard Indian pitch,  like last time we played in Mohali, then we should play 3 spinners and 2 seamers.   The rest of the team would be same as last match ...only choice is between Umesh and Bhuvi and I am undecided on this issue as of today.

 

5)  If it is a seamer friendly track...which I don't expect..then i will play 3 seamers and 2 spinners.

 

Bowlers would be Shami, Bhuvi. Pandya, Ashwin and  Jadeja.  ....Pandya playing as the 5th bowler / batting all-rounder.

Edited November 22, 2016 by express bowling

[Laaloo]

26 minutes ago, G_B_ said:

what an op.....

I'm just impressed by the poll options lol. never knew we could do three different polls

[Malcolm Merlyn]

26 minutes ago, laaloo said:

I'm just impressed by the poll options lol. never knew we could do three different polls

 

Tu kab se MOD hai?

[Laaloo]

1 minute ago, Malcolm Merlyn said:

 

Tu kab se MOD hai?

I'm a MOD?

[Malcolm Merlyn]

1 minute ago, laaloo said:

I'm a MOD?

 

BC nautanki mat kar.

[Samcric]

4 bowlers pick themselves irrespective of the pitch: 2 spinners and 2 pacers. So my two cents on these 4 first choice bowlers are:

1st Spinner: Ashwin

2nd Spinner: Jadeja. There could be an argument for JY given his performance in last test. However, Jadeja has proven himself over time and we need to see JY prove himself over Jadeja in at least 2-3 matches before being the automatic second spinner. Also, Butler and Woakes (2 right-handers) are likely to replace Duckett and Broad (2 left-handers) thus making a left-arm spinner more useful than an off-spinner given that you have Ashwin in the team as well.

1st Seamer: Shami

2nd Seamer: Bhuvi. Yes, Yadav produced that Bairstow wicket but mostly, he lacked control and provided a release ball to the batsman just when pressure was building up. Also, in the 3 matches Bhuvi has played in 2016, his stats are extra-ordinary even if you consider that pitches were helpful. 3 matches, 12 wickets at an average of 11.25, economy rate of 1.96 and strike rate of 34. The perceived notion that Umesh's pace and reverse swing has cause more trouble than Bhuvi's control and swing needs to be put to test. Can you imagine South Africa not playing Philander on slightly less helpful conditions for someone more pacy?

 

For the Fifth bowler choice, two scenarios arise:

Spin-friendly wicket: Choice should be Jayant Yadav. Don't think we need to debate this much.

Pace-friendly wicket: Here, it gets a bit tricky. At this stage, Yadav is definitely a wiser choice as a bowler than an unknown entity like Pandya. But the problem with playing Umesh is that the batting order from No.7 down looks something like this:

 

Saha (given his current form)

Jadeja (can never be assured of Jaddu the batsman)

Bhuvi (hasn't played an innings of note after the 2014 England tour where he scored 3 fifties)

Umesh

Shami

 

Looks like a very long tail and India may not be able to add more runs after being 5 wickets down. This will probably clinch it for Pandya. But it will not be an easy decision for Kumble and Kohli.

 

So, it seems apart from the home team advantage, team-selection will also be easier and more straight-forward if it is a turner!