What would be your Indian test squad to face Australia?

[Cricketics]

1 hour ago, SecondSlip said:

Parthiv averaged 65 with the bat in the test series against England + Just scored a match winning century in the ranji trophy final against Mumbai. 

Has done nothing wrong to be dropped for that tailender Saha who has a career test batting average less than Mushfiqur Rahim

You are right, but with Rahul and Vijay playing as openers, Parthiv batting down the order might not be as good. Batting down the order is working good for us with Ashwin, Jayant and Jadeja also scoring heavy runs in test. 

 

So unless one of the openers is injured where Parthiv could be played since he has scored runs there as opener for us, him coming down perhaps won't be a good idea. In fact, there is not much difference left then between Saha and Parthiv as i must say Saha isn't an outstanding batsman compared to Parthiv but since he has worked for us recently, I might just stick to Saha.

 

Other option actually is to see Rishab Pant against Bangladesh too. 

[Trichromatic]

4 hours ago, express bowling said:

 

Jayant Yadav scored a century on a tough pitch in the last test he played.

 

Kohli is almost sure to play 5 bowlers.

 

Don't see Jayant dropped  if fit.

Then why drop Rahane who is our 2nd best batsman overall.

 

 

[Tibarn]

I would like to play Nair in the next match, even if we have to drop Jayant or Umesh. I think the Aussies are much worse versus spin than England, barring Smith, so we can run through their batting order easier, and we can pile up more runs with Nair in place of a fifth bowler. I also think Saha should get his place in the team again, but he needs to improve his keeping or we need to start grooming a new keeper during the next Bangladesh/Sri Lanka series. 

[cowboysfan]

Saga is a good WK but not great by any means, so the question is can we swallow Pappus mistakes for his batting? I would like to see him in Pune.if he makes top many mistakes then we can go back to Saha.

[cowboysfan]

13 hours ago, mancalledsting said:

Starting XI:

 

Vijay 

KL Rahul

Chepu

Kohli

K Nair

Pappu (wk)

Ashwin

Jayant

Jadeja 

Shami

Yadav

 

Reserves:

 

Rohit

Ishant

Rahane

Pandya

They are not playing 4 bowlers.either Nair or Rahane is going to get dropped and I vote for Rahane because we need him against Starc and Hazlewood.

[Trichromatic]

1 hour ago, cowboysfan said:

They are not playing 4 bowlers.either Nair or Rahane is going to get dropped and I vote for Rahane because we need him against Starc and Hazlewood.

Then in that case Nair would become unluckiest player to be dropped after scoring triple ton.

[express bowling]

6 hours ago, Trichromatic said:

Then why drop Rahane who is our 2nd best batsman overall.

 

I am almost sure that only 3 middle-order batters are going to play.

 

Kohli and Pujara are sure.

 

Who would you choose among Nair and Rahane given that we are playing in India and Nair scored 300 last match  ?

[sourab10forever]

Same squad. I would bring in Saha that's it. The team management can decide Rahane v Nair and Saha v Parthiv

Playing XI

 

Rahul

Vijay

VK

CP

Rahane/Nair

Parthiv/Saha

Ash

Jayant

Jadeja

Shami

Umesh

 

Ishanth

Bhuvi

Rahane/Nair

Parthiv/Saha

 

Not much to debate about except those two. Will get interesting if we have injuries.

 

Any batsmen gets injured then Rohit into the squad.

[express bowling]

Our test team composition of 5 batters + 3 spinners / all-rounders + 2 pacers + 1 wicket-keeper has been working really well in India and we should not change it by any means to incorporate individual players.

 

Team and team composition are more important than individuals.

[Trichromatic]

24 minutes ago, express bowling said:

I am almost sure that only 3 middle-order batters are going to play.

 

Kohli and Pujara are sure.

 

Who would you choose among Nair and Rahane given that we are playing in India and Nair scored 300 last match  ?

Rahane is vice captain and 2nd best batsman of this team. Nair will have to sit out.

[express bowling]

2 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

Rahane is vice captain and 2nd best batsman of this team. Nair will have to sit out.

We will see what happens....but thinking from the point of view of the team and considering current form,  Nair would be a better choice just for the next 2 test matches....it might all change after that.

 

Team is more important than individuals.

[Muloghonto]

XI:

 

Murali

Rahul 
Pujara

Kohli (capt)

Nair

Ashwin

Saha (keeper)

Jayant

Jadeja

Shami

Ishant

 

+4 :

 

Tare (backup keeper)

Bhuvi/Siraj (backup pacer)

Kuldeep Yadav/Shahbaz Nadeem (backup spinner)

Rahane (backup batsman)

 

 

[cowboysfan]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

We will see what happens....but thinking from the point of view of the team and considering current form,  Nair would be a better choice just for the next 2 test matches....it might all change after that.

 

Team is more important than individuals.

Nair is not as good as Rahane,thats a simple fact.I would play both against Bangladeshs though.

[Muloghonto]

1 hour ago, Trichromatic said:

Rahane is vice captain and 2nd best batsman of this team. Nair will have to sit out.

It doesn't matter if you are captain or vice captain, you CANNOT leave out a guy who scored a triple century on debut, against a team that is a top-4 team, with 2 bowlers in top 10 rankings and another 2 in top 25.

That is pretty much sending the worst possible message ever to up and comers : that we will not reward performance, even of the highest level possible. 

 

Rahane should sit. 

[Trichromatic]

18 minutes ago, Muloghonto said:

It doesn't matter if you are captain or vice captain, you CANNOT leave out a guy who scored a triple century on debut, against a team that is a top-4 team, with 2 bowlers in top 10 rankings and another 2 in top 25.

That is pretty much sending the worst possible message ever to up and comers : that we will not reward performance, even of the highest level possible. 

 

Rahane should sit. 

Same can be argued for other batsman also. Consistent performer for the team for last 3 years. 3 consecutive series with averages of 53 (with toughest pitches),121 and 69. After that one poor series, injury and you're out of the team. What message will team management send to the player?

[Cricketics]

26 minutes ago, Muloghonto said:

It doesn't matter if you are captain or vice captain, you CANNOT leave out a guy who scored a triple century on debut, against a team that is a top-4 team, with 2 bowlers in top 10 rankings and another 2 in top 25.

That was his 3rd test and not debut. 

 

I would play Karun against Bangladesh and rest Rahane there and see what Karun does. If he scores again, Karun plays first test against Aus, or then Rahane comes back. 

[Muloghonto]

9 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

Same can be argued for other batsman also. Consistent performer for the team for last 3 years. 3 consecutive series with averages of 53 (with toughest pitches),121 and 69. After that one poor series, injury and you're out of the team. What message will team management send to the player?

The message would be ' It sucks, but you got replaced by the guy who scored a triple century against the #4 team, with 4 bowlers in the top 25'.

Which is an acceptable scenario. Nobody is saying that Rahane is gone for good. But Rahane has to sit for now and the future of #5 slot is now on Nair's bat- meaning, IF Nair messes up, then Rahane has an inside line to the team. But no matter what, you simply can't bench someone who just scored a triple in his debut series.

 

[Muloghonto]

7 minutes ago, Cricketics said:

That was his 3rd test and not debut. 

 

I would play Karun against Bangladesh and rest Rahane there and see what Karun does. If he scores again, Karun plays first test against Aus, or then Rahane comes back. 

Sorry i meant debut series.

 

Meh, Bangladesh is not a good indicator either way. IMO, Karun should be given another 2-3 tests. India typically announces squads for first two test, then the last few tests. In the first two vs AUS, it should be Nair. That is 2-4 chances against a quality attack. If he gets exposed,fine back to Rahane it is. But you can't just drop a triple centurion on his debut series after 1 mess-up.

 

[Trichromatic]

1 minute ago, Muloghonto said:

The message would be ' It sucks, but you got replaced by the guy who scored a triple century against the #4 team, with 4 bowlers in the top 25'.

Which is an acceptable scenario. Nobody is saying that Rahane is gone for good. But Rahane has to sit for now and the future of #5 slot is now on Nair's bat- meaning, IF Nair messes up, then Rahane has an inside line to the team. But no matter what, you simply can't bench someone who just scored a triple in his debut series.

 

Say Nair doesn't mess up, and remain a consistent 42-45 averaging batsman. In that case will Rahane be gone for good, even though he is only batsman who averages 50 away from home?

 

At point will Rahane be able to get back into the team without Nair's failure?

[Muloghonto]

3 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

Say Nair doesn't mess up, and remain a consistent 42-45 averaging batsman. In that case will Rahane be gone for good, even though he is only batsman who averages 50 away from home?

 

At point will Rahane be able to get back into the team without Nair's failure?

IMO, for Nair to get down to 42-45 average soon, he'd have to have a string of low scores. He currently averages 160 from 2 dismissals. For him to get to 42-45 average, he'd have to pretty much score 40 runs or less in the next six dismissals. Which would be a good time to get Rahane back.

If he 'eventually plateaus out' at 42-45 average, it'd probably mean he'd go a slow progression downwards, with something like averaging 50+ after 20 dismissals, 45+ after 30, etc. And yes, then too would be a good time to drop him.

 

Realistically, if Karun does well enough to stick his claim, India will either play Rahane when it goes for six batsmen option or he will get in via injury.

He also has a century at #3 and seems to have a technique to handle it. Given that Pujara is a proven dummy overseas, another possible avenue would be to drop Pujara if he fails in the upcoming overseas tours and slot in Rahane at 3