India Squad for CT

The Indian selectors have taken some big calls in naming the champion's trophy squad. Yuvraj Singh, the player of the tournament in India's historic world cup win, is dropped, and as is the struggling but experienced opener Gautam Gambhir. Shikhar Dhawan comes back, and Murali Vijay also gets an opportunity. Cheteshwar Pujara, who hasn't quite recovered from injury is not included, and indications are that the selectors want him to focus on the longer formats for the time being and he'll be leading an A tour to South Africa. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav makes a return after injury, so has Irfan Pathan. R Vinay Kumar's impressive IPL form saw him picked as seam backup. A good show in the IPL has helped Dinesh Karthik as well.
The only real problem I have, is in wasting one spot by picking Rohit Sharma. Now all that one can hope is that Rohit would play one of those mandatory good knock of the year in one of the matches. He's already played one against England, so, the quota for 2013 is almost over.

Squad MS Dhoni (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar.

Yuvraj gone......I have been saying for severela months his reflexes, patience and ability to play long innings is gone...and selectors make a good call there.

Dhawan, Vijay, Karthik and Pathan find their way in.
Pujara is reportedly injured.

All expected.....from my POV it would have been better to have rahane in place of Rohit.
I would have retained sami....ahead of Irfan maybe


India squad for the Champions Trophy
MS Dhoni (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar

In: Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar

Out: Ashok Dinda, Gautam Gambhir, Shami Ahmed, Yuvraj Singh, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane

I had posted an India CT squad topic already. Perhaps the 2 can be merged.

yes mods.... please help merge this into orginal thread of msp

msp83 wrote:I had posted an India CT squad topic already. Perhaps the 2 can be merged.

Do you agree.....with Kaarthik as the reserve WK ?

Think since Karthik can double up as a batting reserve as well, think fair enough. I wouldn't have complained had it been Saha either. Its a global tournament, having a reserve keeper is no bad idea.
The only pick I have problems with is that of Rohit Sharma. Pretty much like England opting for Ravi Bopara for some reasons or no reasons.

msp83 wrote:Think since Karthik can double up as a batting reserve as well, think fair enough. I wouldn't have complained had it been Saha either. Its a global tournament, having a reserve keeper is no bad idea.
The only pick I have problems with is that of Rohit Sharma. Pretty much like England opting for Ravi Bopara for some reasons or no reasons.

I agree Rohit has jumped the queue...Tiwari has scored very well in ODIs, T20s , and A games whenever given a chnace.
Rahe could have been persisted...

the diffrence between Rohit and Ravi is that Rohit is one of the 5 specialist batsmen and will play defnitely....unlike Ravi.

the only choice will be whether to have Jadeja + ashwin + 3 seamers
or Jadeja + 4 seamers
given that 5 batsmen+ Dhoni + jadeja are firm selections

msp83 wrote:I had posted an India CT squad topic already. Perhaps the 2 can be merged.

There we go.

KPF, I think Ashwin will be the first choice spinner. Think it could be a call between Jadeja and Irfan for the all-rounder spot. Bhuvneshwar should certainly start, and I think so should Umesh. Not too convinced about Ishant Sharma though. I would prefer a lineup of
Murali Vijay
Shikhar Dhawan
Virat Kohli
Dinesh Karthik(no point in wasting the position, DK is a decent fielder as well)
Suresh Raina
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Ravindra Jadeja
Irfan Pathan
Ravichandran Ashwin
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Umesh Yadav. With both Jadeja and Irfan playing, and and with Ashwin and Bhuvi also in the lineup, they bat down to 10, and there are different bowling options as well, A fast bowler who really can bowl fast, a right-arm seamer who's strength is the ability to move the ball in the air and off the track, a left-arm seamer who on his day can get the ball to swing around, an experienced offspinner, and a solid, restrictive left-arm spinner.
Ishant doesn't add anything in the field, he can't slog either, and his bowling isn't really special in terms of actual output. Should be nothing more than a decent backup option.

I'd have Vinay over Irfan.

msp83 wrote:KPF, I think Ashwin will be the first choice spinner. Think it could be a call between Jadeja and Irfan for the all-rounder spot. Bhuvneshwar should certainly start, and I think so should Umesh. Not too convinced about Ishant Sharma though. I would prefer a lineup of
Murali Vijay
Shikhar Dhawan
Virat Kohli
Dinesh Karthik(no point in wasting the position, DK is a decent fielder as well)
Suresh Raina
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Ravindra Jadeja
Irfan Pathan
Ravichandran Ashwin
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Umesh Yadav. With both Jadeja and Irfan playing, and and with Ashwin and Bhuvi also in the lineup, they bat down to 10, and there are different bowling options as well, A fast bowler who really can bowl fast, a right-arm seamer who's strength is the ability to move the ball in the air and off the track, a left-arm seamer who on his day can get the ball to swing around, an experienced offspinner, and a solid, restrictive left-arm spinner.
Ishant doesn't add anything in the field, he can't slog either, and his bowling isn't really special in terms of actual output. Should be nothing more than a decent backup option.

Strange you complain about Rohit's ODI record and pick Karthik over him, who has a worse record. I like Karthik though, would open with him, no Vijay.

I can't understand why Vijay has been selected unless India have picked a squad that will be likely for the SA Test series.

Shanky, I am not particularly impressed about DK, but I think anyday, he's better than Rohit Sharma. DK always played in MSD's shadows, played his early ODIs as a wicketkeeper batsman, and didn't quite get a consistent run in the side, always came in either when MS rested, or as injury replacements for someone or the other, and no one waxed lyrical about those graceful edges or Bradman like performances in the nets in his case. And no Rahul Dravid like player was insulted to protect him from bouncy and challenging pitches in South Africa.
Come to think of it, even I am not too convinced about Vijay at the top. Ideally, I would have liked Pujara to come in there, and Ajinkya Rahane at 4 ahead of either Karthik or Sharma. But Rahane isn't picked, as is the case with Pujara. Vijay performed for India against Australia, and had a decent List A season as well. If he adopts the tightened approach that he used against Australia in the tests, that could help the side navigate the early nippy conditions better. So fair enough with the call.
As for Vinay vs Irfan, I feel there is not a great deal of difference in their bowling qualities. If anything, Irfan is far more experienced, and before his injury, he had done well in that all-rounder role. With the bat, Irfan is pretty much the better package, although Vinay too is capable of some good hits. So, with No Yuvraj, and all the doubts about the batting lineup regardless of who all among Vijay, Dhawan, Karthik and Sharma play, I think Irfan's batting abilities are to be used.

--The team has been selected on form.....whihc does not mean only IPL...but pefromances against Aus have also been considred....whihc means Vijay and Dhawan.
But some have been selected on the dazzling display in IPL like Mishra and Karthik

--Inning building capability has been factored as 50 overs and in seaming conditions will require the ability to get set and build an inning playing upto 120 odd deliveries.....hence Vijay and Dhwan are in.

--Rohit sharma is the only one short-circuited as probably the one veto seat for the influential captain...else rahane and Tiwary were the first amongst equals for that slot.

--Vinay Kumar is bowling much, much better than Irfan this IPL.....a yard of pace more.....much superior control......compared to Irfan who has just recovered from injury.

KPF, Tiwary is still injured, and that should explain him not being picked.

The same Rahane who has an inferior ODI record to Rohit, of course.

msp83 wrote:Shanky, I am not particularly impressed about DK, but I think anyday, he's better than Rohit Sharma. DK always played in MSD's shadows, played his early ODIs as a wicketkeeper batsman, and didn't quite get a consistent run in the side, always came in either when MS rested, or as injury replacements for someone or the other, and no one waxed lyrical about those graceful edges or Bradman like performances in the nets in his case. And no Rahul Dravid like player was insulted to protect him from bouncy and challenging pitches in South Africa.
Come to think of it, even I am not too convinced about Vijay at the top. Ideally, I would have liked Pujara to come in there, and Ajinkya Rahane at 4 ahead of either Karthik or Sharma. But Rahane isn't picked, as is the case with Pujara. Vijay performed for India against Australia, and had a decent List A season as well. If he adopts the tightened approach that he used against Australia in the tests, that could help the side navigate the early nippy conditions better. So fair enough with the call.
As for Vinay vs Irfan, I feel there is not a great deal of difference in their bowling qualities. If anything, Irfan is far more experienced, and before his injury, he had done well in that all-rounder role. With the bat, Irfan is pretty much the better package, although Vinay too is capable of some good hits. So, with No Yuvraj, and all the doubts about the batting lineup regardless of who all among Vijay, Dhawan, Karthik and Sharma play, I think Irfan's batting abilities are to be used.

Except for the fact that there is.

Also harsh to lump Dhawan together with Vijay, Rohit and Karthik (even though he is unproven, I have far more confidence in him for sure).

ShankyCricket wrote:The same Rahane who has an inferior ODI record to Rohit, of course.

records from such a macroscopilevel mean little.

Rahane has barely gotten 15 odd odis spred over 2 years.
Selectors have been guilty of dropping him and also Tiwary....even after good shows......putting them on the warm bench.

Rohit has played 90 ODIs
that's a whopping number for someoen as a specialist batsman plying in the top half and also opening at time to average barely 30.

That's almost the same amount of ODis as gavaskar who inpsite of being labelled a Bad ODI player...in an ear when averages were almost 10 runs less....averaged 35+

Rohit and Ishant are living life of grace and charity..

Dinesh Karthik has scored hundreds in both warm-up games. Hopefully that will be good enough to save India from the threat of Rohit Sharma playing!. But the poor returns from Vijay and Dhawan is a bit of a concern.

The bowlers went for quite a fiew in the first warm-up game against the Lankans, but hundreds from Kohli and Karthik made it possible for India to chase down a huge total. They had a top order collapse in the 2nd game against Australia, but Karthik with 146 and the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 91 helped them score above 300 again, and the Australian batsmen struggled big time against the pace of Umesh Yadav and eventually folded for only 65.
So the Indians have had a couple of excellent practice games and they should be good to go when the tournament comes around.

Ishant Sharma has been among the wickets. Irfan or Vinay couldn't do much in these practice games. So Sharma might start ahead of them.
Vijay
Dhawan
Kohli
Karthik
Raina
Dhoni
Jadeja
Ashwin
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Yadav
Ishant.

Pujara should've in the squad ahead of Vijay

Vijay's only ever batted well in India.

He's technically poor.

Pujara should be opening, he technical ability is probably the best of all the new generation Indian batsmen