Australia in India

Srinivasan stays....puts his own men is the big event that will have it's impact on Indian and global cricket.
meanwhile Indian squad for the ODIs vs. Aus is announced.

the only noteworthy change is the return of Yuvraj....who will most likely play instead of Dinesh Kaarthik....who should have no complains at being dropped.
he blew so many chances of establishing himself as an India regular......his international career is over  from what I can see.
Yadav is not in the squad...I hope he has not picked an injury....and it's a case of preserving him for test matches.....whihc would be a wise move.
Shami ahmed should be the first choice 3rd seamer in that case


Squad: MS Dhoni (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ambati Rayudu, Mohammed Shami, Jaydev Unadkat

Gambhir failed to impress in the few chances he had in Challangers / A games.....didn't help his cause by returning prematurely from county cricket.

Sehwag's desire to play in middle order exceeds his current abilities and form

These two once very good Indian openers it seems are past the hill.....sehwag by quite a bit.....Gambhir about at the tipping point.... probably has some gas left in the tank to give it one more go.

Probably Youraj deserves the spot. After completing fitness program in France he played brilliantly in A team. Ambati got the chance was fair decision. Yadav was not impressive in CT and further and more or less being preserved for Test matches.

Clarke has pullled out with an injury reportedly....more likely.........it's precatuionary....given his fragile back and Aus fragile batting..tje last thing Aussies would want clarke to pull his back in a low key ODI series just before ashes.

Look at the Aussie squad below...otehr than Watson there is no one really who would be a big loss for ashes should he be injured in the ODI series..

on the otehr hand there are is chance for Nile, Faul
kner, Finch, Henriques, maxwell Voges to impress for possible opening in the test side

Australian ODI squad: George Bailey (Captain), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Callum Ferguson, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin, Moises Henriques, Phil Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, Adam Voges, Shane Watson.

Meanwhile Michael Clarke's bad back means George Bailey will be leading the Australians. Adam Voges also seems to have some injury concerns going into the series, he returned early to Australia from the CLT-20 and hopes to be fit for the India series.

Umesh Yadav being dropped is an interesting call. Don't think there is any major injury concern, its more about his economy rate and the intention to preserve him for test matches. Even there, there is an interesting choice potentially shaping up. Zaheer Khan has returned visibly fitter for the start of the domestic season. If he finds form, then Zaheer has to play. Will the team management then go for Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Yadav as the 2nd seamer in India, the 3 of them have to play in helpful conditions, but in India the'l go with only 2 seamers. Who would that be? Its hard to drop Bhuvi after his decent start to test cricket, and a fit and on form Zaheer is world class, though it remains to be seen whether he'll be able to recapture those heights again. Yadav's pace and ability to reverse the ball later makes him a good option on Indian tracks, Bhuvi hasn't been much of an option for the skipper with the oldish ball so far. An interesting choice shaping up as I said.

Clarke was never going to play lets be honest.

In the India A game against the West Indies A, Zaheer khan has managed 1-43 in 12 overs so far.

Saw a recent photo of Zaheer and, have to say, it looks like he has (finally) realised that he needs to be in shape to consistently perform at the highest level. Good to see that dedication - I thought we had pretty much seen the last of him as a top level bowler, to be honest. Let's hope he can continue for a good few years yet.

Zak finished the day against WI A with figures of 16/5/44/1. The cricinfo match report indicates that there was nothing special in his showing today, but he managed to stay on the park and should see him building up the bowling workload over the newxt few games.

msp83 wrote:Zak finished the day against WI A with figures of 16/5/44/1. The cricinfo match report indicates that there was nothing special in his showing today, but  he managed to stay on the park and should see him building up the bowling workload over the newxt few games.

Zaheer has always worked on the "Diesel Engine" Principle....get's warmed up after running several miles....and when it runs non-stop for long periods...it hit's high efficency.

Tramslated to Zaheer....he has to playa few FC games...to get warmed up...and once in form...he needs no rest or stopping...should go throuhg the season non-stop but without excessive loads

I think that Zaheer Khan is worth keeping in mind, though I wouldn't be making plans around him as if he is the same bowler he was three years ago. On the 2011/12 tour of Australia he still did a reasonable job despite not being at his best, picking up a few wickets with the new ball. That might be the role the Indian selectors are considering him for for the tours of SA (if it goes ahead) and England. I'm not sure he can carry the bowling attack any more.

For the home series Bhuvneshwar and Yadav should surely be the two quicks, accompanied by the three spinners as they successfully were last winter (Ishant was the second quick on that occasion). Yadav showed pretty good signs during the Champions Trophy and looked to be an improved bowler on the quick but erratic model that went to Australia.

There isn't a great amount of quick bowling choice in India, of course, so if they take five seamers to SA and Eng it will probably be Bhuvneshwar, Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer and Shami Ahmed.

Shelsey93 wrote:I think that Zaheer Khan is worth keeping in mind, though I wouldn't be making plans around him as if he is the same bowler he was three years ago. On the 2011/12 tour of Australia he still did a reasonable job despite not being at his best, picking up a few wickets with the new ball. That might be the role the Indian selectors are considering him for for the tours of SA (if it goes ahead) and England. I'm not sure he can carry the bowling attack any more.

For the home series Bhuvneshwar and Yadav should surely be the two quicks, accompanied by the three spinners as they successfully were last winter (Ishant was the second quick on that occasion). Yadav showed pretty good signs during the Champions Trophy and looked to be an improved bowler on the quick but erratic model that went to Australia.

There isn't a great amount of quick bowling choice in India, of course, so if they take five seamers to SA and Eng it will probably be Bhuvneshwar, Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer and Shami Ahmed.

I agree with most things here

Asuming Zaheer is fit and on form, and the proposed tour goes a head, I believe, Zaheer, Bhuvneshwar, Yadav and Ishant will be picked for the squad. The 5th seamer position is still open. Unadkat and Shami I think are the frontrunners, Vinay Kumar has an outside chance, and a good early domestic season might help Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul and perhaps Parwinder Awana to put forward a case for themselves before the selectors.

KPF, Kumar and anyone else interested, Shanky has started an India domestic season thread under the domestic cricket section, please join.

i have been a big nayar fan. he broke into odis and at the peak of his form he was injured.
look at his SR in thus game as well as in the 100 he smashed against nz-a.
he needs to be given a break in odis sooner

No offence msp but I really hope you were drunk when you mentioned Vinay Kumar as a test prospect. I'm gobsmacked that he has even been retained in the ODI squad after his series in Zimbabwe, where he didn't look like threatening a kitten and that was vs Zim. If Vinay Kumar gets anywhere near the test squad, I'll stop watching Test cricket.

Agree in part with Shelsey's post.
Totally agree that Bhuvi and Umesh should be the two seamers for the home series and Zak doesn't just ought to walk back in and displace them. Of course, that may change if Yadav struggles in the Duleep Trophy and Zak does well in whatever FC games he gets before the 1st Test vs WI. But if there were a Test to be played at home tomorrow, Bhuvi and Yadav would be my 2 seamers. Having said that, for the away tours, Zak (if fit) becomes an automatic choice as even at his absolute worst, he's 1000 times better than Ishant Sharma.
I also agree that he can't be expected to carry the attack anymore.

Whilst India's pace bowling stocks aren't exactly earth shattering, they're not as bad as made out to be and not bad enough to keep picking Ishant Sharma, a bowler averaging less than 3 wickets per Test after 51 (yes, 51) Tests even in the squad let alone the starting XI. Having said that, they'll keep picking him.
I also think there are better options than Shami Ahmed. Ishwar Pandey was easily the pick of the bowlers on the A tour to SA in addition to being the leading Wicket taker in the Ranji Trophy last year. I'm a bit perplexed that he's not had even one mention on this thread so far.

Now onto the topic of this thread, the ODI series against Australia, utterly overjoyed to see Yuvi back in the scheme of things. It was always on the cards after his consistent performances for India A in the one dayers vs WI A and the Challenger Trophy. I'd also like to laud the selectors for retaining Rayudu in the squad and getting rid of Karthik. Rayudu played well in Zim in the limited chances he got and played some crucial knocks in the A team tri series in SA against SA A and Aus A. He won't start in the XI in this series with Yuvi back but definitely deserves a place in the squad with a view to replacing Raina in the XI for matches outside the subcontinent.
Karthik has had ample chances to establish himself at international level and has never quite taken any of them. This was his last chance and he completely fizzled away after the CT warmups. The selectors have done the right thing by dropping him. He shouldn't get any more chances IMO and even for the backup keeper slot, Saha, Uthappa and maybe even Samson should be ahead of him.

ShankyCricket wrote:
Karthik has had ample chances to establish himself at international level and has never quite taken any of them. This was his last chance and he completely fizzled away after the CT warmups. The selectors have done the right thing by dropping him. He shouldn't get any more chances IMO and even for the backup keeper slot, Saha, Uthappa and maybe even Samson should be ahead of him.

I am not totally satisfied with your review on Karthik. Just after come back he scored two hundreds in warm up games and a fifty in the league matches. Most of the matches were won before he could pad up. So it was not his mistake. Yup I agree he was not up to the mark in WI but dropping him for just failing in a series does not justify his dropping. He is a fine batsman and can do much better. Regarding Rayadu, I am a big fan of this man. Last time while watching a Ranji match I was just watching his techniques and ability to handle pressure. He is one of the finest.

If Karthik was a newcomer, then yes, he should've probably been given a longer rope. But for someone who's already played over 60 ODIs at a sub standard and a pedestrian SR, I don't think you can afford him more than one bad series purely because you know what you're gonna get and its not a lot. So the WI tri series was the tipping point for him IMO. Even in the CT, he failed on 2 out of the 3 occasions he had a proper chance to make a contribution and failed throughout the 'A' Tri series in SA until the final. I really don't see how we can afford to give any more chances to such a proven failure at international level. If this was his first chance, okay, yes, he should've been given a longer rope to establish him but for someone who's already 67 ODIs (52 ODIs before his recall) with such a mediocre record? Hell no. He shouldn't be anywhere near the India setup. I don't understand why people say he's a good batsman. Yes, he looks reasonably comfortably against the short stuff but can't play anything else. Just a very, very, very ordinary batsman.

ShankyCricket wrote:No offence msp but I really hope you were drunk ;)when you mentioned Vinay Kumar as a test prospect. I'm gobsmacked that he has even been retained in the ODI squad after his series in Zimbabwe, where he didn't look like threatening a kitten and that was vs Zim. If Vinay Kumar gets anywhere near the test squad, I'll stop watching Test cricket.

We are totally in agreement regarding Vinay Kumar as a test bowler Shanky. I was only hinting at a selectorial possibility, would never pick him if I had to. But by retaining him and the ODI squad, I feel the selectors are keeping him the frame for a test consideration, though there are other better options, and even in the selectorial pecking order, he has to be a fair way down.
Agree on Ishwar Pandey, I somehow missed him, but he has to be right up there in the frame, a good start to the domestic season could get him another ticket to South Africa where he has had recent success. In fact he has to be ahead of Shami, Kaul and young Sandeep Sharma. Think he wold be a better option thatn Unadkat as well, but Unadkat has a better chance to make a case for himself as he's there in the ODI squad to play against the Australians.

Vinay Kumar is OK for ODIs.......because he bowls a restrictive stump to stump line....at stock speeds of 130kph......and when there is movement with the new ball......he picks up an odd wicket...and has learnt the art of pace and line change type clever variations when the batsman are going for their shots.

a good restrictive package that fits in the style of dhoni's captaincy.

But all the above i.e restrictive bowling of Vinay or Dhoni's restrictive captaincy doesn't work in tests

Even in ODIs, he may be an okay backup but certainly shouldn't have been picked ahead of Mohit Sharma.

The team is only for first 3 ODIs isn't it? Think the likes of Abhishek Nayar and Mohit Sharma could still come into the frame at the latter stage of the series.

India's top seamers on wicket taking potency:

1) Yadav
2) B. Kumar
3) Zaheer
4) Sami Ahmed
5) Ishant
6) Pandey
7) Mohit sharma
8) Sandeep sharma
9) Vinay Kumar
10) left arm seamer from saurashtra
11) Dinda
12) Kulkarni
13) Irfan...look how low he has fallen
14) opening semaer from UPImtiaz i think
15) Harshad Patel
16) Rishi Dhawan
17) Dinda
18) Parwinder Awaanaa ( him an dinda were much higher last year)

* I am not convinced Ishnat should be so high on this list

*and there is no room or need for Praveen, Munaf, sreesanth

msp83 wrote:The team is only for first 3 ODIs isn't it? Think the likes of Abhishek Nayar and Mohit Sharma could still come into the frame at the latter stage of the series.

Nayar is a decent backup to have for sure but not sure how he'll be in the 15 unless they decide to rest Sir.
Mohit should certainly be in the mix.

In which format, KPF? If you're talking about Tests then Ishant Sharma at No.5 is an extremely worrying sign. If a bowler who averages less than 3 wickets per test is at number 5 and Vinay Kumar is at number 9 then just how bad those ranked below them must be? 1 wicket every 3 Tests? 2 wickets every 15 Tests?

Anyways, my ratings would be (not entirely sure but I'll give it a go)

1. Bhuvi
2. Yadav
3. Zak and PK
4. Pandey (Sandeep is a better long term prospect)
5. Dhawal Kulkarni (not sure)
6. Sandeep Sharma and Mohit
7. Sid Kaul
8. Rahul Shukla (based on pure potential but needs to prove himself over a Fc season)
9. Pawan Suyal
10. Ishant
11. Unadkat
12. Shami
13. Awana
14. Sandeep Warrier
15. Imtiaz Ahmed
16. Rishi Dhawan

Not entirely sure btw. Just off the top of my head.

ShankyCricket wrote:In which format, KPF? If you're talking about Tests then Ishant Sharma at No.5 is an extremely worrying sign. If a bowler who averages less than 3 wickets per test is at number 5

have you heard of a guy called Tim Bresnan...plays for Eng...the not too long back world's top test side and now ranked...number 2.

he is eng's first choice no.3 seamer....averages 3 wkts per test....and less than 3 wkts over 130 odd FC games.

well than ishant at no. 5 ain't too bad. 

should be a cracking odi series this...anybody know if sky are showing it?

Glen Maxwel is in amazing form.......he clobbered India and SA in the very strong A series in SA a month back.

and today I saw him crack sixes at will against Rajsthan in CLT20 final.


I belive the show of Voges, Henriques and Maxwell will bring them in contention....there is atleast one middle order berth form grabs if not two in the ashes lineup

As for the rankings of seamers
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Umesh Yadav
Zaheer Khan (He is among India's very best ever overall, but current fitness and form issues are a concern)
Praveen Kumar
Ishant Sharma (Now this is going to be contentious. I myself am deeply dissatisfied with 'Mr. Potential Sharma', but Pandey and the likes are yet to prove themselves.
Ishwar Pandey
Shami Ahmed
Sandeep Sharma
Mohit Sharma
Siddarth Kaul
Jaidev Unadkat
All of them could be considered for all formats, though there could be relative differences for each of them regarding their effectiveness in different formats, Yadav could be best suited for tests, Unadkat would be more suited to limited overs.
Vinay Kumar could be a handy limited overs backup.
Have to wait and see as to how Varun Aaron's recovery from injury would shape up.
The likes of Sandeep Warrier are very promising, but he hasn't even played one full Ranji season as yet so we have to hold back.
Rishi Dhawan and Irfan Pathan have to make it as all-rounders, bowling alone may not be good enough.
RP Singh and Munaf Patel should only be past players.

i had a close look at Dhawan again today.....he is very well built....fast arm quick action...with a little bit of coaching he can add a yard of pace and then he will be very effective.

this ranji season will be exciting...within the 2nd half of the season last years leads Awaana and Dinda dropped in reckoning.

shami ahemd is the new-comer most ready for all forms of cricket

Sorry KPF, I'm no fan of Bres but comparing him with Ishant is absolutely ludicrous. Just look at their test records.

Rahul Shukla of RR has got decent pace. Not as quick as his Jharkhand teammate Varun Aaron but quick enough and he gets seam movement. Hoping for a good FC season from him

ShankyCricket wrote:Sorry KPF, I'm no fan of Bres but comparing him with Ishant is absolutely ludicrous. Just look at their test records.

they both are going at 3 wkts per test almost.....the diffrence thouhg Bresnan got to play a lot of his 21 tests on green / seaming or bouncy conditions meanwhile Ishant played a most of his 51 tests on flat, patta pitches where spinners do most of their bowling

Ishant's record on those so called green wickets is actually diabolical.
He's better at home, where he's used only in short bursts and can get some reverse with the SG ball.

ShankyCricket wrote:Ishant's record on those so called green wickets is actually diabolical.
He's better at home, where he's used only in short bursts and can get some reverse with the SG ball.

look I am no Ishant fan...and I believe a number of otehr seamers could have and should have been played ahead of him.
when fit Sreesanth and Munaf were ahead of him...in wicket taking potential.

somehow Dhoni choose because of his personal like factor.......ishant over others.

the point I was making he is not the only under performer as country's number 5th seamer........the no.3 from Englnad ain't much better.
that doesn't mean I am a big Ishant fan.

PS* I have also seen thouhg that seamers in India blossom quite late in their careers.
the last two successful ones have been Zaheer....quite medicore in the first half of his career.....improved only in the second half and aven then he stands at 3.3 wkts / test from 88 tests at average 32
ditto Srinath.......pretty sllow barined slow learning medicore......but blossomed quite late and delivered a lot and still was only 3.5 wkts / test and average 31.
I
the great Kapil Paaji also averaged only 3.2 wkts / test.

shant has age, pace and fitness going in his favour. Sreesanth, Munaf, Irfan ; praveen, RPS, Aaron his other contemporarries have not had the fitness or discipline to last 51 tests and look good to play another 50 odd tests.

he has gone throuhg the leraning period and if he was to emulate srinath and Zaheer...he does not have a lot of catching to do.

he could bring his average down to 32 odd over the next 50 tests and take 4 wkts / test...will finish with 350 odd test wickets in 100 tests....not bad for an Indian seamer....better than Zaheer..at par with srinath.

Also shows how low the bar is for seamers in India

Well, I doubt whether Munaf was any good ever since he decided to become a slow medium bowler who's trindles would have made any English county seamer proud. Ishant at his worst could be better, and Munaf didn't know the f of fielding and added no value whatsoever with the bat.
Sreesanth had talent, but he was never really focused on the game, and let the talent waste away, even before he took it all to the next level this year. Don't think the blame can be laid at Dhoni's door for any of that. Ishant was pretty good in the first couple of years of his test career. The likes of RP Singh and Pathan were the other options at that time, then Zaheer had more and more injury troubles and the selectors didn't trust Praveen Kumar to do a job in test cricket, and to be fair, not many did before he made an impact in England in 2011 and then he too was injured or had other issues. And then Zak lost his form and Dhoni was stuck with Ishant as the only seamer with any kind of experience. And in his recent tests he did just enough to earn another chance.

Gambhir scored a ton today against WI A. Now we have to look upon Sehwag. More over two tons for Gambhir this season. Will it lure the selectors?

If I will select my team for the first One-Day at Pune then

1. Shikhar Dhawan
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Virat Kohli
4. Yuvraj Singh
5. Ambati Rayadu
6. M.S. Dhoni(c/wk)
7. Jadeja
8. R. Ashwin
9. B. Kumar
10. Md. Shami
11. Unadkat/Sharma

Though Ishant is not my choice ever but what to do, we don't have option in selection. Vinay..Ummm, looked good in the T-20 but can't trust him.

Vinay could be a better death over bowler than Ishant is, and I would in fact go for Vinay for the first game in place of Ishant. Could slog a bit as well if it comes to that. And if the track would take spin, I'd brin g Mishra as the 3rd spinner ahead of one of the seamers, though with the new regulations, that would be a difficult call. But if there is real spin on offer, I'd go that root.
Shikhar Dhawan
Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandran Ashwin
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
R Vinay Kumar
Jaidev Unadkat/Amit Mishra

The first of the 7 ODIs will be played at Pune tomorrow. The pitch used to be one of the most horrific flat roads in India last season for domestic games. Hopefully it won't be a disgrace for tomorrow.
Cricinfo reports that India are likely to go in with the same side that won the T-20I game, provided R Vinay Kumar is back to full fitness after injuring his left rist. If Vinay isn't 100 %, then Unadkat or Shami are likely to come in. I like Unadkat's left-arm option, and he does look more promising than Ishant Sharma in the end overs as well. So I would go for Unadkat regardless of Vinay's fitness concerns. If Vinay isn't available, then Unadkat has to come in for him, as the team might need Sharma's experience, otherwise bring Jaydev for Ishant.

it will be a match of batting prowesses

KP_fan wrote:it will be a match of batting prowesses

Flat Pune pitch will once again let us enjoy some nice blasting today.

subhranshu.kumar.5 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:it will be a match of batting prowesses

Flat Pune pitch will once again let us enjoy some nice blasting today.

I do hope it does stay nice and won't degrade into horrible blasting where the bowlers are reduced to nothingness.
Australia won the toss and are batting.

Australian team
Hughes
Finch
Watson
Bailey
Voges
Maxwell
Haddin
Faulkner
Johnson
McKay
Doherty.
India team
Dhawan
Rohit Sharma
Kohli
Yuvraj
Raina
Dhoni
Jadeja
Ashwin
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Vinay Kumar
Ishant Sharma.

Australia 3 without loss after 3 overs.