India's Test Side in 3 Years

We are having a lot of England, let me try something different. Looking at India’s test team in 3 years, with a cut off age of 35.

Of course taking a call on such an issue is a very difficult one, and involves lots of wild speculation, as form, fitness and other things are key determinants on which long-term predictions are difficult.

My XI

Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Cheteshwar Pujara
Virat Kohli
Ajinkya Rahane
S Badrinath
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Piyush Chawla
Ravichandran Ashwin
Abhimanyu Mithun
Ishant Sharma

My side:

1) Murali Vijay (I feel Sehwag will be retired in 3 years time)
2) Gautam Gambhir
3) Cheteshwar Puraja
4) Virat Kohli
5) Yuvraj Singh
6) Suresh Raina
7) MS Dhoni (C,W-K)
8) Pragyan Ojha
9) Ravichandran Ashwin
10) Ashok Dinda
11) Ishant Sharma

Liam, Sehwag is only 32, he has a few more years to go. Murali Vijay isn't a bad call though, ones Sehwag goes.
Don't see Yuvraj as a longterm test success. It does seem Yuvraj has turned a corner in his career with regard to the approach and attitude towards the game, but alongside those concerns, Yuvraj has major technical issues that creates troubles for him as a test cricketer. He has serious problems playing the turning ball with close in fielders, and has his fair share of issues with the moving ball. At times he can just withstand everything that comes his way, but those occasions are few and far in between. and he isn't getting any young either.

Raina too has his issues with the batting technique. even in ODIs, he has issues with the short stuff. but then we always has a Ganguly to talk about, and Raina is young enough to sourte his game out. But I believe Rahane's FC average close to 70 than 60 after playing more than 40 matches promisses a lot.

Raina, Mukund(whom we should hopefully see in acction in the WI soon), even Rohit Sharma, can be alternatives to Badrinath, who's age may work against him in the end.

I see Amit Mishra, and not Ojha more capable of wicket taking, and Chawla is young and is already experienced. he can also bat a bit.

Among the pacers, I do believe Ishant Sharma is India's best bet. he has been showing signs of improvement, and on song, he's only 2nd to Zak, ask Ricky P!. Again, he's young.

1)Virender Sehwag
2)Murali Vijay
3)Gautam Gambhir
4)Virat Kohli
5)Suresh Raina
6)Chetwar Pujara
7)M.S.Dhoni
8)Piyush Chawla
9)Ishant Sharma
10)Pragyan Ojha
11)Sreesanth

There are 100s of excellent youngsters waiting in the wings for India.

Batting talent is endless:

A Mukund, A Rahane, Rohit Sharma, S Raina, V Kohli, M Tiwary, S Tiwary, C Pujara, M Vijay

Spinners are also readily available:

R Ashwin, A Mishra, P Ojha, P Chawla plus the emerging guys from IPL like Rahul Sharma etc.

There are also some pretty exciting seamers:

Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkut etc.

mukund, rahane, arent gonna be test match players.

Sonic,
I don't think players such as S Tiwary are test class at least as of now. even Pujara and Rahane, proven FC performers, have to convert that ability to international runs.
not really hopeful about the bowling unit, both spin and pace. Both Ojha and Mishra have had their chances at the test level, but haven't really clicked on. Chawla's case isn't any different.

As far as the pace unit is concerned, Yadav didn't look the part in SA, and Unadkat has a very long way to go, even at the first class level. The best bet among the relatively untested is Mithun, lets hope he takes his chances.

cricketfan90 wrote:mukund, rahane, arent gonna be test match players.

sure pal. stick to your rubbish english players

dude stop critcising english players, and stop wumming no one listens to what your gonna say

cricketfan90 wrote:dude stop critcising english players, and stop wumming no one listens to what your gonna say

this is a topic about upcoming Indian players, something you have no clue about.

well clearly neither do u

Thread locked for a time out. Go and put the kettle on or something and chill out both of you.

The thread has been reopened.

May I remind you that this is a place for cricket debate, not playground arguments.

Cheers,

Sainty.

lol

My India side:

Mukund
Gambhir
Rahane
Sehwag
Pujara
Kohli
Dhoni
Chawla
Sharma
Unadkat
Ohja

sonic_boom10 wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:mukund, rahane, arent gonna be test match players.

sure pal. stick to your rubbish english players

Sonic_boom, this isn't the first time you have made a clear attempt at winding people up intentionally. I wouldn't mind quite so much if what you said had any basis to it, but this is utter drivel, to be frank.

You've been warned, we are all up for the clash of opinions, it is after all the purpose of a forum, but keep it clean, keep to the facts, and don't go looking for arguments.

Thats a decent side you have picked msp83. India dont really have a problem with strength in depth do they.

Its sad when i look at your side as it dawns on me that Tendulkar wont be around in a few years time. I for one will truely miss him.

Fists of Fury wrote:

sonic_boom10 wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:mukund, rahane, arent gonna be test match players.

sure pal. stick to your rubbish english players

Sonic_boom, this isn't the first time you have made a clear attempt at winding people up intentionally. I wouldn't mind quite so much if what you said had any basis to it, but this is utter drivel, to be frank.

You've been warned, we are all up for the clash of opinions, it is after all the purpose of a forum, but keep it clean, keep to the facts, and don't go looking for arguments.

dry your eyes mate

GG wrote:My India side:

Mukund
Gambhir
Rahane
Sehwag
Pujara
Kohli
Dhoni
Chawla
Sharma
Unadkat
Ohja

This looks a pretty awesome side.

But I wouldn't have Chawla or Ojha.

Ashwin and Iqbal Abdulla would be my choices. Both very smart bowlers and are potentially superb with the bat

sonic_boom10 wrote:

Fists of Fury wrote:

sonic_boom10 wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:mukund, rahane, arent gonna be test match players.

sure pal. stick to your rubbish english players

Sonic_boom, this isn't the first time you have made a clear attempt at winding people up intentionally. I wouldn't mind quite so much if what you said had any basis to it, but this is utter drivel, to be frank.

You've been warned, we are all up for the clash of opinions, it is after all the purpose of a forum, but keep it clean, keep to the facts, and don't go looking for arguments.

dry your eyes mate

Not appreciated, I was warning you about your conduct.

Fists of Fury wrote:

sonic_boom10 wrote:

Fists of Fury wrote:

sonic_boom10 wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:mukund, rahane, arent gonna be test match players.

sure pal. stick to your rubbish english players

Sonic_boom, this isn't the first time you have made a clear attempt at winding people up intentionally. I wouldn't mind quite so much if what you said had any basis to it, but this is utter drivel, to be frank.

You've been warned, we are all up for the clash of opinions, it is after all the purpose of a forum, but keep it clean, keep to the facts, and don't go looking for arguments.

dry your eyes mate

Not appreciated, I was warning you about your conduct.

cricketfan and myself enjoy some friendly, if sometimes ott, banter.

the mods are too quick to overreact

I disagree with you there, you have been given plenty of free reign in this section since joining, what I ask is that you don't purposely provoke people with ludicrous comments designed to get people to bite. Friendly banter is fine, and I like to see it, but anti-England posts are not what I'd call friendly. If you have an issue with England then by all means explain your reasoning and give evidence to support your opinion, and then we can have a good old debate about it. One liners stating how rubbish they are won't do that.

Maybe one of you Indian fans can help me here. I seem to remember that when Sachin was young, there was another batsman more highly regarded than him and who also came on to the scene with a bang. Can anyone tell me who it was and what happened to him?

So in a nut shell they won't be as good as they are now.

eirebilly wrote:Maybe one of you Indian fans can help me here. I seem to remember that when Sachin was young, there was another batsman more highly regarded than him and who also came on to the scene with a bang. Can anyone tell me who it was and what happened to him?

That incredible batsman was none other then Vinod Kambli.

Career got destroyed by an argument with the BCCI.

Kambli wasn't quite good with the short stuff. More than the BCCI or anyone else, it was this that brought him down, and it is said his attitude didn't help at all.

msp83 wrote:Kambli wasn't quite good with the short stuff. More than the BCCI or anyone else, it was this that brought him down, and it is said his attitude didn't help at all.

BCCI surpassed the Kambli issue.

Don't believe everything you read regarding Kambli.

Sachin begged for Kambli to be recalled numerous times, but BCCI refused.

Kambli's weakness vs short bowling was similar to Ganguly's, yet the lesser player play over 100 Tests.

Thanks guys. I always wondered what happened to him. I remember Tendulkar mentioning him one or two times and thought to myself if Sachin rates this guy highly then why is not playing for India.

Well Sonic

I don't think Kambli was a superior player to Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly had a problem with the short ball, but unlike Kambli, he was willing to fight it out. Although Kambli didn't get a chance in the test side after getting dropped, he had his opportunities in the ODI games, and never really took it. And as the man himself acknowledged, he got so distracted. I think he had a problem managing the sudden fame and fortune the game brought him. Not a new probolem, not even something that has gone away, as IPL is doing to many of our upcoming players recently. May be on that regard, the BCCI has to take some serious blaim.

msp83 wrote:Well Sonic

I don't think Kambli was a superior player to Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly had a problem with the short ball, but unlike Kambli, he was willing to fight it out. Although Kambli didn't get a chance in the test side after getting dropped, he had his opportunities in the ODI games, and never really took it. And as the man himself acknowledged, he got so distracted. I think he had a problem managing the sudden fame and fortune the game brought him. Not a new probolem, not even something that has gone away, as IPL is doing to many of our upcoming players recently. May be on that regard, the BCCI has to take some serious blaim.

With regards to Ganguly, everyone forgets he was awful vs short bowling, poor vs leg spin and clueless vs swing/seam.

Kambli was vastly more talented and deserved more chances at Test level.

As I said, Ganguly had his problems, but at the same time he had a way to deal with it. if he was clueless against swing, he could have scored 3 test 100s on English soil. he also hit a trend setting 100 in Australia, and in his comeback series in SA, he was India's best batsman against a red hot pace attack led by Dale Steyn and a young Morne Morkel.
Remember Kambli's 94 series against Walsh and co? Ambrose wasn't even there, remember.

mukund looks to be a shocking batsmen, he cant play anything on the offside

I agree with Sonic on Kambli, always thought he was hard done by, but maybe there was an attitude problem. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes after all.

With regards to future indian sides from what I've seen I'd forget Mukund, he looks like a poor man's Imran Farhat. S Tiwary will never be a test (or even ODI) player imo, the man is simply not international class. Pujara, Vijay I like the look of. R Sharma if he sorts his head out will be a damn fine player. Raina needs to work against the short ball but has clear potential.

spinners: perhaps controversial but India IMO need to start looking for a genuine replacement for harbajhan, whose test match bowling has been below par for a while. I am unsure Ashwin turns it enough to be successful in tests (think Mendis?), Chawla has an excellent googly but his leg-break is average, Mishra is your typical leg-spinner. I think he may have the most potential. Rahul Sharma is an interesting bowler, I'm not sure he'd run through many sides but I'd love to see what he could do. Certainly he could be terrific in the shorter forms. Haven't seen enough of Abdulla to comment.

Seam bowling: here is where I'd be most positive, a few of the youngsters I saw in the IPL had genuine potential, and Sharma seems to have found his zip again. Kumar is a bit of a Mohammed Asif type, and could very well to an excellent job.

kumar isnt a test match player i doubt he will be in their test plans for much longer, i no he bowled ok. but there is better bowlers than him around for india

cricketfan90 wrote:kumar isnt a test match player i doubt he will be in their test plans for much longer, i no he bowled ok. but there is better bowlers than him around for india

Kumar is ideal for Tests IMO

His bowling offers MSD control, even when Harbhajan is bowling like a mug, and PK can swing the ball in any condition.

The attack for England now seems certain to be Zaheer, Ishant, PK and Harbhajan.

I'd play Ashwin over Harbhajan.

Dhoni knows Ashwin better than any other spinner in India.

Unfortunately Munaf has once again missed the bus for the Test with yet another injury grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

I think Mike makes some good points, and agree with most. Harbhajan seems unwilling to concede runs and thus doesn't attack enough. in this test he's pitched far too many balls short on the stumps which have spun harmlessly down leg, when he should be pitching it up outside off and inviting the drive through the covers against the spin.

I thought Mishra looked good in the ODI series but he's struggled to the left-handers in particular in this test. Again should be looking to pitch it up and invite the cover drive but he's been worked to leg too much. The fact that he's bowled round the wicket so much at them doesn't help.

Ishant has got some good zip, and bowled well in patches. When he gets it right he's a real handful. PK needs to sort out his follow-through, but his ability to swing the ball late both ways is certainly a weapon. Not the quickest but I'd like to see how he does against good batsmen.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:I think Mike makes some good points, and agree with most. Harbhajan seems unwilling to concede runs and thus doesn't attack enough. in this test he's pitched far too many balls short on the stumps which have spun harmlessly down leg, when he should be pitching it up outside off and inviting the drive through the covers against the spin.

I thought Mishra looked good in the ODI series but he's struggled to the left-handers in particular in this test. Again should be looking to pitch it up and invite the cover drive but he's been worked to leg too much. The fact that he's bowled round the wicket so much at them doesn't help.

Ishant has got some good zip, and bowled well in patches. When he gets it right he's a real handful. PK needs to sort out his follow-through, but his ability to swing the ball late both ways is certainly a weapon. Not the quickest but I'd like to see how he does against good batsmen.

I'm not sure where this running on the pitch issue came from.

He's played 30 odd ODIs and never had a problem. Even in the IPL, where all the top umpires stand, he's never had any issue.

I thought it may have been a team plan to rough up the pitch

With regards to pace, not many Indians have serious gas. Ishant does and a couple of upcoming youngsters do Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, otherwise India is a nation of 130-135 kph bowlers.

Gambhir
(?????????????)
Rahane
Kohli
Pujara
Rohit Sharma
MSD(c and wk)
Ashwin
Ishant
PK
Sreesanth(Mishra on spinning pitches)

sonic_boom10 wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:I think Mike makes some good points, and agree with most. Harbhajan seems unwilling to concede runs and thus doesn't attack enough. in this test he's pitched far too many balls short on the stumps which have spun harmlessly down leg, when he should be pitching it up outside off and inviting the drive through the covers against the spin.

I thought Mishra looked good in the ODI series but he's struggled to the left-handers in particular in this test. Again should be looking to pitch it up and invite the cover drive but he's been worked to leg too much. The fact that he's bowled round the wicket so much at them doesn't help.

Ishant has got some good zip, and bowled well in patches. When he gets it right he's a real handful. PK needs to sort out his follow-through, but his ability to swing the ball late both ways is certainly a weapon. Not the quickest but I'd like to see how he does against good batsmen.

I'm not sure where this running on the pitch issue came from.

He's played 30 odd ODIs and never had a problem. Even in the IPL, where all the top umpires stand, he's never had any issue.

I thought it may have been a team plan to rough up the pitch

With regards to pace, not many Indians have serious gas. Ishant does and a couple of upcoming youngsters do Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, otherwise India is a nation of 130-135 kph bowlers.

I don't know where the running on the pitch issue came from, but he's definitely been doing it in this test. Needs to be careful, because once umpires have seen this they tend to scrutinise a player more.

Something I've been meaning to mention and that falls in an easily corrected category, but don't you think Mishra bowls far far too many no-balls for a spinner?

Regarding PK's pace, he's more like 125kph from what I've seen so far.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

sonic_boom10 wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:I think Mike makes some good points, and agree with most. Harbhajan seems unwilling to concede runs and thus doesn't attack enough. in this test he's pitched far too many balls short on the stumps which have spun harmlessly down leg, when he should be pitching it up outside off and inviting the drive through the covers against the spin.

I thought Mishra looked good in the ODI series but he's struggled to the left-handers in particular in this test. Again should be looking to pitch it up and invite the cover drive but he's been worked to leg too much. The fact that he's bowled round the wicket so much at them doesn't help.

Ishant has got some good zip, and bowled well in patches. When he gets it right he's a real handful. PK needs to sort out his follow-through, but his ability to swing the ball late both ways is certainly a weapon. Not the quickest but I'd like to see how he does against good batsmen.

I'm not sure where this running on the pitch issue came from.

He's played 30 odd ODIs and never had a problem. Even in the IPL, where all the top umpires stand, he's never had any issue.

I thought it may have been a team plan to rough up the pitch

With regards to pace, not many Indians have serious gas. Ishant does and a couple of upcoming youngsters do Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, otherwise India is a nation of 130-135 kph bowlers.

I don't know where the running on the pitch issue came from, but he's definitely been doing it in this test. Needs to be careful, because once umpires have seen this they tend to scrutinise a player more.

Something I've been meaning to mention and that falls in an easily corrected category, but don't you think Mishra bowls far far too many no-balls for a spinner?

Regarding PK's pace, he's more like 125kph from what I've seen so far.

Yeah Mishra is slightly annoying with the no balls, not acceptable when you bowl off 5 paces.

PK has had elbow problems over the last 2 years, at his very best he bowls in the 130-135 bracket.

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:Gambhir
(?????????????)
Rahane
Kohli
Pujara
Rohit Sharma
MSD(c and wk)
Ashwin
Ishant
PK
Sreesanth(Mishra on spinning pitches)

1. G Gambhir
2. C Pujara (he's an opener)
3. V. Kohli (c)
4. A. Rahane
5. Rohit Sharma
6. S. Raina
7. M.S. Dhoni (w/k)
8. R. Ashwin
9. P. Kumar
10. Ishant Sharma
11. J. Unadkat/V. Aaron/U. Yadav/P. Ojha/P. Chawla???

im suprised pujara isnt playing in this series he played well against australia

cricketfan90 wrote:im suprised pujara isnt playing in this series he played well against australia

Pujara is injured dude

The Beast from the East wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:im suprised pujara isnt playing in this series he played well against australia

Pujara is injured dude

ah right thanks for clearing that up for me