Indian Test XI

With the retirement of Rahul Dravid and the long term loss of form of players such as VVS Laxman, Gambhir, Sehwag and Ishant Sharma, it would be interesting to know what everyone thinks should be India's first choice Test side when everyone is fit. I'd go for:

V Sehwag
A Rahane
G Gambhir
S Tendulkar
V Kohli
C Pujara
M Dhoni (c/wk)
R Ashwin
P Kumar
Z Khan
U Yadav

Sehwag
Rahane
Kohli
Sachin
Pujara
Jadeja (incredible f/c record)
Dhoni (wk/c)
Ashwin
PK
Zak
Yadav/Ishant

I have Sehwag, Rahane, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Kohli, Sharma, Dhoni, Ashwin, P. Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Yadav/ Ojha / Aaron at the moment.

India should forget about test cricket again until they can get the matchwinning bowlers.

Gautam Gambhir
Virender Sehwag
Cheteshwar Pujara
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Irfan Pathan
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Ravichandran Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Umesh Yadav
Pragyan Ojha at home and Praveen Kumar overseas, with the latter batting at 9.

I'd have Irfan at 6, clearly picked as an all-rounder, expected to contribute with both bat and ball. the more conventional option would be to play a batsman in there, and I'd have Ajinkya Rahane in there, playing at 3, with Pujara moving down to 5 and Kohli down to 6.

The selectors might go for Rohit Sharma batting at 6 and Kohli at 5, but I do have my doubts regarding Rohit's technique and temprament to play test cricket.

msp83 wrote:Gautam Gambhir
Virender Sehwag
Cheteshwar Pujara
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Irfan Pathan
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Ravichandran Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Umesh Yadav
Pragyan Ojha at home and Praveen Kumar overseas, with the latter batting at 9.

I'd have Irfan at 6, clearly picked as an all-rounder, expected to contribute with both bat and ball. the more conventional option would be to play a batsman in there, and I'd have Ajinkya Rahane in there, playing at 3, with Pujara moving down to 5 and Kohli down to 6.

The selectors might go for Rohit Sharma batting at 6 and Kohli at 5, but I do have my doubts regarding Rohit's technique and temprament to play test cricket.

They can go for whoever they like, but at the end of the day if they can't bowl jacksh#t, they will still be useless V Australia.

Australia, NZ, and England, who are scheduled to play India at home against India in the net one year or so, all have batting problems against spin bowling. The Indians have problems against seam and bounce, but that won't be available in plenty on Indian tracks. So if they do the sensible and produce tracks that have something for the spinners, then they should be going in with advantage against all these sides, and should win the series.

msp83 wrote:Australia, NZ, and England, who are scheduled to play India at home against India in the net one year or so, all have batting problems against spin bowling. The Indians have problems against seam and bounce, but that won't be available in plenty on Indian tracks. So if they do the sensible and produce tracks that have something for the spinners, then they should be going in with advantage against all these sides, and should win the series.

Not only do they have problems against seam and bounce, but they can't bowl sides out to save their own backsides.

Depends on the conditions!. And India hae played tests outside India before they toured England in 2011 and Australia later.
Of course those 2 series were outright disasters, but against those sides that can't play even a parttime spinner like Mohammed Hafeez to save their lives, Pragyan Ojha and Ravichandran Ashwin will be more than a handful!.

ashwin and ojha would be a tough prosepct in the sub-contient against any side.

Gautam Gambhir
Virender Sehwag
Suresh Raina
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Rohit Sharma
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Praveen Kumar
Ravichandran Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma

And harbajan singh as the 12th man

paulscholes wrote:Gautam Gambhir
Virender Sehwag
Suresh Raina
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Rohit Sharma
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Praveen Kumar
Ravichandran Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma

And harbajan singh as the 12th man

Raina shouldn't play Tests for another couple of years. I would be running out of patience with Sharma as well.

Gambhir
Sehwag
Rahane
Tendulkar
Kohli
Sharma
Dhoni
Ashwin
Zaheer
Yadav
Ojha (Praveen overseas, though as msp says he would bat at 9)

I actually think that is a pretty strong team. Bowling attack far from ideal but the batting has tremendous potential, as is so often the case with Indian sides.

Fists of Fury wrote:Gambhir
Sehwag
Rahane
Tendulkar
Kohli
Sharma
Dhoni
Ashwin
Zaheer
Yadav
Ojha (Praveen overseas, though as msp says he would bat at 9)

I actually think that is a pretty strong team. Bowling attack far from ideal but the batting has tremendous potential, as is so often the case with Indian sides.

Not sure about Sehwag opening overseas. I would also have Ojha over Ashwin if they are playing one spinner. In unhelpful conditions he is more likely to do well as he has much better control.