India-A unofficial tests & tour of Lanka

It's a high quality series and the Indian side...here... batting and spin department could well be a full strength test side on it's own.
The Aussie side matching the strength of Indians, with high quality pacers.

India bats first and Pujara misses a great opportunity to put a very big total and seal a spot for himself.

KL Rahul going strong......I would so love him to make it big and hold on to his test spot...he is a "Lambi race ka Ghoda"

India's bowling looks weak with aaron down with viral fever and strangely shardul not picked ahead of Mithun and shankar

India squanders a good position....as every one falls apart......Ojha misses a great opportunity to impress and KL Rahul an impressive 96

Eyes were on Pujara, as he was left out after Melborne Test. I was hoping a big score from his bat, since he averages >75 at home condition, but I feel this 55 will bring a lot of confidence in him. And I think selectors will try him out in Sri Lanka. As of Rahul, he is a splendid talent. His 100 in only the second test shows his ability to cope up the difficult situation. I saw him in ranji Final. It was his patience that he returned to bat after being retired hurt.
Well I see these two batsmen promising enough to put our trust on. Though Dhawan has proved to be good opener, I will put him behind Rahul in the upcoming test series. And also Pujara seems a better choice ahead of Rohit at 3.

my XI for Lankan conditions:

1) Dhawan
2) Vijay
3) Rahul
4) Kohli
5) Rahane
6) Binny
7) Saha ( not because i want him but selectors will prefer him)
8) ashwin
9) Bhuvi
10) Yadav
11) Karn sharma ( but selectors might put Bhajji there)

KP_fan wrote:my XI for Lankan conditions:

1) Dhawan
2) Vijay
3) Rahul
4) Kohli
5) Rahane
6) Binny
7) Saha ( not because i want him but selectors will prefer him)
8) ashwin
9) Bhuvi
10) Yadav
11) Karn sharma ( but selectors might put Bhajji there)

Why do you think changing position of Rahul will work? And I don't think binny's inclusion. Rather that him India should go with a full time batsman.

--I am putting in the 11 the best 5 batters..and In subcontinent dhawan will be effective as an opener....

Rahul is one of the best batsmen in the country so he has to be in the 11 and because the openers slot is given to Dhawan...therefore Rahul can fit in at 3

--Binny is bolwing well and Lankan conditions do assist seamers a bit....he can play the role of Matthews as a bowlers and a poor man's Matthews with the bat

team declared.....same as for the BD test, except Mishra comes in for Karn who was unavailbale....
Mishra was anotehr one with promise hard done by Bhai's agenda....hope he makes this count.....
shami is still recoveing from his kneee surgery


Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Varun Aaron, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Rohit Sharma, M Vijay, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul

whoever this guy Shankar is ....and batted with grit and take India-A score towards a semblance of respectability....touching 300 now.
Mishra showed dour resistance with the bat....and that's in his favor...that he can hang around.

Mishra can not only hang around, he can actually bat. He's more of a bowling all-rounder. But its his bowling that will be decisive and it is in that role that he has to deliver. Would prefer him over Harbhajan for the Lanka tests. A better pick than Karn Sharma any day, but Mishra will have to improve by miles from his previous version as a test cricketer.

Pragyan Ojha taking 3 wickets. The chief selector did mention that his name was discussed....... Is he really back after his action remodeling? He's playing for Bengal this Ranji season, might have to fight his way back....... Think the selectors who found themselves in an impossible situation with the impetuous call they made earlier to Harbhajan for the Bangladesh tests on the basis of some IPL performances had to give him a full series at least. Otherwise they would have been accused of ill-treating a senior player.......

Mishra is a good bowler hard done by bhai....he barely got one or two bad games overseas to be dumped, while his home record was OK. He is in my view a leghies as good as Danish kaneria.
Selectors are methodically trying to do justice to those hard done by by Bhai.
For same reason Bhajji has been given a chance. He looked good in IPL, and has proven his selections worthwhile in all the test, odi and t20 bowling done. Not running through sides, but troubling batsmen and picking some wickets.

Ojha needs to keep taking wickets and a lot of them. He will get his chances, has a long season of subcontinent tests

Harbhajan was hard done by? He was godawful when he was eventually dropped, and was rubbish even in Ranji trophy! Mishra's away record is downright poor and his home record is not a great deal better. He was dropped rightly, but if anything he did deserve a chance in the longer format unlike Harbhajan who is indeed a hero, but that of yesterday...... There is no method to the madness from the selectors, they are just covering tracks and saving faces.......

Harbhajan looked good in IPL...and but Dhoni didn't let him back.
Mishra's away record...how many away games did he get?

Anyway I am not the only one.....the entire selection panel thinks like me on these issues.
Patil speaks transparently again



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NEWS
Sri Lanka Vs India 2015 | 11:52 PM Jul 23, 2015
Disagreeing with Dhoni, Patil says SL tour has India's best pace attack
Press Trust of India

Patil in a polite yet firm manner made it clear that his point of view on team's pace attack is different from limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
New Delhi: The chairman of senior selection committee Sandeep Patil in a polite yet firm manner made it clear that his point of view on team's pace attack is different from limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
In his third interaction in two months with the media, Patil was ecstatic about Harbhajan Singh's strong comeback saying that "age will never be a criteria but form and fitness will be". Patil, though, was a tad evasive about the name of reserve wicketkeeper but clear on how Virat Kohli's reign would be different from Dhoni's tenure as Test captain.
Asked about his view of retaining the same four-pronged attack which Dhoni has been critical of, Patil said, "I am not talking about what Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said. But we are always trying to get a proper balance. And the wicket in Sri Lanka is such that we felt this is the best possible bowling combination. We all selectors felt we can go ahead with it."
Patil was polite yet diplomatic when asked if he was hurt about Dhoni's view on too much emphasis on pace.
"Captain has all the right to make a comment and we have no objection to that. It is upto BCCI to react to that," said Patil, who spoke to the media sitting alongside secretary Anurag Thakur.
"MS Dhoni is one of the best leaders that we have seen and he has all the right to make comments regarding bowlers," he added.
But Patil said that they did discuss the performance of the Bangladesh and Zimbabwe series.
"We did discuss the performances. On both tours, my co-selectors, who had been on those tours, gave their feedbacks. Prior to the selection meeting, we always discuss, we just do not sit and select the team. We analyse the reason for a particular department that is not doing well. In Zimbabwe, we did well with young players and a new captain like Ajinkya Rahane."
When asked about Dhoni's trusted players like Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja not finding a place in Kohli's squad, Patil said: "Look, there will always be a change in the mix with change of captain. Every captain has his own outlook and perspective when he is leading the side. Someone may be an offensive captain, someone may be a defensive captain. But yes, approach of the captain defines that particular period.
"We expect Virat to do well but we cannot predict the future. When Sachin (Tendulkar), Dada (Ganguly), Rahul (Dravid) and VVS (Laxman) retired, we never thought we would get immediate replacements but we got them."
On Harbhajan, Patil said, "Harbhajan has comeback strong. As I repeatedly said, it is our job to represent every domestic player. We selectors are happy how Harbhajan has comeback. We expect our spin attack, Bhajji, Ashwin and Amit (Mishra) to deliver."
He made it a point to state that Mishra was always in their scheme of things.
"Amit Mishra was always in our scheme of things. Our job is to give them the best 15 players. Why A was picked and why B was not picked is not what we get into. Amit was part of our thinking looking at Sri Lankan conditions and how they played leg-spinners (Yasir Shah of Pakistan has tormented the islanders)."
Asked about the second wicketkeeper for the series, Patil did not wish to divulge the name.
12
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"We have a name in mind as the stand-bye and we have told that to the secretary. If the keeper (Wriddhiman Saha) is injured, then we know whom we would select," he said.
In all likelihood, it will either be Naman Ojha or Parthiv Patel since Dinesh Karthik will be getting married to squash star Dipika Pallikal during the Sri Lanka Test series.

So Dhoni's crime was not picking Harbhajan for the test side on the back of some average showing in the IPL!!! He was absolutely awful in the Ranji 4 day games and wasn't always fit enough to even complete a season!! Perhaps Paul Valthatty should have replaced Virender Sehwag as the test opener as he looked good in the IPL!

Meanwhile in the unofficial test, India A managed to take a small 33 run first innings lead as Australia A were bowled out for 268. Pragyan Ojha finished with 5 wickets while Amit Mishra took 3. Then KL Rahul, Abhinav Mukund and Cheteshwar Pujara all got starts but failed to turn it into anything substantive as India A ended the day at 121-3.

Many people, experts and ordinary fans have been saying this for some time, but India's spin crisis is not going away anywhere.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2015/content/story/902683.html

Indians are generally low esteemed and get embarrassed / mocked quite easily and often where there aren't really reasons to be..

first.... Karn was the first choice and he is quite young...only his  injury gave a chance to Mishra

secondly ...there is  nothing wrong  selecting 32 and 35 year olds.....if on the given day they are the best..

thirdly these two are being brought in factoring that last 2 or 3 years..when these guys were deserving ...bhai's agenda kept them out...so they have to be fairly treated here.

and selectors are aligned with these 3 points

game drawn...and althouhg ind took lead in first inning...had this been played over 5 days, Aus had a bigger chance of winning.

In their own conditions...Indian batting didn't deliver the punch with the exception of Rahul to some extent....

Mishra with 5 wickets and Ojha with 6 did well
Naman was the biggest loset with twin single digit scores

Not a very good performance from the India A batsmen in particular. The test captain Virat Kohli will be playing the next game ahead of the Lanka tests though Cheteshwar Pujara will lead the side.

msp83 wrote: The test captain Virat Kohli will be playing the next game ahead of the Lanka tests though Cheteshwar Pujara will lead the side.

shows kohli's passion and seriousness for tests...and lack of ego....in quite contrast to we know who

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/903851.html

Rohit making pre-emptive noises in the media........that continuity of his test spot is not guaranteed and that he has to perform.

the reality is that even the start is not guaranteed.

Dhawan, Rahul, Pujara and Rohit all are in the mix but no one guaranteed......although if left to me I would put Rahul ahead of dhawan

Rahul ahead of Dhawan, Pujara a country mile ahead of Rohit. The Dhawan/Rahul situation is slightly complicated, as Dhawan is a good bet for sub-continent conditions against average bowling lineups and has a big score in his last test. Rahul seems like a better all conditions batsman though. Rohit should never play test cricket again!

Rahul was not played in the second test.....why? if one had to be rested...why not Mukund who to be honest has "no future"

and Pujara opens?....why..when they have Rahul?


Good to see Shardul Tharkur and Gopal in for mithun and Mishra.

Ind-A in bad situation at 69-4

all wickets taken by Ausssie slow bowlers, even Sandhu in T1 was reportedly bowling off spin.

someone for India A needs to score some runs.
The batting display even in "home conditions" has been very worrying

Naman Ojha batting on 6 off 78 balls.....not fit for any form of cricket such batting when you are aiming to play as a specialist batsman WK

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/904103.html

raina says I have not been given chances...ha ha

Literally just read that. Think to be fair it's good to see the Indian players taking Test Cricket seriously. Didn't really see articles like this under Dhoni, which maybe points to his rather obvious ambivalence to the format.

it is more an indication to the likes of Rohit and Raina realizing ....days of subsidized selections on the back of their relationships with Dhoni are over.....

and also what you say.....that they realize that the new regime is looking at test performance improvement as a key objective.

" His rather obvious ambivalence:D " is diluting it by 90%......it's more like " His outright contempt

Baba Aparajith throws a spanner in the works by picking a 5-for.

none of the Indian seamers or batsman or the WK have made any positive impact unfortunately

Come now Kpf. Contempt is a little strong? Surely you don't get to average nearly 40, and captain a side to #1 in a format you have contempt for. safe to

Finally the top order got some runs

Pujara, naming ojha continue to fail.
Baba is batting and If he gets a 50 odd tomm he comes into reckoning for the bowling all rounder slot in ODIs

A Big win for Aus A
Indian batting and seam bowling was absolutely pathetic.
Sandhu and Bancroft are Aus's stars for the series

India A squad for tri-series: Unmukt Chand (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sandeep Sharma, Rush Kalaria, Mandeep Singh, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Rishi Dhawan.

India A squad for unofficial Tests: Ambati Rayudu (capt), Karun Nair, Abhinav Mukund, Ankush Bains, Shreyas Iyer, Baba Aparajith, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Axar Patel, Karn Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, Shardul Thakur, Ishwar Pandey, Sheldon Jackson, Jiwanjot Singh


sides for A tests vs SA and the triseries

--Pujara not in would imply he is going to Lanka....or atleast I hope so

--Raina not going to Lanka not in the the A side......writing is on the wall for him.

--Tiwary , Uthappa featue in neitehr sides....paying the price for not making the opportunities in Zim count

--Rayadu captaining means....he is next in line to break trhough in tests, should Pujara, Rohit not make it count soon and should Ryadu score well against SA

--good to see Rasool and Rishi dhawan in

Rasool, Dhawan, Shankar, Rush kalaria are all bowling allrounders shows focus of national selectors on finding bowlers who can bat.

I would take Sheldon Jackson's 1000 runs in the season with a pinch of salt...he plays for Rajkot...since he is WK even if he scores a few 50s he will be in reckoning....selectors lost no time at all in looking beyond Naman Ojha

Good to see Rishi Dhawan and Rasool in there........ Think the selectors have been a bit harsh with Naman Ojha, he was outstanding in Australia. He had a fine couple of Ranji seasons and has a good overall record. He's not in his early 20s but he's not too old to be discarded so soon. And I still think Saha isn't up to it at the top level with bat or gloves......

The only takeaway from the Australia A series was that 5for from Baba Aparajith and the return of Pragyan Ojha. Hopefully this will prompt Aparajith to give more attention to his bowling and help him evolve into a genuine all-rounder rather than a batsman who can bowl. He was a genuine all-rounder at age groups levels, but for Tamil Nadu he hasn't been bowling all that much. Ravichandran Ashwin hasn't played much for TN in recent times, and they don't have too many good spinners, Rangarajan and Rahul Shah are just about OK. So Aparajith should look to bowl more and gain more experience in that department. He's not much of a big hitter as such, but he can come up the order if his batting is good enough for an innings builder and then bowl his overs. After Ravindra Jadeja lost his mojo after his shoulder operation, there has been serious issues with the team balance in ODIs.

Pujara is in the test squad, hence not playing the A team games.......

Sheldon Jackson is a WK and 19 year old Anish Bains is also a WK...young, WK, and from HP.......very open mind from selectors.

They are going all out scouting to find a long term WK batsman solution.....because Saha's batting skills does not give the team the confidence to play 5 bowlers

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2015/content/story/905831.html

Kohli has pretty much confirmed...he will play 5 bowlers
Bhajji, ashwin and bhuvi will be 3 of those.....and will count on them to score runs.

that Rohit will be no. 3

so only variable is Dhawan or Rahul
and whether the 5th bowler will be a spinner ( Karn) or a seamer ( Aaron)

I think dhawan will be in starting 11 although would prefer Rahul
and Karn will be in the starting 11 because Yasser of Pak got plenty of wickets as a leggie....and this is what I would also prefer.

I dunno where to fit this......but Zim chased 303 down to win an ODI vs NZ

Karn Sharma is not in the test squad. Its Amit Mishra in there.......
With Rohit in at 3, The openers, Kohli and Rahane will have to do all the scoring, hopefully with some help from Ashwin and some contributions from Harbhajan and Kumar. Saha is not an international level batsman, Rohit isn't cut out for test cricket. He's in the side just because he's close to Kohli!

msp83 wrote:Karn Sharma is not in the test squad. Its Amit Mishra in there.......
With Rohit in at 3, The openers, Kohli and Rahane will have to do all the scoring, hopefully with some help from Ashwin and some contributions from Harbhajan and Kumar. Saha is not an international level batsman, Rohit isn't cut out for test cricket. He's in the side just because he's close to Kohli!

yes that's true I forgot its Mishra and he will play and that further strengthens the batting..........he is no less than Bhajji with the bat.
Rohit will play because Kohli has trust in him .....but I am equally sure if Rohit doesn't deliver in the next two tests.......he will be dumped.

he won't be dragged unto eternity...like players are when they have close relationships with a captain that has turned bigger than selectors and BCCI

selectors and BCCI also have learnt a lesson here...I am sure they will not allow creation of  another Frankenstien "bhai"

Think Dhawan will play a head of Rahul because he's close to Kohli! The Delhi Darbar!

And Kohli will give Rohit a run in the side until he produces the kind of big scores he made for Mumbai in First Class Cricket. That means he'll play till he retires as he isn't going to make them at the highest level!!

they will all get fair runs of a couple of tests or so.....so take it easy, relax....Srini / dhoni/ CSK era is over

N.Coulter Nile and Khwaja wallop SA -A

Ind 78-0 at lunch vs Lanka BP-XI
Rahul and Dhawan open......why not Vijay?
is it because Vijay is certain and they want to see which one of Rahul and Dhwan is in better form?

or is it that Vijay still has an injury concern?

or is it that being a 15 a side game.....all will play anyway

rahane shines with a 100.....Rahul and Dhawan both get runs......Rohit and Kohli failed to get time in the middle

Kohli will come good sooner than later.....Rohit may not have a lot of chance.

playing only 5 batters.......Dhawan and Rohit being two of those and Saha coming in at 6 makes Indian batting looking very flaky

Rohit twin flops
On form Rahul should be in the palying 11

Rahul or Pujara are not going to play. Kohli is stubborn about Rohit.
Ishant takes 5 in the meanwhile. So it will be him and Bhuvneshwar the 2 seamers. Think it is not a bad combo for the subcontinent. Hope Kohli will just stop at Rohit and wouldn't play 3 seamers. If at all he needs 5 bowlers, it has to be a 3rd spinner who should be playing. Ashwin, Mishra and Harbhajan.......