India's team for first Test vs England

Not long to go for the first test and on the back of a decent tour of the West Indies where India had some second string players the big boys will return and they will be hoping for a rare series win in England.

In my opinion this will be the X1 lining up at Lords on July 21st

Gambhir
Shewag (if fit)
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Yuvraj
Dhoni
H Singh
Sreesanth
I Sharma
Z Khan

The top seven pick themselves (as long as they are fit) Raina will be the unlucky one but Yuvraj has to play after the World Cup he had and will also be a handy second spin option.

With the bowlers it will be Harbijhan with three seamers. Zaheer Khan picks himself and Ishant Sharma is a certain starter after an excellent series in the West Indies. The stumbling block is choosing the third seamer. I chose Sreesanth over Patel and Kumar as I think he will be more fired up and is more explosive and I think India need that.

it has been confirmed that sehwag will be out of the first test, and most likely the second as well

come on england

I think Raina should be in the team, not sure how to fit him in tho.

Who will play instead of Sehwag?

Sehwag hasn't been ruled out.

It is media speculation.

Sehwag has said he is 1 week from being fit.

If Sehwag is out, then I'd open with Dravid.

My Team if Sewag isn't playing:

1. Gambhir
2. Dravid
3. Laxman
4. Sachin
5. Raina
6. Yuvraj
7. Dhoni (c)(w/k)
8. Harbhajan
9. Praveen Kumar/Munaf
10. Zaheer
11. Ishant

If Sehwag is fit, Yuvraj carries the drinks.

Yuvraj carries the drinks..


You serious? After the WC he had? I think India's selectors will get slaughtered if he is left out

ROBBO_WONT_BE_CHAMP_AGAIN wrote:Yuvraj carries the drinks..


You serious? After the WC he had? I think India's selectors will get slaughtered if he is left out

No Yuvraj is an awful Test player. Averages 35.

He has only been selected as he also bowls left arm spin.

Averaging 35 now equals awful? I'll bear that in mind...

Yuvraj is one of the best players in the world and a genuine middle order threat...

yuvraj wont play in the tests, i think they have moved on to raina now, who will be a better test match prospect

If Sehwag isn't playing in the 1st test I would open with Vijay.

Would also have Kumar playing ahead of Sreesanth depending on conditions.

vijay isnt in the squad, mukund is

Mukund then.

imo Dravid is a far better middle-order player than opener and adds some run consistency to there middle order

Is Tendulkar not consistent enough then Liam lol

Sachin to score his 100th 100 at Lords? Its written isnt it?

mukund is awful not sure how he is in the squad to be honest lol.

cricketfan90 wrote:mukund is awful not sure how he is in the squad to be honest lol.

I would Vijay over him to be honest,he's looked poor in the Windies test series.

Gregers wrote:Is Tendulkar not consistent enough then Liam lol

Sachin to score his 100th 100 at Lords? Its written isnt it?

Bar him and Tendulkar there middle-order can look fragile at times hence why I wouldn't have him opening.

vijay had an even worse series only averaging below 10

India's middle order is wonderful. Dravid Tendulkar and Laxman are legends of the game. No weak links there. Even if Dravid opens, as MM suggests, that would make India strong. Yuvraj would become the 2nd spinner.

i dont think praveen kumar should play in this series tbh

Gregers wrote:Yuvraj is one of the best players in the world and a genuine middle order threat...

I hope you are talking about ODIs.

If Sehwag is fit, then 9 out of the 11 pick themselves.
Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Ishant.
the questions are about the number 6 batsman and the 3rd pacer. I think Suresh Raina has done enough to start ahead of Yuvraj. Yuvraj has never been an automatic choice in test matches, and his test record is pretty average. He has had problems with spin, and quality pace bowling. Raina has faced down a challenge, and got runs in all the 3 WI test matches.
The 3rd seamer question is a mroe dificult one. Sreesanth has been the prefered one, and regardless of his tempramental issues, he is a fine tallent, who style would be quite useful in England. But Praveen Kumar has done no harm to his test chances in the WI. He swung the ball throughout the series, and bowled with real control. Sreesanth can swing the ball, and move off the seam and do it at a better pace, but he doesn't have PK's control. so it has to be seen as to who would get the go ahead.
Now if Sehwag isn't fit for the first match, Mukund, who had a decent start to his test career would play. Don't think they would commit the mistake of opening with Dravid.

sehwag is out of the test, already has been said

mukund is awful his highest score was 48, against a poor west indies side, mukund isnt gonna be test quality, i would have picked pujara, and if he isnt fit then i would gone for, manish pandey.

cricketfan90 wrote:sehwag is out of the test, already has been said

mukund is awful his highest score was 48, against a poor west indies side, mukund isnt gonna be test quality, i would have picked pujara, and if he isnt fit then i would gone for, manish pandey.

Sorry but has Sehwag said he's unfit for the Lords Test? No.

Some mug from the the BCCI has stated this.

Sehwag said he is 1 week away from full fitness, therefore he could still make the 1st Test.

With regards to Mukund, England have technically dreadful players like Cook and in the past Collingwood. Don't write off a 21 year old so soon.

sorry but it has been confirmed that he is unfit,so dont get all with the attitiude

cricketfan
Mukund scored his first test 50(62) in the first innings of the 3rd test match against the West Indies. The West Indies bowling unit of Rampaul, Edwards, Bishoo supported by Sammy can't be much poorer than a Lankan attack without Murali, Malinga and Vaas. Of course Rampaul didn't bowl to Mukund in that innings as he was unfit, but the WI bowling is not as poor as it is made out to be.
Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul are way ahead of any of the Lankan pacers the England batters faced in the recent test series.
Besides, Mukund averages well over 50 in First Class cricket.

so he got one 50 in that series, apart from that he looked awful

cricketfan90 wrote:so he got one 50 in that series, apart from that he looked awful

Don't think his returns were that awful though. got a start and spend good time at the wicket in the 2nd innings of the first match after the early exit of Murali Vijay, Played a useful hand with his 48 in the 2nd test, and then scored his maiden test 50 in the 3rd match. That for me, is improvement, and one shouldn't forget the fact that it was his debut series, and he is only 21.

i would rather have vijay though lol, i know he had an even worse series, but im backing vijay to come good

cricketfan90 wrote:i would rather have vijay though lol, i know he had an even worse series, but im backing vijay to come good

Vijay is not there in the squad. The only chance that he has to hope for, is a situation where the team management requests for a replacement opener for Sehwag.

Today's practice match will be important from the point of view of seeing the make up of the pace bowling unit. who among Praveen Kumar, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel will get the go ahead?

to be honest Vijay technically looks a lot better than Mukund.But he doesnt have the grit to fight it out in tough conditions which is much more important than raw natural talent.Mukund showed that he was willing to fight it out in tough conditions in WI.I think he deserves the call up and I think he will do better than what we expect him to do.

I think the place of a good looking batting technique is overrated. Had Technique been all, Mark Ramprakash would have been a legend, and Shiv Chanderpaul a nobody. Its about a technique that works for a particular batter. For someone like Sourav Ganguly, because he couldn't play the short ball with a text book technique, he eveolved his own method that worked for him. Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, or Jonathan Trott, England's most productive top 3 in recent times, are not the holders of a textbook technique, and are not the most technicly pleasing batters around in international cricket.
Mukund, just 21, has a first class average of 56.5, and has scored 13 FC hundreds.
I am not saying he'll be a world beater, but he is a good potential, now the challenge for him is to transform potential to eventual output. For that he neds a working, effective technique, and the right temprament to play at the highest level. He has shown promissing signs in the WI series, England will be an even greater challenge.

i think the indians will be worried with the lack of pace they have in their bowling, cos khan, kumar and patel arent quick, sharma isnt rapid, nither is sreesanth, do india have any rapid bowlers they can call upon for test match cricket?

cricketfan90 wrote:i think the indians will be worried with the lack of pace they have in their bowling, cos khan, kumar and patel arent quick, sharma isnt rapid, nither is sreesanth, do india have any rapid bowlers they can call upon for test match cricket?

If I'm not mistaken Mohammad Asif bowled at round 78mph last year and was all over England.

Pace is over rated.

And for your information Ishant bowls between 138-145kph. Sreesanth gets up to around 140kph and Zaheer is around 135-140kph.


Don't see any pace in the England side.

tremlett, broad, finn, all bowl 85mph plus, most of the time reaching 90

cricketfan90

Just ignore LeBrone's Homie.

yh i am he aint got a clue about anything..

cricketfan90 wrote:tremlett, broad, finn, all bowl 85mph plus, most of the time reaching 90

Sorry but Tremlett, Broad and Finn aren't all ways 85mph.

When the beans are flowing maybe.

There are only a handful of 'Fast' in World cricket.

Steyn, Morkel, Johnson, Tait

LeBron's Homie wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:tremlett, broad, finn, all bowl 85mph plus, most of the time reaching 90

Sorry but Tremlett, Broad and Finn aren't all ways 85mph.

When the beans are flowing maybe.

There are only a handful of 'Fast' in World cricket.

Steyn, Morkel, Johnson, Tait

Broad and Finn are continuing to get faster,both recently hitting 93 MPH. While not being as fast as Steyn and Johnson they certainly don't lack speed with the ball.

Liam_Main wrote:

LeBron's Homie wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:tremlett, broad, finn, all bowl 85mph plus, most of the time reaching 90

Sorry but Tremlett, Broad and Finn aren't all ways 85mph.

When the beans are flowing maybe.

There are only a handful of 'Fast' in World cricket.

Steyn, Morkel, Johnson, Tait

Broad and Finn are continuing to get faster,both recently hitting 93 MPH. While not being as fast as Steyn and Johnson they certainly don't lack speed with the ball.

You seem to be missing the point. Bowling fast in T20s and ODIs isn't the same as a Test.

Yes Broad/Finn can be lively in short bursts, but in Tests bowling 20 overs a day do that bowl at such pace?

LeBron's Homie wrote:

Liam_Main wrote:

LeBron's Homie wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:tremlett, broad, finn, all bowl 85mph plus, most of the time reaching 90

Sorry but Tremlett, Broad and Finn aren't all ways 85mph.

When the beans are flowing maybe.

There are only a handful of 'Fast' in World cricket.

Steyn, Morkel, Johnson, Tait

Broad and Finn are continuing to get faster,both recently hitting 93 MPH. While not being as fast as Steyn and Johnson they certainly don't lack speed with the ball.

You seem to be missing the point. Bowling fast in T20s and ODIs isn't the same as a Test.

Yes Broad/Finn can be lively in short bursts, but in Tests bowling 20 overs a day do that bowl at such pace?

Not a 93MPH,no. But can consistently bowl at 85-80 MPH for a full days play.

only ishant can bowl 85mph, plus no point mentioning sressanth in this thread as he wont be on the tour

cricketfan90 wrote:only ishant can bowl 85mph, plus no point mentioning sressanth in this thread as he wont be on the tour

Never heard of 'Sressanth', but Sreesanth is already on the tour.

alright no need to patronise me with the spelling thing sonic

Pace or not, and relative potenecy compared to steyn aside youre going to look pretty stupid trying to run down the England seam attack vs the Indian one...especially on home wickets. No matter how much you dont want it to be the case, this is a very succesful test bowling unit. That Indias openers are arguably the batting lineups weak point (Sehwag may be out and if he is in his natural game isnt suited to opening in English conditions) makes the toss key.

bresnan will play in the first test

cricketfan90 wrote:bresnan will play in the first test

I wouldn't be to certain on that,quite a few Cricket Pundits think Broad may get the nod to play. He took a fiver for Notts a few days ago so it wouldn't surprise me if they gave Broad another chance, they've gave plenty of other players opportunitys in the past.

Anyone who saw the u19 game earlier on Sky will have noted that Nick Knight stated Bresnan wasn't really in consideration for the Test side as Flower and Strauss are concerned over his dodgy calf.

You can't go into a Test with 4 bowlers, when one bowler ins't certain to last the duration.

So broad will get another chance, but if he fails in the first test, then he will go.

Absolute joke. What does Finn need to do to get a start? He's far more of a threat than either Broad or Bresnan. Selectors keep dicking him about.

i wanna see finn in the side as well......