I am sure there is strong reason for postponing the the team selection for the tour of Australia. But as I mentioned in an earlier post, I don’t see any reason to name 24 probables to only cull the list a week later – they might as well have waited a few more days and named the actual team.
In any case, here is the list of 24 players –
Batsmen | Bowlers | Keepers |
Jaffer | Kumble | Dhoni |
Tendulkar | RP Singh | Karthik |
Dravid | Munaf Patel | Parthiv Patel |
Ganguly | Zaheer Khan | |
Laxman | VRV Singh | |
Yuvraj Singh | Pankaj Singh | |
Chopra | Ishant Sharma | |
Gambhir | Murali Karthik | |
Harbhajan Singh | ||
Piyush Chawla | ||
Bose | ||
Pathan | ||
Agarkar |
It is funny how the probables list has 13 bowlers, even more than the batsmen and wicket keepers combined.
The ones in italics are certain to tour – Jaffer, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Kumble, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Dhoni. That leaves room for another 5 players. I would think that of the 16 players – the break down would be 7 batsmen, 7 bowlers and 2 keepers.
Based on that, there is room for just one regular batsman and based on current form, this is most likely to go to Gambhir although Chopra has prior experience playing in Australia. My preference would have been Sehwag, but he is not in the mix here.
Of the bowlers – taking more than 2 spinners would be a luxury, so Murali Karthik and Chawla will have to miss out. For the other 3 spots, Munaf should get the nod ahead of the others and Pathan may be picked based on his all round ability. The other seamer slot is a tough one to pick. As Ishant Sharma was picked for the last test, it is very likely that he may get the nod ahead of the others, but Agarkar has a knack of getting into the team when you least expect him to.
I really don’t expect the fifth player to play any games unless the others are injured. Why not have an extra batsman instead? My preference would be Sehwag, but he is not in the mix here. Did I say that already? Doesn’t matter how many times I say it – he is unlikely to be included now. Maybe, the selectors should think of including someone like Badrinath in team. Oh, he is not in the list of 24 either! Oh, well…The only option the selectors have is to pick Chopra, and this may very well happen.
The 2nd keeper is probably not that easy to pick either. Parthiv Patel is in very good nick in domestic cricket and has played well when he has represented India A and Karthik has had a poor run with the bat in the current series. Parthiv Patel has played in Australia before and he plays the pull and cut quite well, which could come in handy down under. But, if the selectors still have faith in Karthik based on his showing in England he still has a chance of making it to the squad. He is my also my choice ahead of Parthiv Patel.
Assuming that the players who missed out the last test are all declared fit, here is what the team would end up looking –
Jaffer, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, Karthik, Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma/Chopra.
-Mahesh-