M. Vijay scored 93 and Kulkarni has taken 3 wickets so far in a successful outing for Central Districts in the NZ domestic tournament. Add Dravid’s century and Laxman’s brief stays at the crease, the test certains and test hopefuls have had an opportunity to acclimatize to conditions as well. Amit Mishra and L. Balaji, however, had medicore start to this tour in the domestic game. My suggested line up for the 1st test would be:
1. V. Sehwag
2. G. Gambhir
3. M. Vijay
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Rahul Dravid
6. VVS Laxman
7. M. S. Dhoni
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Zaheer Khan
10. D. Kulkarni
11. Ishant Sharma
While it would be tempting to play Yuvraj Singh in the lineup, I would prefer to go with M. Vijay instead and possibly move Dravid to playing in the middle. Dhaval Kulkarni has to play considering the form he is in and terrible form that Munaf Patel is in would make him an unlikely candidate. I do not think India will play Amit Mishra, at least not in the first test as I expect to the pitches for the test matches will be similiar to the one used yesterday at Eden Park. Gautam Gambhir has been in sublime form but this would be his real test on foreign pitches as a test opener and, going by his performance yesterday, he should be expecting a challenging time early on in the innings countering the swing and bounce. Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma have been taken to the cleaners by the NZ openers in the one day series but they should bounce back in this version though. The first hour of the game would again be crucial to the start of the series. Sehwag’s approach would be key if India bats first, India close in catching would be critical if we bowl first.
Waiting for the fun to begin..
-Srikanth
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