Moving to International Cricket – What will team India look like?
May 30th, 2008Editorial: Mohit Goyal
Indian Premier League has taken everybody by storm. The amount of fresh talent that’s been exposed would lead people to believe that there may be many new faces in team India. But the fact of the matter is that, only 15 or 16 players can be selected in the team and the players who were already there and there about have performed really well. There might be just a few inclusions in the batting and in the spin bowling departments.
Looking at the eight teams and the Indian players who have been the best in each its interesting to find that they are already in the national team.
Looking at Kings XI Punjab, the Indian batsman in the team has been Yuvraj. He might not have been that consistent but he has played some brisk innings and it was his inning which took Punjab’s score beyond Rajasthan’s reach in the last match. Sreesanth, Pathan and Piyush Chawla who have been the bowling heroes for Punjab are already playing for India.
Likewise, Munaf Patel and Yusuf Pathan from Rajasthan, Robin Uthappa from Mumbai, Suresh Raina from Chennai have all been there and there about.
The only seat that’s vacant is for a second spinner in the one day team and that too temporarily as Harbhajan is banned. Amit Mishra or Pragyan Ojha could make the cut for it. But both of them are unlikely to find a place in the playing eleven.
Sachin has pulled out of the tri series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup and that has made way for a youngster to get the India cap. Ganguly and Dravid have batted well in the tournament but there has always been a question mark over Ganguly’s fielding abilities and Dravid too although very good close in, has been found wanting when in outfield.
Dravid still must make the cut but he seems to have lost favor with the captain and the selectors.
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Shikhar Dhawan from Delhi, Abhishek Nayar from Mumbai or the under 19 cricketer Ravindra Jadeja could fill up the lone batting vacancy.
Zaheer Khan is also sitting out the next two tournaments but he will be available after that. Still there are many in the line and the young fast bowlers will have to wait a bit longer.
T20 is a totally different ball game from one day and test. A batter who could smash 40 in 15 balls in T20 Cricket could be of no use in the longer formats is he is unable to hold crease. Similarly a bowler who just keeps things tight but seldom takes wickets would not be preferred in the longer versions.
Test teams is likely to be unaffected by this IPL T20. The only effect it could have is that the captain may include Gambhir in the playing eleven looking at his good form.
Probable Test Team – Anil Kumble, MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan and S Sreesanth
Probable ODI team - MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Shikhar Dhawan, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Amit Mishra, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma
If selectors decide to have an additional wicket keeper as back up for Dhoni’s sore back, Dinesh Karthik could come in.
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