It’s time again for me to pick my Test side ahead of the series against England. This is fairly easy since most of the players pick themselves. So, here goes:
- Virender Sehwag
- Wasim Jaffer
- Rahul Dravid
- Sachin Tendulkar
- VVS Laxman
- Mahendra Dhoni
- Irfan Pathan
- Anil Kumble
- Harbhajan Singh
- RP Singh
- ?
There’s debate over only one spot. Should we play an extra bowler or batsman? And if so, who? Personally, I’d like to see the last spot go to a bowler, but none of the two options (VRV Singh and S Sreesanth) impresses me that much. Munaf Patel would have been a very good option to have. The reason I want to see three pacemen is to groom them a bit. Outside the subcontinent, more often than not, you need three fast bowlers. This will help us decide who the two (besides Pathan) are going to be. Our current pace battery is fairly young and inexperienced.
However, what’s more likely is that India will go with an additional batsman. This means that there’s only room for two pacemen in the side. I just hope they don’t pick Sreesanth ahead of RP Singh in the name of “variety.” I know Sreesanth’s been identified as a top talent, and a lot of people are impressed by him. But for some reason, I am not entirely convinced yet. And high 130s (km/hr) is not exactly fast. Moreover, RP Singh has turned in a handful of good performances in his short international career.
So, there it is. While I would like to see the last stop go to a bowler, it will most likely go to Kaif.
February 26, 2006 at 3:10 am
Sreesnath might be the last one. If the batsman is chosen, I would like to see Gambhir instead of Kaif. He can open or come at 3 followed by laxman, tendulkar, dravid which really strengthens the middle order - Kaif hasn’t really impressed me in test matches. I think this order is much better and gives more flexibility also. I wont even mind to see sehwag coming back into the middle order if he feels like.
February 26, 2006 at 6:30 am
Dravid at 6! Are you out of your mind? Moreover, Gambhir hasn’t even been picked in the Test squad. And personally I’d like to see more of Raina.
February 27, 2006 at 11:11 am
i think idia should go with three spinners as nagpur is always know to help spinners .so piyush can be that 11 member.
February 28, 2006 at 12:06 am
I am about 100% sure that the Dravid/Chappell management will never play a 3-spinner bowling attack. Chawla can spend time with the team and learn a lot of things, but there’s still time before he needs to play for India. On the other hand, we need to get our inexperienced pacemen ready to do battle outside of India.
February 28, 2006 at 12:49 am
I concur with Pratik. Dravid at 6 is simply not going to happen and the only reason Chawla has been picked in the 15 is so that he can be mentored by Kumble in his last days. Dravid/Chappell are grooming him for the future.