***Official*** India in Pakistan

Arjun said:

Since Gambhir has been opening regularly for the team, he should be an automatic choice in all three matches in this series, while Jaffer may open in all matches against England– this is a parallel selection as against serial chopping and changing. That will give you a clearer indication. Come to think of it, an even tougher decision would be whether or not to open with Sehwag, if current form is considered for selection.

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In tests you give some one a chance, if he makes a mark you persist with that guy. Else you give some one else a chance. Parallel selections dont work.

I'd have to agree with Pratyush, though the parallel selection does seem like a decent idea. Going into each test match, the man who looks most capable of scoring runs for the team should be in the team. At the same time, the management needs to ensure that the confidence of both players (Gambhir & Jaffer) remains high. For this reason, Gambhir should play in the 1st test on the basis of continuity and his play in the practice match (even though Jaffer more than matched his play). If Gambhir fails to aggregate a decent run total (say 50 combined in two innings), Jaffer should replace him for the next match because the team interests need to be valued highly. This doesn't mean that Gambhir is a forgotten man - as soon as Jaffer fails to perform over an extended period of matches (say 2 or 3), Gambhir should be back in the team.

Hopefully, we see a high standard of merit-based selection in Indian cricket and in turn a high standard of overall team performance, starting with an Indian victory against Pakistan.

Sunil Gavaskar has said that India sould play 3 openers http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060110/asp/sports/story_5702565.asp versus Pakistan.

That would mean Yuvraj Singh and Ganguly both missing out from the test side. It is winter and the conditions are bound to be testing. So in that context Gavaskar has a point.

Words of wisdom..

This test proves, indias bowling lineup is like poo.

Then again it wasn't a secret. Pakistan's bowling will torture the indians, and thats a fact jack.

Indian bowling will not get a break.

Younis and Yousuf will dominate.

Kaif and Yuvraj will break through shoaib.

Pakistan sucks. I hate India with a passion.

I don't care about the series, why are they playing evey year.

jack_sparrow said:

Words of wisdom..

This test proves, indias bowling lineup is like poo.

Then again it wasn't a secret. Pakistan's bowling will torture the indians, and thats a fact jack.

Indian bowling will not get a break.

Younis and Yousuf will dominate.

Kaif and Yuvraj will break through shoaib.

Pakistan sucks. I hate India with a passion.

I don't care about the series, why are they playing evey year.

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thats nice. nobody needs your words of wisdom. get a clue about cricket and then enlighten us all with your knowledge. actually, dont bother doing that either.

jack_sparrow said:

Words of wisdom..

This test proves, indias bowling lineup is like poo.

Then again it wasn't a secret. Pakistan's bowling will torture the indians, and thats a fact jack.

Indian bowling will not get a break.

Younis and Yousuf will dominate.

Kaif and Yuvraj will break through shoaib.

Pakistan sucks. I hate India with a passion.

I don't care about the series, why are they playing evey year.

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Dude if you're gonna smoke something special, the least you can do is share with the rest of us. It's not fair that only you get to be high.

Pratyush said:

Sunil Gavaskar has said that India sould play 3 openers http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060110/asp/sports/story_5702565.asp versus Pakistan.

That would mean Yuvraj Singh and Ganguly both missing out from the test side. It is winter and the conditions are bound to be testing. So in that context Gavaskar has a point.

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Right. Before I saw that article I was wondering if the team should go with both jaffer and Gambhir as openers and Sehwag at no 6. It would be a bit harsh on Yuvraj considering that he hasn't done anything to be dropped but in the interests of the team, it would also give a clear indication as to which opener is better suited to the task. And frankly I don't care about Sehwag coming at no 3. So he should be shifted down to no 6.

jack_sparrow said:

Words of wisdom..

.

Then again it wasn't a secret. Pakistan's bowling will torture the indians, and thats a fact jack.

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I hope you are right about it, as the last time around the only ppl they did torture happened to be the team's skipper and their team's fan

Xuhaib said:

I think for Pak the fourth bowler position is up for grabs since Shoaib, Rana and Kaneria pick themselves.
Who should get the nod Sami, Asif or Razzaq?


My Pick- Asif (go for the promising youngster).

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Akhtar can share the new ball with Allmighty, Sami can do a little bit with old ball but is useless with new ball.I would personally like Asif to be the third seamer.If Razzak is selected the i believe he will be the Fourth seamer (in addition to Sami or Asif) who would be asked to bat at sixth slot in place of Afridi who might be asked to open in such a scenario.

wahindiawah said:

If Razzak is selected the i believe he will be the Fourth seamer (in addition to Sami or Asif) who would be asked to bat at sixth slot in place of Afridi who might be asked to open in such a scenario.

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I dont think woolmer would want Afridi to open, hes not a proper test opener. The coach is searching for long-term opening partners, which in my view he will pick Farhat for the first test.

My team would look something like this:

1: Salman Butt
2: Imran Farhat
3: Younis Khan
4: Mohammad Y.
5: Inzamam
6: Shahid Afridi
7: Kamran Akmal
8: Rana Naved
9: Mohammad Sami
10: Shoaib Akhtar
11: Danish Kaneria

The number 6 place is a bit hard to choose, but i felt they are likely to pick Afridi (above Razzaq, Malik) as hes a wicket taker and has turned matches around with his awesome hitting and against india hes always in full flow.

godofcricket said:

The number 6 place is a bit hard to choose, but i felt they are likely to pick Afridi (above Razzaq, Malik) as hes a wicket taker and has turned matches around with his awesome hitting and against india hes always in full flow.

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I agree that the number 6 is hard to choose. But I would go with Razzaq, although I have a feeling Afridi will be taken just because of his affinity to the Indian bowlers.

On a sidenote, Rahul Dravid walked out of the trophy unveiling ceremony. http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/pakvind/content/story/232262.html

Dravid, who was already peeved at the inefficiency and chaos which marked the evening, quietly walked out without informing anyone.

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Somehow I couldn't help but think how a certain former captain would have reacted. Some of these cricketers have personalities so similar to their batting, its almost uncanny (or did I just say something very silly?)...

From the cricinfo and other reports of the practice match, it seems Jaffer was easily looking more comfortable at the crease than Gambhir. And given the fact that a green wicket is expected, I actually won't mind if Jaffer is chosen ahead of Gambhir.

IMO Yasir Hameed should be given another go at the top of the order. He's delivered against India and Australia, and has age on his side.

LongHopCassidy said:

IMO Yasir Hameed should be given another go at the top of the order. He's delivered against India and Australia, and has age on his side.

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He was in the side. He is out now because he is down with typhoid. He was a near certainity in the eleven otherwise.

Oh. Is he on the mend?

yeah, expected to be fit for the second OR atleast the third test, I heard.

pug said:

I agree that the number 6 is hard to choose. But I would go with Razzaq, although I have a feeling Afridi will be taken just because of his affinity to the Indian bowlers.

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Well i feel razzaq is getting too inconsistent to find a permenant place in the team, on the other hand afridi has been performing for some time now, he is such a player that if he doesnt score runs then he will get u wickets and crucial ones aswell.

honestbharani said:

He was in the side. He is out now because he is down with typhoid. He was a near certainity in the eleven otherwise.

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He has got talent no doubt but he also has a weakness which is easily extracted by other oppositions, he has got a tendency to chase wide wide balls, which he ends up edging to the slips most of the times, and makes him look like a complete idiot.

From what I saw in some site, Gambhir needs to thank the Pakistan A wicket-keeper Zulqarnain to getting to his 50. It was Zulqarnain, who dropped 2 catches off Gambhir allowing him to reach his 50.

Also, I would not support the idea of going in with 3 openers. Yuvraj and Ganguly are more experienced than Gambhir/Jaffer and I would definitely pick Yuvraj as he has also scored a 100 against Pakistan in the last away series against them 2 years ago.