[Eddy]

All Aussie batters are in tremendous nick. And if Lyon has a good series……. you never know! We’ll miss Pant big time.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by Eddy

All Aussie batters are in tremendous nick. And if Lyon has a good series……. you never know! We’ll miss Pant big time.

Australia or any team even at their peak will never have an edge over India when playing in India. I see Aussies wining 1 test and 1 closely fought game at max. But before the actual match, hope our selectors, coach and captain does not mess up the playing XI. Also, this would have been an ideal series for Hardik to return to Test Cricket. If not all the matches, he should play the alternate ones. (But that wont happen as he would like to keep fit to lead GT instead)

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Australia or any team even at their peak will never have an edge over India when playing in India. I see Aussies wining 1 test and 1 closely fought game at max. But before the actual match, hope our selectors, coach and captain does not mess up the playing XI. Also, this would have been an ideal series for Hardik to return to Test Cricket. If not all the matches, he should play the alternate ones. (But that wont happen as he would like to keep fit to lead GT instead)

I don’t think Hardik is coming back to test team anytime soon, and I personally hope he never comes back. He still looks in bit of discomfort after bowling 4 overs, and he can’t play as pure batsman.

It is better to keep him out of test fold, he is a great asset in white ball cricket, play horses for courses, it’s not important for everyone to be playing everything, we have enough talent in the country, that we can build three separate teams.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by AtheK

we have enough talent in the country, that we can build three separate teams.

Tell me a medium fast bowling allrounder? Definitely Hardik is not completely fit for the long format however he and BCCI need to prioritize his value. With Pant not playing, we do no harm by having Hardik play in the XI. It also allows the team to play 3 spinners which is our strength when playing in India. I agree we need Horses for Courses, but till we find and groom a medium pace bowling allrounder, Hardik should be in the Test Team. Especially when playing in India.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Tell me a medium fast bowling allrounder? Definitely Hardik is not completely fit for the long format however he and BCCI need to prioritize his value. With Pant not playing, we do no harm by having Hardik play in the XI. It also allows the team to play 3 spinners which is our strength when playing in India. I agree we need Horses for Courses, but till we find and groom a medium pace bowling allrounder, Hardik should be in the Test Team. Especially when playing in India.

Do you really need medium pace bowler in test matches, I think for test matches we need three proper fast bowlers and we already have two decent spin all rounders in Jadeja and Ashwin. Hardik will anyway play both ODI and T20 so we are covered there for now. That said budding player should look at what is missing in team and work on those skills to hone them to fast track there entry in the national team.

[deehunk]

The super substitute concept would have been good for T20I's, was unfortunately stopped.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Ya sarfaraz and shaw keeps getting neglected, atleast shaw made it to team, sarfaraz hasn't had that luck too. I completely agree in tests he should have played ahead of SKY, why just sky even ahead of No good Rahul.

Shaw was just a water boy inspite of Kishan failing again and again. Favoritism is the real issue in team selections. Sarfraz again isn't favorable to selectors.

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

My Playing XI for 1st Test Match vs Australia:

R Sharma (c)
S Gill
C Pujara
V Kohli
S Khan
R Jadeja
KS Bharat (wk)
R Ashwin
K Yadav
M Shami
M Siraj

Though Sarfaraz getting selected is less likely to happen.

KL is VC. He will open with Rohit for sure.
Gill/SKY will play at 5.
No way Kuldeep will be picked over Axar. Axar has phenomenal record in India plus his batting is huge plus.

Originally Posted by Aakash118

KL has done well at 5 in ODIs and he is experienced too, will be my pick for that no. 5 spot. In tests, experience does matter at times. Btw, talking of no. 5, what happened with Vihari?

KL has done fine only in ODI'S. He shouldn't be in test or t20 team.

Originally Posted by deehunk

Appreciate Vihari's commitment but BCCI is very predictable these days. I feel if Ashwin fails, the Aussies will win the series. With one week to go, we don't who will be in the final playing XI

Ashwin has never failed in India. He won't this time too. Plus we have Axar and Jadeja too so no worries.

Originally Posted by Eddy

All Aussie batters are in tremendous nick. And if Lyon has a good series……. you never know! We’ll miss Pant big time.

Aussie batters do well in Australia only. Warner is out of touch. Khawaja is up and down. Head has issues with spin. Smith is their best player and Marnus is another one to watch for. Lyon alone can't do much. Agar is not test standard but selected due to lack of options. I believe their paces may get more wickets than spinners.

Originally Posted by AtheK

I don’t think Hardik is coming back to test team anytime soon, and I personally hope he never comes back. He still looks in bit of discomfort after bowling 4 overs, and he can’t play as pure batsman.

It is better to keep him out of test fold, he is a great asset in white ball cricket, play horses for courses, it’s not important for everyone to be playing everything, we have enough talent in the country, that we can build three separate teams.

Hardik is done in tests. His body can't take it. Should be strictly for white ball only. For SENA tests we need to find another young domestic all rounder talent. But BCCI doesn't cares about domestic performances anymore so I hope someone like this shines in IPL.

[harry10]

So, PCB Chairman has said Pakistan won't come for World cup if India won't come for Asia cup. I believe it's Pakistans loss at the end it day as no way Indian team will ever travel to Pakistan. Also there won't be any sponsors if India backs out of Asia cup. Broadcasters won't be happy too regarding this. In the end I believe it will happen in UAE.

[Eddy]

Pakistan will crib for a day or two and then keep quiet. India won’t go there and they will come here. There will be some face saving involved with BCCI claiming that is “open to touring Pakistan in the future “ type statement

[Emvi]

It will be interesting to see how PCB responds to this -

Quetta Blast: Pakistan's Babar Azam, Shahid Afridi taken to safety after explosion near stadium.

A Blast reportedly took place at the Police Lines area in Quetta. The players at the Bugti Stadium were taken to safety after the explosion.

Source

[Emvi]

West Indies vs Zimbabwe Test Series

Tagenarine Chanderpaul scored a double ton in the first innings of the ongoing test match to emulate his father Shivnarine, enters record books. The father-son duo became only the second pair to score test double tons. Incidentally, this is Tagenarine's maiden test ton! He reminded unbeaten on 207 as West Indies declared their innings at 447/6.

Report

[Emvi]

Former England international Gary Ballance scores a superb hundred against West Indies on his test debut for Zimbabwe! He is only the second batter after Kepler Wessels to score test hundreds for two countries. He is also the 16th player in the history to represent two countries in test matches. No matter the result, the test is turning out to be a historic one.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by Emvi

It will be interesting to see how PCB responds to this -

...

They'll respond just like they respond to everything else, be it politics in cricket, cricket, PCB finance or anything else.

Brush it under the carpet, shrug, behave like nothing happened, and carry on as usual.

[KPR]

Enough of KL and his so called exploits (if any). I hardly remember him rising to occasions. 1 match to KL in home ground is like 10 matches to P Shaw or Sarfaraz. Couldn't these selectors, coach, captain think about future and try youngster like them in place of done and dusted KL? I don't want to see him bat. Period.

[PPS]

Just hope sporting pitches are prepared in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India's batting isn't in the best shape + by preparing rank turners you wouldn't want part-timers like we saw Michael Clarke in the past pick bagful of wickets! Infact preparing rank-turners helps the opposition more I feel. Prepare a good pitch, try to ensure our batters are able to atleast put up 300+ on board, spinners will eventually come into play.