The Middle Order
Please read part one before continuing with this. Let us continue with Australian Tour Part Two how to win?
Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Vihari, Pandya, Shreyas, Rahul, Manish
Of all these players, except for Kohli, the others are not automatic. It is time Rahane is replaced in the team. Gone are the days he used to be a strength in these away tours but over the last 4 years, he has struggled wherever he has played and against every opponent. He is not getting any younger either.
Pujara was a grand success last time around but I do not expect the same this time around. Pujara’s problem has always been his consistency outside the country. I will have him in the team only because of his experience and nothing else.
I intend to write couple of blogs regarding Pujara’s and Rahane’s success or lack of it.
Shreyas will bat at no. 5
Lower Middle Order
No. 6 will have to be between Vihari & Pandya. It has been such a long time Pandya has played the game that no one is sure that he will be able to handle the Australian fast bowlers. He is severely short of match practice. On the otherhand, Vihari has played reasonably well in his career so far and deserves a longer run. I will go with Vihari. He can also bowl a few overs which will give the frontline bowlers some much needed rest. Hardik on the otherhand, will bowl more than a few overs but his batting is still not proven and coupled with his rather long layoff, I do not think he will have to play ahead of Vihari who is a much more accomplished batsman than Hardik.
With inexperienced Shreyas & Vihari in the middle and a suspect Pujara at the top, we definitely need 4 batsmen in the middle order. There is no escaping that fact except probably in Sydney where will we will need 2 spinners.
Wicket Keeper
Pant & Saha
This is a very difficult choice. Saha as we all know is an exceptional keeper and a decent bat. Pant has a couple of good hundreds in England and Australia. He probably is in the Gilchrist mould which is high praise but a highly suspect keeper. If the openers and the middle order can build a good score, Pant will be able to completely demoralise the opponents with a quick 50odd but if the top order fails to score a decent score, Pant will not be able to help.
Saha can bat sedately in such situations and try to get the score upto a decent level with another top order batsman. Australian wickets will have even bounce and so a decent keeper will probably be adequate. I will still go in with Pant for the first and second tests and depending on his performance alone, will want to change the keeper.
Bowlers
Kumar, Bumrah, Ishant, Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Shami, Umesh, Saini, Chahal
Australia grounds are known to kill the spinners and especially the offspinners. Even the great Murali failed in Australia. This straight away rules out Ashwin & Jadeja. A good wrist spinner will be an asset in Australia. We have a couple in Chahal & Kuldeep. Kuldeep took a 5-fer in his first game in Australia. However, I feel that Chahal is the better bowler. He has much better control, he is quicker through the air which is essential in Australia and he is much more intelligent operator. In favour of Kuldeep, he is a left-arm wrist spinner which is a rare commodity in international cricket and as such will have some amount of mystery involved. Still, I will go in with Chahal and both Chahal & Kuldeep for Sydney.
Bumrah did have a bad tour in New Zealand but he has done enough in his career so far to be considered an automatic selection. Shami will share the new ball because we need pace in Australia. Between Ishant & Kumar, both offers control and wicket taking abilities but just like Pandya, Kumar also has not been seen for a very long time and lacks match fitness. Hence, the 3rd bowler will be Ishant.
BCCI’s support
Without the BCCI’s support, the Indian team will be hard pressed to even compete in Australia. The board must ensure that all the players are fresh before the important tour. Board must not arrange any meaningless games right till 3-4 days before the start of the first test as they usually do. Now with the pandemic induced break and the revenue loss because of that, the board will want to mitigate that by arranging some stupid games against Sri Lanka or West Indies or New Zealand and make the players stay in India till a week to the first test.
They must resist that temptation and allow the players to travel well in advance. At the least 5 weeks earlier. Arrange 3-4 first class games and 1 first class game before the 3rd test. They should also use their clout to convince the Australia board to allow some of the players to play in Sheffield Shield, especially, the bowlers.
I do believe that if the team and the board follows the suggestions, we will have a good chance of competing with the Australians. Remember, they are supremely confident after the runs scored by their batsmen and also the form Cummins & Starc are in. This promises to be a good series provided the Indian batsmen score runs.
Hopefully, you have read both the parts. What do you think of this plan? Will India be able to compete with proper preparation? Will it be cakewalk for Australia?