The Indian team for the South African T20 series and the England test was announced. As expected, some of the leading figures chose to skip the T20 series. I had written earlier that some of them should not be allowed to skip, especially, Jadeja, Rohit and Bumrah because their franchise never really had a chance to progress and hence they must have opted to sit out of the remaining games. Jadeja can be excused if he is still injured. Anyway, I pretty well know that it is not going to happen. Let me analyse the Indian squad for SA and England.
Let me start with the squad for the T20 series
Umran Malik, as expected, has been selected into the squad. It makes sense because instead of directly selecting him for the T20 World Cup, it will be better to blood him in these games to gauge how he measures against international opposition. Dinesh Karthik makes yet another comeback and this time, he will have to justify his selection. After his exploits for RCB, it is only expected that he will be in the squad but what is the point in selecting 3 wicket-keepers is beyond me. Ishan is likely to open the batting with Rahul or Ruturaj. Ideally, Rahul must bat in the middle order because that is his natural spot. Again, I repeat that he is not an opener though he may have opened for Karnataka as well as for India. It is in the middle order where he will be able to realise his complete potential.
Why is Pant playing in this series is not clear? He is actually occupying one slot which could have been utilised by another batsman. Moreover, to make him the vice-captain is taking the role for granted. We have all seen his captaincy skills for Delhi. He has a longway to go. With both Kumar and Pandya in the team, one of them must have been the vice-captain. My vote goes to Kumar. He certainly deserves that.
The real concern is the batting
The bowling with Kumar, Malik, Harshal and the spin twins looks strong but it is the batting that is of concern. Ruturaj, Pant, Venkatesh and Ishan are not in the best of form. Shreyas Iyer has a really dislike for the short ball. With Rabadda, Nortje and the rest, South Africa is likely to serve him a lot of the short stuff. He will virtually be a sitting duck for the South African quicks. A lot depends on the kind of start Rahul gives and how Karthik is able to finish, assuming that he will be in the playing eleven. The task against the redoubtable South Africans is really tough.
The team for England
What first struck me was the sheer size of the squad. 17 players for just one test. It is safe to assume that atleast 3-4 players will not even be in the reckoning. What is the need to take such a large squad? Covid measures are there and injury to players must be accommodated too but 17 is a bit far-fetched. The squad should have been trimmed to not more than 14 or at the maximum 15.
As expected, Pujara is back on the team. I think he will certainly be part of the playing eleven too because of his recent exploits for Sussex. The only thing I do not want to see is that he takes his place at the expense of Vihari. That will be a real injustice. In the short time he has played international cricket, Vihari has done everything to be considered as the first choice replacement for either Pujara or Rahane. Now that Rahane is not in the team anyway, I hope the tour selectors do not go in for Shreyas Iyer because Pujara is anyway in the team.
It is good that Ishant Sharma is finally shown the door. It took him more than 10 years to learn the game. He is not getting any younger and has lost a lot of venom, whatever he had. I like the fact that the selectors have picked Bharat. He is young and will be able to learn from his first international outing. Pant must be in a position to guide him properly based on his experience.
Prasidh Krishna & Gill
I really want to see both Prasidh Krishna and Gill in the eleven. Ofcourse, with India playing just 5 proper batsmen with Pant and Jadeja as backup, the top 5 are more or less taken. His only chance is if he could replace Rahul at the top but that is not going to happen. Krishna has got more pace and bounce and he can replace Siraj. He will be particularly useful if the pitch has lot of grass on it.
Umran Malik in the team
I do realise that it is far too early for Umran to be considered for Test cricket but I would have selected him in the team and would have constantly propped that he is a certain starter in the test. It would have made the English groundsmen not to leave too much grass on the wicket which would have worked to our advantage. Let us face it. If there is grass on the pitch, Indians are not that good. Anderson will be keen to exploit such conditions. Afterall, he has a lot of points to prove after being left out of the squad for the West Indies tour.
Conclusion to Indian squad for SA and England
The team for the South African series is short of experience and of recent form. Hence, the series is likely to be keenly contested, whereas, the team for England is the same from last year but the form of Pujara and the promise of Vihari is an added bonus. Whether Pujara will retain the same intensity and will be intent to score runs remains to be seen. With him coming back after being dropped, he does not have anything to lose. He will as well bat the way like how he has batted for Sussex. Good aggressive cricket. If he scores, he may well be in the team for another couple of years.
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