India Test squad: Virat Kohli (C), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Parthiv Patel, Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

India Twenty20 squad: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed

Looking forward to seeing Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami bowl. Ishant Shama has a poor record in Australia but he had a good series in England, it will be interesting to see how he goes. Apart from Kholi and maybe Pujara not a lot to "fear" in the batting line-up, Ravindra Jadeja is a good all-rounder. Maybe it's just me but does it appear that India are more reliant now on all rounders, such as Ashwin, Pandya?

They have funny actions.

Shami is fairly orthodox. Bumrah though, he looks like he is a bowl off with Hadlee, Marshall, McGrath and Steyn, dressed as a  clown, and not out of the contest just yet.

I'm not sure why one would compare the unorthodox Bumrah with Hadlee, a very orthodox, copybook bowler?

Welcome to the forum, Paddles.

Heh - hence why I said Bumrah was dressed as a clown. But the lad has bowled well in his career to date. Unable to deny him that ;-)

But Hadlee was not quite orthodox - he bowled off a short run up throughout the 1980's until retirement. By doing so he managed to prolong his test career to the age of 39. 

Thank you ;-)

Hi Mike. 

Pandya is out injured for this tour - which is a blow for India. Ashwin and Jadeja are the two best test spinners for in Asian conditions, who just happen to bat well enough to be all-rounders. 

Pant will be interesting in the tests. He isn't the slickest gloveman (Saha keeps better) but he is very entertaining as a batsman. If I were Kohli - I would play 6 batsmen including Rohit Sharma at 6, keeper and 4 seamers and not even play Jadeja or Ashwin. But that is not likely to happen. I think Jadeja is ahead of Ashwin in the pecking order now. But Kohli changes the team so much and so often - it is all guesswork. He could pull Kuldeep out of nowhere for Sydney.

I am sure U Yadav will be given the opportunities to bowl some pies in the tests.

I was thinking of Hadlee's copybook bowling action when you said he wasn't orthodox. It is true what you say though when you refer to his run up being different to most fast bowlers. He had a short run up for a long time later in his career when he was very successful.

;-)

India have certainly got some fast bowlers this time and I'll be interested to see how they go.

Shami, Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and B Kumar would be a very tough fast bowling attack to face. All of them can bowl 140+ on their day.  

Bumrah should bowl well in Australia with the high arm action, he should hit the deck hard. Although knowing India they'll probably give Ishant Sharma his twenty fifth chance to bowl a big spell. 

India's big problem has been their batting and team balance. They love playing the spin bowling all rounder in overseas conditions (probably Ashwin), and that person will probably bat 7. That means the Wicketkeeper has to bat top 6 - not a problem when it was Dhoni, but now it has to be Saha or Patel. Rahane bats number 5 but he's been very out of form. That puts big pressure on the top 4.

Kohli will bat at 4 but the rest of the order is a bit uncertain. Pujara struggled at 3 on the last tour.  Vijay batted well in Australia last time, but he's been left out of recent tests and they've left Dhawan out of the test squad, so they'll have to bat KL Rahul or the youngster Shaw in the other openers position. Both excellent batsmen, and Rahul will probably get the nod given his hundred at the SCG last tour. Shaw looks like an absolute gun batsman though. 

I think Shaw has incumbency for the start of the tour. Vijay, Dhawan and Rahul are battling for a spot. 

I am pretty sure that the wicket keeper will be Risbah Pant first up. He scored a lovely century in England with the ball doing all sorts. He then scored two 90's against the WI. (He is not the best gloveman though, Saha is).  His form run is 114, 92, 92 and he averages over 50 at FC. He is a slogger, but he seems to make scores. I'd be surprised if he is not the starting keeper.

Ashwin was dropped in England for Jadeja - and Pandya is a bit of a blow for them. Rahane's form was horrid - but he made scores in the 3rd and 4th test vs England, and some runs against the WI as well. So he seems to be on the mend. 

The biggest question is whether India will play R Sharma/Rahul at 6 and 4 quicks or a spinner and 4 quicks.

Noone makes more changes to their team, game to game than Kohli.

Ishant easily outbowled U Yadav in England. Wasn't even close. Yadav was dropped and then brought back for the WI games where his pies got wickets. If the pitches are grassy (like Perth was today) - I would just play 4 seamers: Shami, Bumrah, Sharma and Kumar. But Kumar is not an option for a bare pitch. So in that case I would play Yadav over him. Bumrah will play in all conditions. So the rest are fighting it out. 

India's biggest problem right now is that they do not have a Raina, Tendulkar or Sehwag type, who bowls handy off spin as a 5th option. So many of their top order bowl military mediums or took up wicket keeping as their second skill.

But either way, Australia really has its work cut out to not lose to India this time. India pushed SA and Eng to the limit - in spicy conditions. 

What squad would you be selecting?

India have chosen the right squad seeing that they timed their A tour to NZ at the same time. They have not just a big squad in Aussie, but a full support squad (with Rohit Sharma, K Nair et al) in NZ playing A games. And as they demonstrated in England, they are prepared to bypass A into national team if the A player is in form. India basically will have all their potential international quality selectable players outside of Indian Ranji dusty roads in either Aus or NZ playing cricket.

The timing appears to be deliberate as it was in England. Long England and Australian tours by India can expect such A tour planning in the future.

The issue for India is who will Kohli select game to game. He chops and changes his team so much that HE alone is the ONLY constant. Even Pujara has been dropped under Kohli before.

If you mean for Australia -after Khawaja and Finch, 3,4,5, and 6 is not easy to select. At all. 7 to 11 I expect Paine, Cummins, Starc and Haze to start the test series. But if fit and firing, I would have Pattinson in there myself.

Yeah I meant the Aussie side. In shield cricket Handscomb posted a century, Renshaw got a very solid 89 and Mitch Marsh is about to post a hundred.

Taking that into account and combining a bit of what I’m expecting with what I’m hoping I’ve come up with

Renshaw
Finch
Khawaja
Handscomb
Head
Mitch Marsh
Paine
Cummins
Starc
Lyon
Hazlewood

That said I’d either go Burns or Maxwell in for Head. Burns has had exceptional shield form the last year or two. Burns could let Finch drop to five which is more what he’s been batting I. Shield cricket. Maxwel would be a middle order match winner the order probably misses. Head had a good knock and selectors really rate him so he will stick around.

I'm not fully convinced by Travis Head as a first class batsman yet (FC av 36.7), but he'll probably keep his spot through a dearth of other options. 

I think the selectors should go with batsmen who have played test cricket before, and who are in form. Unfortunately that probably means the Marsh boys have to stay in for now - at least we know they can score hundreds on flat Australian decks. 

Renshaw
Finch
Khawaja
S.Marsh
Handscomb
M.Marsh
Paine
Cummins
Starc
Hazelwood
Lyon


Travis Head should sub in for Khawaja if he's unfit. 

I don't like seeing Shaun M in there.

I think Handscomb has a technical issue that international bowling attacks have worked out.

There is also no pace bowler who bowls with economy of  movement and can bowl a lot  of overs at about 130 kph. The 140 kph plus bowlers' actions and run ups take too much out of them. 

I'd love a Richard Hadlee late in his career!

I'm not sure what Maxwell's recent form has been like?

I'm amazed!

https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/cricket/story/virat-kohli-fields-unchanged-playing-xi-for-the-first-time-in-39-tests-1327473-2018-08-30

It has become a bit of a meme in world cricket. Somewhere there is a chart of all the players and in which tests that they played and missed.

I don't think world cricket has ever seen anything like it. He doesn't just change losing teams, he changes winning teams too. Since the 39 in 39 - Vihari has debut'd as has P Shaw. And Kumar was injured for the England series. Then Thakur debut'd against the West Indies. 

He is at 42 tests as captain, 41 different teams. Easily a world record. By a mile I imagine.

What an incredible situation! I didn't think a captain was a sole selector in any country.

Every country (and situation) is different. Kumble was hands on - Kohli got rid of him and Shastri is simply a yes man for him. Kohli gets the team Kohli wants. 

Langer probably tells Finch and Paine who they're getting. 

Hesson used to tell KW who he was getting. I do not know about new coach Stead. I would guess KW has more sway there now (but really just speculating).

It appears to me that Joe Root gets told who he is getting. But Morgan seems to have a lot of sway over the ODI team selection.

Sarfaraz would have a lot of sway for Pakistan - but Inzi did select his nephew (Ul-Haq).

With you DC. SOS Marsh has had sufficient chances in the past. Trouble is we need a old head in the middle order.. So unless they go with Bailey or White.. which seems unlikely.. then fraid we are stuck with Marsh sr.

You can bet Kohli and his bowlers have done their homework on Handscomb. Too big a liability imho.

I am going to toss in a coupla bolters for the First Test
Renshaw
Finch
Khawaja
Doolan/Heazlett/Cooper/Lehmann (2 occupy #4 & #5)
M Marsh
Paine
Starc
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood

Tremain (12th)

From seeing Doolan play a lot for Tasmania in the Shield and Tests in the UAE, he is the most stylish batter in the country when he gets going. He reminds me of Mark Waugh.

 He has three problems though.

1. Mentally he doesn't think he is good enough. Doubts his own ability.

2. He gets caught on strike and struggles to run and create quick singles to keep the strike rotating  over and runs coming.

3. With his defence he can get bogged down and lose concentration, often getting out to a poor shot. 


He is also extremely intelligent.

I'd have Renshaw in there no matter what, unless he is out of form.

I've seen him bat time under incredible pressure in Asia. This is even when his team-mates have been crumbling around him.

Renshaw
Finch
Khawaja
Lehman
Handscombe
MMarsh
Paine
Starc
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood

Handscombe does have technique issues but you can't question his record at home so far and ability to grind out some innings and Lehman is in good form and actually averages over 40 in first class cricket, get him in.

I am pretty sure India wont pick blokes with dodgy techniques. Neither should we with Handscomb.

Did not know this for sure. But India has yet to win a series in Oz since they gained independence. Eleven attemps in fact.. only drawn three times. Even our record in India is better than that. This must weigh heavily on them when they arrive on our shores. Australia the last frontier. Without the phenomenal Smith this time round..India has probably its best chance to finally crack the duck. So it is imperative that Australia picks in form batsmen and not on reputation or incumbency.

Based on this criteria.. my batting squad.
Alex Doolan
Marcus Harris
Usman Khawaja
Aaron Finch
Tom Cooper
Will Bosisto

Reserves: Mitch Marsh (a/r), Marnus Labuchagne/Dan Hughes/Jake Lehmann/Sam Heazlett. I am adding Matthew Wade to that list.

Marsh sr is scoring big in his shield match. Looks certain now to retain his place.