Playing Selector - fc matches, NZ in India
Sadiq Yusuf
we think ought to be the teams that will play NZ in the 3 first class
games it will play in India. Since we've often knocked the selectors for
their picks in the past, it's only fair that we expose ourself to
similar criticism on this forum :-)
The only thing we wish to add in our mitigation is this - while
we may have resembled the Indian selectors in that we made these picks
in late night discussions while sated with food, *none* of us were tipsy
at the time (which is diametrically opposed to the condition many of the
selectors often seem to be in, when *they* make their picks :-)
Date Venue Opposition
================================================================
07-09 Oct Rajkot Board President's XI
Very similar to the "A" team, soon to be touring Kenya. We went
with :
Ajay Jadeja(c), Vikram Rathore, Rahul Dravid, Rizwan Shamshad,
Saurav Ganguly, Avinash Vaidya, Sairaj Bahutule, Utpal Chatterjee,
Prashant Vaidya, Venkatesh Prasad, Salil Ankola.
This would be the preferred XI. They'd probably want to pick a
XII, though, so add Rajesh Chauhan to the mix.
Explanation : Most of it is fairly straightforward. Utpal in the
XI, because Raju and Chauhan are both playing in Kenya and Utpal isnt.
Prasad added to the bowling roster, because if he is going to be the
next *test* match fast bowler for India, he ought to at least get some
first class experience against international competition (and not just
in Ranji league games). And it gives the selectors a chance to see
Prasad, Vaidya and Ankola compete head to head in a first class game
situation - the best way to decide which among them should have the
inside track for a future test slot.
Similar reasoning for Jadeja - if he is India's future test
opener, he ought to play 3 day games too, not just be slotted in as a
ODI opener. And he's captain mostly because he is captain for the A team
to Kenya :-)
BTW, Rizwan Shamshad was picked because he's been a heavy scorer
in domestic cricket, and he isnt going to Kenya (Bhupinder Jr is). But
we might well see Bhupinder there instead.
12-14 Oct Bombay Ranji Champions, Bombay
02-04 Nov Hyderabad Indian Colts XI
First, the Indian Colts XI - the Bombay side will be chosen by
the Bombay Cricket Association, not the national selectors (or so I
presume :-)
For the Colts :
Sameer Dighe (wk/captain), Gagan Khoda, Jatinder Singh, Amol
Muzumdar, VVS Laxman, Pankaj Dharmani, P. Krishnakumar, Paras Mhambrey,
David Johnson, Balaji Rao, Suresh Kumar.
Once again, thats the preferred XI. For the twelfth, it depends
on whether they want a bat or a bowler. If its a bat, it's probably
S.Sharath (who probably should be there anyway, but wasnt picked because
he's a little older and because Gautam would raise hell if we didnt pick
VVS Laxman :-) If they want another bowler as the 12th, it could be
Iqbal Siddiqui of Maharashtra. Or if they *really* wanted another
spinner - I suppose Pankaj Thakur would fit as the offie they might want
to go with.
For the Ranji Champs Bombay :
We, in our infinite wisdom, decided to play the role of the BCA
as well, and went ahead and picked the Bombay side :-)
The test stars will probably not play this game (which is not a
bad thing - offers a greater opportunity for the youngsters :-)
Zubin Barucha, Manoj Joglekar, Amol Muzumdar, Jatin Paranjpe,
Kiran Pawar, Sameer Dighe (wk/captain), Sairaj Bahutule, Salil Ankola,
Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambrey, Nilesh Kulkarni.
Thats the preferred XI. For the 12th - it'll probably be a
batsman. Maybe Sunil More, though I'd rather see them go with someone
really young myself. Oh well :-)
Basically, we think these 3 teams complement each other and give
everyone an opportunity :-) The reason Mhambrey and Amol were not picked
for the Board President's XI game, for example (even though they are in
the India A team to Kenya), is that they were both picked for the Indian
Colts instead - and, since they'll both be playing for Bombay, they will
get 2 games against NZ anyway. This was also the case with Dighe - even
though he is in the side to Kenya, we picked Avinash Vaidya for the
President's XI game.
So, there it is :-) Suggestions/comments/flames welcome.
Brickbats shall be saved for forwarding to grvi...@selector.bcci.com
:-)
Sadiq [ hoping fervently for a Bombay win vs NZ :-) ] Yusuf
--
Sadiq Yusuf
si...@iastate.edu
Dipak Basu
> For the Colts :
>
> Sameer Dighe (wk/captain), Gagan Khoda, Jatinder Singh, Amol
>Muzumdar, VVS Laxman, Pankaj Dharmani, P. Krishnakumar, Paras Mhambrey,
>David Johnson, Balaji Rao, Suresh Kumar.
Good selections! Ever thought of becoming a selector?
The one name missing in both the teams is PVS Rao, the spinner from
Bihar. Given Utpal and Sairaj are in the BPXI, I suggest PVS for the
Colts. I'm not familiar enough with Balaji Rao and Suresh Kumar to
compare their merits though.
Also, who is Avinash Vaidya?
Dipak.
Pramod Koshy
> During late night discussions, a couple of us came up with what
>we think ought to be the teams that will play NZ in the 3 first class
>games it will play in India. Since we've often knocked the selectors for
>their picks in the past, it's only fair that we expose ourself to
>similar criticism on this forum :-)
> The only thing we wish to add in our mitigation is this - while
>we may have resembled the Indian selectors in that we made these picks
>in late night discussions while sated with food, *none* of us were tipsy
>at the time (which is diametrically opposed to the condition many of the
>selectors often seem to be in, when *they* make their picks :-)
>
>
>
>Date Venue Opposition
>================================================================
>07-09 Oct Rajkot Board President's XI
>
> Very similar to the "A" team, soon to be touring Kenya. We went
>with :
> Ajay Jadeja(c), Vikram Rathore, Rahul Dravid, Rizwan Shamshad,
>Saurav Ganguly, Avinash Vaidya, Sairaj Bahutule, Utpal Chatterjee,
>Prashant Vaidya, Venkatesh Prasad, Salil Ankola.
> This would be the preferred XI. They'd probably want to pick a
>XII, though, so add Rajesh Chauhan to the mix.
>
odi's . I don't think the selectors need testing them out. So instead of
these two I would have Praveen Amre and an allrounder. ( I can't think of any
one right now )
> First, the Indian Colts XI - the Bombay side will be chosen by
>the Bombay Cricket Association, not the national selectors (or so I
>presume :-)
>
> For the Colts :
>
> Sameer Dighe (wk/captain), Gagan Khoda, Jatinder Singh, Amol
>Muzumdar, VVS Laxman, Pankaj Dharmani, P. Krishnakumar, Paras Mhambrey,
>David Johnson, Balaji Rao, Suresh Kumar.
S Sharath certainly deserves a place. While David Johnson certainly does not
have any place in a colts XI. I am not sure about his age, but he certainly is
over 25/26. So I guess it has to be I Siddiqui in place of David J.
>
> For the Ranji Champs Bombay :
>
> We, in our infinite wisdom, decided to play the role of the BCA
>as well, and went ahead and picked the Bombay side :-)
> The test stars will probably not play this game (which is not a
>bad thing - offers a greater opportunity for the youngsters :-)
>
> Zubin Barucha, Manoj Joglekar, Amol Muzumdar, Jatin Paranjpe,
>Kiran Pawar, Sameer Dighe (wk/captain), Sairaj Bahutule, Salil Ankola,
>Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambrey, Nilesh Kulkarni.
I would put Vonod Kambli in to give him more practice. Hope Abhey Kurruvilla
finally proves himself to the selectos.
When I went back to India recently I gathered all the old newspapers in my
house and scanned the sports section. The local tournament between the A B
and C Indian teams ( held sometime earlier this year ) was covered
pretty well by the Hindu. The sports reporter was all praise for Salil
Ankola who he said bowled very well and very very fast. According to him
Ankola was clearly faster than all the other medium pacers in that tourny.
(including Srinath ) . He is probably the guy to watch for in the coming
season.
Pramod Koshy.
Sanjoy Majumder
>In article <406q0f$p...@news.iastate.edu>, Sadiq Yusuf <si...@iastate.edu> wrote:
>>
>>================================================================
>>07-09 Oct Rajkot Board President's XI
>>
>> Very similar to the "A" team, soon to be touring Kenya. We went
>>with :
>> Ajay Jadeja(c), Vikram Rathore, Rahul Dravid, Rizwan Shamshad,
>>Saurav Ganguly, Avinash Vaidya, Sairaj Bahutule, Utpal Chatterjee,
>>Prashant Vaidya, Venkatesh Prasad, Salil Ankola.
>> This would be the preferred XI. They'd probably want to pick a
>>XII, though, so add Rajesh Chauhan to the mix.
>>
> odi's . I don't think the selectors need testing them out. So instead of
>these two I would have Praveen Amre and an allrounder. ( I can't think of any
>one right now )
Yes, but these are 3 day games and not OD's. I think what Sadiq was saying is
that our second line openers and fast bowlers hardly play any 3 day games
against international teams and so we have no way of assessing their test
ability. Since Jadeja and Rathore are our backup openers (and we'll need one
soon for Prabhakar can't go on for much longer) they need to constantly play
visiting teams instead of sitting in the dressing rooms (as Jadeja does all
the time). And Prasad maybe a certainity in the one-day side but we have no
idea if he is good enough for the test side. And sooner or later we will have
to play 3 seamers in our test XI (atleast in England next year if not
earlier). In which case Prasad, Ankola and Vaidya should be tested to see who
should fill the spot.
I agree with your choice of Amre and he can play in place of Shamshad.
Sanjoy
Dipak Basu
>Ajay Jadeja and V Prasad are sure to be in the Indian team atleast for the
> odi's . I don't think the selectors need testing them out. So instead of
>these two I would have Praveen Amre and an allrounder. ( I can't think of any
>one right now )
>
Agreed. And the choice shoud be P. Krishnakumar (for the allrounder - see
below) and Muzumdar. He's been in the wings longer than the other colts,
unless Amre has been having a good domestic season.
Sadiq Yusuf
Dipak Basu <dipak...@taligent.com> wrote:
>In article <406q0f$p...@news.iastate.edu>, si...@iastate.edu (Sadiq Yusuf) wrote:
>
>
>> For the Colts :
>>
>> Sameer Dighe (wk/captain), Gagan Khoda, Jatinder Singh, Amol
>>Muzumdar, VVS Laxman, Pankaj Dharmani, P. Krishnakumar, Paras Mhambrey,
>>David Johnson, Balaji Rao, Suresh Kumar.
>
>
Thanks :-) And yes, very often - especially when then national
14 has been picked for tours :-)
>The one name missing in both the teams is PVS Rao, the spinner from
>Bihar.
KVP Rao, I believe. And while I'd love to put him in someplace,
he is now 30 years old - cant possibly play for the Colts, I'd think
(unless its the Indianapolis Colts - and that only if he's willing to
take a pay cut and stay injury free :-) And I thought both Utpal and
Sairaj had better credentials, and were more likely to be future test
players, and so had to put them in ahead of KVP.
Given Utpal and Sairaj are in the BPXI, I suggest PVS for the
>Colts. I'm not familiar enough with Balaji Rao and Suresh Kumar to
>compare their merits though.
>
Balaji *has* to play, IMHO. I dont care if his performances
weren't outstanding in the Ranjis (I dont have his stats). He is a
leggie, has a genuine googly that turns a fair bit (I watched him bowl
v/s England A for the Colts in January), and is currently 17 years old.
He took 5 wickets in the 2nd inning v/s England A early this year. While
he may not be anywhere near ready at the moment, we should give him all
the international exposure we can in these kinds of matches - he might
well be our big weapon 5 years down the line. We've mishandled too many
young leggies in the past (Siva and Hirwani come to mind - both tossed
in with very little experience at age 18) - I'd hate to see us ruin
another.
As for Suresh Kumar, he's a left arm orthodox spinner from
Kerala. Actually, that was a tough decision - basically, we have to
remember that its a Colts team, and pick very young prospects. There is
a paucity of good LAS bowlers in the country *who are also young* - the
Avinash Kumars, the KVP Raos, the Sunil Subramaniums, the Pradeep Jains
etc are all about 30 now. Of the young ones, the best record last season
belonged to Nilesh Kulkarni - but he's not a national contender yet, and
will already play against NZ for Bombay. Thus, I just went with Suresh
Kumar (the others considered were Syed Meeraj of Hyderabad and Valmik
Buch of Baroda - I dont know of any other good LAS's who are under 25
or so).
I suppose if one wanted an offie, one could go with Ranjib
Biswal (about 26), or if one wanted to go really young, maybe Pankaj
Thakur of Haryana (about 22 I think)
>Also, who is Avinash Vaidya?
>
Avinash Vaidya is the Karnataka keeper - occasionally brilliant
with the gloves (was excellent v/s England A in one "test"), but
sometimes very poor (eg. the CHallenger series last year - apparently
dropped catches, and twice let thru byes thru his legs. I've never seen
him keep, but I vividly recall reports of the Bombay-Karnataka Ranji
quarters 2 years ago, where he missed 4 chances to help Bombay to the
first innings lead :-)
Being the official #1 Dighe fan on the net, I'd much rather see
Dighe in ahead of Vaidya myself :-) (the big difference, IMHO, is that
Avinash isnt much of a bat - bats below Kumble etc for Karnataka, while
Dighe opens for Bombay. But thats just my opinion :-) However, Dighe is
going to Kenya, and I picked him to captain the Colts (he has some
captaincy experience with Bombay). In addition, he'll get a game for
Bombay v/s NZ, so Vaidya seemed the logical choice for the BP XI game.
Sadiq [ explaining the reasoning ] Yusuf
>Dipak.
--
Sadiq Yusuf
si...@iastate.edu
Sadiq Yusuf
>>================================================================
>>07-09 Oct Rajkot Board President's XI
>> Ajay Jadeja(c), Vikram Rathore, Rahul Dravid, Rizwan Shamshad,
>>Saurav Ganguly, Avinash Vaidya, Sairaj Bahutule, Utpal Chatterjee,
>>Prashant Vaidya, Venkatesh Prasad, Salil Ankola.
>> This would be the preferred XI. They'd probably want to pick a
>>XII, though, so add Rajesh Chauhan to the mix.
>>
>Ajay Jadeja and V Prasad are sure to be in the Indian team atleast for the
> odi's . I don't think the selectors need testing them out. So instead of
>these two I would have Praveen Amre and an allrounder. ( I can't think of any
>one right now )
>
Well, Sanjoy explained the reasoning behind the Jadeja and
Prasad picks :-) After all, we really have *no* idea how good Prasad is
in a 3 day situation, do we ? Remember, he was outperformed by David
Johnson for Karnataka in the Ranjis last year. Its about time we gave
*someone* exposure for tests in the future.
As for Praveen Amre, you hit a sore nerve :-) I personally would
pick him in a heartbeat - ahead of almost anyone else (ahead of Dravid
and Saurav and all, too). However, I dont believe the selectors will
pick him - thats the tragedy of it. But if you want my own personal
selection, I'd have Amre in there, in place of probably Rizwan Shamshad.
As for the allrounder, doesnt Bahutule fill that role ? :-) The other
one is Krishna Kumar, but we put him in the Colts team.
>> First, the Indian Colts XI - the Bombay side will be chosen by
>>the Bombay Cricket Association, not the national selectors (or so I
>>presume :-)
>>
>> For the Colts :
>>
>> Sameer Dighe (wk/captain), Gagan Khoda, Jatinder Singh, Amol
>>Muzumdar, VVS Laxman, Pankaj Dharmani, P. Krishnakumar, Paras Mhambrey,
>>David Johnson, Balaji Rao, Suresh Kumar.
>
>S Sharath certainly deserves a place.
I know :-) I just *really* wanted Amol, VVS and Dharmani in
there - they all have the potential to play for India in the future (and
may even form the Indian middle order 8-10 years from now :-) I suppose
a way out would be to open with Dighe (as he does for Bombay), and bring
in Sharath for either Khoda or Jatinder. I just thought that having
Dighe keep, open *and* captain would be too heavy a burden :-)
While David Johnson certainly does not
>have any place in a colts XI. I am not sure about his age, but he certainly is
>over 25/26. So I guess it has to be I Siddiqui in place of David J.
>
Nopesy. Johnson had an outstanding season last year, while
Siddiqui (much to my personal dismay) did not. And David Johnson was
born on 16/10/1971 (at least officially :-) - which makes him 23 (or
maybe 24 by the time the game is played ? :-) Young enough to be a
contender in the future, I think.
>>
>> For the Ranji Champs Bombay :
>>
>> Zubin Barucha, Manoj Joglekar, Amol Muzumdar, Jatin Paranjpe,
>>Kiran Pawar, Sameer Dighe (wk/captain), Sairaj Bahutule, Salil Ankola,
>>Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambrey, Nilesh Kulkarni.
>
>I would put Vonod Kambli in to give him more practice. Hope Abhey Kurruvilla
>finally proves himself to the selectos.
Didnt put Kambli in because he's being given the chance to
practice in Kenya already. And he doesnt need more international
exposure at 4 day level (like Jadeja and Prasad do), he already has
that. As for Kuruvilla, I couldnt agree with you more. Though, what
would constitute "proving" himself, I wonder ? A 5 wicket haul ? He
already had that against the West Indies (5/41 or so), and what did
that get him ? Studious ignoring for the England A test matches, as well
as the Kenya tour, thats what. Ah well.
>When I went back to India recently I gathered all the old newspapers in my
>house and scanned the sports section. The local tournament between the A B
>and C Indian teams ( held sometime earlier this year ) was covered
>pretty well by the Hindu. The sports reporter was all praise for Salil
>Ankola who he said bowled very well and very very fast. According to him
>Ankola was clearly faster than all the other medium pacers in that tourny.
>(including Srinath ) . He is probably the guy to watch for in the coming
>season.
Thank you, thank you :-) I've felt like a voice in the
wilderness, screaming about Salil for 3 years now, while everyone else
ignores him :-) He was indeed very good in the Challengers (as well as
the Ranji - had an average of about 15/wicket, I think). Kenya is
probably a crucial tour for him. And as for him being the guy to watch
for, I agree - thats why he's been picked for the Board Presidents XI as
well as for Bombay :-)
Sadiq [ enjoying talking thru the selectorial hat :-) ] Yusuf
>
>Pramod Koshy.
>
>
--
Sadiq Yusuf
si...@iastate.edu