India's tour of Zimbabwe: India's possible XI
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India has emerged as a victorious T20 side this year after their splendid performances in the Asia cup, against the Aussies, and later against Sri Lanka. In contrast, their ODI performances have been a under-par nearly getting white washed out Down Under. Now with a trip to Zimbabwe, who are 11th in the latest ODI rankings looming large on the horizon, the selectors have decided to field a young side, which will be led by MSD.
Two weeks ago, the BCCI selection committee met at Mumbai to pick out the 15-member squad for India’s upcoming ODI and T20 series against Zimbabwe and the squad they decided comprised a lot of young faces and of course MS Dhoni.
Squad:
The squad comprises of few surprise picks and some worthy ones too.
ODI and T20 Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Rishi Dhawan, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal. There are a few capped members in this squad like Pandey, Rayudu, Patel, Bumrah, Sran, Jadhav, Unadkat, Kulkarni, and Dhawan. However, the composition of the starting eleven will also depend on the nature of the pitch they encounter.
The pitch:
All the ODI and T20’s against Zimbabwe have been scheduled at Harare Cricket Ground. This pitch is expected to be a dry wicket, thereby favoring the spinners, as game progresses on. But initially the pacers will have an advantage. Last year when Pakistan toured Zimbabwe for a T20 series, it turned out be a low scoring one as Pakistan fixed a target of just 130+ in both the matches. It was the same case for India when they played a ODI series there, where they could hardly set a target of 250-280. Last year, India, Pakistan and Ireland toured Zimbabwe of which eight times teams have won by defending and five times by chasing. So, setting a target and attempting to defend it appears to be a better strategy . Hence, the toss is also very crucial.
The selection committee has picked 5 pacers and 3 spinners as far as the bowling department is concerned. This should surely favor the Indian team taking the pitch report Into account.
PERFORMANCES OF Players in the Squad:
1) BATSMEN:
a) Openers:
KL Rahul and Faiz Fazal would be the frontrunners for openers’ choice. They have had great averages during Ranji trophy, List A. KL Rahul has also fared better in this IPL edition.
A question may arise as to why Faiz would fill another opener’s slot instead of Mandeep Singh though the latter has a better average. Usually, the left-right opening combination has successfully worked out for the Men in blue like Sehwag-Gambhir, Ganguly-Sachin. Another possibility of Mandeep-Fazal opening the innings seems unlikely because KL Rahul has been far more consistent than Mandeep.
b) Middle order:
The probable middle order would comprise of Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, and Ambati Rayudu. Manish Pandey and Rayudu have international experience and against Zimbabwe to be more precise. Both scored fifties on their ODI debut, and both scored tons against Zimbabwe last year.
Karun Nair has had an exciting experience in IPL 2016 with knocks on crucial occasions while Kedar Jadhav’s performances couldn’t help his cause. Jadhav had scored a 105* in India’s previous tour against Zimbabwe in the 50 over format. But, his form was poor in the T20 series . So, Karun Nair seems to be the right choice for No.4 option after Pandey, as he evolved as a better player in pressure situations.
Undoubtedly, the No.6 position is reserved for the limited overs format skipper MSD It would be interesting to see if Dhoni takes off the big gloves and stands as a fielder, letting KL Rahul take over the wicket-keeper’s role.
However strong a team’s batting order might be, the bowling line-up should be equally strong to restrict the opposition’s batting.
2) BOWLERS:
There might be 2 combinations of spinners and pacers. Usually, MSD and the selection’ committee prefer 3:2 combination of pacers and spinners. They might want to change it to 4:1 combination as the Harare pitch had been a bit grassy during some matches.
a) Case 1: (3 pacers and 2 spinners)
If MSD and selection committee follow the usual strategy of 3 pacers and 2 spinners, then Bumrah, Sran and Kulkarni who have produced memorable performances in IPL 2016 with decent economy might be the top picks. Unadkat and Rishi Dhawan would be benched because they haven’t produced satisfactory performances in this IPL edition.
That leaves 2 slots for spinners to complete the line-up. Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal will be picked, as the Indian team would need an All-rounder where Axar has a decent batting average in List A and Ranji trophy respectively. Axar has also scored 4 50+ scores as far as List-A is concerned and his highest score was 93. Chahal might get be preferred in the Indian team since he has been a consistent wicket-taking leggie. Jayant Yadav’s performance hasn’t been convincing in Ranji trophy, List A, IPL 2016.
b) Case 2: (4 pacers and a spinner)
If the selection committee takes the pitch factor into consideration, 4 pacers and a spinner would be selected. Then, Rishi Dhawan along with Bumrah, Sran, Kulkarni, would make the cut instead of the inexperienced Unadkat, as the latter conceded more runs without picking wickets. The remaining spinner slot would be filled by Axar over Chahal as the former has all-round abilities.
Predicted Playing XI for ODI and T20’s: (3 pacers and 2 spinners).
KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt & wk) ; Axar Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Predicted Playing XI for ODI and T20’s: (4 pacers and a spinner)
KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt & wk) ; Axar Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Rishi Dhawan.
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