Australia 16

Before every tour there is tremendous speculation, particularly in India, with respect to the selection of the tour party. If the touring country happens to be Australia, the speculation increases manifold. In fact previous selections to Australian tours have always been controversial.. In 1992, India took just one spinner and regretted it midway through the tour. In 1999, there was no place for Mohammad Azaruddin in the touring party and in 2003 a young fast bowler by the name of Irfan Pathan was picked out of oblivion and sent to Brisbane.

I am no Dilip Vengsarkar, (one of the reasons why I can write this blog) but here are my 16 for the tour to Australia:

1) Anil Kumble ( Captain)
2) V.V.S Lakshman ( Vice Captain)
3) Wasim Jaffer
4) Aakash Chopra
5) Rahul Dravid
6) Sachin Tendulkar
7) Saurav Ganguly
8) M.S.. Dhoni
9) Dinesh Kartick
10)Yuvraj Singh
11) Zaheer Khan
12) R.P. Singh
13) Munaf Patel
14) Harbhajan Singh
15) Ishant Sharma
16) Irfan Pathan.

There should be no speculation with respect to Dinesh Karthick's place simply because he was India's best player in England and you need a versatile player like him in a place like Australia. Ishant Sharma's five wicket haul ensures that he edges out VRV Singh. VVS will be my vice captain and my number 5. Make no mistake, the Australians fear him more than they fear Sachin.

There is no doubt that Yuvraj Singh should be in the XI. The only way he can be accommodated is if either Dravid or Ganguly agree to open. It will be a bit of a gamble, but then Australia is place where you need to take gambles to win.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good post.

Popular Posts