Dravid Back

[Noddy]

Test Squad:-

1 Dinesh Karthik, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Sreesanth, 12 Yuvraj Singh, 13 RP Singh, 14 Murali Kartik.

[Luton Bad Boy]

Test Squad:-

1 Dinesh Karthik, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Sreesanth, 12 Yuvraj Singh, 13 RP Singh, 14 Murali Kartik.

Formidable lineup to say the least, batsman of the highest quality, pace bowlers to counter any movement if available on the pitch, spinners with match-winning abilities. Pakistan will have some tough work ahead of them to beat this line-up AT HOME!

[Gabbar Singh]

I'm an India fan and whilst on paper the batting looks great, I still have my doubts.

Jaffer/Kartik are both awful outside their off stump early on. Their recent domestic form has been atrocious. Jaffer averages 33 from 13 innings and Kartik 27 from 9.

Obviously Dravid will be as strong as ever at number 3 and with a point to prove no doubt.

Sachin, whilst in blistering one day form is still lacking in the test arena (for the last 12-18 months) and sure he may accumulate runs but he can no longer take an attack apart like he used to (in Test matches). He's also susceptible to the short ball and went on record before the England tests to say he wouldn't play the hook shot and didn't during that series.

Sadly I don't think Yuvraj will play the first test so the last two batting places will go to Ganguly and Laxman......I always feel sorry for VVS since he's always looking over his shoulder as his place in the side always seems to be in doubt.

India will obviously play two spinners (Kumble and Harbhajan) + Zaheer so I guess the final spot will go to RPS/Sreesaanth.

I reckon the final 11 will be -

Jaffer
Kartik
Dravid
Tendulkar
Ganguly
Laxman
Dhoni
Kumble
Harbhajan
Zaheer
RPS/Sree

Would be great to see Yuvraj in instead of Ganguly but I doubt Kumble would have the balls for that although when Ganguly was captain Kumble missed so many tests and odi because Harbhajan was favoured over him.....maybe its time for Kumble to get his payback on Sourav lol.

[Amjid Javed]

Indias test sqaud is a strong one.

Pakistans bowlers against indias middle order.

&

Pakistans batsmen v Anil Kumble will decide how the series goes.

India will start series as favourites!

[Rudi hater]

India will win both ODI and tests.

[TaZ]

if Pak go in with Kaneria and Rehman we are dead

[Amjid Javed]

Taz,

Pakistan are likely to pick 3 seamers akthar, Gul and one other.

Rigth now id pick niether rehman or kaneria as 1st choice test spinner. Rehman has been struggling and kaneria is unlikely to give indian batsmen sleepless nights.

[jackal786]

Indian openers are not great despite they did very well in england. Karthik has scored 6 fifties (including a 100) in a row in the last 6 tests he played. 1 against SA in SA, 2 against BD in BD, 3 against England in England.

[Rudi hater]

Surprised they did not go with Gambir. Uthapa and Yuvi would have done well too.

[jackal786]

Surprised they did not go with Gambir. Uthapa and Yuvi would have done well too.


Funny that you mention. Last time when Pakistan toured India opened with Gambhir and Sehwag.

[Swaraj!!]

Dont think any of the pacers are going to be any good on Indian pitches. They got the results they did because it was England.

Well well well. Lets see.

[Megadeth]

Pehelwaan Akhtar and gul r the only 2 bowlers india need to be cautious abt..if akhtar gets injured...assured that test series going with team india..

[traveller007]

I'm an India fan and whilst on paper the batting looks great, I still have my doubts.

Jaffer/Kartik are both awful outside their off stump early on. Their recent domestic form has been atrocious. Jaffer averages 33 from 13 innings and Kartik 27 from 9.

Obviously Dravid will be as strong as ever at number 3 and with a point to prove no doubt.

Sachin, whilst in blistering one day form is still lacking in the test arena (for the last 12-18 months) and sure he may accumulate runs but he can no longer take an attack apart like he used to (in Test matches). He's also susceptible to the short ball and went on record before the England tests to say he wouldn't play the hook shot and didn't during that series.

Sadly I don't think Yuvraj will play the first test so the last two batting places will go to Ganguly and Laxman......I always feel sorry for VVS since he's always looking over his shoulder as his place in the side always seems to be in doubt.

India will obviously play two spinners (Kumble and Harbhajan) + Zaheer so I guess the final spot will go to RPS/Sreesaanth.

I reckon the final 11 will be -

Jaffer
Kartik
Dravid
Tendulkar
Ganguly
Laxman
Dhoni
Kumble
Harbhajan
Zaheer
RPS/Sree

Would be great to see Yuvraj in instead of Ganguly but I doubt Kumble would have the balls for that although when Ganguly was captain Kumble missed so many tests and odi because Harbhajan was favoured over him.....maybe its time for Kumble to get his payback on Sourav lol.
I would have Akash Chopra And Virendra Shewag instead of Kartik and Jaffer, as you said they have their shortcomings, Shewag And Chopra combo works very well...it did for us in Australia..

[Indiafan]

Well, Dravid was never dropped from the test team so he obviously he would be in

[Sheikh]

I think we can handle their batting line-up. Both Karthik and Jaffer are susceptible early on and I think we can pick them up early. Their middle order lacks any real aggression and their batsmen (bar Dhoni) will not force the pace much. We can hope to limit their batting to about 350 odd and work as hard as we can to outbat them.

I'd be very happy if they go with 2 pacers and 2 spinners. Personally I think a combination of Zaheer, Sreesanth, RP, and Kumble would be their most potent attack. With just 2 pacers in hand, and if we can manage to see out the first 20 overs, we'd be in a very strong position. I think the middle order of Younis, Yousuf, Malik, and Misbah will be able to handle their spin quite well.

[Boi]

Pehelwaan Akhtar and gul r the only 2 bowlers india need to be cautious abt..if akhtar gets injured...assured that test series going with team india..


Well last time akthar didnt play and pakistan atill won the series

[Anwar]

Im not hugely worried about India's Bowling attack because I think on the flat pitches Zaheer and one of RP or Sreesanth are going to have work extremly hard once the new ball is out of the way.

I am a little worried about the openers against the Indian seamers as they can get good swing with new ball, but hopefully our openers should cope with that.

After openers with YK at 3 im very confident he will inshallah score runs.

O yh and did i forget WE LOVE MOHAMMAD YOUSUF!! Inshallah MoYo carries on his brilliant form in Tests.

[Megadeth]

Well last time akthar didnt play and pakistan atill won the series

like u said..it was 'last time'...

[jackal786]

Dravid another century 121 followed by his 214 in the first match.

[IMD Walrus]

Why would you want to drop Ganguly after his showing in tests recently?

[12thMan]

Is Dravid now fighting for his spot or he is just easy going batsman who will bat where ever? He has opened before even when he was captain and recently has said he will open if team wants him to. Now he will be opening this match to accomodate Yuvi in the side. Good or bad? If he fails this match what will happen in 2nd test? Do they get Sehwag and drop Yuvi or Dravid's stock falls. He did get dropped in recent ODIs but then he has shown that he can bat in ODIs too as I have seen few knocks going at 90+ SR. Nice problem to have but not a right way for Dravid to regain form.

Will they dare to have Tendu open instead who is an opener in ODIs.