Indian team for Sri Lanka Tests

This will be a relatively brief post, because, in spite of India’s heartbreaking loss to Australia in the ODIs, and the question marks over a number of players in the shorter format of the game, I think our Test side is looking relatively stable. And for me, though the series against Australia was thrilling, it’s the Tests that really matter, and the upcoming two series against Sri Lanka and South Africa will be challenging and provide a reality check on how good a team we are at the moment.

In the playing 11, really only a couple of spots are up for grabs. There is no question about Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman forming the top 5, or about Dhoni’s spot as keeper. Zaheer’s return won’t come a moment too soon, and he and Harbhajan are certainties. So, too, in my mind, should Ishant Sharma be a certainty. There are still question marks over his form, but he seemed to be regaining his rhythm against the Aussies, and I think that dropping him after one bad performance in that series was a huge mistake. Munaf Patel, who came in his place as the “form” bowler, was whipped for 9 an over in Hyderabad, and the series effectively was turned at that point. That’s the difference between Ishant and Munaf. Ishant might struggle with form, which is partly a struggle with confidence, and confidence won’t be helped by dropping him. (And Ishant has always been a better Test bowler than a shorter-format bowler in any case). With Munaf, on the other hand, you just don’t know whether Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde will turn up on any given day. He has stepped admirably into Ajit Agarkar’s shoes.

This means that the only real questions concern our 6th batsman and 4th bowler.

With the 6th batsman, I would persist with Yuvraj Singh. I’m not entirely convinced of this selection, because Yuvraj still doesn’t entirely convince as a Test batsman. Because of his natural talent, he is very good when he is good. But there are all manner of technical vulnerabilities, against both the moving ball and against quality spin. His major strength is his self-confidence, so when he is in form and in the zone he is able to overcome those limitations, often brilliantly.

One of the reasons I would persist with Yuvraj is because I think he deserves a good run at the no. 6 spot after Ganguly’s retirement. He has had 7 matches so far, with mixed results – very impressive against England, ordinary against New Zealand. A second reason is the TINA factor – it’s not clear that there is an obvious alternative to him, though there are certainly players who are potentially good enough to replace him, and who are technically better than he is. Certainly, none of the youngsters we have seen so much of in one-day and T20 cricket – Raina, Rohit or Kohli – looks ready or good enough to take his place. (Rohit I think has the technique for Tests – but if he doesn’t have the temperament to build an innings over 50 overs, I don’t see how we can rely on him as a Test batsman. The effects of IPL and the corrosive effect it has had on the domestic game are already evident).

So, the realistic competition to Yuvraj really is, once again, Subramaniam Badrinath. I know I keep falling back on him, but I do think he is that good. He is one of the soundest batsmen technically in the country; he has been performing consistently for over three years now, the sort of domestic consistency that only Gautam Gambhir has matched in recent times; and he has started this season off, yet again, with a 100. With someone like Dravid likely to retire in the next year or two, we desperately need someone who can at least make a fist of filling those shoes, and Badri seems the best suited to do so by far. We have to give him a fair chance, before he gives up hope and loses the drive that has made him such a successful player so far.

Indeed, Badri should be giving Yuvi a serious run for that spot in the playing 11. I would persist with Yuvraj because he is the man in possession of the spot, and at the start of a new season, the man in possession does deserve a chance first. And because his bowling adds value to a side that only plays four frontline bowlers. Since neither Sehwag nor Tendulkar has been bowling much of late, having someone who can reliably chip in with a few extra overs is important. Badri also does have that ability, but given how well Yuvraj has bowled over the last year, I would stick with him for a while longer. It’s a close affair though, and I think he definitely needs to be on trial. The one good thing about Yuvraj though is that when his form is bad, he looks woeful and completely out of his depth, so he’s not one of those people (like Rohit) who will keep making promising 30s and keep you wondering whether he’s on the edge of a big innings or not. So I’d give Yuvi another chance, but make it clear to him that he can’t take his place in the 11 for granted. One slip-up, and Badri should finally get his due.

For the fourth bowler, even though we are playing in India, I would go with a third seamer because Sri Lanka is so good against spin (and anyway, Yuvi is good for 10-12 overs as a second spinner). And this is where I would make my controversial decision. In popular wisdom, the spot seems to be contested between Munaf Patel (as the form player), Ashish Nehra (as the comeback kid) and Sudeep Tyagi (as the new kid on the block), with the likes of R.P. Singh and Sreesanth waiting in the wings for their one big spell in domestic cricket to come knocking again. I however, would go with someone I have admired for a long time, and pick Praveen Kumar.

It frankly amazes me that PK has not been seriously considered for Test cricket, but that just shows how perceptions die hard. He bowls around 130 kph, and he is accurate, and so it seems to have decided that he is a “one-day bowler” – even though he made it into India reckoning on the strength of some remarkable, and remarkably consistent, 4- and 5-day performances for UP in the Ranji Trophy. (Who can forget his magical 8-wicket haul in a losing cause in the 1st innings of the 2007-08 Ranji final against Delhi, one of the best bowling performances in domestic cricket in recent times? Obviously, the selectors).

There are two things I admire about PK. The first is skill, and the second is heart. In terms of skill, he is one of the few bowlers in the world who can swing the ball both ways, and that is not a trivial talent. And he swings it on a dime, with relentless accuracy. It would be meaningless to make comparisons with someone as great as Glenn McGrath or Shaun Pollock, though both showed that you didn’t need express pace to be a great bowler in Tests as long as you had relentless accuracy and the ability to move the ball. But it is certainly relevant to make comparisons with the likes of Dominic Cork or Manoj Prabhakar or Venkatesh Prasad, all of whom could be devastating bowlers in even slightly helpful conditions, and all of whom have won Test matches for their national sides.

Of course, it is true that in unhelpful conditions PK can be easy pickings. But which one of our seam bowlers, bar Zaheer Khan, is capable of holding his own un unhelpful conditions? It’s not like Munaf Patel is suddenly going to be a demon in unhelpful conditions. Indeed, it’s not even like Munaf is particularly faster than PK, since he hardly bowls above 135 kph these days. Yet, again, early perceptions die hard, so somehow Munaf is considered a Test bowler and PK considered “too slow” for Tests, in spite of all empirical evidence to the contrary.

Along with this skill, PK brings enormous heart to his bowling – and there alone, he scores heavily over Munaf. PK is relentlessly at the batsman, always trying, always wearing his heart on his sleeve, and that kind of commitment is infectious for a team. He now seems to have discovered his batting abilities at the highest level as well, which means that having Bhajji, PK and Zak at 8, 9 and 10 lends serious lower order gumption to the batting line-up.

The reserve seamer’s spot, for me, is a toss-up between Munaf and Ashish Nehra. Munaf is the man in possession, and have a pretty decent account of himself in Tests in New Zealand (though he was horrible in the one-dayers). But Nehra, since his recall to the side in T20 and ODIs, has been bowling with beautiful rhythm. The worry with Nehra has always been whether his body would last the grind of a Test match, so it’s always a bit of a gamble to pick him – and indeed, his recall was on the back of IPL performances, rather than anything he has done in domestic cricket of late. Still, I will stick with him on two grounds. The first is experience – Nehra seems to have come back a tougher, more mature cricketer. And the second is skill. Munaf can be a pretty accurate customer (Sunil Gavaskar rather grandiosely compared him to Glenn McGrath, but really the more accurate comparison is to Angus Fraser). But Nehra is a genuinely skillful swing bowler, and when in rhythm, just gets lovely shape on the ball. And, if pace is such a big consideration, he is still a good yard quicker than Munaf, so swings it at reasonable pace. Had I been more sure of his fitness, I would have put him in the 11 ahead of PK. As it is, I think he is worthy of a spot in the 14. Munaf will just have to go back to domestic cricket and prove that his occasional flashes of brilliance can be backed up with some consistency.

The reserve spinner’s spot unquestionably goes to Amit Mishra (though Pragyan Ojha might have a question or two about that), so that pretty much takes care of the side:

Playing XI against Sri Lanka:

1. Gautam Gambhir (V)
2. Virendra Sehwag
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. V.V.S. Laxman
6. Yuvraj Singh
7. Mahendra Dhoni © (W)
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Praveen Kumar
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Ishant Sharma

Reserves:

12. Subramaniam Badrinath
13. Ashish Nehra
14. Amit Mishra