India's Batting Dilemma
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 8:34 pm
Rahul has waited for his Test chance to return back to him for India and, the early signs are that he has leapt on it. There are many checks and balances on his most recent series. It was against West Indies who have been hugely underwhelming and who find themselves hugely lacking in the bowling department. Despite this you would feel that Rahul has done enough to justify another crack of the whip.
That being said India have something of an embarrassment of riches at the top of the order and the return of Murali Vijay doesn't make things any easier. I would suspect that Vijay would return into the Test set up straight away. He is the only player who has played well in all countries - even the grandmaster Virat Kohli has struggled on swinging pitches where Vijay has thrived.
This then leaves India's selectors with the following quandary: Do we drop Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan or Cheteshwar Pujara?
Pujara is a big talent who, due to such selection riches that we are discussing here, has never had a particularly extended run in an Indian Test team. I would be inclined to give Pujara the chance he deserves and warrants. On the flip side of that particular coin you have to think that Dhawan has had the chances that Pujara had not had - and has spurned them. All the way back in March I questioned the form of Dhawan. After his poor showing in the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup I pointed to the fact that his style of play works very well in combination with Rohit Sharma. This would make him an automatic selection for shorter forms of the game but not so much for longer forms. If any of these batsmen drop out for Vijay, I would warrant that it would have to be Dhawan.
All of this has been further confused by the 162* of Abhinav Mukund in the Duleep Trophy. I think Mukund is a better batsmen to Dhawan as well so could be another nearly man to buzz round the team.
I will now stand by and wait for the bhaveshgor analysis
That being said India have something of an embarrassment of riches at the top of the order and the return of Murali Vijay doesn't make things any easier. I would suspect that Vijay would return into the Test set up straight away. He is the only player who has played well in all countries - even the grandmaster Virat Kohli has struggled on swinging pitches where Vijay has thrived.
This then leaves India's selectors with the following quandary: Do we drop Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan or Cheteshwar Pujara?
Pujara is a big talent who, due to such selection riches that we are discussing here, has never had a particularly extended run in an Indian Test team. I would be inclined to give Pujara the chance he deserves and warrants. On the flip side of that particular coin you have to think that Dhawan has had the chances that Pujara had not had - and has spurned them. All the way back in March I questioned the form of Dhawan. After his poor showing in the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup I pointed to the fact that his style of play works very well in combination with Rohit Sharma. This would make him an automatic selection for shorter forms of the game but not so much for longer forms. If any of these batsmen drop out for Vijay, I would warrant that it would have to be Dhawan.
All of this has been further confused by the 162* of Abhinav Mukund in the Duleep Trophy. I think Mukund is a better batsmen to Dhawan as well so could be another nearly man to buzz round the team.
I will now stand by and wait for the bhaveshgor analysis