Kaif v Laxman v Yuvraj

[Doink]

Whom do you think should be dropped for the 2nd test? Laxman, Kaif or Yuvraj? Laxman seems to be the 'leading contender' for now. Cant say what he'll do in the 2nd inns. or will he even get to bat again in this match. Kaif isnt my favourite but this time there isnt a good reason to leave him out

[rineet]

Laxman will score a hundred the next time he bats, now that his place in the team is under threat. He always does it and has done it a number of times in the past.

[south beds mikey]

As an Englishman I will Be delighted if Laxman is not selected. England are a good side and i can count on 1 hand the number of oppositon batsman I am scared of. Laxman is 1 of them

[John]

I would drop Kaif and Laxman.
Dhoni and Pathan in 6+7 and an extra bowler. A bit of a risk I know but than if you go with six batsmen your left with very ordinary bowling attack.
There are no solutions for India until they get decent seam bowlers. I reckon they will go for safety first and play six batsmen dropping Kaif and Yuvraj and Laxman will play. And Kumble and Habarjan will suffer long spells in the attack and there will be some easy runs to be had for English batsmen.

An alternative is to drop Sehwag.........................

[Vrock]

India I don't think would dream of dropping Sehwag for now. Open with Dravid? I doubt they would unless he went the same kind of length Hayden did for Australia in not getting a decent score.

I would stick with Laxman for the rest of the series. If he fails then I would bring in Yuvraj as he seems to be on very good form at the moment.

As John said I would also drop Kaif for an extra bowler. Seam seemed to dominate the first game to some degree and it is set to do the same. If India don't strengthen the bowling then they could regret their actions.

[Colourful Chaddi]

My XI on Thursday, 2nd Test as Mohali:

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Wasim Jaffer
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Mohammed Kaif
7. Mehrendra Singh Dhoni
8. Irfan Pathan
9. Anil Kumble
10. Munaf Patel
11. Sree santh

With the second Test between England and India being played in nothern India at Mohali which should favour the seamer more than the spinners I think it would be wise for India to go in with only one spinner and 3 seamers. With M.Patel now in the squad I believe he should play as he terrorised the English batsmen in the tour game.

With Yuvraj back in the squad after an hamstring injury I think he should replace VVS Laxman, who has done nothing much recently. Kaif looks much more confortable at the crease compared with Laxman and we should really be looking to the future. Laxman only plays well when he is facing the Aussies other than that even Bangladeshi' semaers give him a hard time at the crease.

Yuvraj is a very good player of fast bowlig and should not have much trouble in Mohali even with the conditons, as he shown before against Pakistan in 2004, at Lahore when he scored a ton of only 110 balls on a green pitch, whilst the top order failed.

[Django]

Selecting an extra bowler for the Mohali test is a good idea, but only if that bowler is really good and has the ability to make the difference. However at the moment bowling seems to be India’s biggest problem with spinners not delivering and the pacers not experienced enough to make an impact. On top of this, there are no real contenders for the job knocking on the selectors’ door on the basis of form. It is too much to expect talent alone to win matches.

Going into a crucial test match with one batsman less will only create problems for India, particularly if England win the toss and bat first. Any team batting first against the current Indian bowling attack will make a big score and subsequently put the Indian batsmen under pressure.

In my opinion the only replacement that needs to be made is Munaf Patel for the highly over-rated Harbhajan Singh. Yuvraj was in good form in Pakistan but he has not played for a few weeks and India really cannot afford to take any chances. Against this confident England team, Laxman should be given preference, simply because of his experience.

[John]

Originally Posted by Django

Going into a crucial test match with one batsman less will only create problems for India, particularly if England win the toss and bat first. Any team batting first against the current Indian bowling attack will make a big score and subsequently put the Indian batsmen under pressure.

Well you know the Indian side better than me. All I know is four man bowling attack is only likely to be successful if a number of England batsmen choose to throw their wickets away.