Yuvraj Singh's failure in India's warm up match against ACT Invitational XI has essentially ruled him out of the team for the rest of the series. Unable to replicate his ODI form, he has scored a meager twenty eight runs in four matches - so much for shuffling the batting order around to accommodate him in the eleven. He must be disappointed that he couldn't use the opportunity to cement a spot in the team after being in the sidelines for so long.
Another player who has been struggling for runs in the series so far is Jaffer. He has fallen in all the four test innings so far to Lee's scorching pace. Though he scored a useful 92 in the practice match, it wasn't a confident innings and on a fast bouncy pitch in Perth, he could be a liability. It is a tough call to drop him - he was in very good form all through 2007 and still should be India's first choice opener. But, with Sehwag exhibiting some form - he scored a typically aggressive 73 ball century in the practice match; it's worth a gamble to try him as an opener at Perth.
Yuvraj's replacement Karthik offers a couple of options. One option is to play him as the other opener and restore the middle order back - Dravid at three and Laxman at six. The other option is to keep Dravid as the other opener and play Karthik at six. With Laxman being so fluent at three and Dravid settling in to the role of an opener after a horrid match at the MCG, the latter option sounds better.
As for the bowlers, Kumble, Ishant and RP Singh select themselves. With Perth promising to be a fast and bouncy pitch, Pathan should be brought in for Harbhajan.
With that, here is my team for the Perth Test -
- Virender Sehwag
- Rahul Dravid
- VVS Laxman
- Sachin Tendulkar
- Sourav Ganguly
- Dinesh Karthik
- MS Dhoni
- Irfan Pathan
- Anil Kumble
- RP Singh
- Ishant Sharma
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