The recent dampener on proceedings in world cricket due to Coronavirus has led to the cricket boards thinking out of the boxes to make up for the lost time and lost money.
Sometime back England captain Eoin Morgan was open to the ECB employing two England teams to play two matches simultaneously on the same day. Now there have been reports that the Indian cricket board (BCCI) is mulling to have two separate squads chosen to play a Test series and a T20I series simultaneously.
“None of us know when sport, especially international cricket will resume. But if we have to safeguard all our stakeholders - from sponsors to spectators - one of the options is to select two different squads and play a Test series and a T20I series simultaneously,” a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official told Sportstar, citing anonymity.
Therefore keeping the possibility of this happening in consideration, Team COC has decided to have a shot at choosing what the two different teams may look like. For simplicity purposes, we have the Test team captained by Virat Kohli and the T20I team led by Rohit Sharma.
The Test team
The Test team has been chosen to keep in mind an away Test series. Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw open for the Test team as they did in New Zealand recently. Both managed to do well and with a couple of more games under their belt, their understanding and coordination will get better.
The captain Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and Hanuma Vihari continue to hold the fort in the middle order of the playing XI. Pujara and Kohli were amazing on the tour of Australia and even England, but Rahane and Vihari got their mojo right on the tour to West Indies.
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Rishabh Pant keeps wicket in the Test team, given his brilliant record overseas with the gloves and the bat. He is the only Indian keeper to score two centuries outside Asia. Ravindra Jadeja is the lone spinner in the side, coupled with his batting prowess and fielding abilities, the left-hander makes for an amazing inclusion in the XI.
Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma are the three fast bowlers in Test XI. These three made India a force to reckon in Australia, England, West Indies, and South Africa for the last two years or so.
Indian Test XI:
Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma
The T20I team
The T20I team will be captained by Rohit Sharma and he will be opening the innings with KL Rahul, who will also be keeping wickets. Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, and Manish Pandey form the backbone of the middle order, given how good they have been so far in the little time they have played together.
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The Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal might be chosen as the all-rounders in the team and the power hitters as well down the order. Krunal, along with Washington Sundar will helm the spin department, which might be led by Yuzvendra Chahal, who brings in the variety with his leg-spin expertise.
The fast bowling department sees both the experience and youth in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Navdeep Saini, being aided by Hardik Pandya’s more than medium pace bowling. This bowling lineup has the pace, skill, and variations to trouble the best of batting formations in the world.
Indian T20I XI:
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (WK), Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
