The Cricket World Cup Thread

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Feb 2011 15:33

I was also mystified by Dhoni's defensive field placements with few people to cut off singles and not daring the batsman to hit up or find gaps. in the past he has deployed offensive strategies to win *test matches* ... why he chose to sit back so long yesterday and let the englishmen plunder risk free 5-6 runs for 40 overs is not clear to me.

maybe a sense of complacency that 338 was a ungettable score and the english would fall sooner or later.

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 28 Feb 2011 15:47

We should play both Appam God and Chawla for the next few matches and see if it changes things. It is good for us if our batting has an off day before the business end of the tournament begins.
Pakbaristan seems to have the best bowling attack in this WC. 2 good seamers and 2 good spinners. The OZs and Saffas have better pace bowlers but lack a genuine spinner. On paper, England have a good seam attack but they lack the extra pace that the OZs and Saffas have.
Pakbaristan should be taken out in the QF or else it is going to be a tough team to beat unless they face the OZ quicks chasing in excess of 280 under the lights

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 28 Feb 2011 16:03

Martenji

One of the batswomen will have to sit out. Play 5 geniune bowlers.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 28 Feb 2011 16:05

ireland almost beat bangladesh from what i hear, so lets watch out for them - they have nothing to lose
similarly the dutch are on fire after pushing england to the wire
either team could score an upset
meanwhile our bowling has to really step up now

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 28 Feb 2011 16:05

In one day internationals, Bhajji has not been to sucessful in bowling in Powerplays and attacking, he is more a bowler who stifles the opposition, Thats why we need Sreesanth, with his comparative extra pace, he will get us the odd 1 or 2 wickets at the top which put pressure on the opposition Middle order when the spinners come on. Further, DHoni will have more flexibility to keep more of Zaheer's overs towards to the end of the game, while Sree and Munaf bowl in the first 15.

Offcourse if India play any matches on Ferosha Kotla or Chennai type wickets, play all the spinners you can, but in Mohali, SL, Wankhade, Mirpur play 3 seamers.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 28 Feb 2011 16:06

Mahendra wrote:Martenji

One of the batswomen will have to sit out. Play 5 geniune bowlers.

WIll not work, we are bound to lose a few wickets at the Top sometime in the tournament, we need the batting depth then

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 28 Feb 2011 16:08

we need irfan pathan to get back on song

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 28 Feb 2011 16:13

Did somebody say "Pranthan" for kaptaanship? some neurons must have started mutating just for that thought alone. An inner pranthan and an outer Wall (RD) is all that was needed to avoid the tie. This tie was neck close and tight. World cups have made new kaptaans. Perhaps dhoni be aware, when dilbullah speaks here. His tentacles are mightier than those wild swings out there with TI.

Perhaps dhoni is right to be angered on the udrs of the new 2.5 meter yard stick on it. That is a colossal mockery of plump straight lbws., and surely England made use of it. They not only annoy, but now more on how to use the loop holes. But, we have to worry about how come we made ourselves be annoyed and played by the brits.

Now, let us put all those statistics to trash since the new UDRS system is in place.

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 28 Feb 2011 16:14

Aditya_V wrote:
Mahendra wrote:Martenji

One of the batswomen will have to sit out. Play 5 geniune bowlers.
WIll not work, we are bound to lose a few wickets at the Top sometime in the tournament, we need the batting depth then

No harm in trying during the group stages. That way we can be sure who will be more effective, Chawla or Appam God.

Mahdi, Zak and Bhajji are pretty much settled as the main bowlers unless Dhoni decides to swap Mahdi with the equally ineffective with a matching lack of commitment expression on the face phast bowler Nehra.

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 28 Feb 2011 16:16

Thank you Uncle Pai for giving us Suppandi. RIP uncle Pai

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 28 Feb 2011 16:21

dmurphy sahab, sree was taken to the cleaners by frigging bangladesh in spite of the swing and all. I shudder to think what eng would have done to him. score at 10 RPO off him in all likelihood.

>> we need irfan pathan to get back on song
forget song, in cricketing terms he is not speaking yet. he was out since last year's IPL due to an injury and has only started playing in the on-going vijay hazare trophy. even before that he was bowling consistently under 120k's in the domestics, down from the 130's he bowled at when he burst onto the scene. somehow one gets the feeling he is satisfied with IPL and doesn't care about playing for India any more.

One of the batswomen will have to sit out. Play 5 geniune ~~bowlers~~ pie-chuckers

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 28 Feb 2011 16:44

Rahul M wrote:dmurphy sahab, sree was taken to the cleaners by frigging bangladesh in spite of the swing and all. I shudder to think what eng would have done to him. score at 10 RPO off him in all likelihood.

Saar Tendulkar did not score much in that match( run out for 28 of 35 balls) and Yusuf Pathan failed with the Bat in that Match- Does that mean they are useless??

Also in Sree's case there were 3 inside edge boundaries and 2 - 5 wide balls, and further Dhoni did not give him a chance to boost his confidence by allowing to the Bangladesh Tail like he did for the Other Bowlers. He had a bad match, he did well in the Aussie warm up match, he had ponting out for 0 if not for a Howler from Bille Bowden Giving Ponting not out. WHich would have meant he would have ended with a perfectly respectable 2-21 of 5 overs instead of 1-21 with only Shane Watson's wicket. But thats the point in his 5 overs with the new ball he will almost everytime in Flat Indian pitches, gives you a wicket or 2.

He is definately an asset for India, his antics must be controlled and Right now he needs the Captain to back him and not oppose him.

Rahul-M please check the strike rates for bowlers in ODI's in India. It is Sreesanth who leads with a STrike rate of 25 Balls per wicket bowling in Powerplay(econ per over 6.46). Contrast this with Nehra, 43 Ball strike rate (econ per over 6.48). Bhaaji econ per over is 4.44 but his strike rate is 47 balls per wicket for matches in India.

Sreesanth expensive but wicket taking opening overs give the spinners a chance to put presure on the Middle overs. People keep talking he would have leaked 75-80 runs, but based on past experience if he delivered by removing a opener , Strauss early, India would have sealed the match with Harbajan stifling England.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 28 Feb 2011 16:54

hmm, a look at the numbers @ cricinfo does force me to rethink. but he still needs to be more disciplined not to mention he is likely to leak like a sieve at the death. one spell like the one against BD would seal our fate against any better team.

p.s. check the last 2 years for both. sree has conceded runs at >7 RPO, 8.24 against SA !

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 28 Feb 2011 19:21

Sit out SRT

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 28 Feb 2011 19:36

I did not watch the entire Indian innings . But Indians fielded and bowled poorly; and I am happy to see great kirkiting minds in BRF have observed the same. The buck stops at the Captain; he has to provide halwa and/or danda to improve these two departments.

Can the teams pick players only from the WC squad, or can they get someone outside the squad too. That would reflect so badly on the squad...but still I am wondering on the rules.

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 28 Feb 2011 19:46

^^ From the squad only. To replace someone from the squad you need ICC approval

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 28 Feb 2011 19:52

there are enough youngsters in the sqaud to field well, but they don't keep their nerve in batting and bowling... appam is a case in point, way too emotional to be useful - that guy is a danger to himself!
bhaji is getting lazy and complacent - we need him back at aussi-bashing levels of aggression
ZAK is good, but needs to get better
as for Munaf - I'd rather have Agarkar back in the team!??!
I miss Irfan's talent, I hope he gets his mojo back

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 28 Feb 2011 20:36

Two amusing things that still jump out at me:
1) The One and Only true Gawd (Gavaskar) jumping into save his Prohphet (Sachin) when Sachin did not bend down enough to save the boundary; Gavaskar immediately talked about how stiff Sachin would have been after playing his innings

This is what the True Gawd does for his devas and devis.
2) Bhajji glaring at the non-striker, and making it a very very small issue when he mis-fielded. Action replay did not show any "obstruction to fielding" - at least intentionally. So I am not sure why he was pouting and throwing the minor tantrum. Did something happen there that I missed?

If the fielding & bowling does not improve in the next game, Dhoni should be held accountable. Right now, it is just one game and hopefully things get arrested. Whatever it is, we ought to give them a break

It might appear that there were tactical and strategical mistakes too. So there are several areas we ought to improve; and the next game should see improvements.

Tanaji: thanks.

archan · Post by **archan** » 28 Feb 2011 20:59

Dhoni has already conceded that nothing much can be done about the fielding because he has a few "slow movers" in the team.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 28 Feb 2011 21:00

I have a pooch to the 25th century kirkiting minds and statisticians. It appeared, based on the telecast, they are collecting lot of information these days about each ball bowled by a bowler. Do they collect enough data to analyze, for example - how many short, good and full length balls each bowler bowled? If yes, do teams use these data to improvise and correct? Looks like we have the intel.

Devastating bowlers were always known to be intelligent; apart from their physical ability to toy with the ball - pace or spin.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 28 Feb 2011 21:06

swamyg - yes; ESPN/Sky show all those stats in excrutiating detail
you'll see the team benches with 4-5 guys with laptops recording everything down
i saw it on sky - botham was commentating during the bhaji-glowering episode; although he is not unbiased, he was remarking why bhaji was putting on an act when there had been nothing special going on and that the batsman is allowed to stand his ground
there was quite an amusing period when nasser hussain and dada were commentating, each praising the other and doing pehle aap... quite touching really

a recent norwegian study shows that bonuses don't motivate performance as much as financial penalties for inefficiency. i wonder if TI can introduce this regime for fielding...?

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 28 Feb 2011 22:13

krishnan wrote:Sit out SRT <runs back to cave>

not a bad idea to play Raina in, since gawd needs rest anyways. you don't have to run to your cave for this?

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 28 Feb 2011 22:18

not a bad idea to play Raina in, since gawd needs rest anyways. you don't have to run to your cave for this?

especially against Ireland and Dutch

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 28 Feb 2011 22:48

absolutely, let the young guns prove themselves in combat

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 28 Feb 2011 22:58

SaiK wrote:
krishnan wrote:Sit out SRT <runs back to cave>
not a bad idea to play Raina in, since gawd needs rest anyways. you don't have to run to your cave for this?

pst pst....he is not the Abrahamic gawd who has to rest once in every 7 days;he is the Indic one remember? He weaves maya for his creation of 4s and 6s. It is all in your mind...you think he actually hit a 4. Nope, he just weaved his magic wand, that is not really a bat*, and you think the ball went past the boundary. In fact there is no ball either.

* -> Yesterday was a good opportunity to educate my 6-yr about cricket. He asked me why was the bat shaped like that

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 28 Feb 2011 23:09

Yeah yeah... it depends on how many majick wand strikes you need in a match. Every 7 or so matches, gawd goes greater than highest double figure, which has to come at certain pace onlee.. it is not his wish, but his mayawi wand wants it's rest. Poor wand.

gawd is the driver, and the wand is just a vehicle (interpreted from b. gita just for our gawd). vehicle can get tired., and the reason he hires the best specialist designed high tech light weight bat.

don't blame the gawd alone.. cause, there are may wands that needs his help (like he takes role by giving up a slot!)

.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 28 Feb 2011 23:17

Remember, we all have 'gawds' in ourselves....it is up to the rest of the players to "discover" their "self" importance and shine it towards us followers and blind the opponents. We are true Indics, we will always worship old and new gods. We don't retire an old avatar just because we have a new one

Seriously, we failed collectively when it came to fielding, bowling and in some tactics. And that should be the focus for the next match. It is just one match...we will bounce back. Don't lose hope onlee. Next match, we score less than this and still win. That is my prediction.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 28 Feb 2011 23:27

Looking at our bowling performance against the englishstanis it is fairly obvious that the SAfricans will have us for breakfast if no changes are made. Our batting performance in the first 2 games would lead us to believe that 6 batsmen + 5 bowlers would be a better combination for us. The problem is, with Steyn and co. firing on all cylinders there is no guarantee that we won't sorely miss the 7th batsman when the time comes. So we are in a pickle onlee and it will be interesting to see what Dhoni does.

archan · Post by **archan** » 28 Feb 2011 23:46

nachiket wrote:The problem is, with Steyn and co. firing on all cylinders there is no guarantee that we won't sorely miss the 7th batsman when the time comes.

If 6 of them cannot play Steyn/Morkel on Indian pitches and score a fighting total, then they don't deserve to be even in quarters. (I don't believe that is the case though, they played them decently well even in SA).
As for bowling changes, I am not sure what/if it will help unless they collectively lift their performance in the field and do a better job of field setting. That done, even the current bowling can be good enough.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Feb 2011 23:50

where is RP Singh?

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 01 Mar 2011 00:00

Ok here goes

Majick wand...mayawati.....watch kircket, player tie shoe lace mayawati...hello world! use kircket; clear
file 1 c:\cricinfo\suppandi.gibberish > enter random gibberish > throw in rubbish numbers and random words> hit post button
bloody frigging PAkistan

negi · Post by **negi** » 01 Mar 2011 00:20

7th batsman ploy has been tested under Dada's captaincy and imho it did not yield any significant results , the simple fact is for a team to amass scores in excess of 300 or even 275+ the first 5 should at least put up together a total of 200 or so runs in first 35/40 overs for it is only when you have wickets in hand that the tail actually wags and returns figures of 10 rpo or so. Our problem is not with scoring runs our problem is while our weakness in fast bowling department has not improved our spinners are no longer amongst the world's best which was the case when Kumble was around and Harbhajan was known as a quality offie who could bat a bit rather than the other way round. That is why we need a 5th bowler.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 01 Mar 2011 02:47

The Cricket World Cup is facing threat as 29 trained militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) have entered the country through the border, Intelligence agencies have warned, reports Times of India. According to sources, among the militants there are cadres of Indian Mujahideen (IM) as well. The militants have been asked to target cricket teams and venues of matches. Mumbai - where World Cup final will be played on April 2 - is reportedly a prime target.

According to sources, the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) has provided these terrorists with a list of venues where matches will be held. The terrorists might do a recce of the stadium or the route of the team bus they plan to target. "We have stepped up the security at the stadium as well as the hotels where the teams are staying. Information related to movement of players is being kept secret. The special cell is keeping an eye on all suspicious movements in the city," said an unnamed senior Delhi Police officer.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 01 Mar 2011 03:23

Shoot anyone roaming with guns. Send out search and kill forces.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 01 Mar 2011 06:24

SwamyG wrote:Two amusing things that still jump out at me:
1) The One and Only true Gawd (Gavaskar) jumping into save his Prohphet (Sachin) when Sachin did not bend down enough to save the boundary; Gavaskar immediately talked about how stiff Sachin would have been after playing his innings This is what the True Gawd does for his devas and devis.

Swamy, Gods & Prophets can do no mistake and are beyond criticism, especially in India.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 01 Mar 2011 08:14

When Gawd does miss-take, he zimbly onlee role playing. He is the cause and he is the effect.

Sridhar K · Post by **Sridhar K** » 01 Mar 2011 08:39

What a depressing match. So many frustrating things: No appeals against Strauss, Bell's decision, Raina and Kohli misfielding, Harbajan's dropped catch, 4 in the ring with easy singles, a boundary every over despite 4 in the ring. A good thing that the team gets a good bashing. We always play bad when we are favorites.

From what I have seen of Strauss, he is a back foot player and not once Piyush Chawla made him to drive. It would been effective as he has a good googly. I would persists with Piyush but he needs better fields.
One of the problem with Indian team is that we always pick people on reputation than over form. Ashwin has been more effective whenever he plays but does not get to play over others. At least they should try him over Harbhajan against Ireland. Surprisingly they picked Kohli over Raina but would prefer Raina if it is on Indian pitches and if Kohli is going to bat down the order.

When the second wicket fell, Dhoni did not go for the kill but rather opted to bowl with part timers. Dhoni is a very instinctive captain and does not always go by cricketing logic. Even for the field, he says that he lets the bowlers set the field and will interfere only if it is not working. Perhaps Dhoni felt that 4 in the ring was working until we got wickets in the powerplay when Sehwag became very vocal with the field setting.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 01 Mar 2011 08:54

negi, it did win us the natwest final. you forgot kaif and yuvi's chase ?

meanwhile a bangla newspaper reports that RS has called SRT for an informal meet, asked to bring dhoni along too.

archan · Post by **archan** » 01 Mar 2011 09:18

sorry, who is RS? Shastriji?

negi · Post by **negi** » 01 Mar 2011 09:40

Rahul I remember it in fact I was at home and everyone in the family was glued on to the TV until the last ball was bowled; having said that I think that win got too much publicity than it deserved. Now that we have Dhoni as a wicketkeeper batsman I do not think we need to go down that route , there needs to be a balance in the team i.e. 6 batsmen including the wicketkeeper should suffice and we should have at least 4 genuine bowlers, the 5th one can be a bowling all rounder or even a genuine bowler. Also in those days we had Kumble and Bhajji as our spinners along with a Zaheer Khan and Agarkar.