The Cricket World Cup Thread

partha · Post by **partha** » 13 Mar 2011 11:35

I feel bad for Shreesanth and Ashwin. I don't know why Shreesanth has to sit out. If it is really for disciplinary issues, the question is what has Shreesanth done on field that can be considered indiscipline? If he is aggressive with opponent batsmen, what is the problem? Zaheer Khan is the only performing bowler and yet Dhoni blames batting? Sure 29/9 is a big collapse but 296 is not as bad as it looks. It is a fighting total. I hope Dhoni comes to his senses and plays 5 specialist bowlers (time to give another chance to Shreesanth and Ashwin).

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 13 Mar 2011 12:26

Dhoni is as good or bad as TI collectively. Twice we have lost matches in last or penultimate over despite being in winning position.
Is something wrong with the choice of death bowlers ?

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 13 Mar 2011 13:26

AoA!
Criticism of Tendulkar to be punishable under section 295(A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intending to outrage religious feelings) and section 153(A) (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot)

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Mar 2011 13:57

Nachiket, in the Land of the Purest, section 295 is the famous 'Blasphemy Law'. AoA onlee.

niran · Post by **niran** » 13 Mar 2011 14:32

calm down folks, it ain't the end, it was just league match(i consider it a practice match), with current format you whip the minnows and play in the knock out stages
where the real thing starts, in a way it was a good defeat, TI will lose its swagger(as if WC is already won) sigh! this is the only positive i can figure out for a team
who cannot defend a 300 score in front of a home crowd.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 13 Mar 2011 15:21

if not already, they need to put all potential last-5-over bowlers into practice where a bunch of batsmen are recruited to as wild and hard as possible. tactics need to be worked out and special types of balls noted against types of batsmen. nothing works in all situations.

we better have a plan for next time. WI are a tough bunch of boys there.

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 13 Mar 2011 15:42

I agree with Ravi Shashtri when he said that TI should take batting powerplay from 16th to 20th over. No more harakiri from the lower order in the batting powerplay.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 13 Mar 2011 15:51

I think Dhoni should have tried Munaf in the last over. I doubt he would have done any worse than Nehra

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 13 Mar 2011 16:49

guys you are really overdoing it.

nehra's first ball was in the blockhole which took an inside edge for 4, on any other day it would have crashed into the stumps and we would have won the match accompanied by shouts of nehra delivers and 'dhoni captain courageous'. same for ball 3. there is a reason why dhoni chose nehra to bowl the last over and not zaheer, because he has delivered for us at the death in the recent past.

look at the cricket people, not just the scorebard before you air your opinions.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Mar 2011 17:12

Chinmayanand wrote:I agree with Ravi Shashtri when he said that TI should take batting powerplay from 16th to 20th over. No more harakiri from the lower order in the batting powerplay.

But, Chinmayanand, God & Gambhir (a lesser God) were batting and we had just lost only one wicket when batting powerplay was taken ! YP, YS, Kohli, Dhoni were to follow !! What if we combine it with P2 ?

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 13 Mar 2011 17:18

Rahul M wrote:guys you are really overdoing it.

nehra's first ball was in the blockhole which took an inside edge for 4, on any other day it would have crashed into the stumps and we would have won the match accompanied by shouts of nehra delivers and 'dhoni captain courageous'. same for ball 3. there is a reason why dhoni chose nehra to bowl the last over and not zaheer, because he has delivered for us at the death in the recent past.

look at the cricket people, not just the scorebard before you air your opinions.

Rahul M - Please check the Highlights the Ball was on a good length on a line heading down the leg side which was helped on its way by the Batsman, it was by no stretch of imagination a "BLOCK HOLE" Delivery.

The issue is not the giving Nehra the last over but his selection, he did not look in anyway threatening, his first 7 overs went for 39 runs when Zaheer and Munaf were going at 2-3 runs an over when Amla and Kallis were basically defending every ball. He bowled 1 over in the powerplay for which he went for 10 runs and then came in slog overs, Seeing his performance in the SA tour, warmup games and Last 2 matches the following can be said

1) he is an atrocious feilder who needs to be hidden, DHoni kept him in the field for the min. no .of overs which would have made him eligible to bowl

2) he does not look peneratative and is going for plenty of runs

3) He leaks runs in pressure situations

4) He has never been a Big match player for India in Tight situations.

Based on his performance he does not deserve selection.

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 13 Mar 2011 17:30

Sridhar guru,if we combine it with P2, we will see more blazing drives.The batsmen are already in offensive mode.The bowling team will have to exhaust its best bowlers then and there only.After running one's and two's for 20+ overs , it's hard even for the set batsmen to change gears from the word go. Sachin and Gambhir took their chances thinking that the master hitters of the universe i.e. Yuvi, YF and Dhoni will sail through.Had they known about the coming blitzkreig from our so called devastating hitters, they would have continued with singles and occasional boundaries.
Dhoni should stop whining about the fielding in every game. BTW, he has to come clean about his form with the bat too.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 13 Mar 2011 17:41

'helped on its way' between the leg stump and backfoot ?!

as for points 2,3,4 it would appear so if you restrict your memory to last 4-5 matches. as I said he has delivered in similar situations in the not too distant past which is why dhoni gave him the ball.

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 13 Mar 2011 17:50

Meanwhile Aussie Juggernaut continues...
Total (6 wickets; 50 overs): 324

Wonder when would they start treating these league matches as warm up/practice matches

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 13 Mar 2011 17:52

Now where did I state Back foot?

Peterson was in a sweep like postion looking for a Hoike, but the ball pitched in front of him and was heading well down the leg side. The Block Hole comment for that delivery was totally incorrect.

If your going to go even 5 years back, I think there is only one match last year in the final overs where Nehra has delivered against Sri Lanka when we were defending 404 after Zaheer, Nehra all the bowlers were taken out of the Park.

And what is wrong in considering recent form? we cant consider 2003 performances today, we need to see ability and recently he doesn't seem to have the pace or acuracy.

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 13 Mar 2011 18:00

My onlee Question is ,"Why is Nehra selected ahead of Sh. Pranthan?"

He is better than Nehra in bowling,fielding and batting (and attitude too). Unlike Munna and Nehra, he can swing the bowl at a decent pace.
One more career being destroyed by captain+local selection committee.

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 13 Mar 2011 18:03

Bhy O bhy was Nehra selected ahead of SS?

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 13 Mar 2011 19:06

aditya ji, you didn't say that, that was what happened.

and as i said I'm not going back to 2003. dhoni said so as well, you reckon he is lying in public media on a topic that anyone can check up in 2 minutes of cricinfo ?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 13 Mar 2011 19:59

>>he has to come clean about his form with the bat too.

raina bowls, bats much better and someone else can keep wkts.
the emperor is not wearing clothes lately but nobody wants to point it out.

negi · Post by **negi** » 13 Mar 2011 20:19

So what have we got here wins against Ireland, Netherlands and BD , a tie against ENG and loss to SA. May be we need a 8th batsman.

Sumeet · Post by **Sumeet** » 13 Mar 2011 20:20

yesterday Raina missed out easy run out of Petersen in Zaheer's Over (in the 49th over)

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 13 Mar 2011 20:32

Can't pick one miss, and project it as a normal play for that player. If you say that on munna or his kinds, I agree. Everybody misses, and we are not talking about bad luck here.

Gambhir just slipped while fumbling a simple catch yesterday.

Our batsmen must be also trained by some gawd how to choose deliveries in the power play hits.

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 13 Mar 2011 20:58

India can't win World Cup, Dhoni is dreaming: Jones

TI needs more such remarks.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 13 Mar 2011 20:59

negi wrote:So what have we got here wins against Ireland, Netherlands and BD , a tie against ENG and loss to SA. May be we need a 8th batsman.

We need at least 11 batsmen, going by the fraility on display.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 13 Mar 2011 21:00

Chinmayanand wrote:India can't win World Cup, Dhoni is dreaming: Jones

TI needs more such remarks.

Hajaar sympathies for dhoni only.

There are some who are born great, some who achieve greatness and then some upon whom greatness must be thrust upon. MSD is one such. The country's corporates have hyped expectations in the hopes of selling a few more trinkets this year to ridiculous levels.

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 13 Mar 2011 21:06

My 11 for the next game :

1. Sehwag
2. Sachin
3. Dhoni
4. Kohli
5.Yuvraj
6. Raina
7. Pathan
8. Harbhajan
9. Zaheer
10.Sreesanth
11.Ashwin

girish.r · Post by **girish.r** » 13 Mar 2011 21:27

Chinmayanand wrote:My 11 for the next game :

1. Sehwag
2. Sachin
3. Dhoni
4. Kohli
5.Yuvraj
6. Raina
7. Pathan
8. Harbhajan
9. Zaheer
10.Sreesanth
11.Ashwin

Number 4: Gambhir......should do better than kohli.......

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 13 Mar 2011 21:34

Kohli and Gambhir are at par but Kohli is a better fielder .

partha · Post by **partha** » 13 Mar 2011 21:51

I'd choose 5 bowlers.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 13 Mar 2011 21:59

That's why I said it's difficult to choose... I mean would we really want to kick Gambhir out for Raina? Or Kohli? or Pathan? Everyone pretty much has been batting out of their skins lately !!!

It just didn't click yesterday...

Not to worry boys, it will all fall into place in time...

KrishG · Post by **KrishG** » 13 Mar 2011 22:10

Kenya played very well today. Australian bowling seemed very ordinary; maybe it's in part due to the Bangalore pitch but still, their spin bowling was absolute rubbish.

Maybe they have decided to challenge India's position as the worst bowling attack among the better teams.

Still, they atleast have a good pace attack!

girish.r · Post by **girish.r** » 13 Mar 2011 22:14

JE Menon wrote:That's why I said it's difficult to choose... I mean would we really want to kick Gambhir out for Raina? Or Kohli? or Pathan? Everyone pretty much has been batting out of their skins lately !!!

It just didn't click yesterday...

Not to worry boys, it will all fall into place in time...

I hope too...... But something is wrong here that we are allowing opposition to domniate in patches......and team like SA got it their way after the first 40 overs. England were almost in as well........ OK how about Holland? We lost many wickets to that kind of a total again going for quick chase not required......

Sridhar K · Post by **Sridhar K** » 13 Mar 2011 22:50

Dhoni is an instinctive captain and his decisions sometimes defies the common cricketing sence but works generally.

off late, they don't seem to work and hence getting criticized.

Secondly, his instincts are not aggressive as they used to be as epitomised by his batting and captaincy. He is unable to play the big shots these days and hence less effective as a finisher.

The problem with this line up is that we have 3 such players who cannot go broke in the final powerplay and hence struggle. Raina can be more effective than kohli if he is going to play at 5 or 6. Raina gives a bowling option as well. I would go with kohli at 3, raina at 6 and drop gambhir. Gambhir has become another liability in the field.

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 13 Mar 2011 22:58

Dhoni has been doing injustice to his batting talent. In the current line-up , there is nobody deserving the number 3 slot more than Dhoni. He takes some time to settle down. He has the muscle power to get the bowl to and over the ropes.He is gifted with a cool head as well. Gambhir struggles to get the ball over the ropes . Even Virat is better than Gambhir.
Moi will hope to see Dhoni at number3.
Come on, Mr Cool. Now, it's time for you to lead from the front rather than give advice and whine after the cause is lost.
Hope, Kirsten guru promotes him to the number 3 slot.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 14 Mar 2011 09:14

++ to Sridhar K.

I agree Gambhir, Munna, Nehra can go warm up the bench now.

Raina, Pranthan and Ashwin in, and we win!

We have proven one thing correct, that is only a loss makes us think harder on the right 11.

Every time I think about WC, the following keeps harassing me:-

BiDis beat Brits
Brits beat SA
SA beat TI.

anishns · Post by **anishns** » 14 Mar 2011 10:22

^^^

And Saik Mullah

TI beat the Bidis

SaiK wrote:++ to Sridhar K.

I agree Gambhir, Munna, Nehra can go warm up the bench now.

Raina, Pranthan and Ashwin in, and we win!

We have proven one thing correct, that is only a loss makes us think harder on the right 11.

Every time I think about WC, the following keeps harassing me:-
BiDis beat Brits
Brits beat SA
SA beat TI.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2011 10:29

I am not sure what exactly GG has done wrong to deserve being turfed out. sure he does not bowl but he is pretty reliable chap to score at 100% strike rate and does not get bogged down much. for T20 he has a weakness not being a big hitter but he always hovers around the 100% strike rate - like SRT.

our 1st three batsmen - VS, SRT and GG are doing well and need not be tinkered with. likewise kohli is also a 100% strike rate type. these four on a avg day can get us in range of 300 in 50 overs. the next 3 - yuvraj/raina, dhoni and pathan have been off and on...Kohli has been needlessly pushed down the order in favour of pathan or dhoni walking out .... and then walking back in without achieving the desired turbo boost. this will play on his confidence and make him rush his workflow.

pathan can be sidelined for raina - about equal as big hitters and pathan has not been bowling so well. raina and kohli are best fielders in team.
nehra can sit out in favour of ashwin if surface demands it.

munna retained because his slower pace than nehra makes it harder for batsmen to use the pace or get lucky deflections to fine leg or thirdman

moreover he is a big match player and carefree under pressure....could be WC final with 1 ball and 1 run to get and he will be smiling and exerting a calm influence on his partner...a true master yoda if ever I saw one. and he bowls like bresnan stump to stump - you miss I hit psyops play.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Mar 2011 10:33

Rahul Ji, I am not accusing Dhoni or anybody of anything. Only based on recent form Nehra is 4th choice pacer for India and Piyush is the 5th choice spinner for India After Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2011 10:35

still a mystery why most successful bowler of IPL pragyan ojha is not in the squad.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 14 Mar 2011 11:04

^^ I don't know how chawla got into the team in the first place. ojha and ashwin are both ahead of him.

aditya ji, nehra is our 3rd choice after PK and zak.