The Cricket World Cup Thread

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 14 Mar 2011 11:20

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

But Singha, haven't we all been shouting from our rooftops that IPL performances should not be criteria for selection into TI, although on hindsight he would not have done any worse than Chawla or Bhajji.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 14 Mar 2011 11:25

that's for selection into test team and perhaps for one shot wonder batsmen. bowlers who can hold their own in IPL definitely have a place in the ODI team.

negi · Post by **negi** » 14 Mar 2011 11:35

Chinmayanand wrote: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.

Well the most important thing for someone to go at number 3 is ability to engage the new ball and maintain the run rate without taking too many risks (openers are usually given the license to play their shots) and imho in TI apart from SRT and Sehwag no one plays fast bowling with confidence; GG is relatively better than the rest of the lot in our batting lineup when it comes to playing at #3. MSD is a 400% caught behind material early on in his innings.

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 14 Mar 2011 11:46

I am with Darth Singha on this one. +1 to his post above.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2011 12:26

peoples expectations have increased - a decade ago, 300 in ODI was a talked about event. today even Kenya gets 250+ against arguably the best pace lineup in the contest and the 'good' teams make 300 as a par score. I would repeat that VS, SRT, Kohli and GG on most tracks/opponents can get us in range of 300. all of them are fit and agile players capable of sustaining 100% strike rates and have decent technique/eyes/gonads to tough it out.

the problem for us, the bowling finds it tough to do early damage and peg things back or restrict people comfortably to around 250-300 range.

so the pressure falls on 5,6,7 batters to activate turbo boost and make 50 extra runs in the last 10 overs which translates to atleast one extra boundary every over. pathan is weak against good pacers, yuvraj is weak against moving ball & good offspin and dhoni has lost his big hitting mojo in the quest to be 'the finisher' and because there's nobody behind him when he walks in. his imperfect technique also makes it bit difficult to play certain types of shots a more natural talent like yuvraj can.

this is both making them take undue risks and getting us sub par totals to defend given the bowling we have.

if we had a couple of bowlers like steyn and johnson to 'rock em back on their heels' at the start and end of innings, I would not be so concerned about 300 scores . now people see 300 and automatically expect a defeat

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 14 Mar 2011 13:02

i dont understand the criticisim of gambhir - he is pretty reliable, and his fielding is better than many. this match did see some good fielding from the team. what was lamentable was the batting collapse. the death over should have gone to bhajji. pathan is sit-outable for next match in favour of raina, yuvi has half redeemed himself (though pathan did yuvi a favour in the previous match). but be fair to saffers - they played very well.

also, nice to see big gora and indian origin saffers sitting together in nagpur singing a zulu song for their team ("shosholoza") wearing the rainbow nation flag - the world has changed a lot!

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 14 Mar 2011 13:14

I don't think there is any major problem with our batting lineup. Minor tweaking is always welcome though.
It is the weak bowling that is killing us. The only regular bowler who looks threatening is ZAK and rest 3 are hardly asking tough questions to opponent batsmen. Bhajji is struggling and so is Nehra/Chawla/Pathan. Our second best bowler is Yuvi.
Take ZAK out and we are left with bowling attack as good as Irish or Zimbabwean one.

sum · Post by **sum** » 14 Mar 2011 13:21

VikasRaina wrote:I don't think there is any major problem with our batting lineup. Minor tweaking is always welcome though.
It is the weak bowling that is killing us. The only regular bowler who looks threatening is ZAK and rest 3 are hardly asking tough questions to opponent batsmen. Bhajji is struggling and so is Nehra/Chawla/Pathan. Our second best bowler is Yuvi.
Take ZAK out and we are left with bowling attack as good as Irish or Zimbabwean one.

+1...

The way almost 90% of junta knew that TI will lose even they they made 296 shows how the bowling is virtually not a factor and only strategy for TI is to bat out of their skins every match since anything lesser than 320-330 will be easily chased down by most opponents.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2011 13:33

Sreesanth is he in squad. if not, unless someone is injured and drops out, he cannot be brought in.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 14 Mar 2011 13:36

i remain skeptical about sreesanth - his temperament is too wild and lacks discipline. his aggression is uncontrolled. if he can manage this, he will be excellent. bhajji is finally showing signs of improvement, he needs to step up much more.

negi · Post by **negi** » 14 Mar 2011 13:58

As I see things the often repeated line 'We have a strong batting' since we have that prodigal 7th batsman is what cost us the match against SA; the folks after GG thought that they could literally hit every ball out of the park and in case they miss they have a buffer of another couple following them. TI should ask itself an honest question i.e. if players like SRT, Sehwag and GG consistently end up playing until the 30/35th over then do we actually need a 7th batsman ? Why do we need a genuine batsman coming at #7 in Indian conditions , frankly speaking how many balls has our #7 faced in last 5 matches (Is having an extra batsman who will get to play at most 3/4 overs in a best case scenario better than having a 5th bowler who will bowl his quota of 10 overs )? We have allowed BD to score 280+, Eng to tie a score of 338 and lost to SA (296) with this polarized setup I simply cannot see any reason for us to continue with the 7 batsman strategy .

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2011 14:03

Sree should be able to hold it together for a run of 5 matches ... thats all india needs. like in the first t20 wc he was at his mercurial best.

R.P.Singh is another useful and calm lad who has been discarded.

BhairavP · Post by **BhairavP** » 14 Mar 2011 14:18

Singha wrote:Sreesanth is he in squad. if not, unless someone is injured and drops out, he cannot be brought in.

Of course.. he played against England, remember?

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 14 Mar 2011 14:38

^^
He played against BD and went for runs. 53 runs in 5 overs @ 10.60

niran · Post by **niran** » 14 Mar 2011 15:59

Singha wrote:
R.P.Singh is another useful and calm lad who has been discarded.

RP is down with eye pee (&) Yell

bug has not been taking wikits even in local mohala matches, one gotta
make the claim before you get the stake to fame, no?

TI best early over bowler PK was injured at 12th hour, in 4 out of 5 matches he has taken early wikits
him and ZAK would have claimed at least 2 wikits early and then Bhajji and company would have easily
polished off the rest. IMVVVVHO Aswin is 2nd to none during powerplays and death overs hence
we want RA
we want RA

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Mar 2011 16:09

Singha wrote:Sreesanth is he in squad. if not, unless someone is injured and drops out, he cannot be brought in.

SAAR Sreesanth has been in the Squad ever since PK declared unfit, he had a poor match against Bangladesh where his 5 overs went for 53 runs, But what was sad was DHoni did not bring for the last 5 overs against the BD tail to lift his morale.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Mar 2011 16:11

BhairavP wrote:
Singha wrote:Sreesanth is he in squad. if not, unless someone is injured and drops out, he cannot be brought in.
Of course.. he played against England, remember?

BhairavP · Post by **BhairavP** » 14 Mar 2011 16:14

Aditya_V wrote:

Gahh.. addled brain. Of course, against BD - 5 overs, 53 runs.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 14 Mar 2011 16:31

Looks like all those magic strings and trinkets didn't work for Praanthan. He got 5/53 because of bad luck. Many of the fours were edges from good, swinging balls, not positive hits. Actually, he bowled some very good balls in that spell.

But Dhoni got what he wanted from that performance, and the rest is history.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Mar 2011 16:51

Not to mention no chance of redemption by bowling to BD tail when required rate was well over 12.

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 14 Mar 2011 16:58

Dhoni is probably going to de -burkha Ashwin during the later stages of the tournament.

I'm sure there is some bad blood between Appam God and Dhoni but the suggestion that Dhoni wanted him to do badly/ happily jumped at the opportunity provided by one bad performance doesn't hold any merit( IMVHO of course)

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 14 Mar 2011 17:32

Mahendra wrote:Dhoni is probably going to de -burkha Ashwin during the later stages of the tournament.

I'm sure there is some bad blood between Appam God and Dhoni but the suggestion that Dhoni wanted him to do badly/ happily jumped at the opportunity provided by one bad performance doesn't hold any merit( IMVHO of course)

I'm sure Dhoni will be happy is Sreesanth plays badly - didn't he criticise him publicly on many occasions. Now with Nehra doing badly (in one match) will Dhoni use the same yardstick and drop him also (as he dropped Sreesanth after one bad game)?

The Indians are playing way to casually to go the distance.

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 14 Mar 2011 17:45

Saar
There was no compulsion for Dhoni to play Appam God, he could have easily chosen Ashwin to play instead of Appam God against BD. The pitch at Lota-e-Bangla stadium didn't really have any Payce and Bawnce for it to be natural to pick three seamers.

Zak and Nehra can bowl yorkers at the death, I haven't seen Appam God do that with much consistency. Appam God's strength is swing which essentially makes him a new ball bowler on Indian pitches. If Appam God gets his act together on a good day he can get a few top order batsmen out with the new/semi new ball.
I personally feel that Appam God can be an asset when we are looking to defend a big total under the lights, he might prise out a few wickets at the start and make way for the ispinners to tighten the screws.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 14 Mar 2011 18:01

BhairavP wrote:
Aditya_V wrote:

Gahh.. addled brain. Of course, against BD - 5 overs, 53 runs.

BiDis beat Brits
Brits beat SA
SA beat TI.

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

'cause they don't massage the feet of dhoni maharaj?

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 14 Mar 2011 18:03

Mahdi-e-dra I think there is some bad blood between MSD and SS. I am okay with that as long as it doesn't stop TI from fielding the best 11 and playing to best of their abilities. Keep your ego trips for a later date and concentrate on winning WC. That is what is required. I expect Mr. Cool to make amends and field a better team in the next match.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 14 Mar 2011 18:09

Rahul M wrote: 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

That is why I said it was wrong to give the last over to a pace bowler. It will destroy the morale all around, and it takes a very good bowler to come out of that hole to contain the opponents. When somebody mentions Nehra two words spring to my mind - speed and wayward. Rightly or wrongly, that is how I see him. I don't consider him as a good thinking fast bowler.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Mar 2011 18:18

There we go ball pitching before batsman and down the legside is again considered as Block hole

Link to Hawkeye of Ashish Nehra bowling to Peterson

Please select Ashish Nehra as bowler and Peterson as Batsman, the red line is th first ball, see where the ball pitches and where it was heading. It was a gift for Peterson

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 14 Mar 2011 18:37

mmm.. I am doubtful if anyone in TI is a pace bowler (speed). Definitely not nehra or munna.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 14 Mar 2011 18:40

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...

That is one way to look at it - things will fall in place. The question "What if they don't" should surely be in the minds of "leadership". Choices are difficult, but the captain and his think-tank group ought to make them. I think the regulars should have played 4 matches and the backups/irregulars/whatever could have been given 2 matches. At least 1; giving everyone the feel is not going to be really bad. Experience maketh a man.

New Zealand plays Sri Lanka on March 18th; Aussies play Pakistan on 19th. We play West Indies on the 20th - the last match. So the time we play, we should know Group A standings and how Group B is going to pan out with a win or a loss. Based on the results, it would not be bad to rest Sachin and/or Sewhag in the batting and rest Zaheer or Bhajji in bowling; and give some exposure to other players.

What if we need one or more of the less experienced players in SF or F?

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 14 Mar 2011 18:46

last over should have gone to bhajji - that was our best opportunity

Sumeet · Post by **Sumeet** » 14 Mar 2011 19:00

Tendulkar lost his cool after the batting harakiri in Nagpur

There were a lot of disappointed faces at the end of the Indian innings against South Africa at the VCA stadium on Saturday - none more than Sachin Tendulkar. He had just played his heart out in an effort to put his team in a commanding position from where they could dictate the game. But before he could even remove his batting gear, he could see the advantage being frittered away by one of the shoddiest batting displays in India's World Cup history.

He had kept his emotions in check but could hold it no longer when he went for a shower and saw all the bathrooms occupied by the batsmen who had just committed harakiri. He gave his team mates a piece of his mind. For him it was a sign of 'who cares' attitude. He just couldn't fathom what had they done to need freshening up. He was held up for the shower and had to finish in a hurry and rush for fielding.

The collapse
The Indian middle and lower order batsmen threw away the advantage provided by Tendulkar's 111 and Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir's half-centuries. From 267 for one at one stage, the home team lost their last nine wickets for 29 runs to slump to 296 all out, eventually resulting in their first defeat of the tournament.

Buoyed by the late bowling fightback, South Africa seized the psychological advantage and walked away with the game with three wickets to spare.

Tendulkar was fired up in the field and when the TV camera zoomed in on him, his face reflected the determination. He set a personal example by giving his all in the field, an all-out dash and slide to stop an off drive to the boundary being an example.

Discipline vital
The Mumbai batsman belongs to the old school of cricket where discipline comes first. He is renowned for his commitment to the game and he can't tolerate anyone taking things easy, whether in training or in an international match.

There are numerous examples when the master has taken his players to task for lax behaviour. It's Tendulkar's ambition to help his country win a World Cup during his career, and this is his last chance.

The team is not playing at its best at the moment but with home advantage, he is confident they can go all the way. However, given their inconsistent showing so far, someone needs to stoke the fire of ambition in this team; and there is none better equipped than Tendulkar. However, the inept showing of his teammates meant one more of his gems will go down in a losing cause.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 14 Mar 2011 19:58

^^Wow! The dunderheads need to understand that if they can make even God lose his cool, they are definitely screwing up really bad. The standards of discipline set by players like SRT, Dravid and Kumble are fading away from the team as those players leave one by one.

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 14 Mar 2011 20:02

Before the WC started , all players were going gaga on tv, how they are going to win this one for Sachin. Action speaks louder than words.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 14 Mar 2011 20:11

>>The question "What if the don't"

Boss, then the answer is clear: we get pasted.

What can I say - with fingers and toes crossed, and teeth ground to nubs from irritension at watching these oiseaules fritter away that certain victory against SA - I choose to believe.

If they don't deliver, the choicest expletives will follow as well

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2011 20:12

anyone who has worked for long in any form of industry can easily make the comment, that the 1% outlaw best (like SRT and the other legends) do not do it for the money, fame, glory, parties etc. nobody clearly knows what drives them to the heights they reach but such people are self-motivated and very rare in any field. maybe one in a 1000 in itivity. they respond and adapt to any crisis fluidly, finding solns where none are known to exist.

none of the youngistanis except perhaps kohli and raina show the attitude of giving their best no matter how unfavourable the circumstances. but then they are fighting for their places in team...the "incumbents" tend to develop a paunch and forget their duty somewhat.

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 14 Mar 2011 20:14

My heart goes out to SRT. Phuck youngistan.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 14 Mar 2011 20:16

No one in my neck of the European wood understands my lunacy on the subject (and the length of the game, even the one day version)... Fortunately, no one can understand the swearing which is in Malayalam and Tamil (my favourites - especially the latter, nothing like it on the planet) apart from the usual bhehn... and madar.... in Hindi which is about all I know from that language ... apart from one I learned from Bhajji when he gave it free of charge to Symonds.

But I watch it religiously and alone and no one dare demand the TV on the relevant days!!! Just make sure snacks are available, some liquids and keep silent

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 14 Mar 2011 20:19

Hmm.Jharkhand Evanjihadi Menon is a lucky man

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 14 Mar 2011 20:25

close up of kohli when he caught de villiers was a classic... lip reading onlee... but bhag m***d bhag! seemed to be what was on his mind (although i don't approve of swearing at other players)
in fact lot of the players were giving AB some chat... wonder if it was part of the plan

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 14 Mar 2011 20:46

what happened to murali kartik?