[Eddy]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Okay i take my words back. He uped the tempo well today. Problem is on the day he fails, like against afghanistan it does not make for good viewing.

No. The quantum of this innings is not that he finally finished with a run a ball strike rate and 50 runs - it's actually the wickets that he cost at the other end.

Not a good innings at all.

[mpp19]

Originally Posted by Eddy

No. The quantum of this innings is not that he finally finished with a run a ball strike rate and 50 runs - it's actually the wickets that he cost at the other end.

Not a good innings at all.

I would disagree. Some batsmen got out for good balls and today's WI bowling was top notch.

You cannot ask for 100+ strike rate in all matches and it's ODI, not a T20

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by mpp19

I would disagree. Some batsmen got out for good balls and today's WI bowling was top notch.

You cannot ask for 100+ strike rate in all matches and it's ODI, not a T20

I agree with the second part of your statement. And like I said, the ultimate strike rate is not as important as MSDs inability to rotate the strike in the middle of his innings that resulted in undue pressure on the other batsmen.

He's gone back into his pre-IPL mode and I really hope these two innings were exceptions.

[mpp19]

Yes, I do want him to play as he did in AU tour & more innings of 150+ strike rate. We cannot ask for anything more.

[Eddy]

He's having a bad day even behind the stumps. That definitely is an aberration.

[shipnil]

I returned to watching cricket after a long gap of many years. In the build up to the world cup, we were touted as one of the favorites, along with England. But the way our batsmen are performing, it is not confidence inspiring.

During the nineties and early 2000s, we were very dependent on Tendulkar to click. If he got out early, then we used to lose most of the matches. After we won the T20, we found many new guys who could back themselves to take us to victory. Just look at 2011 lineup, even after Tendulkar and Sehwag, we had Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj and Dhoni (in his prime).

In the current line-up, other than Rohit and Kohli, I don't see those qualities.

Rahul got starts but didn't convert them to big scores. Even in terms of strike rate, it is in 70s, which I feel is low.

Shankar looks kind of a player who is neither here nor there.

Kedar scored one fifty (slow) but today he was poor.

Pandya looked good in early matches with those clean hits but today Windies exposed his weakness. He couldn't hit any on the offside.

Dhoni is past his prime.

How are we going to win the cup?

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by shipnil

How are we going to win the cup?

We have 4 match winning bowlers in the playing 11 and 1 waiting in the wings. And a hitter in awesome form and high on confidence. All we need is one more batter firing along with Rohit & Kohli.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Come on, India played their last match against Afghanistan

Oops thanks for pointing that out, I don't know how I ended up typing that!

West Indies are 9 down but managing to continue without losing that last wicket, appeal for catch overturned, catch dropped by Rahul and even a few big mis-hits and wild swinging of the bat fetching some runs, they're happily taking their chances.

Edit:meanwhile, another.DRS appeal for catch, off the glove and west Indies are all out!

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by Eddy

We have 4 match winning bowlers in the playing 11

They are the ones who have won us the last match and this one. If my memory serves me right, we haven't chased in this tournament so far. That will be a scenario which would test the team.

[vinit]

Originally Posted by vinit

Not a single match in this world cup where the team has chased above 250 successfully. Getting a feeling of 90s cricket. Bowlers are back with a bang.

This is still holding true so far in this world cup. Except Bangladesh, no team has chased above 250 successfully. India will be tested big time if some team scores 250+ batting first.

[Aditya_Bhp]

Originally Posted by Eddy

. All we need is one more batter firing along with Rohit & Kohli.

How about Rishabh Pant? Can increase the run rate in slog overs and also go big!

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by shipnil

They are the ones who have won us the last match and this one. If my memory serves me right, we haven't chased in this tournament so far. That will be a scenario which would test the team.

We beat South Africa chasing.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by vinit

India will be tested big time if some team scores 250+ batting first.

We have the greatest chasing batsman in history of ODIs in Kohli. Why worry?

[Mukund]

Originally Posted by msdivy

We have the greatest chasing batsman in history of ODIs in Kohli. Why worry?

I'd remove 'chasing' from your first sentence and still worry.
The league stages were a given. I didn't expect us to steamroll into the semis, but didn't expect an early exit either. This is the beauty of this round robin format. Though many consider it long and boring (which i agree, it can be at times), it is much better than the earlier format where one bad day and you're out (SA '07). This format ensures that the best 4 teams come through to the semis. Now the worry part, don't know which Rahul/Vijay/MSD/Jadhav show up.

The next two games are a perfect time to get our combination right. Vijay looks to be out of sorts and the moment seems to be getting to him. Getting MSD higher up can backfire, but looks like the best way to go and get Pant/DK in at 5/6.

On a lighter note, the KJo incident seems to have woken up a different Hardik. All through IPL and now WC, he seems to be oozing with confidence. Just backing up into the crease and opening up the leg side for slogs. Wide line on off might work against him, but that is to be seen.

[vibbs]

Quite a cleanical bowling performance from India.

But i did feel that teams like West Indies and England who seam to have only one gear may find it tough when the pitches are not absolute belters because their game plan is to go hard. When the pitch does not let them do that, they dont seem to have a plan B.

Bowlers are really putting their hands up to be counted and I feel from a bowling perspective Shami is a better bet than Bhuvi. But batting then ends up too fragile with a long long tail.

I am not convinced that Vijay Shankar selects himself on his batting alone. On pure batting utility I would rate Pant above him because he gives us the explosiveness we need down the order. And Vijay Shankar has not be bowling as well. I guess getting in Pant at 6 or 7 and asking Dhoni to bat at 4 could be a good move that allows Dhoni to play more innings like yesterday when he got to buy his time at crease

Then we have two explosive batsmen who can come in ahead of Jadhav if required.