[ghodlur]

Right from the beginning yday India England was looking fixed. The free flow of runs offered to the England batsmen was very evident from the lack of world class fielding which India had earned in the past matches. Couldn't imagine Kohli not stopping a 4 at the boundary when he could have easily dived.

Why did Rishabh Pant get a berth in the playing 11 when there was already Dinesh Kartik available. This is clear favoritism which the team should not encourage.

A botched match where India could have easily won but preferred politics over cricket.

[deehunk]

The next match against Bangladesh will be interesting, this time Bangladesh may get on top of India. Shakib and Mushfiqur are in great form, India will be confused whether to chase or take a risk and let BD chase in the second innings. England will knock out Kiwis in their last match.

[suresh_gs]

I would not read too much into the loss for India. With just a single six in the entire innings, margin of defeat was only 31 runs. The entire top order is capable of hitting many more such sixers. Looks like the game plan was to deliver Pakistan a knockout punch.
India is ready to tackle Bangladesh.

[Thermodynamics]

India did well. It wasn't a humiliating loss as perceived popularly. It was a flat pitch and the better team with the bat won, period. Sad to see every one jumping at Dhoni, he did his best given that he bats at 6th position.

Originally Posted by saket77

Clearly India lacking the intent to fight or may be I can even use the term lacking the intent to win.

I also felt so, sometimes it looked like a tactical loss but no one likes to loose winning momentum though.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Right from the beginning yday India England was looking fixed.

Having not lost a match, I think our team was in Siesta. On the other hand, England were prepared aggressive, it was a must win.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Why did Rishabh Pant get a berth in the playing 11 when there was already Dinesh Kartik available. This is clear favoritism which the team should not encourage.

I had the same question, the selection committee was never transparent which leads to dubious assumptions. When DK is available it makes zero sense to pick Pant. Mr. Pant was flown in like an emergency given the fact he has only played 5 ODIs in his career and averages a bare 25. India has abundance of talents but talent alone doesn't guarantee a birth in playing 11.

[ValarMorghulis]

Baffling strategy from India yesterday. I can, may be, justify the slow pace of innings when Kohli and Sharma were batting on the pretext of building the innings. But the way Dhoni and Co. batted last 10 overs were mind numbing!
Lack of intent, application was clear. Were they not bothered to win this? 'Cos it sure looked like it. Kohli said Dhoni tried hitting but the pitch was so and so... Rubbish, Dhoni hit ONE six in the last over which was the only six of the entire Indian innings.


This wasn't a champion performance and by the looks of it England looked a far better side the entire day.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by deehunk

The next match against Bangladesh will be interesting, this time Bangladesh may get on top of India. Shakib and Mushfiqur are in great form, India will be confused whether to chase or take a risk and let BD chase in the second innings. England will knock out Kiwis in their last match.

Even if we lose both next games I think we'll be thru. The NRR difference is just too much at this stage for Pak/BD to catch up. They are both out unless NZ upset Eng.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by joslicx

Even if we lose both next games I think we'll be thru. The NRR difference is just too much at this stage for Pak/BD to catch up. They are both out unless NZ upset Eng.

We will sneak through unless Sri Lanka don't surprise us with a CT 2017 performance. I am wary about BD because we have struggled against their spin attack. England are likely to be our semi final opponent.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ebonho

...the way our boys maneuvered and brilliantly and effortlessly controlled last night's match and made a mammoth run chase look easy gave me a lot of heart and satisfaction.
I must admit initially I did not think we would reach 300.

Same here! When chasing something like 330, the chasing team either goes all out, scores and overtakes at a quick rate with one player usually having a phenomenal day OR the chasing team collapses for under 280. The fact that we reached 300 indicates we can recover, plan and play in a tough situation now and that can only help as we go into the knockouts.

I really don't think we threw the match. Perhaps Dhoni decided to play for NRR after Pandya got out, but I just think Eng's score was just beyond us as will any 330-type score be for any team in a World Cup, unless one player just clicks and takes off from the chasing team right from the start.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by am1m

Same here! When chasing something like 330, the chasing team either goes all out, scores and overtakes at a quick rate with one player usually having a phenomenal day OR the chasing team collapses for under 280. The fact that we reached 300 indicates we can recover, plan and play in a tough situation now and that can only help as we go into the knockouts.

I really don't think we threw the match. Perhaps Dhoni decided to play for NRR after Pandya got out, but I just think Eng's score was just beyond us as will any 330-type score be for any team in a World Cup, unless one player just clicks and takes off from the chasing team right from the start.

Unlike many pundits and moralistic types I have no qualms in dealing an enemy a knife to the heart any and every opportunity I get.

The math is clear if you trace the two worms.

30 runs is nothing .... a couple of overs of the 50 and a few big hits.

This is regular at the international level even in soccer, at the world cup. The reason for all the soap opera is because it's Pakistan and the Aman types are out in full force, love brimming over.

Cheers, Doc

[ValarMorghulis]

OK.. this wasn't a good chase. This isn't a model to chase against any good team.
We lost this by a huge margin and at any point during the chase we were not a threat to Eng. This was an abysmal performance by India.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by ebonho

The math is clear if you trace the two worms.

30 runs is nothing .... a couple of overs of the 50 and a few big hits.

The best scenes of last minutes,

• Indian Physio eager to go to Dhoni, Aakri over me kya saans badaana tha?
• Woakes wasting time to wear his shoes, Dharmasena was speechless, Kitni gendh karni hein?
• Aleem Daar talking to Dhoni, Aankir humein baahar kar diya!
• Kedar denied strike by Dhoni, Kya aap yeh match jitha sakthe hein?

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by deehunk

The best scenes of last minutes,

• Indian Physio eager to go to Dhoni, Aakri over me kya saans badaana tha?
• Woakes wasting time to wear his shoes, Dharmasena was speechless, Kitni gendh karni hein?
• Aleem Daar talking to Dhoni, Aankir humein baahar kar diya!
• Kedar denied strike by Dhoni, Kya mein yeh match jitha saktha hoon?

Kohli at the boundary.

That one moment confirmed it for me. I whatsapped my dad immediately after that.

Win or loss in the days ahead, right now I'm at peace.

Cheers, Doc

[PPS]

England won a very important toss, which proved to be decisive i feel! Credit to England, they played like the No.1 team that they were till a few days ago. Once Kul-Cha were taken apart, a massive score was imminent. Many blaming the slow start in the first 10 overs but fact is Archer & Woakes bowled very well & hardly bowled anything loose! England used the home conditions & dimensions of the ground to their advantage. Most likely we'll be playing our semis at this very venue probably against England again!

Pant's inclusion was a huge surprise as Virat had claimed Shankar is one game away from that big score. Excuse given was he had a toe niggle, but then he was the official drinks boy during the game.

By the time Kedar came in to bat, game was already lost, he couldn't have done much. If Kedar is going to have precious little to do in most games, might as well have Jadeja as he's a better overall package!

Atleast we've got that one bad game out of the way & that different jersey won't be seen again! Everyone knows what happened after we wore those army caps in the Australia series a few months back!

[harry10]

Its amusing to see so many people claiming India threw the game away. This is an international match, a World Cup match. No team will even think about throwing any match at any time.

Bottim line is we were thoroughly outplayed. England were aggressive in all departments. We did well to keep them till 337 as with the opening partnership they should have made 380+.

The way kohli and rohit started clearly showed they don't have confidence in middle order. 27 in first 10 overs when you are chasing 338 is ridiculous. People are blaming Pant forgetting it's only his 6 th odi and first ever world cup game. Still he showed intent throughout to hit the ball as he could. He could have easily done a selfish Dhoni innings and make a run a ball 50. But, he tried his best to hit boundaries. What Dhoni and Jadhav did in the end is pure rubbish. They should be ashamed of calling themselves finishers. No intent at all to win the match.

Anyways, next match should bring DK in for jadhav. And someone needs to tell Rahul to stop playing for his place and play for the team.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by harry10

What Dhoni and Jadhav did in the end is pure rubbish. They should be ashamed of calling themselves finishers.

Are they really the 'finishers' in the team? Although Dhoni & to an extent Kedar won us that ODI series in Australia but fact is only the likes of Hardik Pandya has the confidence & ability to score 10 runs per over in the last 5-10 overs. Yesterday, the finisher should have been either Rohit or Virat who were well set, but that didn't happen.
I still feel expecting us to win this World Cup with 2 batsman & a bit is an ominous task!