[suresh_gs]

Kohli fails in crunch matches. Remember 2015 WC semifinals and today's match. Rohit would be a better ODI captain compared to him.
Now that the WC is done and dusted, next task is to identify proper middle order players based on merit and not based on Kohli's choice.
Yeah the cheerleader Shastri must be sacked and we need a proper cricketing coach.

[akhil_007]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

I can't understand the veiled hate against Dhoni. Top order collapses, the famed Kohli can't do anything about it and we are hating a guy who nearly brought us to victory. He should have dived it seems. Heck, Kohli and Nohit should have batted!

Well said.
Same rule applies for Rahul as well. Ask from him was to see off the new ball. His body language looks so indifferent. He will make the opposition believe ball swings in flat dead tracks of India as well. Nurtures opposition bowlers so much

[RavSam]

Everything aside, I really really felt sad to see Dhoni and Rohit Sharma cry. And people who bluntly call him Nohit, have you never failed in your life that you are calling others names?

[aaggoswami]

While the defeat was not expected yesterday, the way we started our innings today was poor. We have some of the best batsmen in our line up and they failed. One after another. K.L.Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik scored 9 runs off 21 balls among them with a strike rate of 21.43.

Now as they easily collapsed, pressure was on rest of the players to perform and win. All this pressure was transferred to Jadeja, Dhoni and upto some extent Rishab Pant. In my view, it is unfair to expect Dhoni to come at the position he came in today's match, do wonders and win for us. Its unfair to flood him with pressure and blame (probably even guilt ?) for loss. Rohit, Virat, K.L. Rahul and Dinesh Karthik, anyone would expect that they should have pulled on in steady demeanor for atleast 10-15 overs. Top order here is to take more blame than anybody else in my view for the sinking.

Anybody can be run out, and it was a day full of pressure. The current team setup feels improvident, may be sort of well oiled machinery pushing the ship in calm seas, but fails in face of rough weather. This needs improvement and introspection.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by saket77

Nobody seems to be talking about KL Rahul.

Rahul is a special case. When Dhawan was injured, Pant was sent as a replacement . But Pant didn't open, Rahul did. If Rahul has batted at No 4, there would be more strength in the middle order. Having Pant at No 1 would have helped in quicker starts.

It is another matter when all-rounder Shankar was injured, Mayank Agarwal, an opener was sent a replacement.

Jadhav is a better batsman than DK. Probably he is still serving the sentence for not showing intent during chase against England and hence couldn't be in playing XI today.

Overall it points to poor team selection and banking on someone to play a cameo to get them off the woods.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

But all said and done, it will likely be a mystery why MSD was not sent in earlier to bat!

Dhoni has been reluctant to bat higher than No 5. Yes, it is a mystery whether it is his personal choice or team's decision.

Originally Posted by RavSam

And people who bluntly call him Nohit, bhai tum log life mein kabhi fail hi nahi hue kya jo naam rakhte ho dusron ko?

He gets the name Nohit for his Test cricket performance. In ODI, he is the biggest flat track monster.

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by RavSam

Everything aside, I really really felt sad to see Dhoni and Rohit Sharma cry.

When did this happen?

[anb]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Now that the WC is done and dusted, next task is to identify proper middle order players based on merit and not based on Kohli's choice.
.

Is middle order batsman selected based on one player's choice ?

Originally Posted by naveenroy

I can't understand the veiled hate against Dhoni.

Well, the reason is Dhoni's inability to rotate strike and find boundaries when required rate goes up. The batsmen at the other end feel the pressure and get dismissed while trying to catch up with required run rate. Remember, Dhoni has the lowest strike rate among the Main ODI batsmen for the last 2-3 years.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/crick...PP5Z2xUUL.html

[deehunk]

Dhoni could not see off new ball, he could not score against slow bowlers during middle overs, he could not play during final overs. Where else was a slot for him in an ODI? The middle order batsmen should be selected on merit alone, conversion of a player beyond his skills should be stopped.

[vibbs]

Now that everything is done and dusted, I guess it would be safe to say that we paid price of not having right balance in the team. And this has been the bane of India under Kohli. Despite having many stakeholders for various positions, we dont manage to pick a well balanced team to win consistently.

Look back and we can see India's stellar performance in group matches was down to one man having an exceptional time. That plus the fact that you have the world's number one fast bowler in your team.

That said, I still think this was one of the best teams India had put up for world cups (thanks in a big way to our bowling line up). Had we done a couple of changes, things could have ended well.
This was certainly not even near the best batting line ups we have fielded. But heavy scoring at top and great bowling covered up for it.

We had 3 players in numbers 4,5 and 6 who should be in the team for their 'other' skill.
Ideally top 4 numbers should be taken up by proper batsmen. No 5 should primarily be a batsman who can bowl. No.6 should be a wicket-keeper batsman (swapping places with 7 if needed). No 7 and 8 bowlers who can bat, 9,10,11 primarily bowlers.
If you see we had 1,2,3,6,7,8,9 and 10 covered.
Problem was simply with 4 and 5 who are not players you would want in the team for their batting talent alone and cannot bowl as well. We almost paid for it first when Pandya hopped off the field. Luckily he came back to complete his overs.

We persisted with Rayudu for so long right until the world cup began and then dumped him.
I hope we spend the next couple of years looking for players in these positions and groom them.

It wont be easy for India in the next world cup. Rohit and Kohli are arguably in the best form of their life for past couple of years. How long will this continue?
Plus we wont have Dhoni the strategist in our team. Kohli wont be half good a captain as he is now without Dhoni to guide him.

We need young players who can take up the mantle or else we could end up in the next world cup as we were in 2007.

That said, I hope England wins today. For the sake of cricket, we need a new team winning the cup.

If its Australia in the finals, they would simply be unstoppable!

[ebonho]

Our batting collapses are becoming legendary to all who have been following cricket for a long time. Since the early 80s and black and white TV in my case. Whole day, five days, engrossed in test matches as a kid during vacation.

I said two things on this thread.

Pujara. I'll take his brittle knees over our brittle lineup.

Jadeja. Madness ....

I don't get IPL and why the hysteria around it. I have never watched IPL in real life or on the TV.

A disgusted and jaded fan.

Cheers, Doc

[srishiva]

One of the problems was lack of left-right combination. Looking at the first 3 wickets, the bowlers were very consistent for right handers. Dhavan although not a great batsman makes use of the loose balls he gets from bowlers adjusting to line

[blacksport]

A well deserved loss according to me. Overconfidence made way to arrogance, so much so that they were ready to throw a game away just to spite somebody. They thought they were gods who can write their own destiny.

I only wish they were wearing orange yesterday.

ps: Felt bad for Dhoni and Jadeja though.

[GT3]

It seems the ball that got Dhoni run out was a no ball. Though he would have been given out, who knows how it would have changed the course of the game. Umpiring needs some serious improvement in cricket.

Link: https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/...rld-cup/451973

[arindambasu13]

The only person that I genuinely feel bad for is the so called "bits and pieces" Ravindra Jadeja. The man put in 150% into all aspects of his game, and was in stark contrast to the complacency and lackadaisical attitude exhibited by the top guns of the team. And yes, the ring of complacency and overconfidence does include Dhoni as well. For starters, why did he not come out earlier - absolutely no rational explanation for this. Secondly, while he did get 49 valuable runs, the pace of run getting was too slow and there were hardly any increase in tempo till the very last couple of overs, just before he got out.

Just a huge disappointment, if we had picked up the pace in the middle overs, those 18 runs may have just been much more easy to attain.

[PPS]

Although we won 7 games & lost 2 in the World Cup, someone in the BCCI all along needed to take Kohli & Shastri into a corner & point out that this team has inherent weakness being the middle order! Don't think anyone in the BCCI had the guts to do such a thing, they're just overawed by Kohli/Shastri.

Now the team management needs to identify certain players & give them the long rope. Its perhaps prudent to get rid of Kedar Jadhav & Karthik since they're certainly not going to be there for the next 50 overs WC. Shubman Gill perhaps needs to be groomed, hope the likes of Pandya & Pant mature by the time next WC comes & Rohit/Shikhar/Kohli are still around in good form 4yrs down the line!