[harry10]

Originally Posted by Fx14

Could have easily got his century if Pandya just rotated the strike back instead of tonking his only six.

While NRR may be important in such a Round Robin format, just a couple of deliveries more should not have been an issue.

Pandya has the 'I am the Main character Syndrome'. He might be a good allrounder but as a person I find him obnoxious and selfish to the core. Remember just a while back he denied the debutant Tilak Verma his Maiden Fifty just like this. His selfishness is why I never want to see him as Indian Captain.

There used to be people like Javagal Srinath who in that famous Kotla test against Pakistan purposefully bowled all his balls wide of off stump so even by mistake he won't take a wicket and let Anil Kumble take all the 10 wickets. That's team spirit and taking care of your fellow mates.

Originally Posted by Eddy

Ishan Kishan should be spanked for playing that shot. Absolute brainless batting.

Irresponsible and stupid shot to say the least. Ishan should know he has no place in current team if everyone is available. He had a Golden opportunity to show his worth in a World cup due to Gills absence. He isn't a newcomer anymore and the age factor isn't any excuse for such a rubbish shot on your first ball chasing just 200. I am sure he and Iyer would have gotten a handful from Coach and Captain.

Originally Posted by dailydriver

True.

Pandya could have been a bit more considerate.

Rahul's instant disappointment at the ball making it across the boundary line without a hop was a sight to see. He even expressed it openly later, saying that his plan was to first score a four and then a six - ensuring the victory and completing his century.

Hope the innings was not a flash in the pan and that he carries forward the form throughout the tournament.

Meanwhile, the hat trick heroes need to pull up their socks, pronto!

Everyday is not a Sunday!!!

A 100 isn't an easy thing to score. They don't come everyday. And a World cup 100 is infinitely more Special to make. Match was in the bag. So, if KL thought to win and make his 100 both at same time it was a good decision and his disappointment was alright. He is human like us. It's good to see after a second of disappointment he smiled knowing how good he timed the ball.


On a lighter note this is a clip from Indian dressing room I found on Redditt. Wholesome atmosphere after the match.

https://reddit.com/r/IndiaCricket/s/MJ7Lmb0b1g

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by harry10

Pandya has the 'I am the Main character Syndrome'. He might be a good allrounder but as a person I find him obnoxious and selfish to the core. Remember just a while back he denied the debutant Tilak Verma his Maiden Fifty just like this. His selfishness is why I never want to see him as Indian Captain.

Absolutely; as good as Pandya is, his attitude is very, very off-putting. He had just about mellowed down after the Koffee with Karan incident, but a string of good performances, followed by the IPL win has made him a bit too brash for a team sport.

Spectacular batting from Rahul and Kohli; I was hoping both would get their 100. Kohli really needs a bunch of 100s - the standards he has set are unreal, so even a 85 seems insufficient.

Ishan and Iyer - sad to see them dropping chances given how persistent the selectors have been with them.
Rohit - ugh.

Assuming Gill is back next match, I'd say drop both Ishan and Iyer and get Ashwin.

[ValarMorghulis]

OK, I'll be the first one to accept that I have my big foot in my mouth now considering I was one of the vocal ones saying KL doesn't deserve a place in the team.

Since Asia Cup KL looks like in a different class altogether. I never lost faith in Virat and yesterday's match only reaffirmed his greatness. Pity he missed out on another century.

But great signs for India if we can win comfortably even after being 2 for 3.
Bring it on!

Watched the match in RCB Bar & Cafe and what an atmosphere!!!

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

OK, I'll be the first one to accept that I have my big foot in my mouth now considering I was one of the vocal ones saying KL doesn't deserve a place in the team.

Since Asia Cup KL looks like in a different class altogether. I never lost faith in Virat and yesterday's match only reaffirmed his greatness. Pity he missed out on another century.

KL Rahul has always been a class player. Only problem was consistency and I think a big shout out goes to the team management for persisting with him despite failures. A Rohit Sharma is a classic example of a player who was given chances and persisted with despite initial failures and look where he is now. Class players don't come easy and I think this team has got what it takes to lift the cup in the familiar conditions. 92 World Cup like league matches is the best format according to me and this world cup looks poised for some interesting mathces for sure.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Ishan Kishan should be spanked for playing that shot. Absolute brainless batting.

Ishan should have dismissed that ball to the boundary rope. Iyer's dismissal can be called brainless batting. When you're 2 down & only chasing 200 you can afford to give some respect to the bowler for 2-3 overs! But playing that kinda shot was totally irresponsible. Some brilliant batting by KL+Virat saved the day for Team India.

Originally Posted by harry10

Pandya has the 'I am the Main character Syndrome'. He might be a good allrounder but as a person I find him obnoxious and selfish to the core.

Don't think we should bother about how he is as a person, only his performances on the field matter at the end of the day! In the IPL he's blessed to have a good team which necessarily isn't the case when he captains in T20 Internationals. Since he is the only seam bowling all-rounder in the Country, he has that monopoly & is making good use of it & the BCCI also realizes that.

And a World cup 100 is infinitely more Special to make. Match was in the bag.

I may be overtly criticizing here but I feel the set batsman could have made a better effort to finish the game by the 35th over considering the NRR equation which could be critical later in the tournament!

[harry10]

Gill is hospitalised in Chennai due to low Platelet count. Dengue is no joke. He will take time to recover. Don't see him playing anymore this world cup. Sad for him. Team management should prepare Ishan to open for few matches. Also Jaiswal or someone else needs to be on standby if Gill is ruled out of tournament. I am still hoping he can come back after 3-4 matches. We still have to play 8 more.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by harry10

Gill is hospitalised in Chennai due to low Platelet count. Dengue is no joke. He will take time to recover. Don't see him playing anymore this world cup. Sad for him. Team management should prepare Ishan to open for few matches. Also Jaiswal or someone else needs to be on standby if Gill is ruled out of tournament. I am still hoping he can come back after 3-4 matches. We still have to play 8 more.

That's so sad. Team India was banking heavily on Gill for the opening slot and with him most probably out of WC the dilemma of good opening hangs again.

Rohit is hit or miss and with Ishaan coming under a lot of fire for his loose shot in the opening match I am sure India think tank will be promoting KL Rahul to open along with Rohit. If they do that the middle order which was supposed to be strong will go a bit weak again.

[Shumi_21]

Gill being hospitalised is bad news. Pray that he recovers by the business end of the tournament.

Ishan will most likely open, but I feel Virat should open with Rohit and Surya/Ishan comes in at 6. Ishan is vulnerable against swing and Rohit tends to go hard early, so it's very likely Virat will be batting in the first 5 overs any which ways.

Expecting KL to open after 50 overs of keeping is asking way too much.

Jaiswal could be a good option too. But I like the prospect of Rohit + Virat opening and Surya + Pandya doing damage at the end.

[Eddy]

I think Gaekwad is next in line in case replacement is needed. Although, personally I would prefer Jaiswal and play him ahead of Ishan Kishan.

[Revvatron]

Looks like there are plenty in attendance for Pak vs SL in Hyderabad today despite being a weekday. Nice to see this, they definitely got entertained by beautiful knock from Mendis. Maybe due to the fact that this is probably the only high profile game here.

[AtheK]

No action here, good match for us, except for siraj getting a bit of hammering everything else was clockwork, good to see rohit getting some runs, though i hope it is not the usual recent trend of him getting runs against minnows. Good to see ishan put his head down after the atrocious shot last time.

Now the big one.

[whencut86]

All good till we face a situation like we did during the 2019 WC SF against NZ. The top 4-5 wickets go for 20-30 runs and we have no one in the middle order who can take us through in the worst case scenario. It was totally different in the 2011 WC when we had the likes of Dhoni, Yuvraj and Raina come down and finish games in QF and Finals when chasing.

Kohli may have a great reputation but has never played a crucial knock in any of the knockout matches in the ODI World Cups he was part of. I don't expect anything different this time around and expect Kohli to falter in the knockout matches this WC. We will reach the Semis, but what happens during knockout when other teams bring their best and what pitches we get at Mumbai or Kolkata is all luck and not in team's control. Just imagine if we were in a similar situation in the knockout like 2 for loss of 3 wickets chasing a target as we were in the match against Australia, I see the rest of the batsmen crumbling under the pressure of a knockout.

All talks about SA being chokers, but we miss the bigger picture that of late, it is India who has choked badly when we were on the verge of history. I find that Smith has a knack of playing many crucial knocks when team or situation demanded and I would pick Steve Smith ahead of Kohli purely because of all his contribution in WC knock out matches. The only Indian player who had a knack of playing such crucial knocks is Rishabh Pant and he is out injured.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by whencut86

Kohli may have a great reputation but has never played a crucial knock in any of the knockout matches in the ODI World Cups he was part of. I don't expect anything different this time around and expect Kohli to falter in the knockout matches this WC.

The sample of knockout ODI WC games is far less to conclude that Kohli will fail again in a similar situation. As of today, there is no one better than Kohli who understands the 'pace' of ODI, be it a chase or batting first. This World Cup will be known for Kohli's consistency and runs scored. Even I am not a big fan of him but that is purely because of his antics, but let's keep that aside, he is currently the best batter in world cricket, especially in ODIs.
Calling Rishab Pant as the only cricketer to have bailed India out of knockout situations, how many ODI knockouts has he won for India?

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

The sample of knockout ODI WC games is far less to conclude that Kohli will fail again in a similar situation. As of today, there is no one better than Kohli who understands the 'pace' of ODI, be it a chase or batting first. This World Cup will be known for Kohli's consistency and runs scored. Even I am not a big fan of him but that is purely because of his antics, but let's keep that aside, he is currently the best batter in world cricket, especially in ODIs.

There is enough sample size for this conclusion. Kohli is playing from 2011 WC and 3 World Cups are sample enough. Just for comparison:
Ind vs Aus 2015 WC SF -Steve Smith 105 vs Kohli 1
Aus vs Eng 2019 WC SF - Aus lost 3 quick wickets and Smith stabilized with a knock of 85.
Ind vs NZ 2019 WC SF - Kohli got out on 1
Smith didn't play in the QF in 2011 World Cup so cannot compare that.

We can trumpet Kohli's statistics, pace, understanding, consistency and all that but the bottom line is Kohli has not contributed in a WC Cup win across formats or in World Test Championships and someone like Steve Smith has done this compared to Kohli. He maybe the best batsmen according to many, but if you really pick someone in a World Cup XI based on ability to deliver in crunch situations, it would definitely be Smith ahead of Kohli.

The same comparison holds true for Ponting vs Sachin as well but facts do remain a fair bit on Sachin's side since though Sachin did not make an impact in both ODI WC finals we played, he has made a big impact in the QF and SFs with multiple fifties and a MOM award in the 2011 SF. Compared to this Kohli has not done well in ODI World Cups in knockouts. Maybe destiny or maybe mental conditioning but the like of Dhoni, Gambhir, Yuvraj and to an extent Sachin have important contributions in ODI WC knockouts in the Indian context.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by whencut86

There is enough sample size for this conclusion. Kohli is playing from 2011 WC and 3 World Cups are sample enough. Just for comparison:
Ind vs Aus 2015 WC SF -Steve Smith 105 vs Kohli 1
Aus vs Eng 2019 WC SF - Aus lost 3 quick wickets and Smith stabilized with a knock of 85.
Ind vs NZ 2019 WC SF - Kohli got out on 1
Smith didn't play in the QF in 2011 World Cup so cannot compare that.

Let's conveniently ignore the one World Cup where he played a crucial innings because Steve Smith couldn't make it to Australia Playing XI.

Also, let us ignore all of the T20 Worldcups where he played exceedingly well in 2014, 2016, and 2022. While there is no denying that Kohli failed in the 2015 and 2019 World Cup Semifinals, that in itself does not mean he is unreliable. The Great Sachin failed in the 2011 and 2003 finals - but we all know he was one of the reasons why we reached the finals in the first place.

I believe Steve Smith himself will agree that Virat is a better Limited over cricketer than him . We can go back four days for the Virat vs Smith comparison.