[AtheK]

Rohit Sharma, as captain across all formats was the biggest mistake. All three formats need different captains. Now, he hit a half century yesterday after 26 off matches, that is almost two seasons. Yesterday also, somehow, they wriggled through. Though he did play well, the team seems to be totally lost on direction.

While IPL is also very important. Virat should have been retained as the captain of the Test team. Rohit Sharma does not even deserve to be in the team let alone captain it. I hope Hardik is named permanent T20 captain. That guy has really matured in the last few years and deserves all the praise he is getting.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

My playing XI for MI:

MI had a very poor auction resulting in this very Average side! Its a bit difficult to fix things now I feel.

Originally Posted by Eddy

I've seen batsmen lose form suddenly, but what is happening to SKY is inexplicable, unbelievable and very sad.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

He's been glorified to such great lengths in the past few months/year or so, that looks like he (was led to) believed he was invincible. At this point, his confidence seems to be destroyed,

SKY was batting like a dream in T20s, this wretched bad patch which started in ODIs is now stretching to the IPL, not sure whether or how temporary this is. Also, I think he needs to go back to no.3 position in the IPL where he's seen success. The likes of Green & David can finish games considering they tend to struggle against half decent spin on our slow pitches.

It is about time the team needs a strong taskmaster: most players have become superstars, and seem to be doing their own thing - I wonder what role Dravid / NCA have anymore.

Dravid can do zilch about player workload in the IPL. Rohit last month made a statement that its upto the player concerned to look after their bodies in the IPL. The very same Rohit Sharma played Bumrah in almost all the games last IPL inspite of knowing somewhere in the middle of the IPL that MI had no chance of qualifying for the playoffs! NCA nowadays resembles a hospital ward. Everybody is clueless as to why so many players are breaking down. Someone like Bumrah was given frequent breaks & had adequate rest but still broke down.

Originally Posted by whencut86

The extreme fitness regimen is to be blamed purely for this entire fiasco. Sehwag's view on one of the podcasts makes absolute sense. Players are getting injured in the gym rather than on the field and nobody is looking into this seriously from management or BCCI. Bumrah and Shreyas injuries are purely because of the heavy lifting in the gym rather than picking it up during the game.

Ever seen those videos posted by Virat Kohli lifting weights in the gym? Why doesn't he get injured! I refuse to believe this theory. Offcourse gym work no doubt is important but I'd rather have players practicing their skills on the ground rather than spend hours in the gym.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

...you'll see the amount of distractions - whether by their own accord, or commitments due to sponsors.
...

Originally Posted by whencut86

....Totally agree and these distractions are not required at the highest level of the game. IPL though has brought a lot of talent but the downside is the easy money and endorsements at very young age and the associated distractions that come with both of these...

Never quite understood the point of this. What do you mean by distractions?
Ad shoots and sponsorships?
A little demeaning, don't you think, to assume that no money == focus and Extra money == distractions. These are professional cricketers.

Originally Posted by whencut86

...The extreme fitness regimen is to be blamed purely for this entire fiasco. Sehwag's view on one of the podcasts makes absolute sense. Players are getting injured in the gym rather than on the field and nobody is looking into this seriously from management or BCCI. Bumrah and Shreyas injuries are purely because of the heavy lifting in the gym rather than picking it up during the game...

What is an extreme fitness regime? Bhumrah first suffered a stress fracture in his lower back in September 2019, during India's tour of the West Indies. The exact cause of the injury was never disclosed, but it was believed to be a result of the fast bowler's unorthodox bowling action, which puts a lot of strain on his back.
Now unless Sehwag actually went to the gym to see Bhumrah get injured that was all fluff. Shreyas's injuries were a result of fielding. Jadeja got injured on a ski-board having fun. Rohit got injured while playing a match.
These cricketers play a LOT of cricket and it is OK for them to get injured.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Rohit Sharma, as captain across all formats was the biggest mistake.

Rohit is the ideal captain for all home matches in all formats. He is a disaster in away matches in all formats. If we can have different captains for home, and away arrangements, he can continue as captain.

Yesterday also somehow they wriggled through. Though he did play well, the team seems to be totally lost on direction.

The creation of the GT franchise has taken the life out of MI. They finished last in 2022, while GT finished 1st. Rohit is unable to turn this around.

While IPL is also very important. Virat should have been retained as the captain of the Test team,

There are reasons why Virat was removed as Test captain. Those are still valid. At best, Virat can be the ODI captain. The pace of ODI suits his style.

Rohit Sharma does not even deserve to be in the team let alone captain it. I hope Hardik is named permanent T20 captain. That guy has really matured in the last few years and deserves all the praise he is getting.

So far Hardik has been lucky as captain. Secondly, he is not fully fit. These are to be ensured before he is made permanent T20 captain.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by msdivy

There are reasons why Virat was removed as Test captain. Those are still valid. At best, Virat can be the ODI captain..

Interesting. What were the reasons that he was ‘removed’ from test captaincy?

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Eddy

SKY , but he should realise that he is a T20 player at best. The selectors too should look elsewhere for ODIs.

Thats precisely where the problem lies. After Pant's accident, selectors are hoping that SKY comes good in the middle order for the ODI WC! But as we've seen he's failed to replicate his T20 success in ODIs.

We need to get over the fact that we have enough bench strength to field parallel teams.

Right now we can field 3 parallel teams in 3 different continents but not 1 good team on the park! Thats the kind of bench strength Dravid has built.

Originally Posted by msdivy

Rohit is the ideal captain for all home matches in all formats. He is a disaster in away matches in all formats.

Rohit has been very disappointing as a Captain irrespective of his numerous bilateral wins. Right from his fitness which has been downhill for a while to loss of form with the bat. Ideally he should only concentrate on Tests as his form in white ball format hasn't been great.

[PreludeSH]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

What is an extreme fitness regime? Bhumrah first suffered a stress fracture in his lower back in September 2019, during India's tour of the West Indies. The exact cause of the injury was never disclosed, but it was believed to be a result of the fast bowler's unorthodox bowling action, which puts a lot of strain on his back.
Now unless Sehwag actually went to the gym to see Bhumrah get injured that was all fluff. Shreyas's injuries were a result of fielding. Jadeja got injured on a ski-board having fun. Rohit got injured while playing a match.
These cricketers play a LOT of cricket and it is OK for them to get injured.

Even Kohli has back issues. Maybe for a batsmen its not that bad as it would be for a bowler. Dont think Jadeja is hardcore fitness freak.

WI fast bowlers and Hadlee all used to run rounds in the stadium for stamina. Isnt flexibility one of the great enablers for sportmen ?

[AtheK]

ah!! dhoni could not end the fairytale script!

[harry10]

Whatever bad thing happens in IPL or Indian team involving Indian players - most guys- let's blame Kohli. No matter he is not Captain now, no matter he is the fittest along with Dhoni in World cricket and very rarely misses any game due to injury. But ya, let's blame Kohli. Let's not blame the worst coach Indian cricket has seen since Greg Chappell and the current Captain whose fitness is as abysmal as it can get.

Anyways, 4th day, 4th game finishing last ball. Quite some fun for neutrals.

They needed 63 in 30 balls when Dhoni and Jaddu united. They made just 9 in next 2 overs. Dhoni taking it to last ball doesn't work always. Should have attacked before. Sandy was brilliant with yorkers in last 3 balls and kept his cool even after 2 sixes.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Eddy

- I had one more point to make, that I forgot while writing the above

The "A" tours have to resume.

Ah! I can finally sleep well

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by PreludeSH

Even Kohli has back issues...

Not exactly. The last time Kohli suffered a back injury was in 2018. All his other injuries since then have been on field.

Originally Posted by PreludeSH

Dont think Jadeja is hardcore fitness freak

I don't know how a fitness freak is defined, but Jadeja is one of the fittest fielders in the Indian team. He is right there at the top along with Kohli for being the best fielder in the team.

Originally Posted by PreludeSH

..WI fast bowlers and Hadlee all used to run rounds in the stadium for stamina. Isnt flexibility one of the great enablers for sportmen ?

Sir Hadlee played 86 Test matches and 115 ODIs in his entire career of 17 years.
Kohli has already played 108 Test matches, 274 ODIs, 115 T20 internationals, 363 T20s (like IPL) in his 15 years' career so far.
I can easily say Kohli is one of the fittest international players currently and an all time great (even in terms of fitness).

Originally Posted by harry10

Whatever bad thing happens in IPL or Indian team involving Indian players - most guys- let's blame Kohli. No matter he is not Captain now, no matter he is the fittest along with Dhoni in World cricket and very rarely misses any game due to injury. But ya, let's blame Kohli...

Seriously!! The fitness culture Kohli has imbibed in the team is a boon! Players are fitter, faster and better fielders. We no longer have trundlers trying to hide in the field.

[KPR]

The way IPL is glorified I don't see our team winning any tournament in future at all. If someone (like me) thinks to watch only India ICC games, better we switch to other sport. Our cricket team can win some home bilateral series but never can win a WC. These selectors can take Rohit, KL or anyone in national team as though like Dream11 formation with Salman, Vijay type heroes but not real performers.

[sachinayak]

MI messed up the auction last time and they cannot salvage the situation now. They went into the auction with a fixed mindset of picking up Ishaan Kishan, no matter what. They went all guns blazing, and in the process they did not buy a lot of other players earlier in the auction. After this big-budget buy, they were left with no money to compete for other players in the auction. One big mistake and they are left with a highly imbalanced team.

That said, they did not have Joffra Archer last year and this year they do not have Bumrah. That combined with the poor form of SKY has spelt doomsday for MI.

[Eddy]

They didn't learn from that blunder. Picked up Cam Green while it was the bowling that needed strengthening. It will be a long road to recovery, and it will be longer if there is no mega auction in the future.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

Sir Hadlee played 86 Test matches and 115 ODIs in his entire career of 17 years.
Kohli has already played 108 Test matches, 274 ODIs, 115 T20 internationals, 363 T20s (like IPL) in his 15 years' career so far.
I can easily say Kohli is one of the fittest international players currently and an all time great (even in terms of fitness).

Sir Hadlee played 342 First class matches and another 317 List A matches. Not something you can see the present crop of cricketers doing. I personally believe playing a First class match takes a lot more out of the players than an IPL.

I remember seeing an interview of Ravi Shastri who highlighted the issue of fitness among present players. I guess he did have a point. In the good old 90s when teams were playing crazy high number of matches, I don't remember seeing so many injuries. There must be something going wrong which NCA is yet to crack.

That said, I would agree that Kohli is one of the fittest players today.