[quantobigboot]

I have recently found an excellent online cricket management game at www.fromthepavilion.org . There is a lack of good cricket management games and I would recommend this game to someone who may have interest in this genre. It is completely free to play and allows you to move at your own pace.

P.S. I am not associated with the site in any way.

[Emvi]

Joe Root steps down as England Test captain.

http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news...d-test-captain

[Emvi]

West Indies T20 legend Kieron Pollard retires from International cricket!

News Link

[Emvi]

Playing for Durham Ben Stokes scored a scintillating 161 of just 88 balls against Worcestershire breaking a few records en route.

Report

[Emvi]

India's test discard Cheteshwar Pujara's magnificent run in county cricket continues, notches up 4 tons on the trot! The sequence of scores includes 2 double hundreds and a superb unbeaten 170 of 197 balls(In the ongoing match).

With this kind of batting display it will be hard for the Indian think tank to ignore him.

News Link

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by Emvi

India's test discard Cheteshwar Pujara's magnificent run in county cricket continues, notches up 4 tons on the trot! The sequence of scores includes 2 double hundreds and a superb unbeaten 170 of 197 balls(In the ongoing match).

With this kind of batting display it will be hard for the Indian think tank to ignore him.

News Link

He needed this break. Probably, Kohli should follow his footsteps. County Cricket has average skilled bowlers however the weather and conditions add to the complexity. Very happy for him, he deserves a second chance in the Indian Team.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

He needed this break. Probably, Kohli should follow his footsteps. County Cricket has average skilled bowlers however the weather and conditions add to the complexity. Very happy for him, he deserves a second chance in the Indian Team.

Pujara is a class act, it was pretty evident he needed a break to rejuvenate. Multiple tough tours on the trot do take their toll. For all the Rishabh Pant heroics down under, it was Pujara who has India’s rock in that series. No one else had the skill and the temperament to bat session after session, match after match.

Kohli had no business playing in this year’s IPL. He should have simply taken a two month break, spent time with family and come back with a clean head. He could have simply walked back into the team. Not anymore. Ideally, BCCI should limit the participation of Grade A+ and Grade A players in IPL, so that they get the time off to recuperate and rejuvenate. Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, Shami… they all could have done with 30-45 days off.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Pujara is a class act, it was pretty evident he needed a break to rejuvenate. Multiple tough tours on the trot do take their toll. For all the Rishabh Pant heroics down under, it was Pujara who has India’s rock in that series. No one else had the skill and the temperament to bat session after session, match after match.

Kohli had no business playing in this year’s IPL. He should have simply taken a two month break, spent time with family and come back with a clean head. He could have simply walked back into the team. Not anymore. Ideally, BCCI should limit the participation of Grade A+ and Grade A players in IPL, so that they get the time off to recuperate and rejuvenate. Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, Shami… they all could have done with 30-45 days off.

I wont be surprised if Pujara scores a plethora of runs in the next 3-5 years playing for India. I cannot recollect any other traditional test batter other than him. May be D Elgar?
IPL and A grade cricketers have interdependencies. They cannot survive without each other. No one is watching the IPL if there is no Rohit, Virat, Bhumrah or Jaddu.
With regards to Kohli, I feel this is the start of his end. He does not look like getting back to his previous version. He either need to realize that he has to let go off the money (IPL) if he wishes to stay as a 'legend' in International Cricket.

[VWAllstar]

Purely on current form in the IPL, will you consider Rohit & Virat for the playing XI for T20 WC?

My Playing XI:
KL Rahul
R Gaikwad
SKY
S Samson (c)
H Pandya
R Pant
D Karthik (wk)
B Kumar
J Bhumrah
Arshdeep Singh / H Patel
Y Chahal

BCCI XI:
R Sharma (c)
KL Rahul
V Kohli :(
SKY
H Pandya
R Pant (wk)
R Jadeja
R Ashwin
J Bhumrah
M Shami
M Siraj

Hope this time the selectors arent wearing their 3D glasses!

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Purely on current form in the IPL, will you consider Rohit & Virat for the playing XI for T20 WC?

My Playing XI:
KL Rahul
R Gaikwad
SKY
S Samson (c)
H Pandya
R Pant
D Karthik (wk)
B Kumar
J Bhumrah
Arshdeep Singh / H Patel
Y Chahal

BCCI XI:
R Sharma (c)
KL Rahul
V Kohli :(
SKY
H Pandya
R Pant (wk)
R Jadeja
R Ashwin
J Bhumrah
M Shami
M Siraj

Hope this time the selectors arent wearing their 3D glasses!

As much as the fans crib and complain, I doubt BCCI is changing the team.

Rohit is the captain, so he'll be in.
If Rohit is in, then Kohli will be in too.
One out of Jadeja/ Ashwin will definitely play.

T20 WC seems basically out of grasp this year, again.

[searacer932]

If you go by current T20 form and want to pick a team who can play for India next week (or even next month!) then there is no way Rohit or Kohli can make it to the 15, forget the playing 11

[PPS]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Purely on current form in the IPL, will you consider Rohit & Virat for the playing XI for T20 WC?

Varun Chakravarthy & Rahul Chahar were picked in the last T20 WC based on their IPL exploits. Both were soon discarded & Varun C isn't even getting into the XI for his IPL team now. Established players like Rohit & Virat are usually given the long rope, what both terribly need is a long break from cricket.

[landcruiser123]

Unpopular opinion:
Considering the way Virat Kohli is playing, he shouldn't be on that flight to Australia for the T20 WC.

After a good break, I'm pretty sure he'd come back like a hungry lion and relentlessly destroy bowling attacks for the next 5-6 years.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

If Virat Kohli plays like this, he shouldn't be on that flight to Australia for the T20 WC.

I'd say that's a pretty popular opinion.

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

I wont be surprised if Pujara scores a plethora of runs in the next 3-5 years playing for India.

What is also impressive is Pujara's strike rate. One can argue point fingers at the decline in quality of county cricket (a reason touted for England's recent poor test performances), but his consistency (both in terms of average and strike rate) is certainly very good. He should be back on the test side.

I cannot recollect any other traditional test batter other than him. May be D Elgar?

Depends on how you define traditional. I especially love watching the way Dean Elgar, and Dimuth Karunaratne play. I'd rate Dean Elgar as one of the best Test batters around now. He makes the hard job of opening in Test cricket looks so easy.

I was also super impressed by Kraigg Brathwaite in the recent series vs England. There's something special about the resurgence of West Indian test cricket in recent times - they have very few multi-format players. For test cricket to live, we need strong teams from WI and RSA.