[PPS]

Will be interesting to see how Pant goes about as Captain. Both Pant & KL look flustered when put under pressure in the IPL, unlike Hardik who looked extremely calm! Just hope KL recovers in time for the Test in England.

[Eddy]

As a captain, Pant was a disaster in this years IPL. Selection, bowling changes, DRS, calling off players, his own batting all were below par.

I hope he does better with India, given this is not a permenant job.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by Eddy

As a captain, Pant was a disaster in this years IPL. Selection, bowling changes, DRS, calling off players, his own batting all were below par.

I hope he does better with India, given this is not a permenant job.

Weird to hand over the captaincy to Pant especially for reasons mentioned. I feel they ran out of options and could not give H Pandya the captaincy as Dravid wanted Pandya to first bowl, bat and field like before.
Bhuvi is an under rated cricketer and could well be a good captain material.
My Playing XI for today's T20:

R Gaikwad
I Kishan
S Iyer
H Pandya
D Hooda
R Pant
DK (WK)
H Patel
B Kumar
Y Chahal
A Singh

[PPS]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Weird to hand over the captaincy to Pant especially for reasons mentioned. I feel they ran out of options and could not give H Pandya the captaincy as Dravid wanted Pandya to first bowl, bat and field like before.

The selectors have to follow the pecking order. KL & Pant were ahead of Pandya in the queue.

Bhuvi is an under rated cricketer and could well be a good captain material.

Bhuvi is lucky to be in the team I feel. He's past his prime but has experience.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

R Pant
DK (WK)

No way that DK will don the gloves while Pant is in the team because:

- Pant is a better keeper.
- With competition like Samson, Kishan, DK etc no way captain Pant will hand over the gloves to someone else.

IMO, Pant should keep for the first reason alone. He is the best we have.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by Eddy

...

IMO, Pant should keep for the first reason alone. He is the best we have.

Just like Dhoni ended the career of a lot of India keepers, so will Pant.
For backup, India has Kishan and KL, so Samson might as well stick to IPL et al. DK might be in a few teams solely as a batsman but he too will eventually be dropped in a full strength squad.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by Eddy

No way that DK will don the gloves while Pant is in the team because:

- Pant is a better keeper.
- With competition like Samson, Kishan, DK etc no way captain Pant will hand over the gloves to someone else.

IMO, Pant should keep for the first reason alone. He is the best we have.

Not sure what parameters you considered to conclude that Pant is a better Keeper than DK. The latter started his career as a WK whereas Pant was made to do the job to keep the balance of the team. Not taking anything away from Pant, he has picked up the skill very well and is an extremely good keeper however a tad below DK.

I would go with Pant to keep because he is young and 1st choice keeper in other formats as well. With DK around, he can learn from him. Moreover, DK is a good out fielder as well. Why I chose DK as the keeper because he has better understanding of fielding angels and also quite shrewd with referrals.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Not sure what parameters you considered to conclude that Pant is a better Keeper than DK. The latter started his career as a WK whereas Pant was made to do the job to keep the balance of the team. Not taking anything away from Pant, he has picked up the skill very well and is an extremely good keeper however a tad below DK.

I would go with Pant to keep because he is young and 1st choice keeper in other formats as well. With DK around, he can learn from him. Moreover, DK is a good out fielder as well. Why I chose DK as the keeper because he has better understanding of fielding angels and also quite shrewd with referrals.

What are you talking about. Pant was a keeper since day 1. No one asked him to keep for balance of the team. And he is way above DK right now in keeping. But DK is ahead in batting form. However Pant is the incumbent and young so he will be first choice unless his from continues to drop.

DK is playing cos KL and SKY are injured. With Rohit, Rahul, SKY fit DK won't find a place in the team.

I was hoping for Umraans debut and the pitch looks like assisting pace. Maybe in last couple of matches he gets a chance.

[Venkatesh]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

What a wonderful record. She definitely inspired so many cricketers and will be remembered as long as cricket is played.

Amul special doodle on Indian women’s cricket greatest cricketer retires!

[deehunk]

Harshal Patel, Axar Patel, Bhuvi and Chahal got what they deserved yesterday, how long will these over hyped players get selected?

[harry10]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Harshal Patel, Axar Patel, Bhuvi and Chahal got what they deserved yesterday, how long will these over hyped players get selected?

I won't blame them much. Kotla is a small ground ( i refuse to say the current name as for me it will always be Kotla). I have seen a lot of matches here. Even 230 will be tough to defend here on a good pitch. Also if Iyer had caught that catch maybe India would have won.

The truth is in T20 most of the times team batting second has huge advantage now. With the increase in six hitting ability of all players chasing scores have become relatively easy. Even Pant said he would have fielded first if they had won the toss. Remember Aussies just won a World cup last year by chasing in every game.

However we need to get Umraan in the mix. The 130kmph bowlers won't work anymore and certainly not on huge grounds of Australia. Avesh Khan doesn't looks like International quality yet.
I believe Shami isn't playing cos of England tour coming up otherwise he would have been a good option to test. Bumrah needs a good bowling partner to start and end the innings. Bhuvi simply isn't doing it.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Harshal Patel, Axar Patel, Bhuvi and Chahal got what they deserved yesterday, how long will these over hyped players get selected?

One bad match and these skilled bowlers become overhyped? Remember Axar is a back up (able one) of Jadeja. Chahal is coming off a great IPL. If you doubt Bhuvi's ability then watch his maiden 19th over and many spells with less than 6 RPO rate in T20s. I understand with we having options of raw pace in Umran, Siraj, Umesh and Prasidh, lets not forget we need skillful bowlers like Bhuvi, Harshal and Sakariya in the mix as well. We have options now so throw them in the middle and let them have a healthy competition for their own places in the playing XI.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Not sure what parameters you considered to conclude that Pant is a better Keeper than DK. The latter started his career as a WK whereas Pant was made to do the job to keep the balance of the team. Not taking anything away from Pant, he has picked up the skill very well and is an extremely good keeper however a tad below DK.

I would go with Pant to keep because he is young and 1st choice keeper in other formats as well. With DK around, he can learn from him. Moreover, DK is a good out fielder as well. Why I chose DK as the keeper because he has better understanding of fielding angels and also quite shrewd with referrals.

I think a lot of experts share the same opinion. Saha is the best keeper in the country, followed by Pant. DK is nowhere close when it comes to the gloves only.

Also, Pant has been a wicketkeeper from the beginning. His father was a keeper, and he himself donned the gloves at a young age. DK might be shrewd etc, but a keeper needs to keep well first of all. And Pant scores there.

[KPR]

Bring back India in Aus or Eng test matches. T20s have become boring for me. T20s are making cricket like mega serials.

[redCherry]

Originally Posted by KPR

T20s are making cricket like mega serials.

Exactly! Especially the IPL Version.
Nobody cares to remember what happened once the match is over.
Just like daily soaps.