[Bhokal]

I already sensed the result when Bhuvi gave away 3 fours in the first over, more ridiculous was when Pant was brought up for him for keeping. What a humiliating sight to see WK coming up for your strike bowler in the 1st over of the inning, it signalled our capitulation against the English there and then. First time similar was when Prabhakar started bowling off spins (yes, it is true) against SL in 96 WC in Kotla (Delhi) after he was mauled by Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana.

Yes, top 3 (RS, KL and VK) share a major blame for yesterday's atmsamarpan but 168 was still a good score, you can't become world champion if your bowling can only defend 200+ scores. When will we get a bowling unit which can fight no matter what the score is (have been a Cricket follower since late 80s but we have never had a quality bowling unit).

Coach - Dravid has been an utter failure. Poor team selection, no intent shown, less said about fielding (our long nemesis). We used to be spinner killers but now struggle against any dibbly dobbly bowler (I hated Chris Harris' bowling back then).

Captaincy - Time for RS to say bye gracefully to T20. The ship sailed long time ago, he is a total misfit. No leadership, pathetic performance, can't bat, run, field or bowl as T20 demands.

Batting - RS, KL and VK should not be in T20 team. Yes VK has scored runs his strike rate does more harm than good to team (even in IPL it is same). RS and KL, total misfit for T20. I would rather have Iyer in place of Kohli.

Bowling - We need bowlers who can bat somewhat. But before that we need genuine pace. It is statistically impossible that we do not have tons of 150+ Km bowlers considering our population and improvement in nutrition over the years, where are they? Likes of Umran should be in the team and given exposure without delay. What happened to Saini, Natarajan, Prasidh etc.

Rahul Chahar and Bishnoi should be given more chances, need to create good bench strength. Ashwin is way past his prime.

[Sran]

I had no hope from this team and even then I am disappointed.

Heads should roll, there shouldn't be any ifs and but about this. Rahul Dravid in my opinion has always been more lucky than he deserves. He was never a competent captain and was media propped throughout his career just like srk who is an above average actor. Dravid does not possess the right acumen to handle pressure, he may have worked good at NCA because it where budding players are taught about techniques and he was too good at technical aspects. The problem with him is his laid back attitude, he is one of those who takes it as it comes. I wonder if he passed out this defeatist mentality to his protegees at NCA and kill the winning attitude at their young age.

IPL gets a lot of flack and it is purely strategically planned by elite cricketing groups who have ulterior motives. They would love to kill IPL and then re assert themselves at top of the ruling body as they did for whole previous century. We will see IPL bashing coming polemists of elite member countries with their articles and sound bytes/twitter posts. Money speaks and ICC has pimped out BCCI by forcing matches with PCB in WC's, this should not be allowed now and matches should be held on blind draws. BCCI should now stand its ground and ask for their fair share of money. We all know BCCI generates 70% of the ICC revenue($2.5 billion) yet gets only around less than 20%($410 million). BCCI also plays more with associate countries and so called minnows more than CA, ECB and NZC combined. Many boards like NZC survives solely on BCCI match fixtures and they hate it but they can not show it, so they along with CA, ECB and CSA try to sabotage IPL. BCCI used to pay money to CA , ECB and WICB to play with them 3 decades back and yet BCCI's generosity now is not seen as a favour but as a duty. BCCI doesn't take money from Asian Cricket board and gives it to other member countries, they should change that and claim what is genuinely their money. BCCI's pitches get a lot of flak but somehow the bad drainage and used pitches at CA and ECB's grounds are overlooked just like swing and spin tracks. Our players in past were forced to eat at footpath(eg. Brisbane test 2014) because CA doesn't permit outside food inside dressing rooms(the food served by CA was not up to mark). BCCI teams are not provided best hotels during tournaments but somehow they arrange best experience for foreign teams, this should all change and tit for tat rule should be applied. I would like to see Mr. Binny to enforce these conditions. ZC and BCB were made full members due to BCCI while CA and ECB were against it.

I feel for Mr. Amol Mazumadar, Mithun manhas, S.Badrinath, Priyank Panchal, Devendra Bundela, Paras Dogra and many more who were not given proper chance while many mediocre's were given extended years in hope they turned good. MSK Prasad during his role as head of selection committee totally killed the BCCI team with his many mediocre selections. Who can forget and forgive Vijay's last moment selection against Ambati rayudu. Mr. Chetan Sharma now has a big headache to rebuild the team and take it to new levels. Kohli's captaicy was mired with random out of mind chops and changes. He never played any consecutive team or an Odi tournament with same players, every next match had different team. He never let anyone settle in team except few. Few days back Shane watson spoke about team consistency and how he fared under Dhoni and Ponting who made players safe from sudden changes. Being persistent with Mayank Aggarwal, KL Rahul, Gill who are walking wickets as openers are not good for long term. Making Rohit a test opener instead of giving Shaw or others a chance is not justified. I wonder what specific crime Shaw has performed that he is out of consideration, fitness surely doesn't seem to be an issue as except Virat and Hardik, no body looks fit in this team and cough syrup shouldn't be an issue. He has been in limelight for almost a decade and to make any personality opinion about him, a 21 year old young, on the basis of someone like Ponting (who might not have best intentions toward future Indian players) is certainly preposterous. I bet Mahi will give everyone a run for money in this team. Bowlers did us bad, Express pace of Shami, Umesh and Ishant did wonders for 4 years along with Bhuvaneshwar, now they are not the same. Bumrah was sorely missed as was Jadeja (he may have last couple of years left). Khaleel is outright rubbish, Nadeem is another useless who has been in foray for too long. Saini and Natarajan don't inspire much confidence. Players like Sundar should not be in contention.

IMO whole team should be let go and every selection should be made afresh. Players across the formats should be selected on the basis of batting and bowling positions. A pool of 3 openers, 2 one down, 2 no. 4's and 3 middle order batsman should be selected. 2 wicket keepers, 2 pace all rounders, 3 spinners and 5 fast bowlers. Now do we have those 22 players. Who are the players today in contention across formats? Domestic players performance other than IPL players should be looked at first for tests and ODI's. I think it is times to change team as it was done in 2007 and infuse new blood. But do they have someone like Mahi in their arsenal?

[FanaticOnWheels]

The statements made by Rohit during the presentation ceremony were appalling, to be honest. He was quick to put the other players & the bowlers under the bus, while not acknowledging even once, the absolute lack of intent from the top order in terms of batting. It was always either Kohli, SKY or Pandya bailing us out. Rohit and KL did absolutely nothing in terms of trying to take risks and maximize the powerplays throughout the tournament.

Well, I guess it is back to IPLs and bilaterals now to register some wins. Unless there is a drastic change of thinking at the BCCI level, I see nothing changing in world tournaments like these. This is simply not IPL/Paytm trophy level.

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by Sran

Heads should roll, ..

FINGERS CROSSED

T20 TEAM SET FOR A HUGE OVER HAUL

https://sports.ndtv.com/t20-world-cu...ndtv_topscroll

[dailydriver]

Wasim Akram's observation that India has not won a T20 World Cup since the introduction of IPL speaks volumes of how, in spite of investing in, producing, playing, and playing with, some of the best cricketers of the times, we have failed to succeed as a team when it actually matters!

[PPS]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Wasim Akram's observation that India has not won a T20 World Cup since the introduction of IPL speaks volumes of how, in spite of investing in, producing, playing, and playing with, some of the best cricketers of the times, we have failed to succeed as a team when it actually matters!

How many times has England reached the finals of the FIFA World Cup considering they have the fancy English Premier League?! Is IPL to be blamed for poor squad selection ? Can't fault IPL if youngsters like Ishan Kishan & Samson are not picked by the Selectors! There are many experts like Wasim Akram who blame IPL for everything. I guess they're plain jealous because PSL cannot even come close to the IPL which is a juggernaut right now! There's no connection at all between Team India's poor performance in last 2 T20WCs & IPL.

[how_you_doing]

Here were some of the issues (the team did make it to the semi-finals and was the group leader beating pakistan in one of the best t20 matches ever)

1. India was playing T20 with an ODI team and ODI approach.
2. India certainly missed their best bower Bumrah as well as Jadeja who is 2 players in 1. Axar Patel in T20 is 33% of what Jadeja brings.
3. Shami and Ashwin are good bowlers and Ashwin can bat but they are not T20 players. India needs to save them for test matches, especially Ashwin.
4. There are too many 33+ age players in a format which needs aggression and young blood. Rohit is the captain otherwise he or KL should have been dropped and Pant could have opened in the semi-final.

I do think T20 is just fast food and quality takes a back seat. Any team on their day can beat anyone as we saw with Ireland, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, etc. You do need some luck too. India probably would have chased a target of 170 set by England.

Here is what needs to be done now

1. Since ODI format is dying (or dead) and only T20 and Test will be left, India needs 2 separate teams for Tests and T20.

2. India need more players like Jadeja and Hardik and fewer specialist batsman and bowlers like KL, Rohit, etc who are not able to match the T20 pace. It is just a 120-ball game, you don't need 2-3 overs to set when you have 7-8 players who all can hit.

3. Indian cricket and sports in general need to change the way they operate. A lot can be learned from how Indian IT companies run. They are extremely fast pace and result-oriented. In Cricket (and in sports), we need to be more data-driven.

4. With vast resources of human resources and money available, you need to have better training from childhood days. You can't teach SKY like 360-degree shots when the player is already 22 years old and playing Ranji etc. Kids who are good in one sport are often good in other sports too. So if someone is not able to make it to cricket, he can make it to other sports in life.

5. The way Engineering and medical coaching are done in India, that same model needs to be employed at various sports including cricket in India. These coaching institutes work in an extremely efficient way where they pick up the best students from standard 8th or 9th. train them with their best faculties, give them their best resources and make sure they succeed in the engineering and medical exams. You only get success when you work for success.

There will be another world cup soon in India and it is a matter of time before we will win so I am not much bothered about losing some semifinal. The current team will most likely beat Australia in India in Tests and will qualify for WTC final again.

But yes, we definitely want to improve our training, scouting, and approach toward the game. This needs a cultural shift. I hope we get more private academies for cricket.

I am not sure why a poster quoted some pakistani cricketer. Their opinions about India are worth less than used toilet paper. IPL total worth is projected to be bigger than pakistan stock market by 2035. Offer these pakistani cricketers some lemon and water, they can make lemonade with all their salt.

[pandey.jai]

Originally Posted by srini1785

FINGERS CROSSED

T20 TEAM SET FOR A HUGE OVER HAUL

https://sports.ndtv.com/t20-world-cu...ndtv_topscroll

The usual suspects name being thrown around - I think everyone agrees that this is the end of the road for the likes of R Ashwin, D Karthik, M Shami and to an extent B Kumar.

What we need to see is if there are going to be any changes done to the opening pair, captain and coach. The selectors would do really well to address this as soon as possible.

[fhdowntheline]

In my view it is very simple. Either you participate in IPL or play for Team India. I think all that money and glamour is enough for players to lose motivation for achievement. If you get disproportionately awarded for playing a domestic tournament like IPL, where is the hunger to achieve records and goals for Team India? Not blaming IPL, but players who have the best of everything and dont make use of it.

[Marx1997]

I see a lot of problems due to which we were thrashed so hard. It was coming from day one but due to brilliance of some individuals we survived till semis.
1. Openers:- How do u justify KL? His failure in big matches has been well documented. His failure pits an extra burden on Rohit and thus he too scumbs to growing pressure of scoring at higher strike rates. Even Rohit has been in some worse form lately coupled by the failures of Rahul. Kohli has been the exceptional one as always and he plays very good role of anchoring.
2. Wicket keeper- I don't get this logic of playing a 38 year old when we have exceptional bunch of WKs. Sanju Samson would have been the perfect fit or even playing RP regularly would have boosted his confidence and brought in much needed lefthander at 4.
3. Spinners- do we really need R Ashwin? And akshar Patel is no jadega , so I don't think he deserves a place in the team. Yuzi was the best option (majority teams having leggies doing the bulk of containing runs and thus creating chances) and if we needed another spinner to play then Ravi Bishnoi. It would have been far better to play an extra genuine pacer like Avesh or Harshal in place of akshar.
4. Fast bowlers- while majority teams have genuine pacers up front , we have Bhuvi. He hasn't been that effective on such pacy surfaces why persist with him. Get some raw talent and let him express in such ideal conditions ( we have the like of Umran, Mavi, Kuldeep Sen). Even Shami was drafted so late. Umran/Mavi/Sen+ Arshdeep+ Shami+Avesh/Harshal+ Yuzi- would have been a lethal bowling attack. Added to this the bowling of Pandya would have done much better than what the bunch did.
It is said that when Wasim Akram was leaking runs and bowling no balls in 1992 worldcup prior to semis, Imran came to him and said "Wasim you are doing exceptionally good. You just go and bowl fast without thinking about no balls." Our management brings in Bhuvi because the 140+ ain't bowling the line and length required.
5. Management- we badly need some international coach. Gary Kristen 🤔.
We have the best talent pool in all of cricketing world, just the right selection and some change in approach can do wonders to us.

[Joeboy]

It is due to sheer over confidence that Indian team lost to England. After topping the table they thought that they can defeat England and were a bit relaxed and paid the price. I don't think even Bumrah or Jadeja would have made any difference. First of all the media should stop projecting the Indian team as INVINCIBLES. This is the quality of this team. India was lucky as they were in an easy group and was able to qualify. But when they met a strong England team they floundered.

[Gansan]

Correct. Team India is a bunch of spoiled brats who think the IPL is enough for them.

Nobody minds a honorable defeat. What irritates is a thrashing or debacle.

[deathwalkr]

Random musings:

Foreign players got a lot of experience playing in the subcontinent during IPL and many of them play across the world in other premier leagues as well.

BCCI does not allow Indian players to play in other leagues thereby reducing exposure?

We have a pretty good talent pool and we just need to start from scratch and build up a strong team.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by Joeboy

It is due to sheer over confidence that Indian team lost to England.. First of all the media should stop projecting the Indian team as INVINCIBLES..

I totally second that. People wrote eulogies to Virat Kohli after that Pak match. Even foreign cricketers joined the bandwagon. Then I looked back at some of the matches in the late 70s/early 80s and it was a humbling experience to watch some great knocks considering the sheer quality of bowling. Although one must not compare eras, one must not go over the moon either. Other than that, I think Dravid is not the ideal coach of the senior men's team. He may have been one of the greatest batsmen, he did a good job with the juniors, but that's a whole different set of people.

[motorworks]

I think the main issue with the Indian team is the lack of adaptability to T20. Except Surya kumar yadav, all the others are best suited for ODIs. Kohli is still key, he brings a great amount of reliability to the side. People like Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvaneshwar kumar and Shami are anyway not going to be considered for future T20s.

Rohit should really introspect and offer to quit his captaincy. Let Hardik take over and build a fearless set of cricketers, Sanju samson, Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav should be in that mix, I would still keep Kohli in any format, but it maybe his call, wouldnt be surprised if he chooses to sit out.

England are the perfect example. If you look at their three teams across Tests, ODIs and T20s, you would probably see 3-4 common names like Ben stokes and Jos butler. Else the teams are completely different. But our folks have the same team for nearly every format. Thats the issue. The management thinks that all new players should be used only for some low key matches against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe etc.

If the management does not work on this now, i think we can forget about being the best in T20s. And i think one should not ever focus only on big ICC events, one bad knock out match can happen for any team, even the best. But if you have established a fearless team that can win on most days then thats a job well done.