[KPR]

When politicians rule BCCI, players become MLAs and MPs.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by Aakash118

Our team surely needs some young blood in the team, especially for opening slots. But BCCI just can’t see past Rohit, Dhawan & Rahul for those positions. This is just terrible stuff, always makes me think how unlucky a guy Rahane is to get an axe from the test team.

Was reading about some ex player talking about Gaikwad's recent run scoring in the domestic circuit and how he has to fight against Dhawan and Rohit for opener slot!

Team really looks tired and bored and the hunger/fire seems to be missing.

Maybe everyone needs a "rest" from cricket

[MDH75]

Come on guys, I think we need to relax and enjoy cricket for what it is without bothering too much about the politics in it.

Isn't anyone following the PAK vs ENG match? For me, the man of the match is Robinson, he set the tone by getting the first wicket, then got Saud Shakeel, their top scorer out. And then he broke the partnership between Azhar Ali and Agha Salman and last but not least, got Azhar Ali out as well.

Speaking of Azhar Ali, he is one of the most underrated players of this generation. He might not have the records like the likes of Kohli and Babar, but he has scored runs almost everywhere. And most of the time, he contributes when the team is in trouble.

Edit: Anderson too has picked up 4, but Robinson's were well set batters and partnership breaking so it's still Robinson for me.

[PPS]

Does the Team Management know who their 6 best batters & 5 best bowlers are ? I don't think so! Merely having options & backups isn't really helping. It should be ensured that frequent resting of players is stopped & the best XI is playing often. Going ahead the below XI looks more or less likely for the ODI WC next year:-

Rohit
Shubman / KL Rahul
Virat
Shreyas / SKY / KL
Pant
Hardik
Jadeja / Washington Sundar
Deepak Chahar / Shardul / Siraj / Umran
Chahal / Kuldeep
Shami
Bumrah

The new selection panel is yet to be selected so not sure if they'll persist with Dhawan. He has a strike-rate of 68 in the power plays in the last 1yr + Rohit isn't in the greatest form either. Its not like Gill will get the team off to a racing start since he's in the same mould. KL since last WC has a better average in the middle order than as an opener. So not sure where the team management plans to fit him. Shreyas Iyer has a decent record in ODIs & looks like an ideal no.4 option notwithstanding his issues with the short ball. SKY is yet to prove himself in ODI, important not to mix formats since he's in red hot form in T20s! At no.8 if the team management is looking at batting depth then they have to ensure the openers look to take advantage of the power play. Else Siraj is the better bowler with a decent record. Playing Shardul/Chahar brings down the bowling quality. Chahar as it is, is just a new ball bowler! Chahal no longer inspires confidence like he used to some years back & there aren't too many wrist-spinning options. There are options aplenty but everyone is left bemused with what the team will end up doing.

[vibbs]

What an incredible test match at Rawalpindi! 500 runs scored in 75 overs on the first day. Less than 100 runs lead in first innings. A brave declaration to force a win and a win it is!

England are changing the way batting is seen across formats.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by MDH75

Edit: Anderson too has picked up 4, but Robinson's were well set batters and partnership breaking so it's still Robinson for me.

A 40+ fast bowler picking 4 wickets on a day 5 Pakistani pitch is an incredible achievement. What a player! Take a bow, James Anderson !!

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by vibbs

What an incredible test match at Rawalpindi! 500 runs scored in 75 overs on the first day. Less than 100 runs lead in first innings. A brave declaration to force a win and a win it is!

England are changing the way batting is seen across formats.

Incredible indeed! England is a champion team and they show it game after game after game.

If Indians want to ever beat England in any format, our team needs a total metamorphosis.

As long as we keep sticking to the old guard (Rohit, Virat, Dhawan, KL) this can never happen.

The only guy who I have hopes from is Hardik as captain and then let him choose the team which is the most like him; Aggressive, in your face and fearless.

Ever since Jayasuriya and Kalu showed the way in 1996, it has been common knowledge that you have to go hard from ball #1 in the powerplays to get anywhere in white ball cricket. We played through 2 generations of Tendulkar/Ganguly/Sehwag and Rohit/Dhawan when India stayed on the right course.

I wonder how and why Rohit and co. suddenly changed back to regressive go-slow policy. England just showed that there is no time to waste, regardless of the format. Play hard to win or stay home.

[deehunk]

Indian players have shown consistency in getting injured before a match and then resting without playing a match, in the meantime one injured player replaces another. E.g. an injured Jadeja was replaced by an injury-prone Axar Patel, and now Axar Patel is injured Then there is this resting policy of BCCI which helps fit players to take a rest or do commercial ads, giving chance to injury-prone players who are our so-called bench strength to get further injured.

[deathwalkr]

Was reading about Gavaskar commenting about how Gill is not doing enough by scoring just 50s and 60s and not getting centuries! sigh, wonder what he will say about the permanent players at the top of the batting order!

I am no expert and like many others, when results don't happen, I pick holes

[PPS]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

I wonder how and why Rohit and co. suddenly changed back to regressive go-slow policy. England just showed that there is no time to waste, regardless of the format. Play hard to win or stay home.

Easier said than done. England have Adil Rashid coming in to bat at no.10 in white ball format. Not many know this but that guy has 10 First Class Hundreds! They can afford to take an aggressive approach since they bat very deep. Now compare that to India who's batting ends at no.7 with the 4 frontline bowlers to follow, who can't bat! We have to play to our strength & acknowledge our shortcomings.

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Was reading about Gavaskar commenting about how Gill is not doing enough by scoring just 50s and 60s and not getting centuries! sigh, wonder what he will say about the permanent players at the top of the batting order!

I don't remember the last time when Dhawan or Rohit got a 100 in ODIs. Gavaskar's reading was that there should be a left-right combination at the top!

[mailbalaji]

Originally Posted by PPS

Gavaskar's reading was that there should be a left-right combination at the top!

We do have Gill / Ishan / Ruturaj. My preference would be Ruturaj & Ishan at the top and Gill at one down. We need to give these young guys a good run.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by mailbalaji

We do have Gill / Ishan / Ruturaj. My preference would be Ruturaj & Ishan at the top and Gill at one down. We need to give these young guys a good run.

Rohit being Captain is going nowhere till ODI world cup.
Dhawan is favoured by both Captain and Coach but his form has been average since sometime so there can be a spot opening. Gill is a good option but I would love to see someone like Shaw get a chance. We can't have 2 guys as slow openers wasting PP. Ruturaj time will come after world cup.
Kohli is a lock at 3.
Iyer will play at 4 as SKY hasn't managed to do anything in whatever chances he got in odis.
Rahul will play at 5.
Pant will play at 6.
Hardik at 7.

Now this line up will mean hardik will have to bowl 10 overs. Or drop Pant and make Rahul keep but we all saw Rahul can drop crucial catches being a makeshift opener which can decide a game. This will be a big dilemma moving forward.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by mailbalaji

We do have Gill / Ishan / Ruturaj. My preference would be Ruturaj & Ishan at the top and Gill at one down. We need to give these young guys a good run.

Ruturaj has a good record in domestic games lately but I think Gill is ahead of him in the pecking order, something which the team management believes in. Ishan is more suited to T20, not sure about his domestic 50over record off late.

Originally Posted by harry10

Iyer will play at 4 as SKY hasn't managed to do anything in whatever chances he got in odis.Rahul will play at 5.Pant will play at 6.Hardik at 7.Now this line up will mean hardik will have to bowl 10 overs. Or drop Pant and make Rahul keep

Jadeja has to fit in somewhere. I neither see Hardik bowling his full quota of overs nor Jadeja! They both should ideally complete the 5th bowlers quota since none of our batsman bowl. Pant inspite of his poor outing in NZ has cemented his place in the ODI team I feel if you see his recent record. For some reason he hasn't been given rest inspite of having the maximum workload in last 1yr! Btw, I get a feeling the team management will make Rahul open to accommodate everyone i.e. provided the selectors let go off Dhawan!

[Aakash118]

I think for the sake of team balance, India need to devlop a wk into opening role. This will allow the team to include more all rounders in the middle order. My choice of team for the next year’s WC is.
Rohit
Pant/Kishan
Virat
Rahul/Iyer
SKY
Hardik
Jadeja/Sundar
Chahar/Bhuvi
Bumrah
Kuldeep/Chahal
Umran/Shami/Siraj.
For T20s, drop Rahul/Iyer, move SKY to 4, Hardik to 5, RJ to 6 and play one more bowling all rounder at 7.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Aakash118

I think for the sake of team balance, India need to devlop a wk into opening role.

Pant is an interesting & out of the box option as an opener! I highly doubt the team management has the courage to go for such a move though. Do not know how Pant will manage the workload, since opening the batting after keeping for 50 overs requires supreme levels of fitness. I know Gilchrist did it for several years but there wasn't much of IPL played back then.

This will allow the team to include more all rounders in the middle order.

We have just 2 - Hardik & Jadeja in the entire country!