Team-BHP - The Cricket Thread

It is very clear that there is no "problem of plenty" with this team. There are missing links and the team management will have to decide where to compromise & risk vis-a-vis where to risk it.

And this is assuming Hardik Pandya is fit enoght to bowl 6-10 overs in all matches, depending on the combination. Personally, I don't think that he is fit enought to bowl 10 overs in each game. So either he will be rested for "easier" matches or we will play with 5 specialist bowlers.

I think our playing XI will be:

1. R Sharma (C)
2. S Gill
3. V Kohli
4. S Iyer
5. KL Rahul (WK)
6. SKY [I Kishan]
7. H Pandya
8. R Jadeja
9. J Bhumrah
10. K Yadav [R Ashwin/ Axar]
11. M Siraj [M Shami]

[Alternate or injury replacement]

It makes no sense to play 3 seamers in Indian conditions, esp. when we are backing Pandya to bowl 10 overs. I'd rather have Jadeja, Kuldeep and Ash. Axar and Jadeja are way too similar, and Axar has lost his bowling mojo recently.

Also, let's not carried away with the batting performances.
Against Pak it was in absence of Naseem and Rauf. Against Aus, they have rested their main players.

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Originally Posted by Capri89 (Post 5627340)

I hope we are not peaking too soon.

Key players against the home series v/s Australia should be rested. Or atleast, game time should be given to all irrespective of the performance of the players. This way no player will feel "rusted" in case some injury happens during WC matches.

India is already peaking and most probably will run out of steam during the semis. Knock out matches have been our nemesis over the years and I desperately hope this team under Hitman can buck the trend.

Knock out matches need a recalibration of sorts. Those matches need a ruthless focus and killer instinct that, according to my amateur assessment, this team lacks.

I would be more than happy to stand corrected.

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Originally Posted by Shumi_21 (Post 5631574)

The top 4 still have an element of "sameness" to their batting style, To counter the "sameness" we could play Ishan at 4. In case Surya is preferred over Ishan, then we could push Jadeja to 4, KL to 5 and play Surya at 6.

The Top 4 or rather the Top 7 selects itself - Rohit,Gill,Virat,Iyer,KL,Hardik,Jadeja. Ishan Kishan & SKY are backups, they only come into the picture if someone gets injured! Jadeja's batting form is the main concern, would only promote him to no.4 if the ball is really seaming around in the WC which is highly doubtful except in a few venues like Dharamshala perhaps!

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And if we played Ash in T20 world cup in Australia, then it's almost a no brainer to play him in a ODI WC in India.

Ashwin seems to have sealed his spot. Offcourse, the team management completely (or conveniently) forgot about pecking order since Ashwin hasn't played any ODIs since several years. The same happened before his selection for the T20 WC.

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My money is on Gill to be the main man in our batting line up.

Gill is having a great year & a lot is dependent on him I feel at the top.

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Originally Posted by Eddy (Post 5631693)

And this is assuming Hardik Pandya is fit enoght to bowl 6-10 overs in all matches, depending on the combination. Personally, I don't think that he is fit enought to bowl 10 overs in each game.

Jadeja & Hardik can bowl 5 overs each & complete the 5th bowlers quota! If there is some purchase Jadeja can certainly bowl more than 5 overs.

I see many members putting Thakur in starting 11. Imo he shouldn't even make the squad of 15 on his current lack of form.
Hear me out-
He is extremely inconsistent with both bat and ball. He plays one good innings with bat in 10 matches. With ball he only picks wickets when batsman goes after him and even then his spell is always on the expensive side. If world cup is in Australia or England his inclusion still makes sense. But in India his selection makes no sense. We already have Hardik and Jadeja as all rounders. Most pitches in India will assist spin.

Ideal starting top 7 for World cup should be -

1. Rohit
2. Gill
3. Kohli
4. Iyer
5. KL Rahul
6. Hardik
7. Jadeja

No.8 should be Ashwin. He showed against Australia how useful he can be against top players. The trio of Kuldeep/Jadeja/Ashwin will run circles against teams like Australia/England/NZ/SA who bashes pace like anything but collapses against spin. And Ashwin isn't a tailender. He has developed hitting ability as seen in IPL so he can chip in with some runs if needed. Plus his vast experience on International stage and his strategic brain helps a lot.

Axar if fit is another option but his bowling has fallen off a lot and playing both him and Jadeja makes attack one dimensional. Playing Ashwin gives lots of variety with an Off spinner, a left arm spinner and a wristy leg spinner.

No.9 should be Bumrah.
No.10 will be Kuldeep
No. 11 Siraj.

This gives us proper 5 bowlers + Hardik whose bowling has been very good this year.

SKY and Kishan will play as backups for Iyer and Rahul in case of injury or loss of form. Axar or Ashwin as spin backups. But Thakur just doesn't brings anything special for Indian pitches. He should only be as backup for Hardik.

Enough talk of Indian XI, what will be your Aussie XI for WC? I think first of all, they need to play Marsh at the top as I don’t think Head will be fit in time for WC. Secondly they need to bring back Maxwell ASAP, they need him not just for explosive batting but also as their 5th bowler. He can be a good secondary spinner on Indian pitches. So my XI will be this.
Warner
Marsh
Smith
Marnus
Green
Maxwell
Carey
Cummins
Starc
Hazlewood
Zampa

Reserves-
Wade (backup wk+opener)
Stoinis (backup middle order batter)
Murphy (backup spinner, he was just too impressive on last Indian tour)
Abbott (backup seamer, ideally they should had nurtured a better & faster backup seamer by now, but in current scenario he is the best choice)

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Originally Posted by Eddy (Post 5632235)

- who do you think WILL win the cup?
- who would you WANT to win the cup?

If not India, then Eng will win the Cup however I want either NZ or SA to win it this time. I somehow feel SA are going to bring a surprise on to the table. Given their luck in WC matches (especially Semis) there is something looming at the silver lining!

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Originally Posted by PPS (Post 5631870)

Rohit + Dravid seem to go back to experienced & old warhorses during ICC tournaments. Maybe they think the senior players can handle pressure better?

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Originally Posted by Eddy (Post 5632235)

- who do you think WILL win the cup?
- who would you WANT to win the cup?

South Africa.
As always, their only weakness seems to be their reputation to choke lol:

New Zealand.
England won the 2019 final by a fluke when that throw hit Ben Stokes' bat and went for four. Even then, the Poms needed the technicality of "boundary count" to get over the line. So if not us, I'd rather have NZ win it, ideally by trouncing the English in a one sided game.

Coming back to the Indian team, I've noticed that almost all teams have our top order's kryptonite: a left arm pacer who swings the ball early. Let's take a look.

Australia: Mitchell Starc
Pakistan: Shaheen Afridi
NZ: Trent Boult
SA: Marco Jansen
England: Reece Topley/Sam Curran
Afghanistan: Fazal Farooqi
Sri Lanka: Dilshan Madhushanka
Bangladesh: Shoriful Islam
Not sure about the Netherlands

Let's hope Rohit+Gill+Kohli can take these guys down, especially if we get to the knockouts.

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Originally Posted by Shumi_21 (Post 5632299)

Maybe they think the senior players can handle pressure better?.

There is no method. They keep harping on 'process' but its anything but that!

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Originally Posted by harry10 (Post 5631918)

I see many members putting Thakur in starting 11.With ball he only picks wickets when batsman goes after him and even then his spell is always on the expensive side. We already have Hardik and Jadeja as all rounders. But Thakur just doesn't brings anything special for Indian pitches. He should only be as backup for Hardik.

There is simply no backup for Hardik Pandya in the entire country! Right now for the no.8 slot, there are about 4 players fighting for that position - Axar or Ashwin (whosoever is selected in final squad) / Shardul / Shami. In between Jadeja & Hardik both were out due to injury & Shardul/Axar had shouldered the burden though they can't be classified as all-rounders. Shardul's bowling figures are ok though economy rate is on the higher side but with the bat I don't recollect him contributing in ODIs.

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The trio of Kuldeep/Jadeja/Ashwin will run circles against teams like Australia/England/NZ/SA who bashes pace like anything but collapses against spin. And Ashwin isn't a tailender.

That would be the ideal combination! But I'm still a bit wary of dew in the night considering the time of this year. I'd rather have a medium pacer in dewy conditions.

I was surprised to see that World cup starting date is fast approaching. In my mind it still felt that it is atleast a month away until I saw teams posting group pic before boarding the flight to India.
So is it just me or there is actual lack of hype this time around. There is no catchy anthem or tune and barely anyone in workplace or in the friends circle is taking about world cup. Only place am finding some chatter is this thread:). I wonder if this is how things will be from now, few posts by celebrities on their social media and done:disappointed

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Originally Posted by Aakash118 (Post 5632404)

With so much talk around Thakur & no.8 position, I think selectors could had tried Chahar in a few games before WC. He can bowl with the new ball and is better at death too than Thakur , with the bat he has two 50s to his name in ODIs.

He is eternally injured. Played couple of games in IPL after injury and got injured again. When fit he is miles better than Thakur. Sad for him.