Team-BHP - The Cricket Thread

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Originally Posted by ninjatalli (Post 5901739)

Edit: I’ll probably put my neck out and predict that either Kohli or Rohit are going to follow Ashwin and quit international cricket after this series. My money is on Kohli between the two.

Rohit gives the impression he’s very thick skinned and has no shame left - he just finds reasons and excuses to shift the blame. I don’t see him quitting on his own, unless BCCI asks him to or they drop and replace him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shumi_21 (Post 5902014)

But then in the Perth test, KL Rahul was given out when there was clear daylight between his bat and the ball, but there was a spike on Snicko. Why didn't the third umpire take into account the visual proof in KL's case? It was said at that time that the Snicko is the last authority on whether the batter has edged a delivery or not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ike (Post 5901957)

The third umpire unfortunately was being more royal than the king here. I believe his scope is to act on conclusive evidence to contradict the on field umpire. The visual cue that he apparently used is to be used by the umpire on the field, not the third umpire. The tools that the third umpire should be using(snicko & the hot spot if available) did not show anything here.

The right decision was made. Simon Taufel explained the process.

If you see the replays, they always show the slow motion before they show Snicko. In this case, the slow motion is the primary source and the snicko is the secondary source. According to protocol, even if the snicko does not show anything, the third umpire can still use the primary source to make a decision which supersedes the secondary source. There was a clear deflection therefore the batsman was out.

In KL's case, it was not conclusive from the slow motion that there was a gap between bat and ball (I watched it several times) but the snicko showed a clear spike. The right decision was made there too.

What a horrible display of cricket batting, that too from the world's highest paid players.

Agree that kohli is in very poor form in this series but at least he tries to make up with his relentless enthusiasm and motivating others, at least not hurling invectives at the youngsters like rohit do.

Rohit's only contribution in this match I remember is taking the easy catch of Pat Cummins. Even then with his bulk and lethargic movement he doesn't seem a fit for slips fielding position.

But both of them should step down for others in the team to pull themselves up. This will also send the right signal that reputation doesn't carry automatic selection.

Jaiswal's wicket may be a controversy for us watching on TV but that's how a good team wins always. In my cricket playing career at the lowest local club level I have seen good luck always comes around to help the better team and the other remains stuck with silly excuses and 'what could have been..'

Rohit's customary press briefing holding the team/boys/batsmen failing him reminds me of the cricket humour.

Long ago when the Indian cricket team comprised of maharajas and other royalties, our team toured England. During their practice session a press reporter asked our captain, who was a royalty and watching the session smoking a cigar, whether he was primarily a batsman or a bowler? He replied in a booming voice "No, I am the captain."

It is unfair to expect players to retire. They will genuinely believe that they have still something left. However, nothing stops BCCI from dropping them. They can go back to domestic or county cricket to prove themselves and comeback to the team. Just like majority of the cricketers did until a decade ago.

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Originally Posted by Bhargav7 (Post 5564981)

I hope BCCI has enough courage to drop Rohit, Kohli, and Pujara from test cricket. They were given enough chances. Try someone new from domestic cricket. Surely, they can't be worse!

This was my post after the WTC loss in 2023. Nothing has changed and BCCI is yet to muster courage to drop two guys who are under performing for an eternity. Sure, they did drop Pujara. In hindsight, he probably should be the last to go between him, Virat and Rohit.

Never thought that I will come back to this thread for exactly the same reason of leaving it. Before the T20 WC there was plenty of bashing for Rohit here and everyone wanted an IPLesque team for the WC. I didn’t agree and simply left. Winning & losing is a part of the game but more than anything it’s the defensive captaincy of Rohit which has been really disappointing in these two test series. It’s high time for him to hang his boots from the test side and let someone better to take over. I wish we could had Rahane as captain of our test side.

Talking of VK, he is still a good player but team management needs to talk to him about the off side issue and his willingness to work on it.

Coming to Pant, I think it will be better if he bats at 6 and takes the responsibility of batting with lower order.

Jaiswal, KL and Reddy have been the most impressive batsmen and should form the top order. Reddy reminds me of the Young VK from 2011 BGT.

Also, we can’t ignore the fact that bowling lineup also has issues. Why did the selectors not pick a left arm pacer like Khaleel or Arshdeep for added variety? Or someone like Avesh who could extract the extra bounce? And if you pick a swing bowler like Akashdeep, he is best used with the new ball which he got only in one of four innings. Siraj has picked wickets but has hardly looked threatening.

My team for next game and future will be this-

Jaiswal
KL
Gill/Paddikal/ Pujara(still the best for this position)
Reddy (will like to see him bat at 4)
VK/Sarfaraz
Pant
Jaddu
Sundar
Akashdeep (new ball please)
Bumrah
Prasidh (give him a chance over Siraj)

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Originally Posted by RoadTiger (Post 5902036)

Barring Bumrah and some one-off performances from the likes of Jaiswal, Reddy et al - it has been a string of very poor performances consistently over the last 7 matches.

Jaiswal & Reddy have been performing well in Australia at least. While Nitish bailed us out from an innings defeat along with Sundar in the first innings, Jaiswal scored eighty odd runs in both innings in Melbourne apart from the century in Perth. The consistent non performers are the senior most batsmen Sharma & Kohli(Kohli still scored a hundred and was looking good in the first innings in Melbourne before running Jaiswal out and then edging one) and the bowlers other than Bumrah.

Rohit's captaincy also has been very poor, especially the fields set while Lyon and Boland were batting, we allowed easy runs to both Cummins & Lyon. His on field demeanor was also quite unbecoming of a captain. We lost the plot with our batsmen doing poorly in the first innings and dropping four catches in the Australian second innings.

While this team does not deserve to play the WTC finals, I hope lessons are learnt and the best eleven players are fielded in Sydney. If we are going to stick with two spinners in the next test as well, it should not be at the cost of a batsman(Gill). Rohith & Kohli probably won't be dropped but they will have to take a call on their future sometime soon.

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Originally Posted by saket77 (Post 5902096)

Accept it or not, we, especially Indians, do make some names greater than the game itself.

+1, that's why Indians have all the stats and records and Australia keeps on collecting trophies. We will always be glorifying individual milestones and performances over results. Past performance will always have an upper hand on the present form of an individual. Oh X made us win last time, so this time he's again suitable to do the job, sorry that's not true. You will keep churning mediocre team.

IMO, Kohli's captainship era was best test team, because they competed on fitness with Aussies, level to level and left out some slow movers till they became fitter or were lost. Is there Yo-Yo test anymore ?

We will soon change our talking point to Bumrah/Jaiswal/NKR and bury everything else under the carpet. BCCI diktat ?

Remember Pat Cummins when he returned back to his home country after winning WC, what a glorious reception he got at the airport, with no fanfare to receive him.

Even WTC won't bring in revenues for the broadcasters now, with India not being in the contention.

Fact remains its not a sport anymore, it has transformed into a business !!

Am beyond amazed Sharma-ji didn't step down yet after the shameful whitewash at home against NZ and now BGT series losses where his personal form and captaincy were absolutely pathetic. And Kohli being the star he is, consistently getting out in exact same fashion repeatedly. :Frustrati

Sydney test hope we see the big names dropped. WTC is anyways a goner, atleast lets try retaining the BGT with a 2-2 draw.

Squad I would like to see:

Jaiswal
KL Rahul
Gill
NK Reddy
Pant
Jurel
Jadeja
Washington
Akashdeep
Bumrah
Prasidh/Harshit

Edit :

Quote:

Originally Posted by ike (Post 5902139)

Jadeja is getting old and not been very good of late. Even if we are playing two spinners we should be trying out someone younger like Axar Patel/Kuldeep Yadav or Bishnoi(perhaps too young for tests). While this may not happen in BGT, it is high time we looked beyond Jadeja. Picking him to enhance our batting only shows the predicament our batsmen are in.

We are talking about Sydney test only here. Long term ofcourse he won't be around forever.

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Originally Posted by Aakash118 (Post 5902090)

Jaddu

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Originally Posted by SoumenD (Post 5902133)

Jadeja

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Originally Posted by ike (Post 5902139)

Jadeja is getting old and not been very good of late.

For me Jadeja has been among India’s top three batsmen in last 3-4 years and has scored runs everywhere including Australia & England. So he is being picked as an all rounder and not as a specialist spinner. You can’t drop a well performing player just because he is on the wrong side of thirties. Even in the recent NZ series he was the highest wicket taker.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aakash118 (Post 5902143)

For me Jadeja has been among India’s top three batsmen in last 3-4 years
You can’t drop a well performing player just because he is on the wrong side of thirties. Even in the recent NZ series he was the highest wicket taker.

Jadeja needs to bowl well primarily, his batting is quite useful(as was proved in Brisbane) but he shouldn't be in the team just for his batting.
He has averaged in the early 30s,scored three fifties and one century in 2024. Two fifties in 2023. How does that make him one of the top three batsmen in the last few years?

Bowling has been deteriorating and badly so. Has 3 five wicket hauls in 2024 from12 tests and two five wicket hauls in 2023. In the current Australian series has a bowling average of 52 and a strike rate of 90!

The Indian cricket was better managed by politicians; they showed no mercy in axing captains or underperforming players. It was more like a few chances to prove one's worth and not giving lifelong opportunities. Even greats like Rajinder Goel, Kanwaljeet Singh, and Anant Padmanabhan could not play for the national team. We don't know what is happening at NCA. Why are the top-performing spinners not getting selected? Who are the upcoming fast bowlers? BCCI will not wake up till their source of income is affected.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ike (Post 5902169)

He has averaged in the early 30s,scored three fifties and one century in 2024. Two fifties in 2023. How does that make him one of the top three batsmen in the last few years

I think that is more than good enough for a no.7/8 batsman. And with no fast bowling all rounder (forget about batting in top 7, we don’t even have anyone capable of batting at 8), we need two spin all rounders to bat at 7 & 8. One is Sundar, who is the second? Axar? His bowling has been quite ordinary apart from one series in 2021 where he took around 30 wickets in three games.