The Cricket Thread

[suhaas307]

I read in the papers that Venkatesh Prasad was the reason behind Ishant's failures in the past. Supposedly, he was asked to concentrate on line and length, and lost his pace in the bargain.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I read in the papers that Venkatesh Prasad was the reason behind Ishant's failures in the past. Supposedly, he was asked to concentrate on line and length, and lost his pace in the bargain.

Yes, i too read that! That is what Ishant's Coach from college/domestic team has claimed. I kind of agree with him.
Far often we have seen bowlers take advice from all sorts of experts, then getting confused & not figuring out what to do. Irfan Pathan is another classic example of that. He used to swing the ball a fair bit & now he barely manages any swing!
Munaf is another one who had pace but now is a line & length bowler.
Sometimes it is best to go to your coaches whom you've been brought up with for advice.

[PPS]

Seems the Indian Team Management has decided to go back to the 6 specialist batsman theory as per the below report! Not sure if this is a defensive move considering the 4 specialist bowlers managed to take 20 wickets on a green top.
Binny anyways wasn't required to do much bowling.
An in-form Irfan Pathan would have been handy on this tour.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-...ry/764021.html

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by PPS

Yes, i too read that! That is what Ishant's Coach from college/domestic team has claimed. I kind of agree with him.
Far often we have seen bowlers take advice from all sorts of experts, then getting confused & not figuring out what to do. Irfan Pathan is another classic example of that. He used to swing the ball a fair bit & now he barely manages any swing!
Munaf is another one who had pace but now is a line & length bowler.
Sometimes it is best to go to your coaches whom you've been brought up with for advice.

Fast bowlers generally have a short shelf-life. Of course, there are always exceptions.

I hope Ishant puts the past behind him and focuses on the present and future. I still can't forget the time when Ishant troubled Ponting on his first tour to Australia. The guy's got what it takes, he just needs confidence and guidance.

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by PPS

Seems the Indian Team Management has decided to go back to the 6 specialist batsman theory as per the below report! Not sure if this is a defensive move considering the 4 specialist bowlers managed to take 20 wickets on a green top.
Binny anyways wasn't required to do much bowling.
An in-form Irfan Pathan would have been handy on this tour.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-...ry/764021.html

This is not good. Expecting the 4 bowlers to do the job again, 3rd time in a row, would be too much. We need the extra bowler.
Great teams always would attack an opposition when they are down, while average teams would let them get up and get away.

In fact the team mgt. was very keen on Irfan, but form and fitness was something of a concern and hence he was not picked. If they need to play someone in place of Binny, I would in fact add Ashwin. He can dot he job both with the bat and ball. And England has what 6 left handed batsmen?

[carboy]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

He can dot he job both with the bat and ball.

Only if the match is played in India. Outside India, he is clueless with the ball and OK with the bat.

[Eddy]

With three of the top four - Dhawan, Kolhi & Puajara having a tough series till date, it is understandable why we would want to go with an extra batter. On the other hand, the case for an extra bowler is also strong.

IMO this is a decision best left to the instincts of the captain. Either ways, we will discuss it in hindsight after the match

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by carboy

Only if the match is played in India. Outside India, he is clueless with the ball and OK with the bat.

You should check his scores against the team's average outside of India. I remember him playing quite a few good knocks. He has never got spinning tracks so far and this one is supposed to turn and bounce - that is my case.

Originally Posted by Eddy

With three of the top four - Dhawan, Kolhi & Puajara having a tough series till date, it is understandable why we would want to go with an extra batter. On the other hand, the case for an extra bowler is also strong.

IMO this is a decision best left to the instincts of the captain. Either ways, we will discuss it in hindsight after the match

I do not think Pujara is having a tough series, his average is 41 but he has played far better than what the numbers state. Kohli is getting out to good balls - cannot do much there. Dhawan, has been a bit of a hit and miss but he has not looked terribly bad and I would persist with him.

Again, England has 6 left handed batsmen; the weather has been unusually hot in England, hence the dried pitches, this one is going to turn; you need a good off spinner and we only have one on the tour, he needs to play.

Whatever we may say, signs are that Rohit will play as MSD might think the lower order can't keep saving the team always.

On the Jadeja Verdict: I have never seen MSD being so blunt on something, this has clearly not gone down too well with the team. And for a change it seems as if the Poms are lying about it. So much for being fair and truthful! I hope BCCI will weigh in here and use the legal battery.

[pratyush6]

Someone get that slip cordon correct. Dhawan the donkey seems to be so low and confidence that he constantly is deep in slips and keeps dropping sitters.

Dhawan and Jadeja are not slip fielders, lets get that straight.

One this seems a flat'ish pitch and then our fielders are God gifted. I really want to kick someone.

The umpiring has been horrible in the game. Bad decisions all around. India themselves are to blame. No DRS :(

From now on, India will play to save the game, and we are not very good at it.

[PPS]

Trust our team to get the opposition batsman back in form!Can't entirely blame our bowling also since the pitch is quite flat. But who knows it might suddenly be a different pitch once English bowlers come on to bowl. Pankaj Singh bowled well in patches yesterday. Shami has been a major disappointment! Just hope our batsman like Dhawan, Pujara & Virat get the big score which they have been looking for.
My prediction is that this test will be a draw unless our team decides to make the match interesting!

[searacer932]

The issue is that Dhoni very quickly runs out of ideas on flat decks. He sticks to a spinner at one end, to stem the flow of runs, and goes with pace at the other end. I have lost count of the number of times the opposition has put up scores in the order of 500 and 600 against Dhoni's men. Seems like the 80s and the 90s. The Indian team has under performed, so far, in this test match.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by searacer932

The issue is that Dhoni very quickly runs out of ideas on flat decks.

When a flat pitch is produced its always advantage England as their bowlers get more out of the pitch as we saw today at the end! Our bowlers looked listless.
When a green top is produced that gets our bowlers into the game & then its upto which team bats well that decides the game.

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by searacer932

The issue is that Dhoni very quickly runs out of ideas on flat decks.

That is my issue with MSD. He throws in the towel way to early. In his mind he already thinks that the pitch is too good to bat and his bowlers cannot do anything, goes on the defensive, gives free runs.

The bowlers too need to get some flak, no discipline whatsoever. Shami has been such a disappointment this series. Really expected so much out of him. In-fact I thought he would spearhead the attack.

I hope someone is working with him. Though we should not be too critical of our bowlers as they are still inexperienced and they will make mistakes.
They did create chances and Poms had a bit if luck - if you look at it, pretty much all the luck elements have gone their way. Our slip fielding has been crap. 7 or 8 catches dropped

Originally Posted by PPS

When a flat pitch is produced its always advantage England as their bowlers get more out of the pitch as we saw today at the end! Our bowlers looked listless.
When a green top is produced that gets our bowlers into the game & then its upto which team bats well that decides the game.

Agreed. No wonder SA always produces pitches with pace and bounce and no seam whatsoever for us. The moment it starts seaming, our bowlers come into the game big time.

Don't know how long can Bhuvi keep going on. He too needs a break. I expect some major changes in our bowling next Test. Probably, Ishant returns along with that ass Varun Aaron and Pandey. I do not see how Bhuvi & Shami can play 4 Tests in a row.

Lets just hope we save this one. It's advantage England. They will bowl fast, get far more out of this pitch. If India cannot get to 400, I do not see how we will save this one.

[harry10]

More than India getting 400 the question is how much time we can spend on the crease. We need to bat whole full day and 2 sessions tomorrow for any hopes of saving the match.
Don't think England will go for follow on even if they are able to restrict us. So, priority should be to spend time on wicket. Mainly Pujara and Rahane as they have the patience to stay.
Dhawan should be dropped for next test. He is a walking wicket every time he opens.

[hemanth.anand]

Overconfident Nohit Sharma got out to Moeen Ali!!
How much a good player you are against spin, you should have some respect towards the bowler.
In the current squad, Rohit and Jadeja have less of that and hence are highly inconsistent when it comes to batting. Although capable, they are always a potential wicket to the opposition.

I just hope someone stays there with Ajinkya.