The Cricket Thread

[Marauder]

A replay of the Perth match at the Gabba today.
Rohit got a hundred. India struggled to 300 when they should have got 350. Australia chased down the target with ease.

I'm really bored of these 300 plays 300 games where there is nothing in the pitch for the bowlers. The Indian bowling attack looks absolutely disastrous on these flat pitches. Maybe batting second in the next game may yield a different result.

[nkrishnap]

Our Dhoni will win the toss and elect to Bat and history repeats again

All this very well knowing that we have a weaker attack to defend the score.

[PPS]

3 bad games in a row for our bowlers with no solution in sight! This is our most inconsistent bowling attack in the longest time. Yadav shows sparks of brilliance once in a while but is average on most days. Ishant hasn't even been part of the ODI format for some time & he's called the spearhead for some reason. Bhuvneshwar has lost his swing! Things not looking that great for the Indian ODI team down under.

[NPV]

With the way our bowling and fielding has been, I guess it's a simple strategy to beat India on the flat Aussie pitches - let India bat first and chase it down easily (courtesy bowling, fielding)
Given this situation, what I can't understand is why Dhoni chose to bat first after winning the toss in the 3rd ODI ?
Is this the same person who always believed we could chase down any total and almost took it too seriously in some matches ? Even the World Cup 2015 strategy seemed to be based on that idea, so what happened now ?

[carwatcher]

AFAIK in 3rd ODI Australia won the toss.
We were favourites to win the WC in 2011 and that one loss to SA (where SA chased) was a big wake up call and then we went on to win the cup.
At the same time we don't have quality bowlers since ages and with the batsman friendly rules I can see almost all the bowlers (including Dale Steyn) are hit around the park quite often.

Originally Posted by NPV

With the way our bowling and fielding has been, I guess it's a simple strategy to beat India on the flat Aussie pitches - let India bat first and chase it down easily (courtesy bowling, fielding)
Given this situation, what I can't understand is why Dhoni chose to bat first after winning the toss in the 3rd ODI ?

[PPS]

Originally Posted by NPV

Is this the same person who always believed we could chase down any total

Those were the times where the top 6 were all match winners!
Currently, for a successful run chase, we would be depending too much on Rohit, Virat & Rahane in every game!
Just see how deep the Aussies bat, Faulker comes in at no. 8.

[pratyush6]

What has let me down is the fielding more than anything else. We see good fielders letting balls through. We have batted decently. Rahane is still a misfit in the team - good enough to replace a main batsman but not good enough to accelerate. I suppose it's best if he opens the batting with Rohit. We should at-least try him.

Bowlers, well - Yadav is probably the most inconsistent bowler right now, and you cannot expect this after so many years of cricket. The so called all rounders are simply not good enough. We also need to give chances to people who perform consistently in domestic circuit (which we are seeing in T20s).

MSD has become a bit defensive skipper as well. He knows his bowlers will falter and he is all the time covering for it.
Of all things, I simply do not get it our main fast bowlers - Ishant and Yadav, how can they be so inconsistent? A fan would literally tear his hair out watching these two bowl.

[Chetan_Rao]

Most of our bowling choices are Ranji-grade at best, no offense (to Ranji players). How does anyone expect to win anything with such an attack?

Our only hope these days seems to be bat first, get as many as possible (which usually ain't much) and then hope the opposition play silly shots and collapse. When was the last time India won on the back of a genuine bowling/fielding performance?

[deepv]

Oh .. we have held Aussies below 350, not that Ishant didn't give it a try (obviously with some help from Maxwell).

[carwatcher]

Now the batting collapse that can even put West Indies to shame, I don't know how to react.
Not a single batsman showed any intent to stay at the crease.

[NPV]

If we bat first, we get to around 300-310 and then lose the match, there were 3 examples of this.
If we let them bat first, we allow them to get to 330+ like today in the 4th match - 348! which is usually a lot to chase down. Result - we start out very well and lose our way in the middle And Rahane is injured with a split webbing.
Any way out ? I think the bowling and fielding simply has to improve to give us a chance of winning at least one match.

[Oxy]

I am sorry but how do you go from 277/1 to 323 all out?

Just a case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

5-0 whitewash coming up.

[Eddy]

Watch out for MSD pulling out the stumps for keeps after the next match. Something tells me it'll be his last match.

Or worse still, a press conference tomorrow...

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Watch out for MSD pulling out the stumps for keeps after the next match. Something tells me it'll be his last match.
Or worse still, a press conference tomorrow...

Get the feeling World T20 in India will be his last. He surprised everyone when he retired from Tests last year!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Watch out for MSD pulling out the stumps for keeps after the next match. Something tells me it'll be his last match.

Or worse still, a press conference tomorrow...

I got the same feeling when he said couple of days ago that we need to get more youngsters into the team...and a direct counter question would naturally be why he is still around ? Guess that was another clue of what he is probably contemplating lets see what happens, match is not over till the last ball is actually bowled till then it is just speculation!