[Eddy]

Originally Posted by PPS

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

That'll be his last T20 outing definitely. And the next match may well be his ODI swansong.

[carwatcher]

I don't want him to retire soon. He has become fitter after the SA tests break and seeing the performance of the inexperienced batsman today he definitely is needed for atleast couple of years. At the same time he being Dhoni would never want anybody to question his place in the team so he may well retire soon. But again I look at his fitness levels and want him to continue and play some swashbuckling innings before he retires in the way he used to play at the start of his career.

[dark.knight]

I'm not much of a cricket fan, one can say not at all. That however doesn't mean that I cannot appreciate how entertaining or gripping the sport can be, albeit once only every 100 games perhaps. This series however has had even me glued to checking the scores.. fantastic games all 4 of them so far.

The problem with India has always been politics, favouritism & ego rampantly spreading to each and every player of the national team. This is one thing not present in Australia (except maybe a few tiffs here & there), the cricketing board there is far more intolerant to bad performances and gives team-work a priority over creating records & winning sponsorships. Its for this reason that no Indian team can dethrone Australia as the best cricketing team ever. If one can observe how the Aussies have functioned as a unit the past 4 games it is so evident, brilliant batting spread across 5-6 batsmen contributing in a cool & calm manner, better bowling than India even with a few debutants, and just an overall very intricately functioning team. Then we have India - scattered, individually record breaking players who simply do not keep with the plan of winning, no better example than today when with 3 overs, 3 wickets left and 36 runs to obtain all they could manage was 11 runs with Yadav trying to smash the ball like in tennis without giving a chance to the better batsman at the other end of the crease.

India has better batsmen/players too, why aren't they ever given a chance? Uthappa, Gambhir can provide some much necessary opening reinforcements & even Binny can provide relief as an all-rounder. Not saying they will necessarily succeed but why not try them out if a certain 11 aren't working? Ishant is far from a potent bowler and can misfire at any time, same with Ashwin. One can only predict what would've happened if Johnson & Starc were in this squad.. the stumps will be lying asunder every 5 minutes. Kohli is talented no doubt, but when compared to the other captain Steve Smith, he is just immature and not of leadership material by a mile.

As for Dhoni, I know he has a big say on how the team is selected and that is where the problems begin. I like who he is and how mature he remains but his golden age is past now. The Indian team walked into this one and I shall await a whitewash on Saturday.

[Marauder]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

This series however has had even me glued to checking the scores.. fantastic games all 4 of them so far.

You might be the first person who has said that. To be honest, the first 2 games of the series were absolute borefests. There was no competition between bat an ball, in both the games India got to 300 and Australia coasted past the score. In the third game, there was some drama in the middle but that was also a lopsided contest.
A similar batsmen dominated game was being played out today until the Indian batsmen just forgot how to play and lost the game in a ridiculous way.

better bowling than India even with a few debutants, and just an overall very intricately functioning team.

Australia's bowling has been as bad as the Indian bowling, its their batting(and India's batsmen) who have won them the games.

Kohli is talented no doubt, but when compared to the other captain Steve Smith, he is just immature and not of leadership material by a mile.

Steve Smith really showed his tactical brilliance today by getting wickets when India should have easily won the game, with his field placements.
Not only Kohli, even Dhoni can learn a lot from the way he captained his team in the match.

[Liverpool_Red]

This series was lost because of the below factors.

1. Bad team selection
2. Selfish batsmen chasing milestones and records
3. Inept bowling with no plan and consistency

The current Australian team are no world beaters and we should have capitalised on this opportunity to get a series win down under. We probably might win the last game and come back home thinking that the team is actually good.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

But again I look at his fitness levels and want him to continue and play some swashbuckling innings before he retires in the way he used to play at the start of his career.

I don't think his fitness levels are in question here, just that his form & big hitting prowess has eluded him off late!

Originally Posted by dark.knight

India has better batsmen/players too, why aren't they ever given a chance? Uthappa, Gambhir can provide some much necessary opening reinforcements

Gambhir i doubt has been in good touch in domestic cricket. Uthappa from what i heard has done well. Currently, our top 4 are settled notwithstanding Dhawan's on & off indifferent form!

& even Binny can provide relief as an all-rounder. Not saying they will necessarily succeed but why not try them out if a certain 11 aren't working?

Binny has been tried & tested & has failed miserably!

As for Dhoni, I know he has a big say on how the team is selected and that is where the problems begin.

Agree, he has his favorite set of players from which he chooses.

[pratyush6]

Some questions: If he chooses his favorites, why is Raina out? BTW, his favorites include RP Singh, Nehra and Irfan as well.

The kind of pressure MSD is under right now, every armchair critic is just going on babbling about him. Media has a favorite whipping boy now. People should remember that MS does not play for records (else he would have easily played 100 Tests). Atleast have some sense and believe in what Hussey said a couple of days back about MSD.

The kind of fair weather fans we see in India is absolutely astonishing. If anyone in their right senses thought this bowling lineup of India could win us matches, that too on flat tracks - you were dreaming. If our top 3 fire, we can win chasing, that's about it.

We do not have a middle order in batting right now. Dhawan/Rohit play on alternate days, Kohli is dependable and then who? Rahane cannot play under pressure. MSD bats lower down, where he hardly has anytime to do anything, except fail. And then there is literally no one. If you expect to win matches based on this - well Good Luck!

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by Liverpool_Red

This series was lost because of the below factors.

1. Bad team selection
2. Selfish batsmen chasing milestones and records
3. Inept bowling with no plan and consistency

Who would you have picked in the team?

[Liverpool_Red]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Who would you have picked in the team?

I would have Harbhajan in the team for his experience and probably Yuvraj in for Jadeja. If we had Yuvraj at crease instead of Jadeja yesterday we would have had a chance.

[Oxy]

In other news, something to cheer about.

We are the #1 ranked team in tests again.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Oxy

In other news, something to cheer about.

We are the #1 ranked team in tests again.

Credit in part should also go to England for beating South Africa and in the process making India #1 again in Tests

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by Liverpool_Red

I would have Harbhajan in the team for his experience and probably Yuvraj in for Jadeja. If we had Yuvraj at crease instead of Jadeja yesterday we would have had a chance.

Both sadly are past their best and completely out of international cricket. Bhajji cant play a full day's test cricket. Spin has largely been ineffective, thats the reason we cant pull it back in the middle overs.

[Eddy]

So, why did we lost the series down under ?

While we debate captaincy, selection et all, Harsha Bhogale presents an interesting perspective

http://indianexpress.com/article/spo...en-outmuscled/

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by Eddy

So, why did we lost the series down under ?

Mainly dropped catches and ultra defensive captaincy.

When the opposition is closing in on the target with plenty of wickets in hand, why does Dhoni hesitate to bring in another man inside the circle? Also, why would you give away easy singles to a new batsman who has just come to the crease after the fall of a wicket? Small things that make a huge difference.

Also, our batters slow down when they are approaching a personal milestone. The Aussies never do this, it's always team first for them.

The pitches were absolute roads so criticizing the bowling doesn't make much sense, considering we have consistently managed to score 300 throughout the series. But I am peeved that none of our fast bowlers have enough pace to bother the opposition batsmen. How brilliant it would have been if we had someone like a Shane Bond or a Brett Lee, who has the capability to run through the opposition with sheer pace. In a country of a billion plus, it's baffling we cannot find one such guy. In our entire history, our best three pacers have been Kapil, Srinath and Zaheer, and all of them didn't have express pace.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Oxy

......In a country of a billion plus, it's baffling we cannot find one such guy.

Before someone says it's the climate and the nature of our cricket, our neighbors play in nearly identical (or potentially worse) conditions and have never had trouble producing world-class fast bowlers. Baffling indeed!

In our entire history, our best three pacers have been Kapil, Srinath and Zaheer, and all of them didn't have express pace.

Outright pace works for a while before batsmen figure it out. Accuracy, variety and guile are much more potent weapons in a bowler's arsenal, and most fast bowlers take that route once they gain experience and eventually lose some yards of pace as they age. The most successful fast bowler in history is nowhere near the top of the speed-gun rankings.

Unfortunately, our current bunch has neither pace nor guile good enough for international cricket.