[carwatcher]

Times we live in, 2 balls or 2 shots decide the career and rightly so, he was sent in before MSD to win the match but he like Dhoni was struggling in middling the ball.

Sunday well spent or not fully depended on the last over. Immediately reminded of the first World T20 final when the Sunday was well spent or not depended on Joginder Singh's last over.

Originally Posted by PPS

It would have been a huge setback to Yuvraj's career & more importantly his confidence if he hadn't hit those 2 hits in the final over!

Watched the entire match live after a long time, a Sunday well spent.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Times we live in, 2 balls or 2 shots decide the career and rightly so, he was sent in before MSD to win the match but he like Dhoni was struggling in middling the ball.

Sunday well spent or not fully depended on the last over. Immediately reminded of the first World T20 final when the Sunday was well spent or not depended on Joginder Singh's last over.

So, you wanted him to hit sixes at will the moment he came to the crease? He has been out of the team for 2 years, first opportunity to bat in the series with all the pressure of winning the match straight away on his shoulders. It's not easy. And the balls he missed bowled by Watson were really good ones. Still, he hit the runs when it mattered most. Give the guy a Break as barring the t20 final Match he has won us too many games on his own.

Coming back to the series what a brilliant display all around. Whitewashing Aussies in there own backyard is incredible and never been achieved before feat. Enjoyed it completely.

[carwatcher]

Though I didn't say it but yes I wanted him to hit boundaries the moment he came to the crease like Raina did who was also playing after some gap. Welcome to the demanding (and equally rewarding) world of T20 cricket.
The selectors gave him a long break of almost two years but still if he wants more time, he is welcome.
If you still want players past their best by date in the team on the basis of their reputation then why are so many posts on last few pages demanding retirement of Dhoni.
Well series was already won and if Yuvi didn't hit those shots, his world T20 place would be in real jeopardy today and he would've earned that much deserved break.

Originally Posted by harry10

So, you wanted him to hit sixes at will the moment he came to the crease? He has been out of the team for 2 years, first opportunity to bat in the series with all the pressure of winning the match straight away on his shoulders. It's not easy. And the balls he missed bowled by Watson were really good ones. Still, he hit the runs when it mattered most. Give the guy a Break as barring the t20 final Match he has won us too many games on his own.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by harry10

Rohit isn't test material. He loses composure too soon in tests. It's not necessary a good player in odi and t20 will be good in tests too. Like Yuvi and Raina. We should better concentrate in finding specialist test batsman.

Coming to today's Match I hope rain doesn't play spoilsport and we win the series today itself.

Nobody except Pujara is test material. Simply because we hardly play tests any more. ODIs and T20 are given far more importance. Especially with the IPL.
No chances of a gifted player falling into our laps.

Players must learn to adapt, playing ODIs and T20/IPL exposes them to top rung cricket. Exposure that pure test players will hardly get.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Nobody except Pujara is test material. Simply because we hardly play tests any more. ODIs and T20 are given far more importance. Especially with the IPL.
No chances of a gifted player falling into our laps.

Players must learn to adapt, playing ODIs and T20/IPL exposes them to top rung cricket. Exposure that pure test players will hardly get.

You don't need to be an ultra defensive player to be a good test batsman. In fact most attacking players have been top class test cricketers. Vv Richards, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Ponting, Lara. In the current lot Ab devilliars, Warner.

My point is Rohit doesn't have the kind of temperament to curb his attacking instinct and build a test innings. Look at Kohli how he has matured into a very good test player. Vijay is another one who has adapted so well.

Pandey has that kinda temperament. It's obvious Rohit will be tried again and if he has learned something from recent outings he may succeed too. Lesse. Tests are many months far away.

New players should be constantly tried out. Then only we can find true potential of people like Bhumrah etc.

I think only change in matches against SL will be one pacer making way for Bhajji considering spinning tracks.

[carwatcher]

After the second T20 won by India it was mentioned in the commentary on Cricinfo that this is Australia's second (or Third) rung team.

Aussies never take this format seriously, and T20 trophy is the only one missing from their cabinet. I wonder why would they do it even when they are playing at their home grounds.

The remarkably shoddy fielding and poor catching was enough proof of that.

Lets see how they perform in the upcoming World T20.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

After the second T20 won by India it was mentioned in the commentary on Cricinfo that this is Australia's second (or Third) rung team.

About the Aussies not taking this format seriously - I don't think this holds merit and if it is mentioned somewhere it might just be an excuse for losing the series, I really doubt this. The Aussies are known to take their game seriously and are great competitors and very difficult to beat on home turf. I would just ignore this and give credit to our team for a well deserved victory.
T20 games can typically go either way and as we saw, the last one could have been an Aussie victory as well and it went down to the last ball!

One thing I would agree is that the Aussie team did a bit of experimentation in terms of team composition with the T20 World cup in mind.
As Watson mentioned in the post match presentation, they are looking at firming up the team and roles before the world cup. In the com box, VVS Laxman also mentioned something similar about the Indian team's success hinting at better role definitions now.

As of 31 Jan 2016, India is ranked #1 and Australia is ranked #8 on the T20 team rankings but if you look carefully, they're not too far behind on the points, just 1 or 2 points separate each team starting from #1 and going down the list

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by NPV

About the Aussies not taking this format seriously - I don't think this holds merit and if it is mentioned somewhere it might just be an excuse for losing the series, I really doubt this. The Aussies are known to take their game seriously and are great competitors and very difficult to beat on home turf. I would just ignore this and give credit to our team for a well deserved victory.
T20 games can typically go either way and as we saw, the last one could have been an Aussie victory as well and it went down to the last ball!

Don't know about Not taking the game seriously, but Mark Waugh repeated many times that Australia do not play as many T20s as Indian players do and hence they are not the favourites in this format.

As of 31 Jan 2016, India is ranked #1 and Australia is ranked #8 on the T20 team rankings but if you look carefully, they're not too far behind on the points, just 1 or 2 points separate each team starting from #1 and going down the list

That's because the ICC rankings take only International T20s into consideration. Because there are very few international T20s that countries play, these ratings change drastically with every match.
In such a situation, India (who were ranked 7or8) have beaten Australia(who were ranked 1) in Australia and won the series that too a whitewash.
These things give a big push and hence India has gone to the top and Australia down to the bottom.
It'll take some years for those rankings to Stabilize.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Aussies never take this format seriously, and T20 trophy is the only one missing from their cabinet.

Yes, grapes are sour

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Don't know about Not taking the game seriously, but Mark Waugh repeated many times that Australia do not play as many T20s as Indian players do and hence they are not the favourites in this format.

Mark Waugh was upset with loss and gave some lame excuse. Check this - http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/con...ds/283307.html, while India have played 60 T20Is, Australia have played 81 ! True, very less T20Is are played but Aussie players have more experience playing T20s - they play IPL & BigBash, while Indian players play only IPL

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Mark Waugh was upset with loss and gave some lame excuse. Check this - http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/con...ds/283307.html, while India have played 60 T20Is, Australia have played 81 ! True, very less T20Is are played but Aussie players have more experience playing T20s - they play IPL & BigBash, while Indian players play only IPL

I didn't say he was correct. We could clearly make out that he was just trying to defend the Australian team.
He was just not able to digest/accept the fact that Australia are still not able to win T20s like they do in the other formats

It was fun to see Mark Waugh and Laxman commenting. Both being new to commentary are still very defensive of their national sides.
Moreover Mark Waugh is also an Australian selector

[Eddy]

It is obvious that Australia prioritise ODIs and Tests over T20 internationals. Their main players were travelling to New Zealand to prepare for the series there, while the t20 international series was on.

Btw, some big hitting by our boys in the junior world cup today albeit against Nepal (who actually beat NZ & Ireland to qualify)

[carwatcher]

The rankings in T20 are irrelevant, infact the beauty of the format lies in that almost any team can beat anyone anyday. Otherwise how can one explain the pathetic WI at the top, yes they are a very good T20 team but otherwise they are pathetic.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by Eddy

It is obvious that Australia prioritise ODIs and Tests over T20 internationals. Their main players were travelling to New Zealand to prepare for the series there, while the t20 international series was on.

Btw, some big hitting by our boys in the junior world cup today albeit against Nepal (who actually beat NZ & Ireland to qualify)

Over confidence. That's what did Australia in this time. They thought they will roll over India just like in odis. However the first T20 they fielded their best team and still lost. In the next 2 they fielded many big bash stars and still lost. Even in odis we weren't too bad, just didn't deliver killer punches.

My prediction is if by the end of Asia cup we are still holding the No. 1 rank then we are definitely winning the World cup. After a long time I am seeing our team as balanced as this one and almost everyone is in form.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Otherwise how can one explain the pathetic WI at the top, yes they are a very good T20 team but otherwise they are pathetic.

Your statement is quite contradictory. WI is a fantastic T20 side and which is why it is rated highly. How they fare in other formats is immaterial.

Although the impact of Narine not being able to bowl with his usual action or not being able to bowl at all is yet to be seen on the team. Let's see...

Even in odis we weren't too bad, just didn't deliver killer punches.

Absolutely... or if that Geroge Bailey decision in the first ODI was given correctly in our favour...

[Marauder]

Originally Posted by harry10

Even in odis we weren't too bad, just didn't deliver killer punches.

I think the result may have been different in the ODIs if we had the players of the T20 squad. In the ODIs, the top order was firing but we didn't have enough pedigreed players like Raina, Yuvraj lower down to finish off the innings.

And we shall not forget that the Indian women's team also beat the World Champion Australian team in their series held simultaneously.