[PPS]

Perplexed as to why Rahane has been dropped for the England ODI series! Till recently Rahane was given a vote of confidence by the captain by saying that he's the ideal no.4 for overseas conditions. Agreed he hasn't exactly set the stage on fire but now the selectors have gone ahead & dropped him.

Another huge problem with the team picked is none of the batsman can bowl, so there's huge pressure on Pandya as the 5th bowler.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/...d-odis-england

[wangdu]

Originally Posted by PPS

Perplexed ..

..Another huge problem with the team picked is none of the batsman can bowl, so there's huge pressure on Pandya as the 5th bowler.
..

I guess the selectors (or Dhoni-Kohli influence) wanted to give exposure to in form Rahul & Iyer. But the red tape continues, couldn't selectors find replacements for Rohit & Dhawan?? But pretty sure India is going to need all specialist batters in those conditions.

Now why 3 spinners for English conditions? They will play Chahal most likely and that will help only if it's dry but England isn't that so what in the world are 3 spinners for? Instead a seamer or experienced batsmen like Rahane might have been prudent.

Lastly I so feel for Karthik, he isn't getting to 'keep' with Dhoni around who for some fevicol reason has vowed to hang around at the cost of others' career.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by wangdu

I guess the selectors (or Dhoni-Kohli influence) wanted to give exposure to in form Rahul & Iyer. But the red tape continues, couldn't selectors find replacements for Rohit & Dhawan?? But pretty sure India is going to need all specialist batters in those conditions.

Find their replacements for ODIs? Why ? They are the best ODI openers going around IMO.

Lastly I so feel for Karthik, he isn't getting to 'keep' with Dhoni around who for some fevicol reason has vowed to hang around at the cost of others' career.

I don't think Karthik is keeping wickets even in domestic cricket nowadays. Why are you blaming MSD for "hanging around" ? It is the selectors + team management that needs to take a call. IMO, his IPL form means that he is not going anywhere till 2019, and rightly so. Had his form continued to be bad, there was a case for replacing him. Not anymore.

[wangdu]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Find their replacements for ODIs? Why ? They are the best ODI openers going around IMO.



I don't think Karthik is keeping wickets even in domestic cricket nowadays. Why are you blaming MSD for "hanging around" ? It is the selectors + team management that needs to take a call. IMO, his IPL form means that he is not going anywhere till 2019, and rightly so. Had his form continued to be bad, there was a case for replacing him. Not anymore.

Rohit & Dhawan aren't a great opening batsmen IMHO, especially Rohit. In the recent ODI with SA, Rohit got going in just 1 of 6 matches.! Add swing in England and I get pessimistic. Recall another batsman like Sharma with poor footwork, Sehwag who was once flown in to England SOS and he got a golden duck. A proper batsmen who actually has some footwork to react fast to and face swing & seam movement would have been better.

Dhoni in IPL is no criteria for me; many make hay on dead pitches. Moreover, any player in just fair and occasionally good form can hang around for a decade or two so the younger gen would retire even before the seniors He's been around for 13+ years, where's the opportunity for many keepers waiting in the wings? Saha got lucky as Dhoni didn't have fitness for Tests and perhaps he had enough moolah elsewhere.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by wangdu

Rohit & Dhawan aren't a great opening batsmen IMHO, especially Rohit. In the recent ODI with SA, Rohit got going in just 1 of 6 matches.! Add swing in England and I get pessimistic.

This is Rohit's record in England in the last tournament he played there.

http://www.cricwaves.com/cricket/tou...ayerStats.html

Do note that English pitches for white ball cricket are very good batting wickets now. There is movement, but not as much as before.

Dhoni in IPL is no criteria for me; many make hay on dead pitches. Moreover, any player in just fair and occasionally good form can hang around for a decade or two so the younger gen would retire even before the seniors He's been around for 13+ years, where's the opportunity for many keepers waiting in the wings? Saha got lucky as Dhoni didn't have fitness for Tests and perhaps he had enough moolah elsewhere.

IPL may not be a criteria for you, but it seems it is an important parameter for the selectors to pick a team for white ball cricket.

MSD was physically very fit when he retired. My take is that the frequent overseas losses took a toll on him mentally and he retired.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by Eddy

MSD was physically very fit when he retired. My take is that the frequent overseas losses took a toll on him mentally and he retired.

Just to add my two cents. Dhoni is physically fit but his finishing skills in particular and batting skill in general were on the wane. It was like Tendulkar during his last two years. Occasional good innings followed by long drought. But yes his wicket keeping skills are unmatched. With a break and a good IPL that he is having, should wait and watch how he fares in the England tour.

Sorry for the post.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Sorry for the post.

Not off topic at all

And I agree completely. Before the IPL, I did not imagine that MSD could play the way he has. Let's hope this translates to international batting form.

Wicketkeeping is not even a point worth mentioning, he is the best.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by wangdu

In the recent ODI with SA, Rohit got going in just 1 of 6 matches.! Add swing in England and I get pessimistic.

Rohit it seems is going through a bad patch. Runs for him have also dried up in the IPL. But you cannot drop a player on the basis of 2 bad series. His envious record in white ball cricket will ensure he will get several chances to regain his form.

Originally Posted by Eddy

Before the IPL, I did not imagine that MSD could play the way he has. Let's hope this translates to international batting form.

He's playing this way because he's coming into bat at the right time & correct position, something which wasn't happening when he was playing for India with players like Shreyas Iyer & Manish Pandey batting ahead of him. Just hope he turns out to bat at no.4-5 or around the 25th over mark.
In IPL, he seems to have an emotional connect with the franchise & is in a better frame of mind, hence we're seeing the vintage Dhoni once again!

[selfdrive]

Amazing knock from (who else but) Kevin O'Brien again for Ireland.

Nice write up on him:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/...obrien-century

[Eddy]

Match fixing / Spot fixing raises it's ugly head again :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYlk...ature=youtu.be

[selfdrive]

The Afghan express chugs along. Nice article:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/...wowed-dehradun

[Eddy]

Come to think of it, we can be in trouble if the pitch offers turn to the Afghan trio.

[Oxy]

The BCCI should learn from PCB about how to prepare for an overseas tour.

Before the England test series, the Pakistani players went to Ireland early, played a couple of LOIs followed by a test match, then landed in England and played a couple of warm ups before the first test (and they ended up winning that test).

Compare this to our rockstars who landed in South Africa 4 days before the test series.

I have no hope for us to compete well on overseas tours unless we start giving importance to acclimatization and adequate preparation. On top of that, we have a cheerleader coaching our boys. I am afraid we are going to witness the usual come the 3rd of July.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by Oxy

The BCCI should learn from PCB about how to prepare for an overseas tour.

Before the England test series, the Pakistani players went to Ireland early, played a couple of LOIs followed by a test match, then landed in England and played a couple of warm ups before the first test (and they ended up winning that test).

Compare this to our rockstars who landed in South Africa 4 days before the test series.

I have no hope for us to compete well on overseas tours unless we start giving importance to acclimatization and adequate preparation. On top of that, we have a cheerleader coaching our boys. I am afraid we are going to witness the usual come the 3rd of July.

We keep playing and there is no gap between matches. Also, I am not sure we need to win and make a exciting game out of matches for other teams to want to play us There is enough money to be had for both boards even without that.

Like the end of Al-Jazeera's video above, the agents saying they were acting for entertainment

[AltoLXI]

Restricting India to 474 by lunch on second day is no easy feat for the team playing its first test - kudos to Afghanistan team.