[Chetan_Rao]

The occasional bad performance on a largely successful tour isn't the problem. The real issue is there seems to be no settled batting order this close to the World Cup.

The top 3 won't always score the bulk of runs, and the next four don't inspire much confidence the moment the pitch isn't a belter. That's fine for a multi-match series or round-robin group games where you can make up for a bad game, but a looming disaster in knockouts.

How many games before the cup? Less than 10?

[Waspune]

I won't be too perturbed with India's one off bad day. Boult was swinging the ball back in which has been a problem for the likes of Rohit Sharma. But some wickets that fell down were not to a good ball but to a bad shot. Specially with Rayadu. When the ball was swinging and wickets were down there wasn't any need to play a lofted shot!

Number 4 is still not settled for us which is definitely a bad thing. It seems that Dhoni is better off taking that position and anchor the innings as he is being doing off late. For me this should be the playing 11 line up :
Rohit Sharma
Shikhar Dhawan
Kohli
Dhoni
Karthik
Kedar Jadhav
Pandya
Bhuvi
Kuldeep
Chahal
Bhumra

Depending on the England wicket Shami can come in place of Kuldeep/Chahal.

[WindRide]

Our team's collapse today was nothing to do with kiwis finding new spine or having read the conditions well beforehand or coming up with a rock solid plan for a dead rubber. It was simply the moving ball. Ball didnt do anything in the air for the 3 previous matches, which i had commnented earlier was very surprising in NZ.

Barring a few exceptionally talented batsmen (say Dravid) , our batsmen have never faced a moving ball well. And will continue to be poor in swinging conditions since we don't have conditions at home to get used to such bowling.

So not really surprised today. Neither am i holding breath for the WC, where today's repeat performance is almost a certainity.

[harry10]

It was bound to happen. Law of averages will catch up. Just that no one thought it will be embarrassing. I got up to see 55/8. Took me a second to believe. Then saw the wickets. Barring couple all were because of bad shots. Even after playing so much our batsman don't know how to tackle a moving ball. Common sense is to stop aerial shots and poking around for a while and try playing with a straight bat as much as possible. Kohli and Dhoni would have helped but we can't keep relying on them in each match.

Rayadu is seriously not a no.4 player. Give it to Dhoni and play DK, Jadhav, Pandya as finishers. Hyping up a new player is nothing new in Indian cricket. Gill will take many games to settle down. So, can't fault him. It's the seniors who lost the game with bad technique.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by Waspune

But some wickets that fell down were not to a good ball but to a bad shot. Specially with Rayadu.

Originally Posted by harry10

Rayadu is seriously not a no.4 player.

Like Rahane is hiding in the test team, the same case with Rayudu. He is just flying under the radar to escape any notice. In almost all his innings, he struggles to time the ball to rotate the strike. He is saved by his big shots and running between the wickets, which is helpful towards the end of the innings. He is not the right fit for ODIs.

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Like Rahane is hiding in the test team, the same case with Rayudu. He is just flying under the radar to escape any notice. In almost all his innings, he struggles to time the ball to rotate the strike. He is saved by his big shots and running between the wickets, which is helpful towards the end of the innings. He is not the right fit for ODIs.

I still cannot digest the fact that he played 5 straight dot balls off Sodhi in the 41st over of an innings when team total is 239/3 (1st innings) and that too when he was already on 32 in 29 balls! He just does not fit into a 'modern' ODI team.

[Waspune]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Like Rahane is hiding in the test team, the same case with Rayudu. He is just flying under the radar to escape any notice. In almost all his innings, he struggles to time the ball to rotate the strike. He is saved by his big shots and running between the wickets, which is helpful towards the end of the innings. He is not the right fit for ODIs.

I wouldn't want to compare Rayadu (In ODI) with Rahane (In Tests). Rahane is a class act and has been doing decently in the tests whenever he has got a chance. Yes he hasn't scored big hundreds but still has played decently. After Pujara and Kohli, he has been the next dependable test batsman that we have at the moment.

[PPS]

We are allowed to have 1 bad game in a few months, aren't we ?!

Today's batting collapse just shows how reliant we are on Dhawan,Rohit & Kohli. We perhaps needed Dhoni today to hold 1 end up just like that 1st ODI in Australia when his slow innings was heavily criticized.

To me Gill isn't part of the WC plans, so why have him in the squad! Someone who is more likely to be part of the WC should have been there in NZ like Pant, who instead was asked to rest & now is playing for India 'A'.

But credit to Boult for exploiting the conditions, he's one of the most underrated bowlers in World Cricket. Surprised Southee didn't play considering he's also a swing bowler.

Originally Posted by msdivy

the same case with Rayudu. He is just flying under the radar to escape any notice.

Have no doubt in my mind that in the WC after a few indifferent performances Rayudu will be benched & Karthik will take his place & perhaps Dhoni will move up the order at no.4.

[pratyush6]

Guys, I was watching the match; the swing people and articles were talking about (I felt) was negligible. Boult was bowling a tight line however it never seemed much of a problem, but we just kept giving wickets away. There was no stomach for a fight. If anything, the pitch was a bit slow - and we saw batsmen giving return catches to fast bowlers

Again, there is no harm in losing but this is a bit flattening. More than the 3-0 helping, this would deflate India. The attitude was lax, I think if this was an important match, then the batsmen would have dug their heels a bit more. I actually wanted a few games where we are 20/2 or 20/3 and see how the middle order holds up, this was not expected. They were meek in their surrender.

Or, maybe, we just had a bad game, this happens once in a while and its good to get it out of your system and have that reminder of what 'can' happen.

PS : Gill looked good for the time he was in, was a but nervous (you could tell that the way he was pacing around) but his shots had a touch of class, I wish we had given him a go earlier. It's too late to include any left field selections for the WC.

[Oxy]

Our middle order is rubbish. It was exposed by even Hong Kong in the Asia Cup if you remember.

We are dependent on the top 3 to a huge extent. We will be sitting ducks whenever they fail.

It's baffling that we have not done anything to fix it post the Champions Trophy final debacle.

[WindRide]

Meanwhile enjoying the second test between the Windies and poms. Ideal test match pitch with lots of questions asked of the batsmen. Can't remember the last time i saw a strip with so much grass on it. Hope the Windies can blackwash the series. Poms getting the stick is always heart-warming.

[WindRide]

Glad I stayed up late to watch Roach and Holder blow away the poms and seal the series. What a pitch and what a match, done and dusted in under 3 days!
Lovely to see Windies winning again. Truly wish this is not a one-off,and they go on from strength to strength from here.

[Eddy]

What a win by the Windies. Makes the late night viewing very worthwhile. Kudos to the pitch, it was excellent.

IMO, Sri Lanka and West Indies had become the most boring places to watch cricket - this series is definitely and exception.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Eddy

What a win by the Windies. Makes the late night viewing very worthwhile. Kudos to the pitch, it was excellent.

Yes a wonderful match and a wonderful series indeed. I had thought England will just whitewash this series without much difficulty. But it's the opposite that's happening. For Joseph to perform even after hearing the news of his mother's demise...truly appreciable.

Originally Posted by WindRide

What a pitch and what a match, done and dusted in under 3 days!
Lovely to see Windies winning again.

That's my worry now. Tests like these will push ICC more towards taking the decision of 4-day tests. IMO 5 days is still the best duration for tests.

[Oxy]

Meanwhile our boys continue to atruggle at the slightest hint of swing. Both Pandya and Shankar playing today. We are not going to win with such bits and pieces players no matter how deep we bat.