[pratyush6]

What is boycotting a WC game or for that matter any game going to do to Pak? Will it spur them to take action? There is literally nothing achieved by doing this. Also, did the Pak cricketers do this?

I do not want to go into rhetoric but we don't have our own houses in order and this jingoism is only touted by people who have nothing to lose from such actions. Asking players to chose between PSL and IPL? What lengths are we going down to? These are the same people who bay for our players blood when we lose to Pak or in a big match! Let's not mix sports and politics. In the end it's just a game. Yes, a game we are crazy about, but, eventually just a game.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Sri Lanka is on the verge of creating history in South Africa. 197 runs to win the series.

Great performance by the Sri Lankans

No mean feat to win 2 back to back tests against South Africa when playing there. And it came at a time when Sri Lanka have been the whipping boys in test cricket for sometime now and a team with many youngsters and newcomers who came of age with this series win.

Many of the low scoring tests played in South Africa can go either way (saw that even during India's series last year when we came so close but couldn't finish on the winning side), but South Africa usually manages to win in such situations, not this time though

[am1m]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

Asking players to chose between PSL and IPL? What lengths are we going down to?

Fair enough, that was something I posted. Looking back, guess it really doesn't make much sense to do something like that. Guess it was pretty easy to get carried away at the time. I agree, sport and politics must remain separate.

[PPS]

Rishabh Pant has been given a Grade 'A' contract worth Rs 5 crore in the annual retainers list.
Not bad for an average keeper who drops 1 catch on an average every innings!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/...ntral-contract

[msdivy]

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.

Looks like Rayudu's game is up - Virat Kohli to bat at No. 4 in World Cup 2019? A message for Rayudu to be more effective.

BTW, Mumbai Indians IPL camp is already up in the arms - It is really unfair on Ambati Rayudu, says Sanjay Manjrekar on talks of Virat Kohli batting at no.4 at World Cup

[Oxy]

How the hell did we lose after scoring 358?

Absolutely stupid captaincy by Kohli who was more worried about completing the fifth bowler's quota instead of picking wickets. Pant is not ready, we still need Dhoni behind the stumps. Bhuvneshwar is trash too, needs to be replaced by Shami or Pandya. And Chahal is overrated.

[antz.bin]

For the 2nd time in this series, we lost the game at the toss due to tactical mistakes.

Kohli expected dew at Vizag(down south, less cold) and so chose to bowl first. We duly lost.

Kohli expected a repeat of Vizag in Mohali (up north, much colder) and chose to bat first at a venue where 4 of the last 5 games have been won by the side batting second.

Sometimes I feel he is actively trying to make sure the boys get the practice of adverse conditions before the World Cup. But he has done this far too many times in the past and now it seems he is just making stupid tactical mistake after mistake after mistake with no accountability.

If he doesn't make any blunders in the World Cup, I will gladly eat my words but if this is his track record, I am afraid, Dhoni, Bumrah and good fortune can bail us out only so many times.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by Oxy

How the hell did we lose after scoring 358?

Absolutely stupid captaincy by Kohli who was more worried about completing the fifth bowler's quota instead of picking wickets. Pant is not ready, we still need Dhoni behind the stumps. Bhuvneshwar is trash too, needs to be replaced by Shami or Pandya. And Chahal is overrated.

He tried with bhuvi and bumrah both. The only mistake was bowling Jadhav instead of Shankar. He can't make fielder's field and take catches. Our fielding and catching has been school boy stuff this series. Not to mention the endless experiments going on. The facts remain -
Rayadu isn't good enough to play for us.
Rahul played selfishly and robbed us of another 30 runs at least.
Kohli should never let anyone bat at no.3 again. It's his place.
Bhuvi is terrible at death since ages. Our first choice should be Shami instead.
We need hitters to finish off the innings. Jadhav was good but now he isn't able to hit like before. Pandya should play in his place. Shankar should be moved to no.4 as he has the technique to carry middle order.

Though I wanted the series win the way Turner played was brilliant to watch. Absolutely fearless. As a cricket lover simply loved it.

[SoumenD]

Way too much experimentation. Am for a change glad we lost, as this highlighted the glaring gaps.

1. Kohli is the best batsman no doubt, but for effective captaincy needs support from Dhoni.
2. Dhoni is also required behind the stumps. Pant is a talented individual but has a long way to go before he can replace Dhoni as a wicketkeeper, heck DK is still better than pant behind the stumps.
3. Vijay Shankar has showed enough class to be seriously considered for middle order.
4. We are surely short of a specialist middle order batsman. Rayudu/DK need to get their mojo back soon enough, else we might be in trouble for world Cup.
5. KL Rahul has been given enough chances. He is good for the T20s, but not for other formats currently.

And when we say World Cup in England we probably would need 3 seamers in those fast tracks. My 15 man squad would be:

Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli, Rayudu/DK, Vijay Shankar, Dhoni, Kedar Jadav/Pandya, Jadeja/Chahal, Bhubaneswar/Shami, Kuldeep, Bumrah.

Only 1 more one day left to decide.

[libranof1987]

Agree; being spoilt for options have made things worse. There's too much chopping and changing.

I don't get why KL Rahul and Rayudu are in the squad; they'd rather play DK. Wonder if things would be better if they persisted with Rahane.

[Santoshbhat]

Turner was absolutely brilliant. An out of syllabus question for the Indians. Played clean orthodox cricket and showed great temperment under pressure. Matthew Hayden was saying even before Turner started his innings that he is very good against the spinners.

I saw the later part of the Aussie innings and felt Kohli made a few tactical errors. He over bowled Kear Jadhav. I think the opposition have worked him out now. He is good for a 3 to 4 over short spell only. Getting him to bowl in the late innings period is asking for trouble. Maybe Vijay Shankar should have bowled more? But the pitch was true and excellent for batting.

Pant's misstumping of Turner cost us the game. Another reminder to the team that you cannot have a keeper that keeps missing chances behind the stumps. Crowd was chanting Dhoni Dhoni at that point! He also missed a sharp turning ball from Jadhav against Carey IIRC. The ball missed the edge but Pant's gloves were nowhere near the ball. Had the ball kissed the edge, that would have been another drop.

[AltoLXI]

TOI writes:

"... batting first would give his struggling openers a better chance to get back among the runs, minus the added pressure of a tall chase..."

Was this the tactic to justify their inclusion rather than focus on the result?

[PPS]

Inspite of the dew, we should never have let a 'weakened' Australian team chase a very stiff target like 359! Series is nicely poised, its been more exciting than i ever imagined.

Our team relaxed a bit once Maxwell got out, as only he was capable of playing the sort of innings which Turner eventually played, which caught everyone by surprise.

Thankfully for us, Kedar & Shankar won't be our 5th bowler during the World Cup. Seems Hardik's stint at NCA is over, as he was busy dancing at the Ambani wedding the other day.

Also, there won't be any dew in English conditions so that should make our wrist spinners slightly more effective there. After that injury sometime last year, Bhuvi has lost his effectiveness a bit which is worrying.

I think Shankar has done enough to book his place for the World Cup inspite of his limited International experience. He's not an all-rounder but a proper batsman who can bowl a bit.

[vinit]

With Dhoni, 240 is like 360. Without Dhoni, 360 is like 240.

Virat still needs Dhoni to guide him through difficult situations. Sometimes, he gets way too emotional about things which blurs clear thinking.

And Rishabh Pant is just in junior KG as far as the wicketkeeping is concerned. Dhoni has done a doctorate there.

[pandey.jai]

Originally Posted by vinit

Virat still needs Dhoni to guide him through difficult situations. Sometimes, he gets way too emotional about things which blurs clear thinking.

Originally Posted by SoumenD

1. Kohli is the best batsman no doubt, but for effective captaincy needs support from Dhoni.

Kohli is not a good captain in the limited overs format. He is way too emotional and doesn't take cold calculated decisions. Anyone who spends any time looking at RCB in the IPL will agree with this.
In the national team, having Dhoni around is definitely helpful. If Pant's keeping wasn't as questionable, we should definitely have had Dhoni as the non playing captain chirping into Kohli's ears from the dressing room (remember the earpiece that Cronje sported back in the day)