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The way the Aussie openers chased down the target in 37 overs, I doubt we would have defended even 350 let alone 300.

Bowling needs a lot of work. What is Shardul Thakur doing in the team? Also, this obsession about batting depth needs to stop - both the leggies need to play together instead of dropping one of them for Jadeja. That is what has worked for us in the past during the middle overs.

And Kohli needs to go back to number 3. Why try to fix something that is not broken?

There's something called experimentation. You'll never know if you don't try.

These bilaterals are meaningless anyway. What do you gain just by winning? It's better to try a few things and judge the impact. Winning or losing is immaterial. Just bragging rights really.

Hardik Pandya is critical for the composition of the team. Without him both Kul-Cha cannot play. Its another matter that both are no longer as effective as they once were!

We should not read too much into Kohli dropping himself to no.4 yesterday. I'm assuming this experimentation which they're doing in 50 over cricket is to give KL more game time ahead of T20 WC.

I'm reading reports of Rahane being in contention for a spot in the ODI Squad for the NZ Tour. With the constant tinkering the team management is obsessed with, I won't surprised to see Virat Kohli taking over from Dhoni as the finisher then!rl:

Sporting contests exist at a commercial level because spectators pay to witness at stadiums. Tickets to international cricket matches are expensive in India with the lowest prices tickets at 1k plus. I would be pissed if I was at the wankhede yesterday paying through my nose. At home I can at least change the channel, which I did :)

Let them experiment on their own dime. They had the Lankans to whip just last week.

I am sorry, but batting lost us the game not bowling. When you chase 250, there is no pressure - specially on the flat deck we were playing on. What do you expect a half decent team to do?
If this was BD/SL/WI/Pak - they may still stutter to get to the target but Australia is team which has amazing depth. Never they looked to be in trouble.

Also, people commenting about Thakur - I feel it is too harsh. The guy has barely played any games, you cannot be harsh on him when everyone has gone for runs - including 'apparently' the best bowler in the world - Bumrah.

I will write this off as a bad day in office. You don't judge teams on bad days. For people who say that they are concerned with our bowling - we've dismantled which was probably the best bowling unit in the 19 WC to shambles. You need attacking bowlers no matter what. That works for our team, we should never go any other way.

Case of Hardik Pandya - What's happening with him? Is he injured or out or rested? You should be playing your best team against the best oppositions (NZ / Eng/ Aus). You can blood people against others.

I think Kohli will move to 3, Rahul will be dropped in the next game and Manish Pandey will be included. That way Kohli gets to play in a familiar and favorable spot rather than get confused at No 4. As he might have noticed its not easy to bat lower the order.

All the money in cricket (like in other sports) is due to TV. And like the way you can flip a channel, teams are free to experiment. That's their end of the bargain.

Hardik is injured, atleast to play cricket and not for going on vacations with his fiance. Attend parties, smoke and dance but recovering to play cricket. Sorry, I just don't like that character.

Pant has been ruled out in the next ODI. So Rahul shall keep his place and also keep wickets. He may be moved to 4. But my personal wish would be to play Samson as a WK and make Rahul play at number 5.

I hope we show some spine and win tomorrow. Pant is out so maybe Rahul continues keeping wickets and Manish Pandey is added in the middle.

Kohli should come back to his no.3 position and let Rahul bat at 4. Shreyas at 5 and Pandey at 6 gives enough batting depth. Jaddu should make way for Chahal and Shardul should be replaced by Saini. What we lacked in first match was aggressiveness and history has shown aussies are only beaten by teams who are ultra aggressive from ball one.

A great man once decided to try with Dhoni opening the batting. It was an experiment. But it gave us Dhoni.

Dhoni was one of the most destructive player in the side, but one day, when he became captain, he decided to try himself lower down the order and became even bigger legend as the best finisher in the game India ever had.

Sometimes you do get disproportionate returns on your risks. That's life. You'd never know what could be, if you don't try.

True. But we had Srilanka before this for such trials. Even if we had made Shardul Thakur to play one down still we could have won the series. With opponents like Australia and England we need to play with all our strength and proper strategy.

Already, cricket has started to become boring with batting friendly rules so such experimentation with top teams will only make us less interested.

On the contrary, I feel the experimentation should be done against the strong sides only, because only then you can truly find out whether the experiment works or not. Experiments against weaker sides may give you false impressions. As they say "Gully mein sher, maidaan mein dher"

MS Dhoni Dropped From BCCI's List Of Centrally Contracted Players
News

Historically, end of career for former Indian cricket captains have been unpleasant. As a fan of Dhoni and for his achievements, I feel, He deserves a better exit.

BCCI has done the right thing in not giving him a contract. But does not mean that MSD is retiring. He can still opt-in and can be selected for a match/series - without an annual commitment.

What better exit would you suggest?

He is not available for selection since the WC and not clear when he'll be available. there is no point in renewing his contract. but that doesn't mean he'll not be selected when he makes himself available. I'd select him immediately when he's available

While the non-inlcusion of MSD is not a surprise...I seriously do not know how Pant got a contract and that too a Grade A contract!!

Grade A+ = 7 crore
Grade A = 5 crore
Grade B = 3 crore
Grade C = 1 crore

I guess because he has become the first-choice wicketkeeper now. But yea, him in A is pushing it. For everything the team management says about H Pandya, he's in Grade B?

This is last year's list: https://www.mykhel.com/cricket/virat...ts-083201.html

Dhoni will get a farewell, but for that, he has to retire first.:) He can't be on holiday and get a salary too. :D
To nitpick, Dhoni came in at No 3 in that match. Before that as a WK, he batted at No 6/7.
I think if someone plays all formats, Tests, ODIs & T20Is, he will get A contract. That was the reasoning given by BCCI for 2019.
I am all for experiments. Last ODI loss was not due to experimentation. It was due to poor application. Whatever (experimentation or not) team has to give 100% and that was not the case in last ODI.
Thats for 2018. 2019 is here - https://www.mykhel.com/cricket/full-...81-112189.html