[AZT]

Shaheen Afridi is an amazing bowler. We need to see him in the IPL. Same for Babar Azam, potential to beat Kohlis records and we barely get to see either of them.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by mnram

100% on point. He is yet to recover and including him in the team did not make any sense for me. I personally feel that the new star of KKR - Venkatesh Iyer would have made more of an impact and just before the start, have send him back.

Iyer was very good in IPL, still he isn't international ready. He needs to play couple of seasons first and then should be slowly drafted in main team if he stays consistent. We have burned our hands with Vijay Shankar and Shivam Dube earlier so no need to hurry Iyer. Plus he is an opener, we don't have any slots open at the top and Kishan is already in line. Though, we should have kept him in UAE as back up if injuries happened.

Originally Posted by FHW

Rightly said by @Oxy. "Obsession with experience and seniority needs to end."

Also PAK played well in the match and won.

I disagree. Experience is invaluable. Pakistan are still playing Hafeez and Shoaib Malik. Australia is still sticking with Warner. England are playing Morgan even if he hasn't done wonders with bat recently, same for Gayle in Windies. Experienced players do come to party sooner or later.

But, the mistake made here was we brought a player to world cup who wasn't fully fit. If Pandya can't bowl it means he isn't fully recovered, there was no point carrying him here. Shastri/Kohli/Dhoni made a mistake here.

Originally Posted by dsuman

What we are forgetting is the Dew Factor had a major role to play. While India was batting the ball was doing just a little bit along with occasionally stopping on the Batsman. I am not taking anything from Pakistani Batsmen or the Bowlers. Believe me guys it is really not easy with a wet ball. The ball came onto the bat really easily.

I am sure one or two early wickets would have set the cat among pigeons and even if they had won, it would not have been this flamboyant. Pakistan did not run away with the game till 11 Overs. They too were playing cautious and knew a wicket or two would open up the game.

Its only hurting because it is a India - Pakistan Match and we wanted the Win record to stay at 100%.

Completely agree.
We play club cricket and mostly night matches. The moment dew sets in, its very tough for Pacers to grip the ball let alone a spinner. Huge disadvantage to team bowling second. However, Afghanistan did manage to bowl quite well yesterday so we need to find a solution for this asap as all our matches are at night.

Originally Posted by m8002?

More than the loss, many people are disappointed in the way we lost it.
If the match was a close one, then there would not have been so much discussion on it.

But however bad the defeat, the kind of venom spewing in the social media against certain players is really sad.

We took it for granted we will stay unbeaten forever against Pakistan in World cups. Someday that dream was going to break. Just hurt cos of the humiliating way it got broken. Best to ignore mediums like Facebook and Twitter, only idiots post there related to cricket. For sensible discussion I highly recommend Reditt cricket.

Originally Posted by AllisWell

Here we go again. The Kohli bashing begins!! The entire top order fails, bowling department fails and who do we blame? The one man who managed to score a 50 plus total when wickets kept falling on the opposite side.

People on this very thread were asking to drop Kohli before the match. Nothing new in this. He has been our best batter in all formats but we still don't care for his worth. His Captaincy in white ball cricket at times is questionable but as a batsman he is a legend.

I was watching Kohli's press conference after the match. One journalist asked him if he will drop Rohit Sharma next match for Ishan Kishan as he failed in this match. Kohli was dumbfounded and started laughing. He couldn't believe how can someone even ask to drop Rohit who has been exceptional in international white ball games.

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Afghanistan’s NRR is +6.5 after scoring 190/4 in 20 overs and limiting Scotland to 60 all out in 10.2 overs!

Attachment 2223806

I feel for Scotland. They got couple of real bad calls from Dharamsena who was probably hungry to end the match asap. We thought England had a fantastic RR, Afghanistan is on another level.

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

It’s a team game - why should the cup be won for an individual?

True.
I wasn't fond of 2011 dedication by everyone for Sachin although I am one of his biggest fans. It's a team game. Everyone is a winner.

Originally Posted by BHPjunkie

The first 2 matches in the Group 2 make the NZ vs Pakistan and India vs NZ extremely important for India. India has to win and hope Pak looses. However NZ has a great bowling lineup too. They have great seamers and India did struggle against Shahin's in-swingers. Trent Boult is definitely a threat for the Indian openers.

2 teams make it through Semi's which is a fight between India, Pak and NZ, however with AFG defeating SCO by such a big margin, if they manage a upset, which is possible against NZ with their bowling line up (Rashid, Nabi and Mujeeb), the entire group opens up.

Our loss to Pak has opened up this group. It was given at the start India is a semi finalist and other will be NZ or Pak. Now even Afghanistan is a contender who look dangerous with bat and unplayable with ball. That's why I am hoping for a NZ win today. If we win against NZ on Sunday then it balances the table.

Also, we have an advantage over NZ. We know how Boult, Southee, Sodhi etc bowls. We will have a plan for them. With Shaheen we were blown away cos we don't play against him and he isn't in IPL so we weren't well prepared.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by harry10

Our loss to Pak has opened up this group. It was given at the start India is a semi finalist and other will be NZ or Pak. Now even Afghanistan is a contender who look dangerous with bat and unplayable with ball. That's why I am hoping for a NZ win today. If we win against NZ on Sunday then it balances the table..

Wait a minute. Isn't it just the opposite?

Pak beat India.
Pak beat NZ.
India beat NZ.

Then India and Pak go through, assuming India, Pak & NZ beat the other three teams easily. A NZ today will create issues for India and NRR might come into play.

[mnram]

Originally Posted by harry10

Iyer was very good in IPL, still he isn't international ready. He needs to play couple of seasons first and then should be slowly drafted in main team if he stays consistent. We have burned our hands with Vijay Shankar and Shivam Dube earlier so no need to hurry Iyer. Plus he is an opener, we don't have any slots open at the top and Kishan is already in line. Though, we should have kept him in UAE as back up if injuries happened.

You are right, Iyer doesn't have the international experience to come into the World Cup series directly but considering the IPL, he has got an initial feel for it. Obviously Kishan is the better one with the experience but we need an all rounder.
I am just annoyed on how the team can bring in a player who has not yet fully recovered and how seniority trumps everything.

[busydrive]

Other than what has been already discussed I didn't see logic in sending Jadeja ahead of Pandya and mostly Bhuvi ahead of Shami. Couple of good shots could have extended the score to somthing near 170. Also India knew the dew factor problem. It's very severe there. When Bhuvi and Shami went for runs in initial overs spin could have been introduced earlier.

[ketan007]

Keeping sentiments aside, it was just a game of cricket. We lost because we played average cricket.
- Our batting unit didn't crack Pak's bowling plans.
- Shaheen and the rest of the bowlers really bowled well sans dew. Especially, Shaheen swung the bowl well; Bhuvi didn't get a chance to swing the bowl due to the dew factor.
- Overall, Pak outplayed us on every front.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by ketan007

Bhuvi didn't get a chance to swing the bowl due to the dew factor.

Please let us not oversimplify Bhuvi's performance and hide behind dew. He has been a "has been" for quite some time and apart from 1-2 matches against England has done nothing at all, even in the IPL. He is playing on reputation alone, and I don't see that taking him too far. Bowling in the 120s consistently gets you nowhere in this format these days.

[AllisWell]

Originally Posted by harry10

People on this very thread were asking to drop Kohli before the match. Nothing new in this. He has been our best batter in all formats but we still don't care for his worth. His Captaincy in white ball cricket at times is questionable but as a batsman he is a legend.

I was watching Kohli's press conference after the match. One journalist asked him if he will drop Rohit Sharma next match for Ishan Kishan as he failed in this match. Kohli was dumbfounded and started laughing. He couldn't believe how can someone even ask to drop Rohit who has been exceptional in international white ball games.

Exactly!! His accomplishments and legacy has a batsman is unmatched for this generation and he deserves to be respected. I agree there has been some tactical mistakes as a captain on field but that's no reason to disrespect a man of his potential.

I saw that conference as well. The reporter was obviously looking for some controversial statement. You can clearly see from Kohli's reaction how much he values Rohit as a player and the kind of importance that he gives to him. That's the kind of respect he has for his fellow teammates and here we are bashing the man for a loss that wasn't even his fault!!

[AZT]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

Wait a minute. Isn't it just the opposite?

Pak beat India.
Pak beat NZ.
India beat NZ.

Then India and Pak go through, assuming India, Pak & NZ beat the other three teams easily. A NZ today will create issues for India and NRR might come into play.

I thought the same thing. Pak winning today and us beating NZ pretty much assures our entry in the next stage. NZ winning takes the table to NRR which sucks for us. We should be cheering Pak today.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

Wait a minute. Isn't it just the opposite?

Pak beat India.
Pak beat NZ.
India beat NZ.

Then India and Pak go through, assuming India, Pak & NZ beat the other three teams easily. A NZ today will create issues for India and NRR might come into play.

Why will we wish advantage to Pak with 4 points when we are still sitting at 0. Yes, this scenario works if we take Pak as sure shot for 1 semis spot. But, what if Pakistan loses to NZ today and they are also upset by Afghanistan. Then they may not even make the semis. That's why NZ winning today and we winning against NZ evens the table more as both spots for semis remain open.

Also, if Pak beats NZ today then India vs NZ becomes like a quarter final. Whoever loses won't qualify.

Originally Posted by mnram

You are right, Iyer doesn't have the international experience to come into the World Cup series directly but considering the IPL, he has got an initial feel for it. Obviously Kishan is the better one with the experience but we need an all rounder.
I am just annoyed on how the team can bring in a player who has not yet fully recovered and how seniority trumps everything.

Once again, he is an opener. There is no place for more openers. We have no idea if he can bat at no.6-7. and we can't experiment with him in a world cup.

Yes, we are all annoyed about Hardik. Btw, he has been declared fit for Sunday. Don't be surprised if he makes playing 11 again

Originally Posted by busydrive

Other than what has been already discussed I didn't see logic in sending Jadeja ahead of Pandya and mostly Bhuvi ahead of Shami. Couple of good shots could have extended the score to somthing near 170. Also India knew the dew factor problem. It's very severe there. When Bhuvi and Shami went for runs in initial overs spin could have been introduced earlier.

True. If Hardik was playing as a specialist bat he should come ahead of Jadeja. Maybe, they wanted right and left hand combination kept going. Who knows.

Afghanistan were smart yesterday. They started with spin and kept spinners on who ended the match. That's why dew didn't bothered them much. We need to play Ash and Varun both and bowl them in powerplay. Could be a game changer.

Originally Posted by Eddy

Please let us not oversimplify Bhuvi's performance and hide behind dew. He has been a "has been" for quite some time and apart from 1-2 matches against England has done nothing at all, even in the IPL. He is playing on reputation alone, and I don't see that taking him too far. Bowling in the 120s consistently gets you nowhere in this format these days.

I have been saying since long, Bhuvi shouldn't make the 11 in any format. Even commentators were amused his speed wasn't going above 125km. We were facing Shaheen bowling at 145+ swinging like anything and we started with a 125km bowler. Of course we were gonna thrashed. Sadly we don't have anyone with outright pace. So, we need to replace Bhuvi with Ash and Hardik with Thakur.

[shipnil]

I was just watching a Fox sports video on this match on youtube. Brett Lee, Brad Haddin were having the comments from Matthew Hayden who is batting coach for Pakistan. He raised one interesting point. Per him, Indian batsmen were playing IPL for about a month now and they were facing bowlers bowling in 130s. When they came to this match suddenly they were facing bowlers who were touching 150. That also unsettled our batsmen.

[Excommunicado]

All of this will be forgotten if India can win this world cup. Please god, have mercy!

Also, it is high time Hardik does what he is supposed to do, bowl full quota of 4 overs with responsibility and let Shami/Bhuvi make way for Kishan. That young lad is in proper form and yet has been given cold shoulder to make way for so called big-wigs.

[ketan007]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Please let us not oversimplify Bhuvi's performance and hide behind dew. He has been a "has been" for quite some time and apart from 1-2 matches against England has done nothing at all, even in the IPL. He is playing on reputation alone, and I don't see that taking him too far. Bowling in the 120s consistently gets you nowhere in this format these days.

I agree that Bhuvi and Hardik look stale with their performances lately. But, they can still deliver a match-winning performance. Maybe that's why Bhuvi is in the team.

[volkman10]

Rahul Dravid applies for job of India head coach on deadline day.

Former captain and NCA chief Rahul Dravid applied for the role of India men's cricket team head coach, ending days of speculation.

Rahul Dravid is the frontrunner to take over as India's head coach after T20 World Cup in the UAE.

Link

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by shipnil

I was just watching a Fox sports video on this match on Youtube. Brett Lee, Brad Haddin were having the comments from Matthew Hayden who is batting coach for Pakistan. He raised one interesting point. Per him, Indian batsmen were playing IPL for about a month now and they were facing bowlers bowling in 130s. When they came to this match suddenly they were facing bowlers who were touching 150. That also unsettled our batsmen.

Also not to forget all our players are jaded, they were playing IPL just last week. Too much cricket, what is more scary is what is to follow for Indian team.

They are just packed, let's hypothetically say India and NZ make it to final of the WC, so they will play the final on 14th Nov, and on 17th Nov they are supposed to be playing a T20I in India in Jaipur. Doesn't end there just follow Indian team Schedule, it's packed to the brim.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/team/in...edule-fixtures

Maybe it is time to make three separate teams, with a player playing maximum of two formats and some being format specific. Burnout is real, just not the workload, it's the bubbles that make it even tougher.