Team-BHP - The Cricket Thread

Hurt by the loss but glad it happened. If this doesn't hurt BCCI's knuckles, our cricket is doomed then. The same squad was getting different results not a long ago. The management has been caught right from the scuff of their collars with this loss.

You don't play a player with bucket loads of runs and make someone the captain who doesn't know which number will he end up playing in the long run. KL Rahul is not a captaincy guy, he is a gun batsman who needs to be told his role and his number in lineup. We are losing our gun batsman and captain in this mumbo jumbo. We are playing directionless cricket right now.

If there is someone who needs to be sacked, it's the selectors, management but not the players at least. Disheartening to see a team touted as champions just a few weeks back getting routed like this.

@BCCI,This is not how succession planning is DONE. This is precisely how you can destroy a champion team nevertheless. :crying

How did we really manage to win the Centurion Test!lol: This has been a nightmare tour. Once upon a time we felt we could have 2 teams play in 2 different continents & still win, now our full strength squad sans Rohit Sharma is unable to win against SA which is going through a transition phase! This is a bad phase due to multiple reasons as documented in this thread. The batting order needs to be re-worked & few players phased out. Rahul Dravid as a coach can only be judged after about 7-8 series I feel. Pant should either open or bat at no.6 looking at the way he plays! Most probably in the future we'll have Hardik & Jadeja at nos. 6 and 7. In a team full of anchors (except Pant), Surya Kumar is like a breath of fresh air & we need a dynamic player like him in the middle order. If this team wishes to emulate ENG from the WC2019 then they have a lot of work to do. Right now they're playing conservative cricket with the top heavy approach. We don't really have the likes of Yuvraj,Raina & Dhoni to bail us out in the middle order!

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Originally Posted by VWAllstar (Post 5242215)

1. R Gaikwad is in a form of his life. If we dont encourage him now by giving opportunities then when?

Only if Rohit,Dhawan or KL is rested will he get his chances since he's primarily an opening batsman.

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2. S Thakur has been above everyone with all round skills in the last couple of months. We should have played him again to evaluate him as a replacement for Hardik Pandya.

Shardul is decent in Tests no doubt but to be useful in white ball format he needs to consistently bowl his full quota of overs which he hasn't been doing since that is his primary skill.

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3. Jayant Yadav? Really? We have few who could fill in for Ashwin.

Washington Sundar is much above him in the pecking order.

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4. S Dhawan is debatable now since Rohit will come back to the playing X

Dhawan hasn't done much wrong. Can't drop a player based on his age! Problems will arise if he loses form closer to the WC2023.

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Would have been good to bowl Venkatesh & Shardul full quota of 10 overs.

Venkatesh Iyer is a part-timer, doubt we'll ever see him bowl 10 overs!

The problem is that everyone seems to be doing just enough to retain his place in the playing 11, but the team is not winning as a combination.

This has got to stop.

#1 - There is no enforcer in the top order. That needs to change. Either someone plays that role, or we need to drop an established player. And Dhawan becomes the most vulnerable in that case.

#2 - We need a player at 6 who is good enough to play as a hitter alone but can give you 4-5 overs at least. Hardik is our best bet, and BCCI should take special interest and invest time & money in his rehab.

#3 - At 7 & 8 we need players who will bowl 10 overs but can tonk the ball too. Axar, Jadeja, Lord, Chahar? Not sure if there is anyone who fits.

Bhuvi & Ashwin are spent forces.

Edit: I didn't watch the game, but apparently Iyer tried to do a Livingstone. Bowl off and leg-spin both. Was he any good?

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Originally Posted by Eddy (Post 5242657)

The problem is that everyone seems to be doing just enough to retain his place in the playing 11, but the team is not winning as a combination. This has got to stop.

Don't have much hope from the selectors who are completely spineless! Don't think 1 bad tour is going to make them make drastic changes, perhaps a walloping from WI & SL could help matters.

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#3 - At 7 & 8 we need players who will bowl 10 overs but can tonk the ball too. Axar, Jadeja, Lord, Chahar? Not sure if there is anyone who fits.

No. 7 slot is more or less sealed by Jadeja. Washington Sundar is more than a decent batsman, but not a slogger. Chahar has shown that he can bat sensibly. I think even Harshal Patel can throw his bat around. Certainly there are no lack of options around.

For me the failure was due to multiple factors:

1. Lack of enough aggression, intensity and determination to win. I am not suggesting Kohli was better than Rahul but even calm and composed captains like Dhoni and Ganguly (compared to Kohli) succeeded with their leadership skills and not through body language.

2. Complacency and lack of sense of responsibility. People can say that those are pros and cons of a player like Pant. But throwing away wickets like that was ridiculous to say the least. Sehwag was few notches above Pant on that front but even he was not known to throw away wickets the manner Pant did. He needs to get serious or else we should consider giving opportunities to Ishan Kishan. One cannot just take his place for granted irrespective of talent/ achievements.

3. Set batsmen threw away wickets at crucial times which exposed the immature and fragile middle order. Both Dhawan and Kohli did that on more than one occasions which shifted momentum and costed us the matches and ultimately the series. It exposed the brittle middle order and how. Having said that, Dhawan deserves to be in the side for his consistency in ODIs and record in ICC tournaments, notwithstanding his age.

4. Bowling was not incisive enough and batting was pathetic to say the least. Bhuvaneswar is past his prime and it’s time to think beyond him. Bumrah is doing well but can have one odd bad days and over dependence on any one player is not fair. Others lacked experience/ variety and went for runs. Players like Dekock and Dussen were toying with the bowlers which was not the case few years back. Lack of a proper and reliable middle order is a serious cause of concern.

India’s squad for Paytm ODI & T20I series against West Indies announced.

ODI squad:

Rohit Sharma (Capt)
KL Rahul (vc)
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Shikhar Dhawan
Virat Kohli
Surya Kumar Yadav
Shreyas Iyer
Deepak Hooda
Rishabh Pant (wk)
D Chahar
Shardul Thakur
Y Chahal
Kuldeep Yadav
Washington Sundar
Ravi Bishnoi
Mohd. Siraj
Prasidh Krishna
Avesh Khan

T20I squad:

Rohit Sharma (Captain)
KL Rahul (Vice-captain)
Ishan Kishan
Virat Kohli
Shreyas Iyer
Surya Kumar Yadav
Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper)
Venkatesh Iyer
Deepak Chahar
Shardul Thakur
Ravi Bishnoi
Axar Patel
Yuzvendra Chahal
Washington Sundar
Mohd. Siraj
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Avesh Khan
Harshal Patel.

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Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami have been rested from the series.
KL Rahul will be available from the 2nd ODI onwards.
R Jadeja is undergoing his final stage of recovery post his knee injury and will not be available for the ODIs and T20Is.
Axar Patel will be available for the T20Is.

Source

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Originally Posted by PPS (Post 5244849)

Kuldeep hasn't played any cricket since last 6 months, so not sure on what basis he's made a comeback!

One can't expect any basis for selection, it has simply worsened after the pandemic when they're conveniently using IPL as the benchmark for all formats! This has already backfired with Varun C and Venkatesh Iyer.

In fact there isn't much interest shown by BCCI to conduct the Ranji trophy.

Agree with you on resting players like Rahul and Kohli, but the issue is that they're not consistent and will probably need the game time.

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Originally Posted by NPV (Post 5246946)

There were few domestic tournaments going on but ya selectors select anyone who they fancy without going into form and numbers. Ranji trophy is back but God knows if another wave won't hit it. To be honest we shouldn't waste our time on selections and stuff. Let's just enjoy the game as Indian cricket system has become a circus all thanks to BCCI chief and his side kick, the guy who knows nothing about cricket and still makes decisions for it.