[Eddy]

Originally Posted by harry10

He wasn't dropped. He wasn't in team to begin with. Please remember in ODI Rahul has been the designated keeper for sometime and his record at no.5 is brilliant. So, he was an automatic pick. Pant's time will come.

Pant is in the squad. I believe he was rested coz he's been playing and keeping wickets non stop since months. Good to get a break in relatively unimportant games.

They forgot how to pace the chase in different situations. India did better in playing according to situation.

Coming to the match England forgot how to pace this innings.. they all were in T20 mode and no one showed patience to see it through. They badly need someone like Root to anchor the innings.

Morgan has made it clear that they will not "pace" a chase in ODIs. Their strategy is to keep hitting and it has served them well. Occasional failures like this are ok. They prefer getting all out in 43 overs & losing like this compared to finishing up 10 runs short and running out of overs to bat.

Lovely game overall for us.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Pant is in the squad. I believe he was rested coz he's been playing and keeping wickets non stop since months. Good to get a break in relatively unimportant games.

Actually the games are not that unimportant, I read somewhere if india wins 3-0, they will topple England as Number one ODI team, and go on to become the #1 team. Lot to play for.

[Eddy]

Does that top rank make a difference? A temporary place at the top compared to resting key players and giving the youngsters a chance. I'd choose the latter.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Does that top rank make a difference? A temporary place at the top compared to resting key players and giving the youngsters a chance. I'd choose the latter.

I think it does in end of year, the top ranked team board gets quite a bit of moolah. That said, absolutely no issues in resting key players, it is definitely important, my point was that series still holds value.

[srishiva]

Regarding our bench strength, I dont think there is anyone greater than other currently. The problem is we might end up playing different X1 and still see consistent good or bad results.

It might not give us great players if we keep shutting them out after a couple of failures since there is a good bench. It also puts lot of pressure and good players might get dropped permanently.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Pant is in the squad. I believe he was rested coz he's been playing and keeping wickets non stop since months. Good to get a break in relatively unimportant games.

Yes, it was a good decision to rest him yesterday.

I hope Krunal gets consistent at the #6/7 spot. With the kind of game he played with Rahul yesterday, I can see us becoming like the English team. Even if 3 top order batsmen fail (among Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli, Shreyas) we will have enough batting power left to get us a decent score (Rahul, Hardik, Krunal, Shardul, Bhuvi). On the other hand, if top order goes hammer and tongs in first 30 overs, these guys in lower order can come in and get us to 325+ scores.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Pant is in the squad. I believe he was rested coz he's been playing and keeping wickets non stop since months. Good to get a break in relatively unimportant games.

Morgan has made it clear that they will not "pace" a chase in ODIs. Their strategy is to keep hitting and it has served them well. Occasional failures like this are ok. They prefer getting all out in 43 overs & losing like this compared to finishing up 10 runs short and running out of overs to bat.

I meant Pant was not in the team which means for earlier series and matches. Rahul has been the designated wicket keeper for sometime. Pant has been added to the squad for this series.

Read what Morgan said and we have to agree with him cos there approach worked for them hence winning the world cup. In fact I believe Kohli & co. Are trying to adapt the same approach.

Originally Posted by AtheK

Actually the games are not that unimportant, I read somewhere if india wins 3-0, they will topple England as Number one ODI team, and go on to become the #1 team. Lot to play for.

That's true I believe.

Originally Posted by Eddy

Does that top rank make a difference? A temporary place at the top compared to resting key players and giving the youngsters a chance. I'd choose the latter.

It does makes a difference. Bragging rights and extra money of course. Experimentation with team will continue for sometime so we can expect players getting rotated.

Originally Posted by AtheK

I think it does in end of year, the top ranked team board gets quite a bit of moolah. That said, absolutely no issues in resting key players, it is definitely important, my point was that series still holds value.

Every series holds value. Don't we always pride ourselves of winning any series in SENA country no matter what format. Likewise SENA countries pride themselves of winning in India which is considered to be really tough to win.

So, Shreyas will miss few games of IPL if not the whole tournament. Huge blow for our chances for the title. Guess, Pant will captain DC being the vice captain or they can even look at Ashwin for that.

Sky may replace Iyer for next 2 matches and Gill may replace Rohit if he isn't recovered. No need to play Pant. He needs rest as he will play IPL, WTC, extra T20 series bcci will announce soon and the World T20.

[Emvi]

It may be too early to judge, but the West Indians, Bonner and Mayers are becoming the "4th innings specialists" in the cricket world!

[NPV]

Shreyas Iyer may be out for months, but this gave Rahul a lucky break and he made full use of it today by getting a century, should keep his spot in the team now.

Pant played a gem of a knock today

Hope we get to 330+ from here.

*India end on 336/6, good effort. Hope this is enough to beat England today.

[jkrishnakj]

It was such a joy catching this match from the 35th over. Power hitting at its best. From around 190 or so in the 35th over to 336 was a bit ‘maniacal’.

[AtheK]

England made a mockery of our bowling, last game also, they were pretty much ahead for 70% of the game. This approach of start slow hit big is not helping, we need to pace innings right from first over.

[jkrishnakj]

A classic Ben stokes show. Yes, they did make a mockery of our bowling. ! They could have chased a 400 also today. Such was their batting prowess.

I think Kuldeep’s time is up.

[PPS]

Since Hardik Pandya's bowling workload has to be managed, bowling unit is yet again severely weakened! Krunal is at best an average bowler in T20s, forget about ODI where he's forced to bowl 10 overs. Prasidh is leaking runs in his 1st spell, Shardul is a better bowler with his cutters/slower balls when the ball gets slightly older. Don't see Kuldeep playing for a long time now! Sundar can perhaps open the bowling but looks more like Chahal will play in place of Kuldeep. Hope team management allows Hardik to bowl 4-5 overs atleast.

[Eddy]

I don't think Kuldeep Yadav will be seen in blue for a long time now. Heck, even his purple position is in serious jeopardy.

Ashwin may be back in the reckoning if he has a decent IPL. It is a very important IPL for the likes of Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakraborty, Gowtham, Bishnoi etc.

[NPV]

Prior to the last world cup, we had all seen the prowess of English team and they did look invincible in the ODI format and that's the reputation they lived up to yesterday. Chasing becomes easy for them since they kind of split the game into 2 parts - first 30 overs and then the next 20 which is like a T20! Even if they get 150-200 in the first 30, they can even get another 150+ in the last 20, and hence even 350 is something they will fancy chasing and winning.

The shorter format is now a game of big runs almost always (team winning the toss gets the edge by opting to chase) but it also means that the team that bowls slightly better will win, more than restricting runs, teams need bowlers who can get wickets at regular intervals and that will almost automatically stem the flow of runs.

We're definitely missing Bumrah and probably even Shami, Jadeja or Ashwin even.