16 Feb - India vs New Zealand - Warmup

[relentless_rock]

^^ didnt you initially oppose when Chawla was selected in the 15 squad.

Chawla's last 2 performances has drastically changed opinions of him and his potential role in India's road to finals

 

[SaiSrini]

Yuvi over Yusuf? On Indian wickets, Yusuf is a marauder. And his form has been better in recent games than Yuvi. Yuvi's bowling seems to be too over rated in recent times. He is purely being favored for his reputation.

 

[Pranav]

After the two warmups, the situation stands as it was earlier. The call will be between Yuvraj and Raina. Pathan is a must and the Indian team would be really stupid if they don't include him in the playing XI.

I Initially thought that Ashwin would have been the man to look out for in this World Cup, but I am afraid I no longer feel the same now that the warmup games are over. Even the likes of Yuvraj Singh were better than him in these two games. While at the same time Chawla has shown some great skills with the ball.

 

[mohit_dude10]

Yuvi over Yusuf? On Indian wickets, Yusuf is a marauder. And his form has been better in recent games than Yuvi. Yuvi's bowling seems to be too over rated in recent times. He is purely being favored for his reputation.

Its not what we think, Yusuf wasn't bowled in both these matches which makes it obvious that he might not be in the starting 11 for first match at least. Also Yuvraj is a middle order batsman and Yusuf a finisher. so its not between Yusuf and Yuvraj but between Raina/Yusuf and given how Raina performed i think he sealed his spot at least for the 1st game.

 

[Aoun13]

The way Indian pitches are behaving reminds me the time when India just use spinners for their wins(back in 50s &60s). I read somewhere that at those time Indian players just try to make the bowl old as early as possible so that they can bowl with their spinners.
I guess India planned to out-spin all those teams who are vulnerable to spin but seriously the amount of turn+bounce I watched in these two matches are way more then I ever watched in modern cricket.

 

[AngryPixel]

Well if we can have the grass-beds in New Zealand and Bouncy Perth, then why not spinning tracks. Anything that makes life of batsman difficult is good in my book

I enjoy watching batsman struggling against spin as much as i enjoy them struggling against seamers on a overcast day at lords.
Chawla was a treat to watch in both games. Good leg spinners are rare in modern game. And India needs to get a good leg slip fielder. There were atleast 3 or 4 catches dropped in that region today

 

[SaiSrini]

After the two warmups, the situation stands as it was earlier. The call will be between Yuvraj and Raina. Pathan is a must and the Indian team would be really stupid if they don't include him in the playing XI.

I Initially thought that Ashwin would have been the man to look out for in this World Cup, but I am afraid I no longer feel the same now that the warmup games are over. Even the likes of Yuvraj Singh were better than him in these two games. While at the same time Chawla has shown some great skills with the ball.

Ashwin has bowled far better than his figures show. A bowler is not always rated by the no. of wickets he take. Yuvraj being rated above Ashwin in the warmups is just so criminal to say! Ashwin is better than Harbhajan in the Powerplay overs when batsmen are on a rampage. He will not just try to tie them down, but he can create mistakes and pick wickets. Ashwin is still our 2nd best bowler after Bhajji, thought Chawla will most likely be given the chance since he offers variety. Ashwin will always have a disadvantage of being the same kind of bowler as Harbhajan.

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Well if we can have the grass-beds in New Zealand and Bouncy Perth, then why not spinning tracks. Anything that makes life of batsman difficult is good in my book

I enjoy watching batsman struggling against spin as much as i enjoy them struggling against seamers on a overcast day at lords.
Chawla was a treat to watch in both games. Good leg spinners are rare in modern game. And India needs to get a good leg slip fielder. There were atleast 3 or 4 catches dropped in that region today

True! Its time we start getting some really good spinning tracks. I guess summer is slowly starting to set in and we normally see good spinning tracks in summer. India should schedule more international games in the country during this time. IPL should be played in March-April, and we should host Australia/England/SA (any of these countries) in the hottest months of May-June and test them heavily. If they can prepare bouncy pitches and schedule games in cold conditions, why not we do something similar?

 

[aussie1st]

NZ bowling is definitely being exposed conceded 280 last game and a massive 360. It looks like their best hope will be to bat first and score the big total and put pressure on the opposition like they did in the final ODI against Pakistan.

 

[AngryPixel]

Ashwin is same kind of bowler as Bhajji?? Are you kidding me. Only thing that is common between them is that they are off spinners. Bhajji likes to bowl a bit flatter and rarely bowl from around the stumps to right handers. He has a dusra as variation which is slower in speed.
On the other hand, Ashwin likes to flight ball a lot and gets more bounce due to his height. He both both around and over the stumps to RHB depending upon the situation. He has carrom ball, which is skiddy and turns a lot too in other direction.
Although you were spot on when you said that he's bowled far better than figures suggest. A lot of catches were dropped of his bowling. Vs Aus, Ferguson was dropped in slips by Kohli because he was standing too wide(we miss you dravid ). In this match a couple of catches were dropped in leg slip. And he almost got Ponting played on in his first two balls.
I loved the way he sets up a batsman. He almost had Taylor before he got out in next over to Bhajji. Taylor was sweeping his balls when he was bowling from over the wicket. So he came around the wicket and bowled a Carrom ball which landed outside leg stump and turned back sharply to hit him on the pads. Taylor was leaving it as wide . Same happened next ball. Now Taylor was expecting another carrom ball, so he bowled a off spinner on the off stump. Taylor shaped up to cut but just managed to get his bat down in time. Else he could have been bowled or LBW.
Yet he would sit out in first game as Bhajji is certainty and Piyush has done exceptionally well.

 

[CG123]

Vettori pretty much has to bowl his 10 overs as late as possible, i.e. over 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48 and 50.

The most worrying thing IMO is Nathan McCullum's bowling, going for 61 without taking a wicket, while the Indian spinners tore us apart.

In terms of positives, our top three all have the potential to win matches, ideally one of them will fire in each of the quarters, semis and final.

 

[ferg512]

Why doesn't Sehwag bowl?? I reckon he is a better bowler than Yuvraj. Then you can drop him and play both Raina and Kohli.

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Vettori pretty much has to bowl his 10 overs as late as possible, i.e. over 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48 and 50.

The most worrying thing IMO is Nathan McCullum's bowling, going for 61 without taking a wicket, while the Indian spinners tore us apart.

In terms of positives, our top three all have the potential to win matches, ideally one of them will fire in each of the quarters, semis and final.

I dont really think it matters what total we get though we would struggle to defend most totals less than 320-330, and you aren't really going to chase those kind of totals under lights either. I haven't seen much of the death bowling but seems to be the same old, same old from us - half volleys and long hops. i thought there was some hope with Southee, but even he now gets smacked at the end. Lol, I was about to talk up Oram once he had 2-13 off 5 then he somehow ends up going for 70 off 9.

I don't think Vettori would want to bowl at the end though, it would ruin his economy.

 

[Chewie]

Southee was pretty good at the end, comparatively. I reckon Bennett and Southee at the death is really the only option.

 

[CG123]

I dont really think it matters what total we get though we would struggle to defend most totals less than 320-330, and you aren't really going to chase those kind of totals under lights either. I haven't seen much of the death bowling but seems to be the same old, same old from us - half volleys and long hops. i thought there was some hope with Southee, but even he now gets smacked at the end. Lol, I was about to talk up Oram once he had 2-13 off 5 then he somehow ends up going for 70 off 9.

I thought Donald would of done something about it, but like you said it's just the same.

I think with Vettori we should be able to defend anything over 300. You can't really argue that India don't have the strongest batting line-up, so the players should just forget about this match.

In saying that though we really have to beat one of the test nations in the group stage, or we'll more than likely be up against India again in the quarters.

I don't think Vettori would want to bowl at the end though, it would ruin his economy.

Yeah I know, he's our best hope though, so he should just forget about his stats and do it.

 

[ferg512]

Hmmm so do you reckon drop Oram?? I guess you could even look at dropping Mills the way he went.

 

[CG123]

I'd stay with the same attack we used here, Bennett went for over eights against Ireland IIRC, so what hope does he have against the test nations...

Except Vettori in for Woodcock.