2023 ICC Cricket World Cup (October/November) - India

[icyman]

I had a thought over England's misfortunes here- what I can think of- reminds me of India's disastrous campaign in WT20 2021. Players have been picked on reputation than on pure form. The 3 main culprits I can see for England being- Stokes, Bairstow and Root.

With Root, I've thought for quite some time that England ought to have moved on from him. He gets the runs, but doesn't seem cut or the limited overs game. Could have focused his energies on Test cricket instead.

Bairstow- coming back from an injury layoff is never easy- did they rush him in? Yes, they did

Stokes- I think the Moeen Ali -Ashes high got them thinking that Stokes could do wonders. Getting him back wasn't the wisest decision. Also, he is an all-rounder- I have brought this point up in the past that an all-rounder ought to be used for his all-round abilities and not merely for his batting. Carrying a half-fit Stokes hasn't worked in their favour as hey benched him initially-esp vs Afghanistan, where he should have played.

 

[asprin]

View attachment 285792
Well well @asprin ...

Covering all bases mate.

Plot twist : he is an admin and can generate infinite vCash

Plot twist: Not all Admins have it



<it's beautiful, I've looked at this for five hours now>


For god's sake India, lose at least 2 now in the group stage itself. I cannot go through the pain in the knockouts again.

 

[pillowprocter]

For god's sake India, lose at least 2 now in the group stage itself. I cannot go through the pain in the knockouts again.

Netherlands hopefully

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Netherlands hopefully

I would happily lose to Netherlands. One team I cannot take L against is Sri Lanka. Have an L against Lanka would mean satisfying Aaniel Dlexanders ego. All other L’s are acceptable.

 

[icyman]

For god's sake India, lose at least 2 now in the group stage itself. I cannot go through the pain in the knockouts again.

Echoes the thoughts of a million more Indians!

I don't mind us losing to the Dutch. Though, I do feel we might come up short vs Sri Lanka in Mumbai, now that they have bolstered themselves with Angelo & Chameera!

 

[wasteyouryouth]

I had a thought over England's misfortunes here- what I can think of- reminds me of India's disastrous campaign in WT20 2021. Players have been picked on reputation than on pure form. The 3 main culprits I can see for England being- Stokes, Bairstow and Root.

With Root, I've thought for quite some time that England ought to have moved on from him. He gets the runs, but doesn't seem cut or the limited overs game. Could have focused his energies on Test cricket instead.

Bairstow- coming back from an injury layoff is never easy- did they rush him in? Yes, they did

Stokes- I think the Moeen Ali -Ashes high got them thinking that Stokes could do wonders. Getting him back wasn't the wisest decision. Also, he is an all-rounder- I have brought this point up in the past that an all-rounder ought to be used for his all-round abilities and not merely for his batting. Carrying a half-fit Stokes hasn't worked in their favour as hey benched him initially-esp vs Afghanistan, where he should have played.

I agree their reputation has meant they are picked as much as their form but there's also no players who I could say should be picked ahead of them based on form. And if all you have to go on is reputation, past record, overall form I don't think anyone would not have picked them.

Joe Root is one of seven players that averages 50+ in ODIs batting at 3 (50+innings). He's scored the only England player to pass 50 more than once in this tournament.

Bairstow is easily England's best ever opener in ODIs. He got through six test matches in the summer and averaged 40 in the Ashes. I'd say that's proof enough he wasn't rushed into the side.

Ben Stokes averages 48.65 at 5, only Angelo Mathews and Dhoni have better averages. In his come back series he scored a 50 and then broke the England's highest score record. I don't think anyone would at that point say 'well, he's probably not in form'. The biggest error could have been batting him at 4 but that's also where he played in the NZ series. And as I said before the World T20 when people were questioning his inclusion, he's Ben Stokes. Any team with a player who has done what he has done would not turn down the chance to pick him. I've said myself, maybe they should have just moved on when he retired. Or, ideally, at the time agreed to him coming into the side for the World Cup rather than having the question mark hanging over it for over a year.

The only way I can make sense of what's happened is that everyone question, every risk, every uncertainty has been answered in the negative. Perhaps with the exception of picking Dawid Malan. They didn't even pick Reece Topley for the first match. It's been an unprecedented disaster than an entire batting line up, with such quality, would perform so poorly with such consistency, that someone as reliable and in such good form like Chris Woakes would completely lose his length.

The only real predictable outcome is Moeen taking no wickets and averaging 13. Livingstone had shown some form to justify his selection despite a lot of reservations about him batting at 6. Along with Sam Curran, these are three players picked to bat in the top seven who have hardly looked like number 8s.

 

[Skankhunt_42]

AFG winning today?

 

[pillowprocter]

Babar Azam's private Whatsapp messages with PCB COO leaked on live TV by Zaka Ashraf

 

[icyman]

Babar Azam's private Whatsapp messages with PCB COO leaked on live TV by Zaka Ashraf
View attachment 285807

Very surprised that "Salman Bhai" didn't ask for a screenshot of the call records from Babar. Very un-PCB like behaviour from Salman Bhai. I believe Zaka Ashraf wanted to reveal these shortcomings of Salman and not berate Babar here

 

[CerealKiller]

Babar Azam's private Whatsapp messages with PCB COO leaked on live TV by Zaka Ashraf
View attachment 285807

I think every player who isn’t part of the chairmam's group of favourites should announce his retirement after the World Cup. Enough is enough with this clownery

 

[Bevab]

I think every player who isn’t part of the chairmam's group of favourites should announce his retirement after the World Cup. Enough is enough with this clownery

It’s no wonder the team underperformed at the end of the day with such clownery behind the scenes.

 

[harishankar]

The way it’s going hope India doesn’t have that “one off day” during the semis.

 

[Bevab]

Does it count as an upset if Sri Lanka lose to Afghanistan?

 

[scoodledoodle]

Babar Azam's private Whatsapp messages with PCB COO leaked on live TV by Zaka Ashraf
View attachment 285807

very unprofessional behaviour from Zaka

 

[Skankhunt_42]

Does it count as an upset if Sri Lanka lose to Afghanistan?

No. It's a level playing field between these two sides