Commonwealth Bank Series Feb-Mar 2011/12

[Gurjot95]

Cricinfo-
Here's another interesting stat from Rajneesh Gupta: "Highest batting avg in successful chases (Min.25 inns): Dhoni (104.89), M Clarke (89.20),Bevan (86.25) & M Hussey (83.87)."

There you go Dhoni haters.

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"Highest batting avg in successful chases (Min.25 inns): Dhoni (104.89), M Clarke (89.20),Bevan (86.25) & M Hussey (83.87)."

You beat me by a sec :P

 

[dajesmac]

Dhoni batted terrible for 50 balls.

It's scary to think that the difference between what should have been a convincing win and a loss, was one immaculate win. Dhoni is a very lucky man.

 

[SLICKR392]

Dhoni batted terrible for 50 balls.

It's scary to think that the difference between what should have been a convincing win and a loss, was one immaculate win. Dhoni is a very lucky man.

And how is that lucky?

 

[swacker]

OMG, Dhoni bringing it home. Thought he left it too late but did it pretty cool.

 

[angryangy]

It didn't feel like a huge total and it certainly didn't feel like they defended it all that well. They made mistakes in the field and I really can't work out why they didn't bounce Raina more than once. They don't seem to have a death bowler in the side and while it didn't quite hurt them last game, it did in this one. 13 Just isn't ideal to defend without a player who is a specialist in that situation, especially against batsmen who are.

It was interesting to hear Nielsen on ABC suggest he bowl wide of off; which is exactly what he did, only to get clubbed for six over long on. It's not merely to highlight a mistake, but it suggests that players are taught some things that may not exactly be the best course. The fact that it gave Dhoni room to swing then put the bowler under pressure for the rest of the over. The next ball was a pressure induced failure of execution; a chain reaction. Sure, performing under pressure is key, but a lot of that is manipulating the situation to advantage. Dhoni dragged that situation out because he's done it before and would be pretty confident he could probably hit a six to finish the game. So if you're going to put a guy out there to bowl at him, he's kinda screwed if he doesn't have a similar ability to apply own skills.

 

[iridescentt]

Talk about clutch.

 

[formula1man]

I think Brett Lee was the death bowler of choice before he was injured. I actually think Clarke will be ok by Friday, those little niggles repair pretty quickly.

 

[aussie1st]

Lee is the death bowler but he is hit and miss, I do remember him having some bad moments. So too Watson. Bracken was our last reliable death bowler and before that McGrath.

 

[harishankar]

Watching this Dhoni innings, I just think he should be relieved of the burden of Test captaincy and allow him to remain in ODIs and T20s longer.

The way Dhoni captains and bats in ODI cricket the more I think he should retire from Test Cricket and focus on extending his ODI career to the next World Cup. As a player for tight situations, he is superb and probably the #1 matchwinner in the world at the moment while chasing targets. In Test Cricket, he just looks all at sea because different set of skills are needed and his captaincy is too defensive at times. But in ODIs and T20s, he is the champion player for India. No need for him to prove anything at this stage of his career.

Great morale boosting win for India on this tour - thanks to Gauti at the start and then a key innings by Suresh Raina towards the end which kept the target in reach allowing Dhoni to express himself in the last over of the match.

 

[midgetwars]

How many run outs did Australia miss??

I mean, WTF was the one Harris threw? Underarm straight up, better off with Hilfy in the team.

BTW, who's fault was it in Warner's run out?

 

[Aalay]

What a win that was. Awesome innings by Gambhir at the start. Yadav was pretty good in the bowling but in the end it was captain's innings that counted the most.

BTW

fearsome tweak YOU Dhoni haters.

 

[AbhishekS]

Bat slow and get the team into a horrible situation, force others to slog and get out and then do the hitting in the end and become the hero.

But don't forget that you had only created the mess in the run chase.

 

[6ry4nj]

BTW, who's fault was it in Warner's run out?

Even the manic Warner fanboys at Channel Nine were at pains to stress (repeatedly for some reason) that it was his fault. I'd have to agree actually (first time for everything) - I think there was a run there if he had gone through like Clarke did.

 

[Aalay]

Bat slow and get the team into a horrible situation, force others to slog and get out and then do the hitting in the end and become the hero.

But don't forget that you had only created the mess in the run chase.

There is nothing about becoming hero because he already is a hero but some haters won't get it as he just lost some away test matches. It's only Dhoni who can play like that under pressure. He is the best finisher right now in world cricket.

 

[puneet28]

Its nice to see we won today but It was Dhoni who created pressure. When he came to bat he was too slow, way too slow. I admire his thinking not to attack in earlier part of innings but atleast you can try for singles 'n' doubles. The time I left watching the match, he was 8 of 24 balls.
he was lucky not to get out, otherwise we were nowhere in the match after him as RR was touching 8. Actually when Dhoni Came to bat RR was about 5.5 and sooner after PP3 it rose upto 8 :