Commonwealth Bank Series Feb-Mar 2011/12

[RPHKR]

@Yudi - Dhoni at-least finished it off. Not like Sehwag.

Hit runs only in easier conditions and easier opponents, scoring runs in the match in which India will win, you guys say that if Sehwag scores century and the team wins. And yeh both are lucky and Sehwag is luckier. Yeah I agree that Dhoni just converted an easy target to tough by reducing the RR. Gambhir was the man today, good knock by him. Hope he and Raina overcome the short-ball weakness,

 

[AbhishekS]

Dhoni at-least finished it off. Not like Sehwag.

So you expect an opener to finish off the game!

 

[formula1man]

I think the Indian fans just need to be glad they won, yeah Dhoni made it harder then it needed to be, but he got the job done with two balls to spare, so what are you complaining about? I would understand if it didnt work, but he obviously knew what he was doing.

 

[SaiSrini]

So you expect an opener to finish off the game!

You Sachin haters have been wanting him to finish off games for eternity and have been criticising him for not doing it. And Sachin has been an ODI opener for very long now.

Great win by India! Feels awesome.... Take the confidence from it and push forward

 

[Prithvi]

I agree with Yudi upto some extent. Keeping his wicket unbeaten was critical when he walked in, but that didn't mean that he should play ODI second innings just like as if he is trying to save a test match by not loosing wicket.

Although, he is highly rated in todays victory, if he would have played normally, I bet India would have won it somewhere in 46th-49th over itself. He damaged the stuff, and he was the one who got it fixed. No worries, he did that, for which we need to appreciate, but one should remember that he shouldn't be over rated since he was the reason for India to get into such a situation.

 

[AbhishekS]

You Sachin haters have been wanting him to finish off games for eternity and have been criticising him for not doing it.

Mention even one post where I said that or something even similar to that and I will stop visiting PlanetCricket.

Stop making things up, Sai.

 

[SaiSrini]

Mention even one post where I said that or something even similar to that and I will stop visiting PlanetCricket.

Stop making things up, Sai.

You are a Sachin hater (I know you are; now dont deny it) and I was mentioning about the common argument/criticism used by Sachin haters when they criticize about Sachin.

Eventually Dhoni won us the game in the end. In a tour of win droughts, thats an achievement. You first want a win, then you want a convincing win, then you want a crushing win, then what? You want the opponents to declare a walk-over?

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I agree with Yudi upto some extent. Keeping his wicket unbeaten was critical when he walked in, but that didn't mean that he should play ODI second innings just like as if he is trying to save a test match by not loosing wicket.

Although, he is highly rated in todays victory, if he would have played normally, I bet India would have won it somewhere in 46th-49th over itself. He damaged the stuff, and he was the one who got it fixed. No worries, he did that, for which we need to appreciate, but one should remember that he shouldn't be over rated since he was the reason for India to get into such a situation.

Dhoni is not the highly rated guy of today's win. Its Gambhir. Dont be misled by a few catchy headlines. Gambhir was the architect of today's win. Dhoni shared equal weight in that World Cup final with his 91*, but here it was mainly Gambhir. Dhoni just took us past the finishing line. I wouldnt credit this victory much to Dhoni. But I wouldn't call him responsible for messing up the run chase. Dhoni's new game is that of 'start slowly, build slowly, and finish it in the end'. Even when he started his career, he did the same. Only that then, his fifth gear started much earlier.

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I think the Indian fans just need to be glad they won, yeah Dhoni made it harder then it needed to be, but he got the job done with two balls to spare, so what are you complaining about? I would understand if it didnt work, but he obviously knew what he was doing.

Spot on!

 

[AbhishekS]

You are a Sachin hater (I know you are; now dont deny it) and I was mentioning about the common argument/criticism used by Sachin haters when they criticize about Sachin.

Why will I deny that I hate Sachin, I hate him and everyone knows that. And tbh I haven't seen ANYONE criticizing Sachin for your 'common argument' of him
not batting till the end. Again I'll say the say the same thing, stop making things up, Sai.

 

[SaiSrini]

Why will I deny that I hate Sachin, I hate him and everyone knows that. And tbh I haven't seen ANYONE criticizing Sachin for your 'common argument' of him
not batting till the end. Again I'll say the say the same thing, stop making things up, Sai.

I guess you are too new to Indian cricket, Yudi? When did you become a fan of Sehwag? Not from the day he started his intl career right? Weren't you the one who said you didn't know that Kapil Dev coached India?

People criticising Sachin for not finishing off games for India is an age old argument. There used to be one die hard Pakistani fan here in PC who is the biggest Sachin hater. Many old PC members here must know him (I forgot his name, I think ZexyZahid might know who I am talking about). He always said Sachin is not great because he did not finish games off. If you go to a lot of forums where Indian cricket is discussed, there will always be a good chunk of people who will bring up this argument against Sachin to devalue his greatness and contribution to Indian cricket.

 

[AbhishekS]

I guess you are too new to Indian cricket, Yudi? When did you become a fan of Sehwag? Not from the day he started his intl career right? Weren't you the one who said you didn't know that Kapil Dev coached India?

I started watching cricket seriously since the 2003 WC. Before that I used to watch the matches without knowing what's actually happening!

 

[sifter132]

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.

Yeah they never replayed it with the calls amplified, but I assume Clarke set off, but when Warner hesitated, Clarke would have either called yes or ignored Warner's call of no, most likely because it was too late for him to return. So I say only a chance it was Clarke's fault - he was probably committed too much without a call of yes from Dave, but most likely Warner's because a call of no from Warner would probably have only come with Clarke halfway down already. Warner seemed to be ball watching pretty badly, fair enough to some extent as you have to see where the ball's gone, but he watched it so much he didn't realise his partner was almost next to him... Definitely a run there if they'd both gone.

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?

Missed the Harris runout chance, but I noticed he's been throwing underarm a lot recently even from the outfield, so I assume he's got a shoulder issue. Normally he'd be in the outfield, not in the ring, so that's exhibit B of him carrying an injury. Strange they would release Hilfenhaus in that case...

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.

Yeah I was listening to Nielsen last night too, and Brett Lee was whispering on TV of similar tactics when bowling at Dhoni in the T20I. I wonder if Dhoni knew it all along, and basically expected the ball to be full and wide of off stump. Surely he'd know that teams have been using that tactic for a while, and to my eyes he anticipated it - did a little shuffle across his stumps to help him reach a ball that wasn't too far away from the wide marker. Dhoni was also well back in his crease to help counter the fuller ball. Great batting Dhoni, maybe just outdated tactics by Australia. Although if the ball had been right on the crease line, perhaps it wouldn't have gone the journey, so McKay definitely needs to take some heat. But I'm guessing Clarke told him to bowl full and wide of off and he wasn't too far wrong in that.

 

[midgetwars]

Missed the Harris runout chance, but I noticed he's been throwing underarm a lot recently even from the outfield, so I assume he's got a shoulder issue. Normally he'd be in the outfield, not in the ring, so that's exhibit B of him carrying an injury. Strange they would release Hilfenhaus in that case...

Remember the run out from hilf?

 

[aussie1st]

Missed the Harris runout chance, but I noticed he's been throwing underarm a lot recently even from the outfield, so I assume he's got a shoulder issue. Normally he'd be in the outfield, not in the ring, so that's exhibit B of him carrying an injury. Strange they would release Hilfenhaus in that case...

He got moved around quite a bit with Ponting towards the end of the game. Don't know if it was due to injury or just Clarke moving his best fielders to the important spots. Like when Ponting took the catch in the deep he was switched with Harris after that runout chance. Even ignoring the fielding his bowling seems to be lacking that extra something. He's usually pretty good in ODIs as his record shows but he just doesn't seem anywhere near threatening since his return.

 

[Sedition]

Just caught the Indian innings - what a thriller. I figured Raina and Dhoni would comfortably guide them home, but my hero Doherty threw a spanner in the works. Luckily McKay choked at the death, or the Dhoni dolls would've been sold out at the effigy store.

The fielding was way below standard too and Harris has been pretty ineffective. Dave Hussey should've bowled more. He bowled 7 balls at Gambhir for 7 singles and 11 balls at Sharma for 6 singles. He gets through his overs quick, so Dhoni could've found himself in a worse situation if Huss chucked down a couple of wicket maidens.

Anyway India looked the better team on the night, so it was a well deserved victory over the #1 side.

 

[SaiSrini]

I have a bad feeling that we might lose tomorrow to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka showed glimpses of their potential in both their games till now, and with each game, they came closer to snatching a victory (the last one, they came periliously close).

India should not start feeling overconfident after two good wins. Hope the changes keep coming in. The rotation policy must continue. Sachin back in for Sehwag. Hope they keep Yadav against Sri Lanka. He was really good in that game yesterday and he is fresh and fuming with his pace (literally unbelievable speeds for an Indian speedster last night). I think Zaheer can be asked to sit back again. His body can be preserved for later stages. Bring Irfan in for Zaheer (a left armer for left armer swap). Keep Vinay in as surprisingly, he has been very good so far. And bring back Rahul Sharma for Jadeja.