World Cup Group B - Pool Matches Discussion Thread

[themusketeer]

An awesome win by a Champion team.

IMO captaincy made a lot of difference in this match. AB being defensive and under pressure and on the other hand Dhoni being Attacking.

 

[Ohm]

This is good, just too good..... our each and every opponent does get his chance to bat.

This Dhoni's boy is performing extremely better than I thought he would do. I actually thought he'd be a huge flop lol! Anyways it has been proved Mohit was a terrific replacement for Ishant Sharma, I'm sure even Ishant wouldn't have been able to perform that well.

 

[Champagnepapi]

Akshar Patel needs to be in for Jadeja, I know a winning side shouldn't be tinkered but Jadeja hasn't done anything, the guy scored just 5 runs so far and only got 2 wickets, that is poor from an 'all rounder'. Patel has better strike rate with the ball and the bat, he has proved he can hit balls out of the park in under pressure situations in the IPL and if I remember correctly with India also.

 

[themusketeer]

Akshar Patel needs to be in for Jadeja, I know a winning side shouldn't be tinkered but Jadeja hasn't done anything, the guy scored just 5 runs so far and only got 2 wickets, that is poor from an 'all rounder'. Patel has better strike rate with the ball and the bat, he has proved he can hit balls out of the park in under pressure situations in the IPL and if I remember correctly with India also.

I think I will always go with an experienced Jadeja rather than a newbie Axar in a WC match. Axar showed no promise at all in tri-series. On the other hand Jadeja can save you 20+ runs with his fielding and Can take wickets also.

 

[Ohm]

Axar Patel is a sharp bowler, does not concede bunch of runs and he's actually capable to pick up at least one or two wickets every game; that he's better than Jadeja, so yes he should be in.

 

[Champagnepapi]

Axar Patel is a sharp bowler, does not concede bunch of runs and he's actually capable to pick up at least one or two wickets every game; that he's better than Jadeja, so yes he should be in.

Exactly.

I think I will always go with an experienced Jadeja rather than a newbie Axar in a WC match. Axar showed no promise at all in tri-series. On the other hand Jadeja can save you 20+ runs with his fielding and Can take wickets also.

What makes you think Mohit Sharma is experienced? If you want experience we could've had Zaheer Khan. Mohit and Axar have played almost the same amount of games, and tell me when was the last time Jadeja was wonderful, even in the warm ups he failed to impress.

 

[Satan666]

Good job South Africa, excellent!

So one of the best batting lineups gets shot out by one of the weakest bowling lineups. Disgusting!

 

[namin96]

So now what would be the scenarios if India does go on to top group B and Australia tops Group A? Would that mean India could avoid Australia till the final?

 

[abhi_jacko]

Axar Patel is a sharp bowler, does not concede bunch of runs and he's actually capable to pick up at least one or two wickets every game; that he's better than Jadeja, so yes he should be in.

you guys are kidding right ?

Jadeja was critical to India's win yesterday with his tight bowling. He set the stage perfectly for Mohit and Ashwin to reap benefits. And you have also forgotten his 4 dot balls on a trot that led to ABD calling for a tight second run, resulting in the run out that turned the game. Bowling stats tend to get skewed and mask how well or poorly a guy has bowled.

About batting: he entered the scene in the 48th over against Pak and 47th over against SAF. Can hardly blame him for that

Edit: not to forget, the runs he saves in the circle !!

Edit 2: and I just read, Ian Chappelle has suggested Axar over Jadeja. So we should definitely avoid this change

 

[shravi]

we can't drop jadeja. he goes through his overs really quickly, keeps it tight at vital stages, and is electric in the field. i think he has formed a good partnership with ashwin in the middle overs, and we can't risk losing that.

 

[SaiSrini]

Akshar Patel needs to be in for Jadeja, I know a winning side shouldn't be tinkered but Jadeja hasn't done anything, the guy scored just 5 runs so far and only got 2 wickets, that is poor from an 'all rounder'. Patel has better strike rate with the ball and the bat, he has proved he can hit balls out of the park in under pressure situations in the IPL and if I remember correctly with India also.

Jadeja bowled really well this game (figures don't really show it, just like how it happened for Ashwin last game) and as Aman said, he saves you lot of runs on the field. To be fair to Jadeja and Dhoni this game, they had to contend with possibly the world's best bowlers in Steyn and Morkel at the death overs. And Jadeja took on the brutal fielder AB De Villiers and got run out in the process of turning the strike back to Dhoni today. And it worked, where Dhoni plundered 3 consecutive fours off Parnell in that over.

I am not a great fan of Jadeja, but he should stay.

So now what would be the scenarios if India does go on to top group B and Australia tops Group A? Would that mean India could avoid Australia till the final?

If India top Group B, we will play the 4th team from Group A. Which could be either England or Bangladesh (or Sri Lanka if they play really bad to end up 4th). Not sure if we can avoid Australia till the final. But an India vs Australia QF looks unlikely as of now. And I believe NZ will most likely top Group A.

 

[Champagnepapi]

Well Axar himself isn't too much of a bad fielder, not going to compare him with Jadeja as of yet though because Jadeja on the field saves the team 10 odd runs every game, the guy is consistent with his fielding, with bowling though you just don't know when he will be striking.
I really want the pace to stay the same and I don't want Mohit to go out, so does that mean either Yadav out or bench for Bhuvi? He's way too good to rot on the bench.

 

[SaiSrini]

I am not sure how good of a fitness Bhuvi is having right now. If Yadav can keep up this performance (along with Shami), I wouldn't mind Bhuvi sitting on the bench for this entire World Cup. It is so exciting to see India have two genuine pace bowlers making opposition batsmen hop and duck around facing them. The South African top 6 (considered as the best ever top 6 in this tournament) were hopping and ducking around last night to both Yadav and Shami. And Mohit rightly came in and took advantage of that unsettled nature. And another thing - Mohit looks military medium, but he is not. He is almost a 140'ish bowler. Its just that the amount of slower 'back of the hand' balls he delivers for CSK in the IPL makes people think that he is a Bhuvi-Praveen Kumar type bowler. But he actually bowls at the pace of a fast medium bowler.

Again I say Jadeja was very good with the ball yesterday. He was very tight, he got through his overs quickly and as others have said here, he was a big reason for that major breakthrough of De Villiers. He forced De Villiers to take that risky second run because the previous 4 ballls of that over were dot balls. Jadeja will soon come good with the bat and so will Dhoni. I don't see both these players out of form for too long.

India though will have a tough decision to make in Perth. If the conditions are helpful for the pacemen, do they drop their best bowler Ashwin for an additional pacer? I would drop Jadeja for Binny. Get an additional seamer and not lose much in batting. And also keep your best bowler Ashwin in the XI. But once India get back to conditions like Melbourne or Adelaide, Ashwin and Jadeja are the two frontline spinners to keep.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Dropping Ashwin after the last two games would be beyond stupid. We need to take our best, in-form bowlers into the match - whether its Perth or Christchurch or whatever. And dont think Binny will be able to do much good on a wicket with true bounce. If he has to be considered for any games, then it should be for the last two games in NZ (hopefully by then we will have reserved a spot in the QF)

 

[SaiSrini]

Dropping Ashwin after the last two games would be beyond stupid. We need to take our best, in-form bowlers into the match - whether its Perth or Christchurch of whatever. And dont think Binny will be able to do much good on a wicket with true bounce. If he has to be considered for any games, then it should be for the last two games in NZ (hopefully by then we will have reserved a spot in the QF)

Binny did well last time in Perth against England (in that tri-series match) where India had England down on the mat for 5 wkts for not much, before Taylor and Buttler took England home fairly easy. Considering that the only other option we have is Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who is also not exactly a bowler for true bounce conditions, it wont be bad to take Binny in. Especially if you want a like swap for Jadeja's batting skills.