ICC Cricket World Cup - May/July 2019

[Bevab]

I’m not really sold on the idea of Jadeja playing on yesterday’s pitch versus a side like England. Hasn’t Jadeja’s weakness been his inability to generate real turn on flat pitches? Why would you want him in when England dropped their only finger spinner for the same game who also has a very good record versus India? I remember Jadeja conceding plenty of runs himself on a flat pitch like the Champions Trophy final. Can someone explain why Jadeja should have played yesterday to me?

 

[asprin]

<asprin mode>
India to win by 8 wickets with 8 overs to spare
</asprin mode>

 

[Aalay]

Secondly, why in the heck would India not want either Pakistan or Bangladesh to qualify for the semis. They're both weaker teams than England.

THIS.

I can understand the frustration of fans but I would take Pakistan/Bangladesh in a semi-final or final any day over England. I think England is the only team in this tournament which can beat India as they proved today.

 

[SaiSrini]

I hate to even engage in this kind of idiotic discourse but no, India did not "lose" or play without intent. That is absurd. The other team shows up to play too you know, and not to mention, they're very good as well. First of all, we don't even know yet whether it would be Pakistan or Bangladesh for that final spot if England were to lose. Bangladesh is more than capable of beating Pakistan, so that isn't determined yet. Secondly, why in the heck would India not want either Pakistan or Bangladesh to qualify for the semis. They're both weaker teams than England.

It's a disgrace to people like Kohli to even suggest something this moronic. Again, I hate to even talk about this. I think it stems from the "media". They're looking to create headlines. Cricket media everywhere in the world, for the most part (apart from a few credible and respected journalists), has really descended to a new low.

And to Dhoni too... I read few comments on Twitter that Dhoni's hate for Pakistan is what made him play the way he did.

These guys don't play along these lines even when they are playing dead rubbers. And TBH - India would actually want the likes of Pakistan or Bangladesh in the knockouts. You know how it feels if we see England not make it to the semis? England are playing in home conditions, are the No. 1 ranked side in the world when the WC started and have a scary batting lineup and a pretty good bowling lineup too. In contrast, Pakistan has never beaten us in a WC, we win against Bangladesh 8-9 times out of 10 and we all know how much India loves Sri Lanka. Not being pompous or arrogant here, India would actually want another subcontinental side in the knockouts and to face them.

 

[asprin]

While I'm okay with India losing (it had to happen and better to have it during the group stage than the knockouts) what hurt was the painful start that India had. 28 odd in 10 overs when chasing 330+ target is horrendous. I understand India follows a template in ODIs where they play cautiously until the 20-25th over but I do not think 28 is justifiable.

With all due respect, even if England bowled well, I do not think it warranted a rpo of under 3. We lost the match in the first 20 overs and it's as simple as that. Chasing 8+ rpo for 30 overs is a big ask even for batting lineup like England.

I don't care for those 5 wickets that he took today. His massive run leak towards the end cost us probably 15-20 runs.

That's harsh. I do not deny that Shami has a tendency to leak runs at the death. But he is in the side for his wicket taking abilities. His wickets ensured that England didn't get to a total of 360+. It's another thing that he went for 69 runs (but who didn't apart from Bumrah). But those 5 wickets gave India a total that looked chaseable - difficult but not out of reach.

I would, any day, pick someone who would give me wickets at the expense of some runs. This, however, would hold true only in ODIs and Tests. This kind of performance in a T20 game amounts to nothing.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Can't believe that people want to drop Shami who has taken 5 wicket haul for 69 runs. Bumrah gone for 50 runs and picked only 1 wicket in the last over. I would take Shami's figure every single day of the year rather being economical on a flat wicket if it wasn't for Shami the score would have looked even worse.

No wonder we failed to produce quality wicket taking pacers for years because of such mentailty of people.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Few points from my side:

1. Shami - cant believe people are blaming him and dismissing his 5 wickets. We would be chasing 350-360 minimum if not for those wickets. Moreover, he bowler superbly in his first spell and was very unlucky to not get a wicket or two. Instead ended up going for 7rpo, mainly because of inside edges going to the boundaries.

2. Kohli and Rohit have to take the blame quite a bit for this performance. If we had been 50/1 instead of 28/1, that would have made a world of difference. In the end we lost by 30 runs. An additional 20-25 runs in the first 10 and we never know what might have happened. Sure the English bowlers bowled good lines, but they could have tried and forced the pace a bit as well, considering they are the BEST in the world.

3. Dhoni and Jadhav are equally to blame. At one point, we needed 100 of 10 overs with Pandya and Dhoni on the crease. This is not an impossible task when you consider the flat wicket (even if it slowed a bit in the second half) and short leg side boundary. The strike rotation by Dhoni and Jadhav was quite ridiculous in the end as well. Maybe they were asked by the management to preserve wickets and get as many runs as possible with minimum risk to secure a decent NRR, but the reverence with which Kohli has talked about MSD in the last few post match conferences, it is quite clear that MSD still have a lot of clout and power with this Indian team. And he cannot really brush off responsibilities to the management when his word holds so much weightage within the team.

4. This whole talk of lack of intent, ON PURPOSE is absolute rubbish. It had more to do with the inability of our lower middle order to get going against some good bowling. And that is a serious issue which is going to hamper us unless fixed somehow. Its almost a handicap and can easily be the difference between a win and a loss. Three games in a row, our lower middle order has failed to push our score above par. We were fortunate 2 our of those 3 happened against Afghanistan and West Indies, and we were able to pull off a couple of wins with some brilliant bowling. But teams like England, Australia, NZ are not going to let up this problem of scoring just par or below par scores.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

I think you have gone mad because this is NEVER going to happen.

5 bowlers + Pandya is too long of a tail. I know Bhuvi can bat but the highest position I would have him bat is at 8. Anything higher than that is a recipe for disaster.

I know things didn't go according to the plan today but it's not a time to panic. I still feel the team we played today is likely to win us more matches. England batsmen have an amazing record against leg spinners. So it's just that we need to be a little flexible to include someone like Jadeja/Bhuvi if we are playing on a pitch like we did today.

@SaiSrini

I want to ask both of you since you guys are so worried about batting depth- What impact has Kedar Jadhav or Vijay Shankar had from the CT to now. Please try to understand, I am not blaming these two. I am simply saying, that our template renders a 7th batter useless. Neither of these guys will win you a game from 70/5 or 100/5. It might happen once in a blue moon. But, if we opt for our 3 quicks and two spinners (depending on the surface) then we have 50 overs of non stop attack on the opposition where we are looking for wickets. Hardik only gets used in an emergency situation. I am not panicking at all. I feel we still have the best team. But, our bowling will win us this World Cup if we have to and it's better to have 100% of that part secured rather than look for 10-15% of batting gain. The 5th bowler can win you more matches % wise than the 7th batsman because our template renders him no time to make any impact.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Shankar is out of WC, thank goodness. Mayank Agarwal to come in his place so maybe Rahul will be dropped in the next game?

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Shankar is out of WC, thank goodness. Mayank Agarwal to come in his place so maybe Rahul will be dropped in the next game?

Way too much panic. Sounds so much like RCB.

I think you're being harsh on Shankar btw.

Has Mayank ever played a LODI? This is really weird selection.

 

[Rehan_24]

I hate to even engage in this kind of idiotic discourse but no, India did not "lose" or play without intent. That is absurd. The other team shows up to play too you know, and not to mention, they're very good as well. First of all, we don't even know yet whether it would be Pakistan or Bangladesh for that final spot if England were to lose. Bangladesh is more than capable of beating Pakistan, so that isn't determined yet. Secondly, why in the heck would India not want either Pakistan or Bangladesh to qualify for the semis. They're both weaker teams than England.

It's a disgrace to people like Kohli to even suggest something this moronic. Again, I hate to even talk about this. I think it stems from the "media". They're looking to create headlines. Cricket media everywhere in the world, for the most part (apart from a few credible and respected journalists), has really descended to a new low.

I agree to you on all this except intent thing. Even the commetators were surprised what dhoni and kedar were doing in the last four overs. Any kid can see and laugh at the jogging they were doing on the crease.

We haven't talked about bangladesh or Pakistan here, Indian fans are themselves giving explanations. They should not but I expect them to ask question about the bad and boring display of batting provided by India but they wont since they are virtually qualified.

Bangladesh is more capable of beating Pakistan ? I think you are under estimating Pak in the Quarter Finals

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

So Vijay Shankar is ruled out of WC due to injury and Mayank Agarwal has replaced him. I would be keen to bring him in the side and KL Rahul goes down to 4. And other thing I would like to say, I always felt that Mayank Agarwal's strokes are identical to that of younger Virat Kohli (2011-13). The same flamboyance, similar drives and similar foot-work. If he plays with better temperament and little bit of patience he will be alright to play in this format.

 

[zimrahil]

It worked like it usually does for you

 

[asprin]

It worked like it usually does for you

We may have lost the battle but we will win the war

 

[abhi_jacko]

Looks like Mayank is only going to come later this week, and wont be available for the Bangladesh game (atleast). Might not even be available for the Sri Lanka game.

EDIT: Scratch the above info. Looks like he will be joining the squad by Monday evening UK time according to Times Of India


Mayank is a good choice, and should definitely play as an opener if he is indeed given a go. Rahul seems incapable of giving even a moderately quick start and just seems to hang in there by a thread as an opener. I wonder what Rayudu feels about this selection though He was vocally called out as the backup for Shankar