ICC Cricket World Cup - May/July 2019

[Punk_Sk8r]

Oh yes, dont you know the entire WC is "fixed" and Ireland will lift the trophy coming in late as a replacement for injured Afghanistan and blowing everyone over? .

Well that a little unnecessary from Dhoni but he scored 34 and I am pleased with that. An in form MS in that middle order now with KL Rahul makes India's middle order looks seriously good.

No but seriously, why were they dragging the game out so hard? 62-2 after 18 overs or so, like what am I watching? An ODI from 1979?

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Whatt??? How where?

Star Sports 3. Absolutely everything was happening 10 mins ago.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Everyone talking about NRR is being quite impractical. At the moment, winning is the most important thing. I'm not too fussed over us taking time if we get those two points. This isn't the IPL. Unlike 14, this is a 9 game round robin and I think everyone will agree on two fronts-

1) In general, wickets have had something for the bowlers which is refreshing. So we need to revise our expectations as an audience. I had said when SA were two down that this was a 250 wicket and I stand by it. SA played the seam up front decently but they proved that they've learnt nothing about playing spin since India last visited their shores. India would have had a serious fight on their hands chasing 250/260. I also think that with Ngidi or Steyn as the third seam option, SA could even have won with 260 on the board.

2) NRR is something that only deserves attention when playing the last two/three games. When qualifying becomes an imminent possibility. Right now, as I said, any team can beat you on a given day or you could be sent in on a pitch with ridges (as Sri Lanka was) with clouds overhead and have the toss determine the game. Add to it, banana skin games for India i.e Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. I think, the main idea should be to win 6 games at least. If you do that, the NRR can go for a toss pretty much and they generally take care of themselves if you win.

 

[SaiSrini]

Good win in the end! The cribbing about the speed of the win is unnecessary. We still won it with 2.3 overs to spare. It's just our first game of the tournament and we have 8 more games to go. We will come across pitches and games where we will have a chance to up our NRR. This was a pitch where patience was required. Beating SA is not an easy task on conditions like this and Rohit/Rahul/Dhoni did very well to play it out cautiously.

@CricketQ20 - Yes I did say that Rahul is not a good No. 4. But he has changed things quite dramatically. Always happy to be proved wrong when it comes to India team selections. I feel Rahul's utility will be greater when he opens but for now, he is doing well at this spot and so let him stay there.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

Oh yes, dont you know the entire WC is "fixed" and Ireland will lift the trophy coming in late as a replacement for injured Afghanistan and blowing everyone over? .

That's some WWE shit right there.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Don't any of you feel that situations like today are perfect for Rahul to bat before Kohli?

 

[angad]

Don't any of you feel that situations like today are perfect for Rahul to bat before Kohli?

Nope. World Cup is not the tournament to tinker with the batting order in the first game itself

Really well played by India! We were lucky SA played with only one and a half bowler (Rabada and Tahir). Yes Morris bowled well but let's face it, he wasn't going to be threating. If Ngidi was fit on this pitch I think he would have been a handful to play....so I'm glad we came through.

Very professional performance by the Indian team though. Looks good!

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Nope. World Cup is not the tournament to tinker with the batting order in the first game itself

I don't believe in all this nonsense. If India need 60 to win in 5 overs and have just lost Dhawan or Rohit, will you send in Kohli or Pandya? The batting order depends on situations, not numbers to please statisticians or media morons. Kohli should bat 40 overs I feel. He is our best batsman but my belief that the ball will do something in England for 10 overs with 2 new balls is definitely coming true. I rather not lose Kohli then!

 

[Bevab]

Don't any of you feel that situations like today are perfect for Rahul to bat before Kohli?

Would normally agree with this as the logic is sound but I wouldn’t want to do this in the WC without any prior practice, given how Rahul hasn’t fully acclimatised to the number 4 itself.

An example would be England sending in Jos ahead of Stokes either side around the 30 over mark if a wicket falls at that point. This largely works because of how settled their batting order has been for years and how the duo are both used to this kind of switching up. With Kohli and Rahul however, I don’t feel it would work quite the same way without practice. It might work in a game or two (like Dhoni promoting himself in the WC final), but to do it regularly might ultimately end up messing the batting order balance. Plus it means Kohli batting with Dhoni is highly likely, which I don’t think the captain is too keen on given how much he loves rotating the strike

 

[Bevab]

New Zealand and the cricket community in general have been extremely complicit in the way they’ve treated Roscoe over the years IMO. He’s been in the top three ODI batsmen over the last few years and yet when people are asked about NZ’s best batsman, Williamson is the player who comes to everyone’s mind first. He’s a damn fine test cricketer, but Taylor’s been a class above him in limited overs cricket ever since his eye surgery, and has also only been slightly worse than him in tests anyways. Wish he finally gets the credit that he richly deserves.

 

[aditya123]

Mortaza bowling some garbage. They should`ve gone for the Fizz right away while they had runs to play with.

 

[SaiSrini]

What the hell is New Zealand doing? WOW!!

 

[C Boomer]

The tigers taking to the Kiwis, game on!!

 

[LiveLoveABD]

All those advocating the NRR theory, you can take a look at the state NZ are in!

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Boy I am loving this World Cup! Another cracker of a game!