India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[harishankar]

India cannot carry on with 5 bowlers. I think RP is a liability in the ODI game and he needs to be dropped. We can manage with 2 seamers and 2 spinners with somebody like Yuvraj filling in the 5th bowler's spot along with Ganguly and Tendulkar if needed.

7 batsmen 4 bowlers is probably the right way to go for India even if the extra bowler costs some runs. I think with 7 batsmen, the top order players will feel more comfortable in being aggressive and have a psychological advantage when batting. I just think that the top order feels too much pressure when chasing runs with only 6 batsmen and a long tail. Ganguly's strike rate was proof of that and he left too much for the likes of Yuvraj and Dhoni to do.

If we play 6 batsmen only, batting first is definitely better because we can rely on the bowlers to defend a total. But we cannot risk that all the time and Dravid won't win the toss always.

But I have to say Dravid once again defied logic by fielding first winning the toss...

 

[sd92]

I think you should drop a spinner. Powar isn't an asset in the field. Why have 2 spinners, when you have Yuvraj and possible Tendulkar as well. RP Singh bowled well, and he is working well with Zaheer, so keep him there in my opinion.

 

[surendar]

The first thing that attracted me was England's fielding which was far far better than Indian fielding.

Once again, i wasn't impressed with our bowlers either. Like Always i say, its poor bowling effort from our team. Regarding batting, its not that bad.. They tried their level best.. Dravid, Yuvi, Sourav played exceptionally well. Only thinig which i was wondering is, Karthik at no3? He had played some match winning knocks down the order while chasing..

Anyways, England clearly played better cricket yesterday. They deserved to win. Unless, there is improvement in our bowling department, we are tend to struggle even more worse against the quality opponents like Aussies later this year.

 

[harishankar]

I think you should drop a spinner. Powar isn't an asset in the field. Why have 2 spinners, when you have Yuvraj and possible Tendulkar as well. RP Singh bowled well, and he is working well with Zaheer, so keep him there in my opinion.

I think Powar bowls better. Two spinners are needed against England as they were the ones who kept the run-rate in check. The moment the seamers come back on, even the England tail-enders fancy themselves.

RP is no asset on the field either and his ODI bowling is just not varied enough. He needs to have more variety and needs a good full delivery. He bowls too many short deliveries which get hammered by the English players who are comfortable with his pace. He bowls well with the red ball in Test matches, but he has no variety which is so essential in ODI games.

It will be a tough choice, but I would also consider dropping Karthik in favour of Robin Uthappa as we need a good striker at the top of the innings. I would open with him and Ganguly and drop Tendulkar to #4 or #5. Tendulkar is still a great player, but has lost his firepower against the new ball attack because of his slowing reflexes.

 

[karnog]

I think it reflects India's need for an all-rounder. I wouldn't drop kartik. He was india's rock as an openner in the test series. Personally:

Uthappa
Ganguly
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kartik (keeper)
Yuvraj
Powar
Chawla
Sreesanth
Singh
Khan

India need a 5 man attack because it could end up like the first match. Dhoni needs some form and a good kick in the bum would do em cause i think success has gone to his head. He'll come back for prolly kartik...

 

[surendar]

Pushing Tendulkar down the order makes no sense to be honest when he has dominated/been dominating as a opener in his career. Also, i feel, our batting is alright for the moment.. Bowling department ( which of course have someone so called as bowling coach ) needs immediate attention to improve. In particular, bowling in last stages has been horrible.

Dravid has rightly pointed out after second ODI that, " our bowlers have neither attempted even a single yorker nor aimed at the blockhole in last overs ".

 

[Vcassano]

Dravid has rightly pointed out after second ODI that, " our bowlers have neither attempted even a single yorker nor aimed at the blockhole in last overs ".

In fairness Zaheer Khan's death bowling yesterday was very good.

 

[Highlander999]

The problem with India at the moment is that there middle order is rubbish. Having Powar bat at 7 was a big mistake. I know Mascheranas and Flintoff were out, but if you had them in you would have Bopara and Masceranas to support the tail, give some much needed late batting, while who have India got. The only person I can think of is Agarkar. India either need to drop one of the spinners and hope Agarkar can find some form, or else accept that they cannot afford to lose early wickets and rely on such a long tail.

 

[Adarsh]

There's no way I can see Agarkar playing. Irfan Pathan was supposed to be the solution to this problem, but then his bowling became as slow as mine. India have to rely on their top six to do well. Drop Karthik to no.6. All their batsmen are in good form, and Dhoni just seems to be getting out unluckily. He smacked it straight to point last game. The one before, he hooked and either side of Tremlett at short fine leg, he'd have got a 4 for it.

India's bowling - Zaheer, Chawla and Powar are doing well. RP not so, and the fifth bowler is even worse, be it Munaf or Agarkar.

 

[baburao]

If anyone who needs to be sacked is he is Robin Singh our so called fielding coach.Ever since he has joined(right from ireland tour) our fielding has gone down.I dont know why cant BCCI see this.

 

[manee]

If anyone who needs to be sacked is he is Robin Singh our so called fielding coach.Ever since he has joined(right from ireland tour) our fielding has gone down.I dont know why cant BCCI see this.

Lol. A fielding coach, no matter how bad they are, will never decrease the fielding ability of a team.

 

[baburao]

Lol. A fielding coach, no matter how bad they are, will never decrease the fielding ability of a team.

It was better during the Chappel era.

 

[harishankar]

It was better during the Chappel era.

It was even better during the John Wright Era. Under Ganguly's captaincy, India reached its height in ODI cricket and peaked in the 2003 world cup. Since then, it's gone backwards (fielding at least).

I think it reflects India's need for an all-rounder. I wouldn't drop kartik. He was india's rock as an openner in the test series. Personally:

Uthappa
Ganguly
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kartik (keeper)
Yuvraj
Powar
Chawla
Sreesanth
Singh
Khan

India need a 5 man attack because it could end up like the first match. Dhoni needs some form and a good kick in the bum would do em cause i think success has gone to his head. He'll come back for prolly kartik...

And what about Mahendra Singh Dhoni?

 

[irottev]

I defiantly agree with the point about India using 5 bowlers. They have Ganguly, Tendulkar and Yuvraj who can bowl 10 between them surely. I think one of the spinners should be dropped. It's a head pick which to keep, but probably Powar. I think Chalwa has more potential but hasn't quite got the experience and everything together yet. He's young, he has time to develop.

So i'm thinking for the next match bring in a batsman for Chalwa. I think maybe Munaf and RP Singh deserve a last chance to get it right. If Munaf has another expensive game he may need to be dropped for Sreesanth.

Fielding has been a massive problem, and I very strongly believe that England knew it and thats why they ran so aggressively. I think that running between the wickets won them the game. Big call, but they cashed in. Powar, Munaf, Ganguly and RP Singh need to work on it. India can't afford 4 bad fielders.

 

[manee]

It was even better during the John Wright Era. Under Ganguly's captaincy, India reached its height in ODI cricket and peaked in the 2003 world cup. Since then, it's gone backwards (fielding at least).

It may have, but isn't that more to do with the players than the fielding coach.

So i'm thinking for the next match bring in a batsman for Chalwa. I think maybe Munaf and RP Singh deserve a last chance to get it right. If Munaf has another expensive game he may need to be dropped for Sreesanth.

Not in the squad.