s2sschan said:
Pakistan has proved to be the better team than India on this tour. India arrived in Pakistan without the ammunition to get Pakistan's batsmen out, who look invincible. I think the tour's over for India.
Too early in an ODI series between 2 closely matched teams to say that India is already out of it.
When I first read Ramesh Powar being included in place of Bhajji, a thought came into my mind.
Could he be the lucky mascot?
When we won the series in 2004, Bhajji was injured and Powar playd instead of him !
When we talk of the Indian bowling being poor, do not forget that Pkistan conceded 328 runs themselves and could have gone for plenty more if not for the last 5 wickets collapsing. So, they have not been great either.
Also in ODIs, batsmen win a side more games than bowlers .
All we need is Pathan to strike form with the ball and he looked decent in th first game without going for too many with the ball.
Zaheer is a fighter and will strive hard.
Agarkar, I thought was good in his second spell and almost won us the game.
If you look at the first match,other than the Malik-Butt partnership, all other batsmen were restricted to some extent by the Indians .
They came back well with the ball in the last 20 overs.
It is all about good field placings by thecaptain to earn you wickets in ODIs. More often than not, it is the bad shots that earn bowlrs wickets than magic balls in ODIs.
Tendulkar made his critics eat their words yet gain and he`ll get better now in this series,at least one would expect him too !
If Powar plays the next match, expect a surprise from Greg Chappel and Dravid by sending him at No.3 !
Sehwag will also find a good knock sooner or later .
I would rather have Kaif as my supersub instead of Raina.
Kaif seems to slow down the innings in the slog overs and he is better suited to the No.3 position.
He is a more orthodox batsman and does not find it comfortable taking the aerial route often enough.
Raina, if a naturally aggressive batsmen and is in the Yuvraj mould an he shoul be in the playing XI to hlp us in the slog overs.
Sachin should never be subbed out whil bowling . He is a vry useful ODI bowler and has the ability to change a game on his head even with the ball.
If Iam not wrong, Sachin had a 5 wicket haul against Pakistan in 2005 ODI series .
I would rather substitute Sehwag than Sachin because Sachin is also a better fielder than Veeru (remember the catch Sachin took of Inzy in the Lahore ODI 2004). Also , his mere presence on the field is encouraging for the rest of the team.
We should try Yuvi,Sachin and others with the ball to because they take the pace off the ball and are difficult to hit arund in ODI cricket.
saisrini80 said:
But still there is something called "Law of averages". That can catch up soon with Pakistan too!
Anyways, India have won many ODI's in the past with their batting alone! And if a small help from the bowlers, I dont see why they cant challenge Pakistan here!
We already have challenge them in the 1st ODI and nearly beat them.
As I said above , Pakistani bowling looked as hopeless as the Indian attack in the first match barring Asif.
Asif is still a newcomer and I expect one of the Indian btters to trget him in the next match an Asif is due for a bad game too.
Sehwag could be the one who could spoil it for Asif in the next match.
