India tour of New Zealand - Jan to Feb 2014

[grkrama]

Congrats to the Indian fans, Jadeja really was pretty amazing at the end there. Really disappointed with the death bowling, once again if someone could have landed a couple of yorkers we would have won. Only saw the last 10 overs but how did Yadav go? I see he went for a few runs, but was his pace alright? Its been a while since I've seen him play.

I think the plan was to bounce him out ,cause they almost got him out and he was struggling to upper cut the short balls in the previous over......but sir was feinting all along ... and started playing his pull shots of the last over..

 

[ferg512]

It was Aaron who played today. He went for over 7 per over. Importantly he was touching the 145 mark, but a few bad balls every over meant that the pressure being created was off soon.

Whoops my bad guys, I meant Aaron. I hope you guys at least stick with him for a while though, he actually has a lot of potential unlike Ishant.

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It's been one area where Indians did really outsmart NZ.

Yep, I think it was in the last match Bhuvi was really good with his yorkers and Shami was improving as well. You guys actually do have a core of decent fast bowlers the problem was Ishant really. Surprised that Shami went for so many, how on earth did Dhoni leave Bhuvi with one over left?

 

[scratch978]

how on earth did Dhoni leave Bhuvi with one over left?

That happens sometimes. He had used 3 spinners, who performed well (10 + 10 + 4 = 24 overs)

 

[swacker]

Good game, finished in a tie. One leg side wide was a little harsh. Does that rule need looking at that anything missing leg stump is automatically a wide?

 

[Biggs]

When you have a player actively stepping AROUND or PAST the ball to force a wide-call from the umpire, it's blatant cheating. At least twice he stepped towards the ball and it was called a wide, when the bowler was just following the batsman. Another time he "dodged" the ball rather than play a leg-glance to force the wide. Awful cricket. Indian side were playing the ridiculous umpires like a violin, they clearly felt under pressure out there and everyone on the field knew it...

EDIT:

Never mind that he basically belted the ball to Ronchi and wasn't given out because...

EDIT II:

At the end of the day, India should've won this, they've got much more to lose than NZ do. So a tie makes a pretty amazing game of cricket worthless, which is frustrating for both sides. Bowling NZ has it all over India, but our young guys lost their rag under pressure tonight and they'll learn a lot from this experience and come back stronger because of it. Other than Jadeja India learned nothing tonight. They still bowled first when they should've batted, still have the weak overrated middle-order problems and Dhoni is about as dysfunctional as McCullum is with the bat at the moment.

Much more to be concerned about for Indian fans than NZ ones...

Just frustrating to have a game like that decided by poor umpiring because the BCCI won't allow DRS. Once again, money talks and fans get the shaft.

 

[asprin]

^ A very good phrase comes to mind - If you've got it, flaunt it


Pleasantly surprised that India managed to snatch a tie from the jaws of defeat. Good, but not satisfied.

 

[Chewie]

I was at the game, some of the calls were bullshit, especially those wides at the end and that catch too. The wides affected both teams and the NZ bowling was pretty terrible but still it did ruin a good match. Not having DRS is stupid

At the stadium it felt like there were more Indian supporters than Kiwi ones :/

We fielded pretty badly too, though India were just as bad in the field. But it was a much larger departure from our standards than theirs was from theirs so it was a big let down.

We should have been able to score so much more with the start we had. Anderson threw it away somewhat because he had been given two overs to get his eye in before the powerplay but he decided to go big early (probably trying to impress the IPL people watching) and got himself out which screwed things over somewhat.

Ronchi is looking so much better now than when he first joined the team, it has been pretty impressive watching him.

 

[Riyan]

India always play with 3/4. Most probably Kohli. Team spirit does appears only if a big competition is going around... We are habitants of it and another habit is we always support 11 without caring of failing sevens.

I think India have 6/7 good players out of 11 players. But they need experience at different conditions. Then only they will get form. The main problem of India is pace.

 

[asprin]

The main problem of India is pace.

Tell me about it!

 

[scratch978]

The main problem of India is pace.

Pace is not a worry. Even Mcgrath was a fast-medium pace bowler with average speed of 130-135 Km/hr.
What Indian fast bowlers have to improve is
1) Consistency in line and length.
2) Attitude i.e. Aggresion :- As I said in my earlier posts, Attitude doesn't mean sledging a batsman, but capability of taking his wicket the next bowl.

 

[asprin]

I couldn't watch the NZ innings and would like to know what speeds was Aaron generating? Consistently above 140 kmph?

Also, anyone remember what the WASP % was up until the last over of the Indian innings?

 

[scratch978]

Also, anyone remember what the WASP % was up until the last over of the Indian innings?

49%

 

[aditya123]

We fielded pretty badly too, though India were just as bad in the field. But it was a much larger departure from our standards than theirs was from theirs so it was a big let down.

Chewie, this Indian side is one of the better fielding outfits in the world currently. Raina, Jadeja, Kohli, Rahane and Rohit Sharma are all superb fielders. If you saw the Champions Trophy, India were by far the best fielding side.

Although we are lagging far behind in this series yet, I`m not too worried. The scoreline might say 2-0 but we are just one or two pieces away from the jigsaw being solved. We are that close to nailing down a settled side. This is eventually a bilateral series and if it helps give the players exposure ahead of the WC, thats a positive. Jadeja coming good with the bat under pressure and that too overseas is a really great sign. One thing with him that was always questionable in the past was handling the nerves. He did that well today in the last over when he played out a couple of dots and backed himself to get us through (well, almost so). Ashwin should always bat above Jadeja if we are 5 down for not many.

Lets hope we persist with Aaron and don`t jump into the Ishant bandwagon again. In Aaron, Shami and Yadav we have three bowlers capable of clocking 140+ and natural talents at that. Lets stick with them and take that gamble. They will come off with more exposure. Ishant must surely go back to the domestic circuit now and not return unless he has a bagful of wickets.

 

[Aalay]

Ishant must surely go back to the domestic circuit now and not return unless he has a bagful of wickets.

and less hair.

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So Ashwin has booked himself for next 10 matches. He bowled decently yesterday but he definitely needs to take more wickets if India wants to restrict opposition under 260. Surprise with the way Jadeja played because i have never seen him bat like this when he is under so much pressure. I also hope that Dhoni stick with Aaron and give him some more matches because he is a definitely better bowler than Ishant Sharma. Even if he gets half of the chances that Ishant has got, he will prove it. He was bowling with good pace yesterday but seemed like he was told to bowl short at the batsman without worrying too much about conceding runs.

Yadav, Aaron and Shami will be an excellent attack for WC 2015. They will run through batting line-up on their day but the only problem is, if they are having a bad day, they can go for plenty as we saw Shami yesterday. If they can be a little more accurate especially Yadav than we have a very good bowling attack for the WC 2015.

 

[surendar]

Went to sleep after India's early wickets. Thought it will be 3-0, but as soon as I woke up - wow, unbelievable! Jadeja & Ashwin!! **sigh** what has happened, need to watch highlights.