India tour of New Zealand - March 2009

[Cricketman]

Raina is god like.

 

[irottev]

Never seen Mills bowl so many pies before.

That's the worst i've seen him bowl in probably 4odd years. He was probably a bit rusty from his injury but I hope he bounces back for the next game. We need him bowling well. He's one of our top ranked and experienced players. The rest of the bowling wasn't great either. It's tough in shortened games so Vettori and Butler didn't do that badly really though their figures look average.

aaaaaaaand that's why I don't rate McCullum.

His 4 fifties in his last 4 games was bound to come to an end at some stage. THe asking rate was like 6-7 from the start in a 38 over game. Too many runs. Can't blame the batsmen, they tried their best and fought til the end. McCullum got the ball pretty well. Woulda been a six easy in Chch or Auckland, just was too much elevation.

One thing which didn't impress me was Broom who gave his wicket away to Harbhijan. Can understand them going for it when Guptill was still there but they were never going to make it one he departed. Way to get some players confidance up.

I can't believe Dhoni got MOTM based purely on volume of runs. In the context of the game Raina's knock was match winning as was Sehwag's. India played way better today. Batted us out of the game and deserved the win.

That was the flattest pitch in NZ so at least that's out of the way now. Hopefully our bowlers feel a bit better about bowling in Wellington aqnd CHCH (we just won 2 games at these venues so should be confidant).

 

[King Pietersen]

Dhoni's ODi average is getting ridiculous now. He's overtaken KP in the all-time ODi batting average list, and if keeps adding up the not outs he'll easily over-take Bevan and Hussey in a little while. Got an ODi average of 49.25 now Dhoni, 4 behind Bevan, and 6 behind Hussey. Hopefully Hussey and Dhoni'll go on a run of low scores and no not outs in the next few months/year, with KP having a good year so he can move up a few places

McCullum can't be slagged off tbh, he's been in bad form recently but has battled through and batted sensibly and made some good scores. He's been in a spell of Alastair Cook type form, looking unganely and out of touch, but still scoring runs. I think the best I've seen him look recently was when he came in down the order against Australia with his injured shoulder. McCullum batting down the order seemed to work, although I'd be against it, I like watching McCullum up the order. It's only a matter of time until he makes a massive score like his one in the IPL or his 170 in the State Cup Final for Otago in 2008.

 

[irottev]

It's gotta be mental with McCullum because we've all seen he's one of the most talented shotmakers in the game.

Dhoni being captain helps his batting a lot. It's fair enough too, but he promoted himself to 3 after a good start to bat through whereas if India lose early wickets he'll send in other players. It is for the better of the team but it helps his average out. He could have been more attacking near the end with the wickets in hand. I kinda felt he was playing for the not out a tad.

 

[SaiSrini]

It's gotta be mental with McCullum because we've all seen he's one of the most talented shotmakers in the game.

Dhoni being captain helps his batting a lot. It's fair enough too, but he promoted himself to 3 after a good start to bat through whereas if India lose early wickets he'll send in other players. It is for the better of the team but it helps his average out. He could have been more attacking near the end with the wickets in hand. I kinda felt he was playing for the not out a tad.

He came out to bat because he wanted solidity to replace another solid player (Sachin was out that time). Regarding his attacking instincts, he seemed to have lost it a bit in recent times (especially after he became captain). He needs to bring that back to become the same old dasher that can destroy attacks.

 

[irottev]

It was a good move. I'm not criticizing that. Gambhir didn't even bat. I dunno if i'd be so happy if I were Gambhir. If an early wicket falls, no doubt Gambhir would go out and the order would probably stay as is. Even if it was Tendulkar who got out. It's good tactics in a way and unsettling on some players in another. Will be interesting to see what India do in the other games.

 

[Geekery]

Yeh, I'm not sure India are doing themselves any favours by splitting the Sehwag and Gambhir opening partnership, they've done quite well together in the past. Given that Gambhir looks set to be the future Indian opener, I don't think its wise for him to get into situations like today, where he's just held back throughout the entire innings, he needs as much exposure to foreign conditions as possible at this stage of his career.

 

[deerkick]

I must admit I was not happy about Gambhir not batting. Gambhir could've done what Dhoni had done. Dhoni has drastically changed his style though that's for sure. He used to Sehwagesque at the bottom of the order. Now he can barely hit boundaries. His bat speed is pretty ridiculous though. He was getting massive recoils from his shots.

Guptill has really impressed me so far. I checked out his records a bit and I guess he's carrying on his good form from the domestic circuits.

I also think NZ has bowled a bit badly here. I mean our batting was fine, but a ton of full tosses clearly helped our cause. All I remember seeing is full toss and Raina smacking it over midwicket quite a few times.

 

[irottev]

Gambhir's been in good form the last few series with match winning innings. I'd sure he would have wanted that chance to get into the groove. Maybe i'm being a bit old fasioned but I feel a settled batting order is the better way to go, even in ODIs.

I think NZ should stick with the same team. I'd rather see McCullum down the order purely because Guptill and Ryder can open now. It was fair enough using him when we had no one else to really do it. For India Munaf probably deserves a few more chances. I would have given him a few overs at the end over part time spinners since gripping the ball was an issue but anyway to try get him some rhythm. But i've never really liked the guy from what i've seen of him. I was actually pretty surprised when he took that catch to remove Butler because i've heard he's one of the worst fielders going around.

 

[shravi]

I think NZ should stick with the same team. I'd rather see McCullum down the order purely because Guptill and Ryder can open now. It was fair enough using him when we had no one else to really do it. For India Munaf probably deserves a few more chances. I would have given him a few overs at the end over part time spinners since gripping the ball was an issue but anyway to try get him some rhythm. But i've never really liked the guy from what i've seen of him. I was actually pretty surprised when he took that catch to remove Butler because i've heard he's one of the worst fielders going around.

Yeah, he was. He improved a lot in the IPL under Shane Warne and seems to have come back with a new vigor and just seems like he wants to play for India. Not the same player anymore.

 

[deerkick]

Shane Warne is a freakin' genius. Everybody under him has improved. Except for Kaif, he still plain sucks. Ok he's just average.

 

[.Mob]

Raiphy Gomez is next, then.....



:upray

 

[Ari]

McCullum is injured and will play as a batsman only in Wellington. Peter Mcglashan has been called into the squad and it looks like Broom will probably miss out however I doubt it will matter in the end because my money is on a washed out game without a ball being bowled.

 

[Leggie]

Yeah, Weather is forecasted to be rubbish for the match Was condsidering giving School a mis but have changed my mind after looking at the weather...

 

[Ari]

Sounds like it is clearing up which is great.