India vs Sri Lanka : 3 T20I & 3 ODI: Jan 03-15, 2023

[wasteyouryouth]

In the defense of the guy wearing the T-shirt, the first slow pushup is actually tougher to do than the normal pushup which must have exhausted his muscles.

Yeah, for the record I'm definitely Rohit, at the moment, in that scenario.

 

[Fenil]

View attachment 275070What the **** is SKY dropped ? The so called classy Rahul still plays

He is correct. Iyer have been scoring runs consistently in ODIs so most definitely you cannot drop. The only guy averaging below 30 and still not in form in last 10 innings that India play in middle order is Rahul. Today was a great chance to rake up some runs and to be fair he played well but couldn't make it big.

The bigger question is why isn't Ishan playing? The guy just scored the fastest ODI double hundred. You cannot have that kind of player waiting until you are done with the world cup expecting to be drafted only once Rohit retires. That's too much. Furthermore, India isn't playing with a specialist keeper which obviously Ishan is!!

 

[wasteyouryouth]

He is correct. Iyer have been scoring runs consistently in ODIs so most definitely you cannot drop. The only guy averaging below 30 and still not in form in last 10 innings that India play in middle order is Rahul. Today was a great chance to rake up some runs and to be fair he played well but couldn't make it big.

The bigger question is why isn't Ishan playing? The guy just scored the fastest ODI double hundred. You cannot have that kind of player waiting until you are done with the world cup expecting to be drafted only once Rohit retires. That's too much. Furthermore, India isn't playing with a specialist keeper which obviously Ishan is!!

Rahul averages 49 at 110 at 5.

 

[Fenil]

Rahul averages 49 at 110 at 5.

Right. He was averaging around 60 not so long back but his last 10 innings are under 30 I guess and is short of confidence. If he gets his mojo back by batting at 5, then it's only beneficial for himself and the team. Sky would still need to wait until Iyer or Rahul have a lean patch.

 

[Aravind.]

Rahul is not in great form.

Ishan is a better white ball player than gill.

Ishan and sky in place of gill and rahul will be a good move, but both kl & gill played well today, thus they will stick to them for next match, but against a quality opponent ishan and sky are better white ball players in any condition.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Right. He was averaging around 60 not so long back but his last 10 innings are under 30 I guess and is short of confidence. If he gets his mojo back by batting at 5, then it's only beneficial for himself and the team. Sky would still need to wait until Iyer or Rahul have a lean patch.

His last ten innings:

Opening: 21 average
4/5: 36.6 @ 98.9

His overall record opening is good, although his strike rate is perhaps a bit below what teams would want nowadays (although maybe I'm just used to Bairstow and Roy scoring at 100+). At 4 and 5 he's exceptionally good, particularly at 5. Although it's still a small sample size.

The only way I could see SKY, Iyer and Rahul in the seam team would be if they only went with five bowlers, when you have Hardik and Axar/Jadeja I think that's probably enough batting. India are just spoiled for choice, particularly in ODI cricket where I think it is probably the format that most of their batters excel at.

 

[asprin]

Did we add just 70 in the last 10 overs after being 300 at the 40 over mark?

 

[Fenil]

His last ten innings:

Opening: 21 average
4/5: 36.6 @ 98.9

His overall record opening is good, although his strike rate is perhaps a bit below what teams would want nowadays (although maybe I'm just used to Bairstow and Roy scoring at 100+). At 4 and 5 he's exceptionally good, particularly at 5. Although it's still a small sample size.

The only way I could see SKY, Iyer and Rahul in the seam team would be if they only went with five bowlers, when you have Hardik and Axar/Jadeja I think that's probably enough batting. India are just spoiled for choice, particularly in ODI cricket where I think it is probably the format that most of their batters excel at.

Agreed with you on every bit. Rahul as a middle order batsman is not shabby at all. In fact, I had advocated the move some time back.

My reply was to someone who wanted to axe Iyer to accommodate Sky even though the former has been quite consistent despite his shortcomings against the short ball. The point I was trying to make was that the only way Sky can be drafted into the current setup is that Rahul makes way for him and Ishan comes in at the opening slot.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Dasun Shanaka is Daniel Alexander in disguise. This guy absolutely hates Indians (cricket wise) and smashes them everytime! What a great century and a series he is having.

 

[Fenil]

Brilliant brilliant innings from Shanaka! He loves batting against us, more so on Indian pitches it seems. He definitely needs to bat at 4. The guy can pace his innings beautifully.

His bowling was decent too in the context of the game. Would have been a big asset for any IPL team. He most certainly is for Sri Lanka.

Rajitha is another guy apart from Asalanka that I believe will be a horse of a long race. If Chamika Karunaratne can sort out his bowling, these guys are a very good crop of players who can be nurtured under some heroes of the past. Obviously they have a good spin attack already.

Would love to see the Lions roaring again like the old days.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Man is learning.

 

[asprin]

This is SL's game to lose now.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

This is SL's game to lose now.

King Rahul will win it

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Captain's innings

 

[asprin]

King Rahul will win it

Credit where due. He did step up in this particular case.