India

[icyman]

RP Singh and Praveen could have made the difference. Praveen swings the ball, something that the others seem to be incapable of and he is difficult to pick. In him, we would have got an-allrounder option too. Unfortunately he is injured.

As for the part-timers, again we have been shockingly exposed. Dhoni could have tried going with Virat-gentle medium pacers. Also, why did Tendulkar not bowl ? Or was he not on the field ?

 

[Gaurav_7]

We don't need to experiment too much really with Sachin bowling. Our part timers are good but when your main bowlers don't do well, we can't expect the part timers to do well. The pitch was skidding on nicely in the second half and there was hardly any turn. Our fast bowlers need to strike early on.

 

[icyman]

The main question - Why did Dhoni not appeal for Strauss nick ? Twice that too
And Virat being sent in at No.7 when Yuvraj was clearly trying to build his innings ?

MSD needs to answer these questions soon.

 

[Gaurav_7]

I don't know about nick thing but, it was a good move to send Yuvraj in. He needed a hit at top to get back into form and gain some confidence for him to get going in this tournament. Kohli is already doing well and I liked that move. It paid off too, he batted ok.

It is not the batting that has to be questioned, but the bowling. Also, Strauss actually played an extra ordinary knock.

 

[AbhishekS]

And Virat being sent in at No.7 when Yuvraj was clearly trying to build his innings ?

I don't mind Yuvraj at 4 but Virat should have been at 5, he is the best batsman we have in the middle order currently and I don't find any reason of he (Virat) being send at number 7.

 

[SaiSrini]

Why is there no snickometer for this tournament? Both of Strauss nicks were not shown on snicko

 

[Papa_Smurf]

I found the nicks odd as well when I watched the highlights. What really surprised me was that no-one appealed - not even Dhoni, who must have heard something.

 

[shravi]

I don't think you guys realize how loud it is in there. It's very hard to hear something as faint as an edge. We heard it in the replays because of the stump mics. Dhoni and co do not have that advantage.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Exactly, I was going to post the same thing. Shravi beat me to it.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

But Dhoni was right behind Strauss. And let's not forget, the crowd weren't that loud when Strauss and Bell were coasting.

 

[mohit_dude10]

Snicko is not available, thats why it isn't being used in DRS as well. And i was quite happy with the move MSD made by sending in Yuvraj. He seems to be at his best playing against England and it worked. India were going great guns then and they needed a batsmen who doesn't take a lot of time to settle, Kohli takes time to get in. Well the lower order collapse didn't help much.

Although i think Dhoni could've been a little aggressive with the field early on, he shouldn't have worried about England's RR and should've looked for wickets.

 

[SaiSrini]

Sending in Yuvraj at that time was right. Dhoni did not expect that Kohli will eventually have to bat in this match because he expected Yuvraj, himself and Yusuf to finish off the remaining overs left. And Kohli cant live like this by being called a guy who cant take advantage of the slog overs. Sometime or the other, he has to come out and start slogging. So what better than give him that experience?

Its Dhoni's captaincy while fielding that pissed me off.

 

[icyman]

I disagree with what you have put in. You may have judged Kohli only on the basis of his inability to slog against Bangladesh in the first match. What one needs to understand is that we simply scored 70 runs in the last 10 against Bangladesh. The fact that these two put on 201 in hot conditions, is more than enough. The slog-masters should have ideally done the job, which they could not.

As for the promotion of Yuvraj, I do not know what MSD was thinking then. Maybe he wanted Yuvi to get more batting practice. But when Yuvi took guard, all of us expected him to fire away, which he did not. My only point is, if Yuvi was to play cautiously, Virat could have done a better job than him since he has been in rollicking form over the last year or so.

 

[King Cricket]

What do you think should be our bowling strategy for the Ireland game? Zaheer, Munaf and Harbhajan have their positions cemented, and the choice is mainly between going with Nehra or giving Ashwin a chance, as playing five bowlers by dropping Yusuf, who can be a show stealer on flat wickets, is not viable. Since the match will be played in the same venue, which profusely rewarded the accurate pace of Tim Bresnan, I would advocate selecting Nehra. No matter how much critics howl for his blood, he has been one of the better performers in the ODIs over the last couple of years and can keep it pretty tight in the death overs.

Need to solve our bowling woes before facing the next big opponent. The matches against Ireland and Netherlands should be treated as dress rehearsals for the showdown against South Africa on 12th March, and while we should try a combination of three pacers and one spinner for the Ireland match, we can field Ashwin against the Dutch.

 

[Aditya]

Seeing our bowling in the last match, I reckon we should play 5 bowlers in the next match against Ireland. Yusuf Pathan can do nothing by coming at 7th down, he's just a waste there. Either send him a bit up the order or else drop him. If you want to use Yusuf as a bowler then why not give Ashwin a chance, he is a good bowler and can bat a bit as well. It's a good opportunity to try playing 5 bowlers in the match against Ireland.