India

[AbhishekS]

Yusuf Pathan can do nothing by coming at 7th down, he's just a waste there.

Yusuf's position in the team is not confined to number 7. If a wicket falls after the 40th over, Yusuf has to be out to bat. It doesn't matter if it's number 3, 4, 5 or 6.

 

[SaiSrini]

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 going with 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 giving Nehra a chance. 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.

As much as I want Ashwin to get a chance (he is a better bowler than Chawla, and much more attacking than Harbhajan), I dont think Dhoni will let that happen. Nothing wrong in trying out Nehra against Ireland and Netherlands. Give Zaheer a break and keep him fresh for SA and West Indies. Zaheer should ideally not play atleast one of the games against Netherlands and Ireland (if not both). Since we play Ireland next, my bowling attack would Nehra, Munaf, Harbhajan, Chawla. For the Dutch, it would be Zaheer, Nehra, Ashwin, Chawla.

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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.

Point. But Dhoni doesnt believe in the 5 bowler theory. I wish he starts doing it considering how light our bowling is. Problem is, with Yuvraj and Yusuf's bowling being over rated these days, its hard for Dhoni to think about playing 5 specialist bowlers.

 

[AbhishekS]

For some reasons, I never like the 5 bowler theory. Against Ireland, the maximum we can do is that rest Zaheer and get in Nehra, and against the Dutch, rest Harbhajan, giving an opportunity to Ashwin.

Piyush Chawla shouldn't be dropped or rested. A leg spinner on SC wickets can do wonders.

 

[Meet]

Against Ireland, I would like to play Bhajji, Chawla/Ashwin , Sree and Nehra.I would like to play Nehra and Sree more because you need to get their form as I don't think they are in any good form ATM.Both of them are going of runs and taking no wickets(excluding occasional wickets they get).If any one of them gets in good touch, it will be a huge plus point for Indians to decide the lineup in later stages.Though I feel Chawla will be chosen over Ashwin as looks to be in good form.But again he may give his CSK team-mate a go at the game.

 

[King Cricket]

TBH, on second thoughts, I wouldn't mind the five bowler theory being tried either against Ireland or Holland. Our batting order is packed to the capacity with talented batsmen and on flat subcontinental wickets against opponents as weak as Ireland or Netherlands, the chance of a collapse is zero. I say, rest one of our main batsmen (preferably any of the top three), move Yusuf up the order to give him a chance of amassing runs, and go with five bowlers (Zaheer, Munaf, Nehra, Harbhajan, Ashwin). If this antidote solves our bowling troubles, I'm all for it.

 

[Meet]

If we gonna adopt the 5 bowler theory, then I will suggest the following line up
1.Sehwag
2.Gambhir
3.Kohli
4.Yusuf
5.Raina
6.Dhoni
7.Bhajji
8.Chawla
9.Ashwin
10.Nehra
11.Sree

Stay off Dhoni.

 

[Aditya]

Point. But Dhoni doesnt believe in the 5 bowler theory. I wish he starts doing it considering how light our bowling is. Problem is, with Yuvraj and Yusuf's bowling being over rated these days, its hard for Dhoni to think about playing 5 specialist bowlers.

Yuvraj's and Yusuf's bowling is indeed overrated but Dhoni needs to understand that he should at least give them a chance to bat, they are not in the team just for their bowling. Letting them bowl 4 to 5 overs is fine but saying them to bowl 10 overs is a little too much. I don't understand why Dhoni doesn't have faith in Yusuf Pathan's batting. Suppose, if Yusuf would've come to bat in place of Yuvraj in the previous match, even though Yuvraj made 38 or something I don't remember, he still wasn't looking at his best. I still feel that sending Yusuf would've been a better option. Didn't he saw two remarkable innings from Yusuf against SA? 1st time around, Yusuf won us a match which we were about to loose and 2nd time around, he just took us to the finishing line. After all, Yusuf is not in the team for his bowling but for his batting as well. It seems that Yusuf is in the team for his bowling and if that is the case then playing Ashwin is a far better idea.

 

[Meet]

even though Yuvraj made 38 or something I don't remember,

He scored a half-century:P
To answer you, Dhoni gave UV a go just to get his form back.You can even notice that he was sent before Kohli for just to get his form back a bit.If he can get in best of his form, it may prove disastrous for our opponents, and to bring Yusuf in 25-30's don't work.IMO he should be bought in when a wicket falls after 35 overs.But Dhoni made himself come out when India needed Yusuf.In the two games that have passed in WC, he have been sent at the near end of the innings, where he just have to hit the ball whosoever.Instead if he is sent around 35-40's, he can take 3-4 overs to get settle and than give bowlers a treatment.Dhoni should better stop himself to get in 40-45 when there's no need of him and everyone needs a Yusuf innings.

 

[used2bcool]

If we want to go the way of five bowlers, I'd pick Yuvraj over Yusuf because he's a better cricketer, I think. Yusuf's an impact player, but his game lends itself to be very hit-or-miss. In a 6-batter lineup, you can't have a guy whose success percentages aren't that great. Plus, Yuvraj is no mug with the long handle, and despite being out of shape, he's a better fielder than Yusuf.

Speaking of fielding, ours really needs a shot in the arm. Dump Yusuf and play Raina in his place - he's about the only competent fielder we have. And our fielding is in such dire straits that playing a guy just for his superior fielding skills wouldn't be totally uncalled for.

 

[Aditya]

Sending a batsman to improve his form in a crucial match just doesn't make any sense to me. Yuvraj at his best can be very dangerous but he is struggling with his form and it certainly wasn't a good move form Dhoni to send him at 4 in the previous match. Yusuf is in good form, he played so well in the ODI's against South Africa. Why not give him a chance to bat at 4 and let him play his normal game. My point is, if Dhoni just doesn't want Yusuf to bat up the order then he should pick up a bowler in place of him. That will strengthen our bowling line up and finally we can hope that our bowlers can defend 338.

 

[icyman]

Drop Yusuf for the game against Ireland. I think the rest of the batting should be enough against the Irish ,especially iff we are to play on flat tracks again.

Retain the same attack. You may drop Munaf to give Nehra a chance.

Do not drop Chawla,someone made the point of having a leggie in the team. And he could bounce back in the next game.

The main changes should be:
1. Swap Ashwin for Yusuf
2. Swap Munaf for Nehra.

 

[icyman]

Have a look at this pic:

 

[AbhishekS]

Drop Yusuf for the game against Ireland. I think the rest of the batting should be enough against the Irish ,especially iff we are to play on flat tracks again.

No, Yusuf Pathan shouldn't be dropped at all. Our spin attack shall be the same against Ireland, the only change I'd like to see will be resting Zaheer and getting in either Nehra or Sreesanth.

Against the Dutch, Ashwin can be in the XI if Bhajji is given a rest.

Yusuf is in good form, he played so well in the ODI's against South Africa. Why not give him a chance to bat at 4 and let him play his normal game.

How many overs had been bowled when the second wicket fell? If anything less than thirty, then obviously there was no point in sending Yusuf at 4. You can't expect him to play his natural game so early in the inning.

And as far Yuvraj's promotion is considered, I personally liked the decision. I feel that is the spot where Yuvraj is most comfortable batting, but given the fact that Kohli has been in so good touch off late, Yuvraj has to come in at 5 or even 6 sometimes.

It's almost certain that Kohli will be batting at number 4 in the next match, but I don't mind if Dhoni keeps on shuffling Yuvraj and Kohli at numbers 4 and 5 and himself and Yusuf at numbers 6 and 7.

 

[Aditya]

If not at 4th down then Yusuf should have at least been send at 5th down. What was the point of Dhoni coming ahead of Yusuf. Dhoni played a great knock against New Zealand but he needs to give Yusuf a chance to bat. Dhoni needs to understand that Yusuf is not only a bowler but a batsman as well. If he doesn't believe in that then as I've been saying replace Yusuf with a bowler.

 

[AbhishekS]

I said it earlier and I say it again, Yusuf isn't confined to any position. As soon as a wicket falls after the 40th over, he has to be at the crease. Doesn't matter even if the first wicket falls after the 40th over, he can be in at number 3 too.