India

[mohit_dude10]

India now need to try Ashwin and Raina for sure in the West Indies game. Having anchor players like Gambhir/Kohli at 7 wont work. Also Raina provides another spinning option. I would personally choose Kohli ahead of Gambhir only because of his fielding which is very important, he saved many runs for India today.

They should go with

Sehwag
Sachin
Kohli
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Raina
Pathan
Harbhajan
Zaheer
Ashwin
Munaf

 

[Cricketman]

Remember that it was the 'anchors' who got India in the solid position in the first place, and the 'sloggers' who messed it all up for us. Kohli stays, this time not moving from the number 4 slot.

MAYBE Raina in over Yusuf, the only change I can think of...

Bowling wise kick Nehra to the curb and bring in Ashwin. Honestly I wouldn't mind Sreesanth getting a game either...

 

[mohit_dude10]

Remember that it was the 'anchors' who got India in the solid position in the first place, and the 'sloggers' who messed it all up for us.

If you mean Gambhir yeah he did good but he struggled first up and as he got in he made up for it, only because he had the time in the middle to do it. Kohli came in and he had no choice but to go after every ball, which is not his style. Yuvraj has showed he can play sensibly and Dhoni is also more of Anchor. The reason why we collapsed against England and against South Africa was that our top 3 batted most of the overs, leaving others no time to settle-in. So bringing Raina in for Gambhir/Kohli could solve that problem and make batting order more flexible and leaving out Yusuf pathan would be the biggest mistake. He can change the game single handedly.

 

[SaiSrini]

Predicting a bad game for us against South Africa on Saturday. Somehow I feel we will be absolutely caned in this game. Seeing our complacency against the smaller sides so far and Dhoni's stubborn resistance to public opinion on the changes he needs to make (watch out, he will continue to pick Chawla and will say Ashwin is mentally tougher and so doesnt need a game, my foot), we might be in for a rude shock. Also SA would be so eager to put that Chennai defeat to England to rest.

SA to win handsomely!

In the end, I was right also maybe the game was closer than I predicted.

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India now need to try Ashwin and Raina for sure in the West Indies game. Having anchor players like Gambhir/Kohli at 7 wont work. Also Raina provides another spinning option. I would personally choose Kohli ahead of Gambhir only because of his fielding which is very important, he saved many runs for India today.

Same thing. I wish to see this too. Gambhir is a good batsmen and all, but the presence of Sachin, Dhoni and Kohli in the team makes having another "I find it tough to hit big shots" guy in the team. Kohli is preferred because of his fielding and also he is the second best ODI batsmen in the world ATM and plays well in all conditions.

 

[Cricketman]

To hell with the big shots. He ended with 69 runs at a strike rate of 92, no way in hell is he going to be dropped.

 

[SaiSrini]

To hell with the big shots. He ended with 69 runs at a strike rate of 92, no way in hell is he going to be dropped.

Rohit - are you willing to drop Kohli then? He fielded superbly and he has been India's best batsman in ODI's in the past year. Also in these subcontinent conditions, there is a very likely chance (we have seen it twice now) that Sehwag, Sachin and our No.3 player will bat for 30+ overs and will leave the rest of the batsmen to play the last 15-20 runs where you need to bring out the big shots and score very quickly. In these cases, both Gambhir and Kohli are lacking whereas Raina is very strong in that. Raina is also a must due to his fielding and the option he provides as a bowler.

Kohli's fielding is just so good that I am forced to feel Gambhir is the guy to sit out. But most likely, it will be Kohli to sit out because Gambhir has acquired that star power to stay in the team.

 

[Kabooka]

Raina/Kohli for Gambhir & Ashwin for Nehra that's the only switch that we need to make.

 

[shravi]

Raina in, Yusuf out. Raina can hit just as big as Yusuf and is more consistent at it. Yusuf offers absolutely nothing as a bowler.

Second change- Ashwin in, Nehra out.

 

[icyman]

Yusuf is more of a what we call 'matka' player. If the bat makes contact with the ball, it goes far, else he gets out. One-match wonder.

The next match should decide our future in the tournament. A loss would be devastating, but I have a feeling that our bowling will bounce back in the next game.

 

[AkshayS]

Time for our middle order to do something, it's looking our weak point ATM.
I still think that bowling can somehow bounce back and perform reasonably and we'd win the match.
Lot depends on our openers in the whole world cup.

 

[icyman]

The bowling will bounce back. A loss was what we needed and I hope it rubs off well here. The West Indies games could be a low-scorer. We may end up chasing around 225-230.

 

[AkshayS]

The bowling will bounce back. A loss was what we needed and I hope it rubs off well here. The West Indies games could be a low-scorer. We may end up chasing around 225-230.

What if we bat first.

 

[icyman]

We should not, even if we win the toss. The last two games against strong nations have proved that our bowling is weak. We scored 338 and 296 and yet ended on the losing side in both cases.. The batting is capable of chasing down any total and we need to get a good chase under our belt before the QFs.

 

[Cricketman]

Raina in, Yusuf out. Raina can hit just as big as Yusuf and is more consistent at it. Yusuf offers absolutely nothing as a bowler.

Second change- Ashwin in, Nehra out.

Agreed. Raina can easily throw down the 4 or so overs that Yusuf provides early on with his spin. I'm not sure if Raina can his as big as Yusuf can but he is probably more reliable.

I still think we can go with the same batting lineup though tbh. Remember that the top 4 or so are batting the majority of the overs. We don't expect 29/9 to happen again, so having a guy like Yusuf at number 7 makes sense. The only place where we are hit is fielding, Yusuf is a yuseless fielder.

Nehra out for Ashwin for me too... Give Ashwin the new ball. Chennai turned like crazy in the SA England game, I wouldn't mind Ashwin bowling the first over, maybe he can pull a Petersen.

 

[Harshshah]

Drop Yusuf get in Raina!!

Drop Nehra get in Ashwin