India's tour of Australia - January 2016

[stefan]

Really impressive innings from Pandey. Well done India.

 

[Aalay]

Wow, we finally managed to win a game. Jokes aside, I think we have been competitive but as Dhoni said, we just haven't been able to close the games well. Less experienced lower order and bowling attack was exposed in the pressure situations. It is important to earn from your losses but you also need to win matches to keep the morale high in the dressing room. This is the first time we have been able to beat Australia in Australia since our big tour last year. So it is important to learn but it is even more important to show that you have improved from those experience and translate those into a positive result.

I didn't see Pandey's inning last night so can't comment much about it but if he hits the ball, he puts Rahane under pressure straight away. Rahane can bat anywhere between 1-4 but not after that as he struggles to hit boundaries after that when we need it the most. I would be in favour of Rahane opening because you just don't feel right in leaving out a player of his class but Rohit has really dominated that opening slot since he was promoted. We can't move Dhawan down the order since he is a specialist opener. Kohli has to stay at number 3 so the only open for Rahane is 4. However, if Rahane comes in to bat after after 35 overs, he is not the ideal man since he will be rotating strike but won't be able to hit big boundaries. For me, Raina has to come back since we don't have anyone who is that experienced at our lower order.

Rohit
Dhawan
Kohli
Pandey/Rahane
Dhoni
Raina
Jadeja/Hardik Pandya/Rishi Dhawan
Ashwin
Bumrah
Sran
Shami

Reserve: Pandey/Rahane, Jadeja/Hardik Pandya/Rishi Dhawan, Ishant, Umesh

Looking ahead to T20's, we again have a decent team but it's about winning the crunch moments.

Rohit
Rahane
Kohli
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Raina
Hardik Pandya
Ashwin
Umesh Yadav/Harbhajan Singh
Bumrah
Nehra

 

[PokerAce]

Dhoni 'disturbed' by spidercam intrusion | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[SaiSrini]

Good that he scored 99..india has a bad record against australia when he scores 100

Oh stop it, even if its for humor sake (coz such things easily get imprinted in minds)! People did the same thing to Sachin (co-incidentally even that started off as a joke and hooked on as more of such incidents happened). Though I am not a huge Rohit Sharma fan, I have to back him on this. He has scored lots of runs in this series and can't be blamed at all.

Looking ahead to T20's, we again have a decent team but it's about winning the crunch moments.

Rohit
Rahane
Kohli
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Raina
Hardik Pandya
Ashwin
Umesh Yadav/Harbhajan Singh
Bumrah
Nehra

Yadav? Even if the wicket is favoring fast bowlers, no Yadav again for quite sometime in the shorter formats. He has looked the most horrible and has almost become the butt of jokes after the ODI's now. If we need another seamer, Rishi Dhawan can be played in place of Yadav/Harbhajan (Rishi has been retained for the T20's). But I think the T20's will be similar in terms of pitches where they will be flat and batting beauties. In that case, we play both Harbhajan and Ashwin.

 

[PokerAce]

I think if India went in with this line up, India would be very hard to beat in India -

Rahane
Rohit
Kohli
Pandey/Raina
Yuvi
MSD
Jadeja
Rishi Dhawan
Ashwin
Harbhajan/Amit Mishra
Bumrah (He plays every game India play)

Bumrah and Rishi Dhawan have to do the seamers job. Rishi Dhawan has shown enough in the three games that he can mix it up, and is not easy to score. The batsman can score only if they innovate, or get edges going for boundaries. He will bowl to his field and not throw it around both sides, like Ishant, Bhuvi and Umesh do for fun. Bumrah just plays every game India play. If India need third seamer then I would drop Harbhajan for Nehra. Plus with Bumrah at the last, he can hit the ball well too. So that effectively, 11 batsmen who can deliver blows when required, so the accelartion can be done without fear.

Spinners in India are useful and Ashwin and Jadeja can do that job. In India they are different beasts. Yuvi can chip in with the ball, and if Raina plays so can he. So India will always have bowlers to go to.

I really like the look of this side for the Asia Cup and World T20.

 

[grkrama]

Dhoni 'disturbed' by spidercam intrusion | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

lol seems too eager

Say, 'Okay if you get hit, 2000 dollars per hit.' Let's make it interesting.
If spectators are not there, cricket won't be played. It is a mix and match; 2000 dollars per hit is a good option."

 

[prasoonvidhu]

I would really like to see pandaya ahead of rishi dhawan. Pandaya is a big hitter. I didn't know he can bowl at 140kph. If it is true then he should be given a chance ahead of rishi dhawan. I get a feeling rishi dhawan might be smashed around in india by international batsmen due to his slowness

 

[Fenil]

I would really like to see pandaya ahead of rishi dhawan. Pandaya is a big hitter. I didn't know he can bowl at 140kph. If it is true then he should be given a chance ahead of rishi dhawan. I get a feeling rishi dhawan might be smashed around in india by international batsmen due to his slowness

Hardik does not bowl at 140kmph regularly. Only occasionally. Please don't give him a big hitter tag because it has been playing on his mind. In a recent interview he said he is putting extra effort to improve his batting is trying to become a big hitter who can bowl. Now, this is sad because he is a bowler first. Everyone who has followed his career will know that. I don't want him to become the next Irfan Pathan. Please don't make him feel like a batting allrounder. We need him as what he is: a bowler who can bat well.

 

[Ohm]

Yesterday's win was such great. I didn't find time to post here earlier. Truly some sensational batting from Pandey, he was bit lucky though to cheap the ball in no man's land for 4-5 times. But, well played. Really loved his innings. Also, Dhoni should give himself a break. Resign ODI captaincy now maybe? Just continue to play as a player, without burden of captaincy, just like old days (we miss those days 148, 183*, etc). He deserves a good farewell to his career as he has won many trophies and series for us. I wouldn't like him being tortured by fans for his recent poor captaincy record at this stage of his career when he'll most likely depart from International cricket in next couple of years. Looking forward to T20 series. The last match has surely provided some boost to our players.

 

[SaiSrini]

The call for Dhoni to give up captaincy has just increased quite a bit in the past day or so. Finally more people agreeing that Dhoni is past his date as captain and can seriously prolong his career if he can give up captaincy and continue as a player. For e.g., Dhoni thinks a lot about how the batsmen after him will cope if he gets out. Well if he is not captain, he is not obliged to think about all that and can probably play with a freer mind. Hope he gives it a thought.

 

[grkrama]

Need to bring about a bit more shift in my batting, admits Dhoni | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[PokerAce]

T20s start tomorrow and while winning and losing definitely matter, in the larger context of things, this is the start of a rather long run of what will essentially be warm up matches for the Asia Cup and World T20 for India. It won't be wrong to say that the Asia Cup itself will be a final dress rehersal for the World T20.

Aus go on and play tests after this in NZ, but for India, is 5 months of only T20 cricket from here on. The Aus T20 series, followed by a SL T20 series, and then the Asia Cup, the World T20 and then IPL. Once this run finishes, and the new season starts in May, India play 18 tests. However for now its just T20s. So everything will be done around World T20. So India could go in with 3 spinners something that would never be done in Aus, ordinarily, but with the World T20 in Ind, Ind will look to try the combinations around three spinners. Bumrah should play, as should Nehra. Which means Pandaya probably will miss out.

Dhoni will be in his comfort Zone with batting till very low down the order. I am not sure the three spinners (5 if you include Yuvi and Raina, who can hold their own in Asia), will work in Aus, but that is the combination I expect for tomorrow's game.

 

[grkrama]

just hope pandya is also tried in a few games!

 

[Gaurav_7]

Dhawan
Sharma
Kohli
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Raina
Pandya
Jadeja/Dhawan
Ashwin
Bumrah
Nehra

This should be a perfect XI. We need to play Pandya as I feel he can be an important player for us in the WorldT20. This looks a much better team tbh than the ODIs.

 

[prasoonvidhu]

Pandaya may make his debut...source cricinfo