Mar 9 - India vs Netherlands

[SaiSrini]

TBH Sai, It was expected that we thump them in 2003, we did not do a very good job of it though. Things are different this time round and I would like to see the bowlers skittle them out for less than 200- that would be an achievement.

Didnt we almost do that with Ireland (they scored only 207)? And we did it with just Yuvraj and Zaheer contributing.

 

[Cricketman]

Ashwin for Chawla and Nehra for Zaheer are the changes that I see happening. I guess Dhoni might not rest/drop Harbhajan. Even Cricinfo says the same.

Hope we dont get a close game here. We need to win this as easy as possible.

No way will Zaheer be dropped. Last thing we need is for us to lose now, Zaheer is a vital cog.

We simply cannot take any team lightly. The WC is all about momentum, and after the 'meh' game vs Ireland I think we need to roar back in this one.

 

[SaiSrini]

I somehow feel we are missing Raina in there. Raina the fielder fielding for the entire 50 overs of our bowling innings will definitely boost our fielding. And on Indian pitches, Raina's hitting can change games. When we already have Sachin, Gambhir, Dhoni as anchors (and Yuvraj showing that he can anchor too), wonder if we really need another anchor in Kohli? Raina gives a better option in the bowling department than Kohli (whose bowling we dont use at all). Also I feel the attitude and the energy Raina brings with his game, I feel we should use that. We have too many anchor batsmen and only one genuine hitter (Yusuf Pathan). Or drop Gambhir and bring in Raina (if we want Virat in there). Dhoni should think about this, especially since tougher challenges await us in the knockouts.

 

[Cricketman]

Kohli is our second best batsman right now. You really want to drop him??

 

[SaiSrini]

Kohli is our second best batsman right now. You really want to drop him??

Then drop Gambhir. Anyways, Kohli is an ideal No.3 batsman.

Hopefully things will become more clear once Sachin retires because with Sachin still in there, Raina is going to find it very tough in ODI's and he should be there in ODI's for his allround value.

 

[STLIndian]

I somehow feel we are missing Raina in there. Raina the fielder fielding for the entire 50 overs of our bowling innings will definitely boost our fielding. And on Indian pitches, Raina's hitting can change games. When we already have Sachin, Gambhir, Dhoni as anchors (and Yuvraj showing that he can anchor too), wonder if we really need another anchor in Kohli? Raina gives a better option in the bowling department than Kohli (whose bowling we dont use at all). Also I feel the attitude and the energy Raina brings with his game, I feel we should use that. We have too many anchor batsmen and only one genuine hitter (Yusuf Pathan). Or drop Gambhir and bring in Raina (if we want Virat in there). Dhoni should think about this, especially since tougher challenges await us in the knockouts.

There's no such thing as having too many anchor batsmen. Especially when all of them are more than capable of playing at better than 100 strike rate.

And besides, we needed every one of those anchor batsmen to beat Ireland, didn't we?

 

[SaiSrini]

There's no such thing as having too many anchor batsmen. Especially when all of them are more than capable of playing at better than 100 strike rate.

And besides, we needed every one of those anchor batsmen to beat Ireland, didn't we?

We probably could have added 15-20 more runs if Raina was there instead of Kohli at the end of our innings against England (and that might have translated into one additional point for us).

 

[STLIndian]

We probably could have added 15-20 more runs if Raina was there instead of Kohli at the end of our innings against England (and that might have translated into one additional point for us).

Hindsight is 20/20. If you look at every match that way, you could say that we should have played 7 bowlers against Bangladesh.

What if India falls to 20/3? Kohli would be much more trustworthy rebuilding the innings than Raina with the form Kohli is sin.

Raina is a luxury. Kohli is a necessity.

 

[Cricketman]

Kohli will start slow and get a strike rate of 100+ and a big score by the end. Raina is likely to start all guns blazing but make a pretty 30 at best.

Kohli is a top order batsman. He should have come in at 4 vs England. Give him some time to settle, and he will always convert for the team. If he wasn't runout by Yuvraj vs Ireland, that game would have been so much easier imo.

I think the top 4 shouldn't be touched. You can't drop Gambhir either... he is a star player. No way in hell would I drop Gambhir for Raina.

Especially when the SA game is the next big one up for us.

 

[SaiSrini]

Yeah fair enough. Thats why Kohli's stunning emergence has thrown Raina out of the equation (a few months back, Raina was amongst India's premier LOI players)

 

[Aditya]

Raina should be given a chance in today's match. Lets stop thinking about Sachin getting to the landmark of 100 hundreds in international cricket. He's firstly playing for his team and then for his records. He should be rested in today's match, there is no need to play him against Netherlands. The rest of the side can do fairly well against a side like Netherlands. I know, Sachin has not played much odi's in the last 1 year but still it's not necessary to play him against a team like Netherlands. Rest Sachin, give Raina a chance. Rest Harbhajan, just to give Ashwin a chance. I'm not sure whether Zaheer should be rested, without him our pace attack is just not good enough. We cannot depend much on Nehra.

 

[Harshshah]

No Raina No Ashwin

Only 1 change that is Nehra in for Munaf this is ████

 

[jacobfelix]

....that means Piyush is there....

Watch out for the legendary spinner....

 

[AbhishekS]

I actually liked the change of getting in Nehra for Munaf. The match is in Delhi and so Nehra would certainly know more about the pitch than Munaf. Plus, the match is against probably the weakest side in Group B and so we can afford to take some chances, and so I did expect Gambhir or Kohli being rested making way for Raina even though it isn't necessary at all.

Regarding Ashwin, he should be in only if Harbhajan is rested, we cannot afford to drop Piyush on SC wickets. I have been saying this time and again that a leg spinner on the SC wicket is necessary if the off spinners aren't in form, and we all know how Bhajji has performed in the recent past.

 

[SaiSrini]

I actually liked the change of getting in Nehra for Munaf. The match is in Delhi and so Nehra would certainly know more about the pitch than Munaf. Plus, the match is against probably the weakest side in Group B and so we can afford to take some chances, and so I did expect Gambhir or Kohli being rested making way for Raina even though it isn't necessary at all.

Regarding Ashwin, he should be in only if Harbhajan is rested, we cannot afford to drop Piyush on SC wickets. I have been saying this time and again that a leg spinner on the SC wicket is necessary if the off spinners aren't in form, and we all know how Bhajji has performed in the recent past.

Bull crap! Chawla has done nothing of note in the matches he has played so far. He has played so poorly in all the games. Piyush is not a champion bowler of any sort. Ashwin is a more intelligent and an attacking bowler too. He can enter the battle in the Powerplays and do well. He has to play sooner or later (news from Kotla was that Chawla was booed when his name was announced it seems). People want Ashwin in. Wonder what Dhoni is thinking.

Harbhajan will start performing if the spinner at the other end does well. And I dont see Chawla turning a leaf. First of all, Chawla should never have been played ahead of Ashwin, who had done much of the hard work only to lose place because he is an off spinner like Bhajji.