March 12 : India vs South Africa

[sjdigitall]

Yea it really is fun

Yea its also fun to watch more than a 100 runs scored in 5 overs... oh wait that happend to a so called "good" bowling attack didnt it? Wonder what team that was?

 

[SaiSrini]

I feel that SA chokes when chasing down low totals in important matches. The totals which are mostly less than 200.

Anyhow, I was reading Dhoni said that "The batsmen played for themselves and not for the team" Which batsmen he was reffering to??? Gambhir???

Dhoni actually attacked batsmen for playing to the gallery and not for the team. I guess he was referring to Yuvraj and Yusuf who threw their wickets going for flamboyant shots. But when Dhoni himself was guilty of a batting mistake (why did he give strike to Nehra against Steyn by taking a single off the very first ball)? When Zaheer got out, shouldnt Dhoni have stepped up a gear and went for his shots?

 

[Rehan_24]

He was also of the view that we should have played complete 50 overs, if we did that, our score would be atleast 325 runs. Maybe he wanted to stay on the wicket till 50 overs

 

[SaiSrini]

He was also of the view that we should have played complete 50 overs, if we did that, our score would be atleast 325 runs. Maybe he wanted to stay on the wicket till 50 overs

Wish Yuvraj had continued the same way as he played against Ireland and Netherlands (ie. grafting). We might have ended up 10-15 runs more, atleast. But Dhoni is also to blame for giving strike to Nehra against Steyn. Its a collective mistake by the batsmen that led to that collapse.

 

[icyman]

Dhoni needs to win a game properly and then only should he talk about winning the Cup for Tendulkar.

Btw, Dean Jones has lashed out by saying we do not deserve to win the Cup with such a shambolic side. I think he is right.

 

[AkshayS]

ATM no team deserves to win the World cup.

 

[SaiSrini]

Dhoni needs to win a game properly and then only should he talk about winning the Cup for Tendulkar.

Btw, Dean Jones has lashed out by saying we do not deserve to win the Cup with such a shambolic side. I think he is right.

Read that Dean Jones article. The guy points out to previous World Cups and says that champion sides dont have such light bowling attacks and so we wont win the cup. But Mr. Jones - this is the first World Cup that is being played after the advent of the monster called "Twenty20" which has completely tilted the scaled towards batsmen. Nowadays a required run rate of 9 runs per over isnt safe anymore. And more so in subcontinent conditions where its all about batsmen. Still feel a side like India can pull things off if they do it the right way.

 

[Kabooka]

ATM no team deserves to win the World cup.

Yep, all of em look rusty & no one looks invincible to me. So its all a matter of luck.

 

[icyman]

Read that Dean Jones article. The guy points out to previous World Cups and says that champion sides dont have such light bowling attacks and so we wont win the cup. But Mr. Jones - this is the first World Cup that is being played after the advent of the monster called "Twenty20" which has completely tilted the scaled towards batsmen. Nowadays a required run rate of 9 runs per over isnt safe anymore. And more so in subcontinent conditions where its all about batsmen. Still feel a side like India can pull things off if they do it the right way.

Agreed the game has titled towards batsmen largely. But, the fact remains that bowlers need to show that they can do their bit. Plus, our ultra -flat national highways aren't helping either.

I remember you pointing out before the England match that we need a loss to get back in shape. Hope, the team is back in shape versus the West Indies. A loss there could end up troubling us big time.

 

[SaiSrini]

Agreed the game has titled towards batsmen largely. But, the fact remains that bowlers need to show that they can do their bit. Plus, our ultra -flat national highways aren't helping either.

I remember you pointing out before the England match that we need a loss to get back in shape. Hope, the team is back in shape versus the West Indies. A loss there could end up troubling us big time.

Yes, I said a loss will help us get back in shape and I hope that loss against SA will be our only one in this entire tournament. Chennai is a strong ground for us and we should play all of the CSK boys (Raina and Ashwin along with MSD) here. They know the ground too well and the crowd support for them is going to be magnificient. Also with the Ashwin vs Chawla/3rd seamer debate, if Ashwin is picked here, he could get huge support because of the sympathy that he wasnt picked yet. Also the balance of the side will be better with Ashwin backing up Harbhajan (who is showing signs of returning to form) and Raina giving the lower order more meat with the bat. The decision is whether to drop Gambhir or Kohli or Yusuf (for Raina). I would retain Kohli and drop either Gambhir or Yusuf, because Kohli's fielding is excellent and add Raina in and our fielding strength increases significantly

 

[Prithvi]

A story in Zaheer's Official page in fb!

Zaheer was to bowl the Last Over! Actually, initially, Dhoni had no plans to give the last over to Nehra. “Harbhajan Singh was to bowl the 49th and Zaheer Khan was to be entrusted with the last over... Dhoni, however, had a rethink and gave the 49th instead to Zaheer. He was brilliant, conceding just four runs. “Dhoni got carried away, thinking that a medium-pacer would be able to continue the good work and, so, out of the equation went Harbhajan... “That Nehra had won a couple of matches with stand-out performances (Karachi in 2004, Rajkot in 2009) in the last over also appears to have influenced Dhoni. This time it didn’t work,” a senior member of Team India told The Telegraph on Sunday. ___________ Your Views on Dhonis Leadership?

Source: Zaheer Khan's Photos - Wall Photos | Facebook

 

[SaiSrini]

Bringing in Nehra for the last over was backed up by logic (Nehra has been good in the death overs, and also has had a few wins under his belt by bowling the crucial last over in a few tight games). But Dhoni giving Zaheer the 49th over was bad. Harbhajan should have bowled the 49th and Zaheer the final one. Also when Nehra has not bowled well so far in the match, suddenly giving him the last two overs was not logical. Your best bowlers have to bowl the last overs, and it was Harbhajan and Zaheer.

 

[Aditya]

Sachin should have been given the last over. I've seen videos of the match, vs South Africa I guess. Where Sachin asked Azharuddin to give him the last over when South Africa needed just 6 to win off the last over. Sachin gave away just 2 runs and India won the match by 1 run. You see, Sachin has a good record with the ball in the last over of the match, in a chase.

 

[pcfan123]

^ yes and I heard Sachin also once piloted the space shuttle back to earth when the pilot died.

 

[Harshshah]

Where do you hear these things from?

Pretty much it seems you are another Sachin (GOD) in disguise