Videocon Cup

[m_vaughan]

New Zealand are a very good one day team. I think the fact that they have so many allrounders is largely responsible for this. I remember NZ completely outplaying England in the 2004 Natwest Series.

India, from what Ive seen in the tri-series in Sri Lanka, dont look to be in good shape and are still searching for their best combination. Life without Sachin is a pain. But you never know, India might lose the group stage matches against NZ but win the all important final.

 

[gaurav_indian]

India will win. It's so simple and that we expect everytime they are on the field.
And if they do not win.Then we will wait for another series.
And I think we should also give Chappell atleast three four months time and then we can expect him to do wonders with the team.Because he is not a Harry Potter who can do magic with the players who are not in a good form.
Look at the Sri Lankan team they enjoy each of their success.
Tom Moody is looking good because he got a very good team.
What would have happened if he was the coach of India?

 

[Pak_cricketer]

We don't think India is a bad team...Its just that the in current form NZ look way better..

 

[Dhoni]

I voted for India, but still I think NZ is a very good ODI team and they have very good chance to win over India in final.

 

[ZexyZahid]

Personally I think New Zealand will win it too. The key of New Zealand is that have allrounders in a match, who can have average performances with bat and ball. And India is not currently in form now.

 

[vibs89]

Voted for India. Hope India Wins.

 

[irottev]

New Zealand should win. Final should be India V NZ definatly. I can't wait, should be some good exciting games.

 

[aditya123]

India have traditionally done well against NZ outside of NZ and on most ocassions beaten them comprehensively . Remember the WC 2003 match . NZ 149 all out .
The second most important thing is that the current Indian side is very different from the sides of the past . Indian batting sides of the past were good on slow wickets of the subcontinent and were a very strong batting side in the subcontinent but the current crop of players except for Dravid and Tendulkar are not so good on the sluggish wickets like SRL . Yuvraj , Ganguly, VVS Laxman and most importantly Sehwag are all at their dangerous best when the ball comes on to the bat though they would struggle a bit if it moves around ( it does not bother Sehwag anyway) . Expect India to be a far better team than what they looked in the IndianOil Cup . In fact , it has not been that bad a start . I agree that they lost 3 games to SRL but those were close matches and India were on top at some stage . Also , even in the best of form , India have not done well in Srilanka over the years . Eventhough Srilanka have been a better side in Sri Lanka , they have rarely managed to beat India outside of Sri Lanka. India have a 100 % success rate against Sri Lanka outside Srilanka in the last 5 years .
India V Sri Lanka , Taunton 1999 --------> India won
India V Srilanka , The Oval 2002 --------> India Won
India V SRL , Birmingham 2002 ------> India Won
India V SRL , BVristol 2002 ----------> India Won
India V SRL , Johannesburg 2003 -------> India Won

On all these ocassions India have done well only because they are a better side on the true batting tracks in England and SA and Sri Lanka are not half as potent on the tracks which are not helpful to spin (although they have Vaas)

I feel India can beat NZ but it will be close .
In the past 2 years we have won matches in England , Australia , Pakistan , West Indies but not a test series or ODI series in India (We home drew test series Vs Pak,NZ , beat SA , lost to Aus ) It proves that India are no longer the side they used to be on the slow tracks .

 

[zreh]

India have traditionally done well against NZ outside of NZ and on most ocassions beaten them comprehensively . Remember the WC 2003 match . NZ 149 all out .
The second most important thing is that the current Indian side is very different from the sides of the past . Indian batting sides of the past were good on slow wickets of the subcontinent and were a very strong batting side in the subcontinent but the current crop of players except for Dravid and Tendulkar are not so good on the sluggish wickets like SRL . Yuvraj , Ganguly, VVS Laxman and most importantly Sehwag are all at their dangerous best when the ball comes on to the bat though they would struggle a bit if it moves around ( it does not bother Sehwag anyway) . Expect India to be a far better team than what they looked in the IndianOil Cup . In fact , it has not been that bad a start . I agree that they lost 3 games to SRL but those were close matches and India were on top at some stage . Also , even in the best of form , India have not done well in Srilanka over the years . Eventhough Srilanka have been a better side in Sri Lanka , they have rarely managed to beat India outside of Sri Lanka. India have a 100 % success rate against Sri Lanka outside Srilanka in the last 5 years .
India V Sri Lanka , Taunton 1999 --------> India won
India V Srilanka , The Oval 2002 --------> India Won
India V SRL , Birmingham 2002 ------> India Won
India V SRL , BVristol 2002 ----------> India Won
India V SRL , Johannesburg 2003 -------> India Won

On all these ocassions India have done well only because they are a better side on the true batting tracks in England and SA and Sri Lanka are not half as potent on the tracks which are not helpful to spin (although they have Vaas)

I feel India can beat NZ but it will be close .
In the past 2 years we have won matches in England , Australia , Pakistan , West Indies but not a test series or ODI series in India (We home drew test series Vs Pak,NZ , beat SA , lost to Aus ) It proves that India are no longer the side they used to be on the slow tracks .

well said, and good job finding some of those stats. Now the question is, who should captain India? Dravid or ganguly. Personally I would go with Ganguly, even though i think he should not be on the team anymore, he is still one of the best captains in the game, and if he is playing, then he should definitly captain

 

[m_vaughan]

Yup good bit on information there, though India's record in Zimbabwe isnt particularly good. In 2001 they lost a test match to Zimbabwe and the series ended 1-1. The one day series, India qualified for the final, and lost to the West Indies.

In the past 2 years we have won matches in England , Australia , Pakistan , West Indies but not a test series or ODI series in India (We home drew test series Vs Pak,NZ , beat SA , lost to Aus ) It proves that India are no longer the side they used to be on the slow tracks .

I think what this means is that India are no longer a force at home. They might have won matches outside, but have not won enough tournaments. Natwest 2002 is now a long way back. After that they have won the ODI series in Pakistan in 2004, and in Bangladesh in 2004. So basically India are perfoming poorly, both at home and outside. But maybe with time, things will change.

 

[aditya123]

Yup good bit on information there, though India's record in Zimbabwe isnt particularly good. In 2001 they lost a test match to Zimbabwe and the series ended 1-1. The one day series, India qualified for the final, and lost to the West Indies.


I think what this means is that India are no longer a force at home. They might have won matches outside, but have not won enough tournaments. Natwest 2002 is now a long way back. After that they have won the ODI series in Pakistan in 2004, and in Bangladesh in 2004. So basically India are perfoming poorly, both at home and outside. But maybe with time, things will change.

mate , Zimbabwe were a decent side back in 2001 and so were the West Indies with Carl Hooper as the captain and quite a few decent players .
We have been a fantastic test side over the past few years as the Test No.3 ranking suggests . I agree that we`ve not won enough tournaments but we`ve been consistently winning tests abroad which never used to happen before . We nearly won the test series in Australia in 2003 if a few umpiring decisions went our way but still drew Australia in Australia which is a thing very few sides have achieved . Even in the worst of form, we only lost 2-1 to Australia in 2004 and could have drawn the series if not for the rain in Chennai. WE beat Pak in Pak in 2004 and played good cricket for 14 days in the home test series but mssed it up on the 15th day and th series was drawn by Pak .
In ODI cricket ,we have been poor ! Absolutely poor but even in ODIs , I think we`ll improve this season . Just wait and watch . Many people will be eating their words after a couple of series . Things can change very quickly in ODI cricket unlike tests where it takes a side quite some time to build a good side which India have done .

 

[ZexyZahid]

Indian squad has been named. Some surprises are in it:

http://content.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/215898.html

 

[m_vaughan]

mate , Zimbabwe were a decent side back in 2001 and so were the West Indies with Carl Hooper as the captain and quite a few decent players .
We have been a fantastic test side over the past few years as the Test No.3 ranking suggests . I agree that we`ve not won enough tournaments but we`ve been consistently winning tests abroad which never used to happen before . We nearly won the test series in Australia in 2003 if a few umpiring decisions went our way but still drew Australia in Australia which is a thing very few sides have achieved . Even in the worst of form, we only lost 2-1 to Australia in 2004 and could have drawn the series if not for the rain in Chennai. WE beat Pak in Pak in 2004 and played good cricket for 14 days in the home test series but mssed it up on the 15th day and th series was drawn by Pak .
In ODI cricket ,we have been poor ! Absolutely poor but even in ODIs , I think we`ll improve this season . Just wait and watch . Many people will be eating their words after a couple of series . Things can change very quickly in ODI cricket unlike tests where it takes a side quite some time to build a good side which India have done .

I dont know about the test matches, but India need a quality allrounder for the ODIs, if they want to play as well as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England. An allrounder gives balance to a team, something that the current team desperately needs.

Also the games that have been lost have been lost. You cannot blame the weather/umpire decisions for them. I am sure there have been a lot of games in which India have benefited from them, and at the end these things cancel each other out. I remember when England were in India in 2001, they could have drawn the test series 1-1, had it not been for the rain.

 

[kalyan]

I voted for New Zealand but it'd be nice to see Zimbabwe win it all.

Spoken like a true pakistani....... (sorry if i hurt u, no offence, just kidding)

Sure, NewZealand is stronger and in form. If India plays to their potential, then they might win.

 

[Dhoni]

Zaheer, Kumble and Laxman dropped from one-day squad

One-day squad
1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 3 Rahul Dravid (vice-capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Venugopal Rao, 8 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 9 Jai Prakash Yadav, 10 Irfan Pathan, 11 Ajit Agarkar, 12 Harbhajan Singh, 13 Murali Kartik, 14 Ashish Nehra, 15 Rudra Pratap Singh.

Test squad
1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), 4 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 Lakshmipathy Balaji, 12 Zaheer Khan, 13 Harbhajan Singh, 14 Ashish Nehra, 15 Sachin Tendulkar (subject to his fitness).