Indian Premier League (IPL)

[prasen9]

Among the bowlers here are the top performers (Qual: 16 wickets, by avg.):

Chahal 19.51@7.75, Khaleel 19.68@8.04, Kuldeep 19.95@8.43, Umran 20.18@9.03, Umesh 21.18@7.06, Harshal 21.57@7.66, Nata 22.55@9.44.

Not very many pace-bowlers doing that well. Umran is wild! Nata is even wilder. Umesh has bowled well and seems to have matured from his own wild days. Worth a look in some of the T20Is I think. Harshal can bat a bit and should also be kept. Seems like the spinners are Chahal and Kuldeep with Kuldeep finding it hard to keep runs down.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

I think the new franchises were at an advantage. They did not have money tied up as deadwood. They could build a team based on current form and current predictions and had a full purse. On the flip side, they did not have access to the top players who were bottled up by other teams. But, that was only a few players. The ability to pick good players from each team, more or less, and not have to touch the junk and deadwood was a huge advantage. In the future, the think-tank needs to think about the right method to allow for a bit more equity. Maybe allow teams to protect six players or so such that the core of the team is protected. Or 5.

Thing you predicted on Chahal is getting right. He is getting smashed in T20Is with high economy

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Plenty are there who will be eyeing India team spot for 50 over WC through IPL and our brainless selectors will be picking them for odis based on T20 format

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Good to see Rajvardhan Hangargekar getting a game finally. He is an allrounder and should bat ahead of proven failure Dube. Deepak Chahar again proved he is one of the worst bowler with old bowl.

[Mukherjee Babu]

KKR has build squad based on future but their playing XI doesn't shows such objective as the XI is full of proven failures. Oponents have found the way to keep Russel & Narine silent for last 4 season, still the team management has persisted with thrm. Narayan Jagadeesan is big name now after his petformance in domestic, with no means he should sit out. Umesh & Southee has nothing to give in T20s, talent like V Arora, S Sharma should feature in Playing XI.V Iyer is not getting utilized as an allrounder

[prasen9]

I am too glad that Hangargekar will get a fair chance. Nata is also back. Saini bowled badly but that is two overs. Hope he recovers.

Hangargekar, Gill, Shami, Jadeja, Khaleel etc. have started well.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Two unknown talent from MI Arshad Khan & Nehal Wadhera looks promishing, specially Arshad someone who can swing the new ball and more then capable as batter. Rohit should give him more space to develop as an allrounder

[prasen9]

Fantastic innings by Tilak Varma, Kohli, Yashasvi, Sanju. Great bowling by Siraj, Karn. Varun C. was not bad. These are just one off innings. Let us see who performs somewhat consistently.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

R Sharma, S Dhawan, KL Rahul, S Gill, I Kishan, R Gaikward.....so many replacement probables for opening spot, whereas team is struggling to find probables for middle order

[prasen9]

It is easier to bat up front because of the fielding restrictions, new ball, etc.

ESPN finally has started publishing total impact leaders. Currently, leading among the Indians:

Ruturaj, Tilak, Gill, Hangargekar, Arshdeep, Kohli, Shami, Yashasvi, Siraj, Khaleel, Sanju.

Interestingly, that is four pacers and the rest are batters. So, you could choose using this. Sanju needs to keep. Lineup would be: Rutu, Gill, Yashasvi, Kohli, Sanju, Tilak, Hangar, Shami, Arshdeep, Siraj, Khaleel - a long tail but batting up to #7. In reality, we will have to choose maybe 2 at most 3 of the last 4. So, need one more batter and one more allrounder. The next batter is Dhoni and allrounder is Axar. But this is but one match mostly. So, it will change.

We are really doing very little to unearth class spinners. Perhaps Bishnoi is the next one in line. Old ex-India player Karn Sharma did well.

Rutu got two games. The rest got (mostly) one. The Impact rankings are not average. That is, whoever has played more games will earn more points if they perform.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Seeing Shewag & Rohit Sharma's progress, all batters are now thinking of opening the batting. Ruturaj, Gill started as middle order batter and now became proper opening batsman.Jaiswal started as opener and now he has been getting pushed down to n.o 3 in few domestic games. Tilak should be in WI tour Odi Squad as he has been scoring runs both in domestic & IPLs, and also can bowl few overs. Sad to see Hooda, team management showed him confidence and now he has been thrown out, is reflecting in his batting. But team needs more a batter who can ball then one dimmensional cricketers like SKY, Ishan Kishan

[prasen9]

Namboodri Thakur has indeed made a case for the limited over squads. Try him in A-teams or even in the main team. As you said, he can bowl a few overs and is good for the #6 bowling option.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

No he is an exceptional case. Someone who can open the bowl and open the batting and also can keep wickets

[prasen9]

Namboori's batting has been exceptional in LOIs. Not so in FC. He is just 20. And, several of these discussions may run into small sample size problems. His List-A bowling has been good but he has been given 10 balls per match. In T20s, 2 balls per match. That is, he has not been well tested in domestic List-A or T20s. Getting him as one of the required bowlers is difficult to justify for a top LOI team. He has done well in List-As wrt bowling. His T20 numbers bowling-wise are bad wrt wicket-taking and just about okay or on the expensive side for a spinner (usually bows in the middle overs despite opening once in a while). Nevertheless, he is an excellent hitter and we need a #6 who can bat very well if we don't want to pick bits and pieces players such as Hardik and Jadeja. Both may be very good all-rounders in tests but Jadeja has a poor record in comparison to today's needs. Slow, inconsistent batter and not taking wickets. Doesn't harm to bring N. Thakur into the picture. Much better value than the S. Thakur chap. Especially on Indian wickets.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

No. He is below 14 and is on line to break the record of youngest cricketer to play test cricket. I will prefer super aggressive A Thakur more then N Thakur & S Thakur