England tour of India, Nov-Dec 2008

[puneets]

I thought the cricketers are paid a yearly contract. If they do get some small amounts for each ODI match, the BCCI should just pay him a high enough bonus or a contract and tell him that covers that. The exact plan may be different but the gist of what I am saying is that the BCCI could manage to pay Ishant and it would not hurt the BCCI or Ishant greatly.

They have an yearly contract worth 25-30 lakhs I guess (for junior players like Ishant). On the top of that, they get paid some 2-3 lakhs per ODI and around 4 lakhs per test match. Ishant also made around $900,000 from his IPL contract.

That being said, BCCI should take care of the players and make sure that they get much needed rest. With ODI, Tests and T20 cramming up the schedule, the key players will also take a cue from MSD and opt out as and when they deem fit.

[PKBasu]

Ishant has just given us a good set of additional reasons why he shouldn't be playing ODIs, especially against useless sides like England. (I would say, "keep him for the big guns, and for occasional use only"). He has just bowled two consecutive no-balls, followed by a wide for five runs (so the free-hit ball still had to be bowled after those three balls), and has gone for 60 runs in 9 overs. That 9th over contained 10 balls (including a second wide), but also included two wickets -- the dangerous Samit Patel and the hapless Matt Prior. Wild, but unnecessary in ODIs against England!

[PKBasu]

Suresh Raina continues to underwhelm. He SHOULD be dropped (as should Rohit Sharma, if he fails again today), but Raina has been the blue-eyed boy from the very start and will never go. He looked completely uncomfortable against Broad and Flintoff, and is a toxic presence at #3. Raina had a couple of decent (OK, excellent) performances in the Asia Cup (and the tri-series around it), but those were against depleted bowling sides -- with Pakistan missing Umar Gul (IIRC) and Shoaib Akhtar, and Sri Lanka without Ajantha Mendis, plus Bangladesh. That was his great comeback, and now he is a permanent fixture in the ODI side -- no matter how pathetically he performs. Uthappa, Vijay and Badrinath should be tried in his stead -- but I doubt such sanity will prevail when it comes to Raina, the selectors' darling.

[PKBasu]

Rohit is a much more solid player -- and, in my eyes, is special because he showed poise and temperament at key points in the T20I world championship run. He has started well today, and I hope he cements his place with a good innings today. Of course, he needs to be consistent in order to earn that permanent spot, but he has shown much more real talent than Raina, in my view.

[PKBasu]

Sadly, Rohit again fails to really cement his place permanently. Today was an opportunity missed, although his 28 was useful in the context of the match.

I hope Uthappa regains his place (perhaps at the expense of Raina -- fond hope!). Rohit should be persisted with, but told he needs to play a match-winning knock or two soon.

[PKBasu]

Unfortunately, at 127/4, we now have a match on. The required run rate isn't challenging (4.94), and approximately what it was at the start of the innings. But if another wicket falls, the lower order is going to be under pressure. Yusuf will hopefully put his experience as a finisher in the IPL to good use.

Why, oh why, doesn't Viru get centuries in ODIs any more...?!

[PKBasu]

Dhoni runless off the last 11 balls he has faced! Inexplicable!

He is creating some unnecessary drama in Kanpur.

[puneets]

Suresh Raina continues to underwhelm. He SHOULD be dropped ..

I completely disagree with this. As you have already acknowledged in your post, Raina made a spectacular comeback into the ODI squad with 2 centuries (and an 84) in a span of 7 days. After that, he made three 50s against Sri Lanka (2 in SL), and a 43 in the first match against Eng. How does that make him a toxic presence ?

Here are his stats since his return:
http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/eng ... ew=innings

Since his return, he has been averaging 42 with a strike rate of 94.4, won 4 MoM awards. He was the top-scorer for India in the Asia Cup, 3rd in the Ind-SL ODI series (behind MSD and Kohli).

He's not had a big score in the first 3 matches of this series (43, 4 and 1), but this doesn't mean that he should be dropped!

[PKBasu]

Yes, Puneet, I acknowledged in my post that he had had an excellent Asia Cup. But remember his big scores were against Bangladesh and a depleted Pakistan side (with Umar Gul injured in the first over of one match). As soon as he had a modicum of success, his massive cheering squad (created by that nitwit Greg Chappell) immediately began trumpeting his success. I have always acknowledged that Raina is a fine talent -- BUT far from a finished product. He should absolutely not be a permanent presence in the team -- and certainly not ahead of Uthappa and Kohli -- based on the glowing reports he got from the discredited Greg Chappell. (Of course, Chappell is discredited in the eyes of the Indian cricketing public, but not at all in the eyes of the current BCCI brass, for whom he is a guardian angel).

Raina certainly did well in Sri Lanka, and I should have acknowledged this in my previous post. Sorry, Puneet, for overlooking that. But you acknowledge that Kohli was the bigger success in Sri Lanka. Why, oh why, is Kohli not in the side now??? In the Challenger Trophy, the Ranji Trophy final, Irani Trophy, in every touring match of substance, Viraat Kohli has shown that he is the one whose talent, ability and temperament stands out. (I was not a convinced Kohli fan 9-12 months ago, you might recall -- partly because of the attitude shown on his web pages -- but was converted by his superb performances under pressure, especially in Sri Lanka). The difference between Raina and Kohli is that the latter has performed under pressure, while Raina has usually done well only in unimportant fixtures against depleted attacks.

Irfan Pathan's treatment, by the way, is what truly shocks me. Irfan and Kaif were two players who Greg Chappell personally ruined (remember how the young Irfan was sent back from South Africa halfway through the tour, for instance?). Irfan was the Man of the Match in the T20I world championship final, AND he was the Man of the Match in the Perth Test victory against Australia last season (for his performances with bat AND ball), having just been left out of the previous two tests after scoring a test century in his only opportunity in the previous test series against Pakistan. That a man with such accomplishments can be cavalierly left out of the test and ODI squad simply boggles the mind! The reason given for dropping Irfan is an indifferent performance in 3 ODIs in Sri Lanka. If the hero of one of our most recent test triumphs AND the T20I world final can be dropped so easily and often, I don't see why Raina (who has never won us anything of real substance) should be considered a permanent fixture at #3 in the ODI squad despite repeated failures.

I am glad to see Irfan returning to the squad for the next two ODIs, but am saddened to see Vijay (rather than the failed Raina) making way for Tendulkar (exactly as I thought would happen). We have a lot of batting talent now, and it is pointless filling the side with players like Raina who haven't done enough to command a place, while leaving out others (Uthappa, Kohli) who have actually won us stirring victories.

[Atithee]

(Of course, Chappell is discredited in the eyes of the Indian cricketing public, but not at all in the eyes of the current BCCI brass, for whom he is a guardian angel).

Please do not include me in the "Indian cricketing public." I have no issues with Greg Chappell's stay at the helm. As for Raina, it is so easy to let your personal bias creep in your judgment (sometime I wonder is it really Raina that you dislike, or is it your intense hatred for everything that Chappell did and did not do).

The fact of the matter is that Irfan has been rather off-color in at least the matches I watched. His bowling looked so pedestrian that I couldn't believe it is the same Irfan that burst on the scene only a few years ago with so much promise. And, I am a huge supporter of Irfan. We need his bowling and batting of yore. But given what I saw, he didn't deserve a place in the first XI.

The reasons Raina maintains his place (and deserves a longer run) are:

1. he has done quite well in the recent months (irrespective of the opposition -- remember, the same opposition foiled some of our best performers)

2. there are fewer competitors for his spot than Irfan's (Badrinath has failed to grab his chances both in international and domestic settings). Irfan has none other than his own brother vying for the same spot (one who can't seem to do anything wrong in your eyes). Irfan and Raina have different roles in the team. Even if Irfan deserved a place, it should be at the expense of someone else, but not Raina. I know you are not directly suggesting that and I wouldn't mind if Uthappa or Kohli replaced Raina because I firmly believe that omitting inconsistent performers sends a clear message. However, such players come back with a vengeance. You don't have to look beyond Sehawag and Yuvraj for that (and even Raina). Sadly, Irfan doesn't seem to have his "Mojo" back in spite of his "cavalierly omission."

3. Raina's fielding is electric -- you conveniently overlook this fact.

4. he is still young and full of promise

I agree that Kohli needs to be blooded soon but I don't get why it can't be in place of Tendulkar (at least in this series). Does Tendulkar really need to play meaningless ODIs at this stage in his career? What does that achieve for the team? Who will sacrifice his place for the God now? Is it Raina, is it Sharma, is it Pathan, is it Patel?

[prasen9]

I think going by career performance this is the order of the batsmen:

Dhoni, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Kohli, Raina, Backup:Uthappa

I think that is a reasonable good side with Pathan & Pathan being the two all-rounders.

Badrinath failed in international cricket, but, that is a sample size of 2 outs. Surely, we should not be drawing any conclusions from that. It is his domestic and A-team loss of form that is worrying. I would certainly not put him before Kohli now, Uthappa, maybe.

Raina and Uthappa have technical flaws. Rohit has temperament flaws; his shot selection sometimes is very poor. I do not think Rohit should be in the team whatever his talent unless he improves his shot selection in the next two matches.

Raina batted very well on flat wickets with junk bowlers, but, he did well in Sri Lanka with Mendis in their team, I think. Before that I used to think of him as a flat-track bully. He is the best fielder in the current team, but, Kohli and Uthappa are very good fielders too. On the whole, I think Raina should be continued and deserves his chances to improve. Rohit should replaced by Kohli in the next few games unless Rohit produces at least a 75+ innings. I thought it was too early to blood Kohli and then was hugely impressed by his fighting batting.

I would also replace Y.Pathan with Kohli and I. Sharma with I. Pathan in the next match.

[indiansportsfan]

The problem with Raina is that he is a total misfit in the #3 spot. He is at best a #5 or #6 batsmen. If an early wicket falls, I wouldn't expect him to last for more than an over or 2 - assuming decent pitch and decent pacers on the other side. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma has shown that he can resurrect an innings in tough situations.

We dont need players who can only play when the conditions are good, rather much more valuable are those who only play when chips are down. Rohit Sharma has shown that promise, just needs the consistency. Still Rohit is probably a good #4, not a good #3. We really miss (an in-form) Dravid at that spot. There is nobody to fill that role right now.

[gbelday]

Dhoni runless off the last 11 balls he has faced! Inexplicable!

He is creating some unnecessary drama in Kanpur.

It's probably got to do with the fading light. Got to give Dhoni some credit here.


http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/indveng ... 78999.html
"We were ahead at every stage," said their captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. "In the morning when I went out for the toss I knew that D/L method could be applied as we know light fades away very fast at this venue after 4pm. So we were prepared, I had a chit of D/L calculations, and once we knew D/L method would be applied we decided to preserve wickets as we knew we were ahead." It begs the question, if Dhoni was prepared for such a chaotic ending, why on earth weren't the match authorities prepared to prevent it in the first place?

[sanjay8886]

Gautam, that is the difference between Dhoni and others including BCCI official. It is not a fluke that he is regarded as one of the best captains.

[sanjay8886]

I am not bullish on Raina. According to me his contribution in SL is the only thing which goes in his favor. Again sample size is small. He needs to still proove that he is good. Rohit sharma has a similar case. Give them few more chance and we can judge it.