India-England ODI Series, Jan 2017

[sameerph]

England finally win their first match in India. Kedar Jadhav was superb again but just fell short this time. Still, he is establishing himself as #6 batsman in Indian team now.

[Sin Hombre]

Bhuvi was back to not being good enough on very helpful conditions especially at the start.

Reality is that we have 2 good ODI bowlers in Shami and Jadeja. Even Ashwin has been struggling for a while. Might need to blood in Kuldeep and create some competition for the spot.

KL is probably the most second talented bat in this Indian team but continues to throw his wicket away.

Current team for CT is
Rohit

Kohli
Yuvi
Dhoni
Kedar
Pandya
Jadeja
Ashwin
Shami
Bumrah

[prasen9]

I watched the last part of the Indian chase from over #33 or so. Here are some observations:

1. The match was finally lost by Kedar, who actually brought us back into the game superbly. Last 4 balls 6 runs, you should get it. The reason he failed because he was playing a high risk game. The last 7-8 balls or so, he refused singles. In more cases than not, you will not get it done with only 4's and 6's. If you take some singles, then it gets harder to bowl and actually easier to hit the 4s and 6s because the bowling team is not only defending the boundaries. I think refusing to take singles with Bhuvi at the other end was wrong strategy.

2. Kedar is not that fit. There was hardly a 2 (maybe very few) in the last 17 overs or so. It was an easy single or 4s and 6s. Running hard is an art. It puts the fielding team on pressure and actually you get more misfields, etc. We have masters in Kohli and Dhoni. Why can Kedar not learn from them?

3. Jadeja had a brain fade. Maybe someone should sit down and tell him not to hit sixes except may be if the run-rate is 11 or 12. He has too many brain fades. The coach should read the riot act and ask him to hit 4s only except when the case absolutely demands it or the ball absolutely demands it. And that too in areas where there are no fielders.

4. It is time for Dhoni to go. Or he has to bat in the top 4. He wasted too many balls and made the chase quite hard for the rest. So, all the batsmen were trying to hit to keep the RRR at 9-10 or below. At the end, it was too tall a task. I would rather move on to the next player and groom him. I know Dhoni scored a brilliant century in the previous match. But still. He was the person who batted the worst imho in this chase.

[prasen9]

Rahul should be given more chances because he is the most promising youngster. Dhawan should be the backup. Yes, Ashwin is not that good in ODIs and will be even less effective in England. Mishra is good but a horrible fielder. Kuldeep got hit out of the park in the practice match. Maybe Rasool? He can bat. I would not mind Kuldeep.

I am hoping Pant sets the field on fire in the T20Is and grabs the wicket-keeping duties from Dhoni.

[Sin Hombre]

Dhoni won't quit before the CT but agree with the sentiment. He eats up a lot of balls to get going for modern ODI cricket.

[prasen9]

What happened to Chahal? A smart (chess-player of repute) legspinner would be quite handy. He is young-ish too. He got 3 matches did okay and got dropped. There is no continuity and no planning in the Indian selections.

[prasen9]

Ashwin and Jadeja rested from the T20Is. Rasool and Mishra called up. But Chahal was in the team already. So, this is somewhat of a head-scratching move.

Mishra is the best of the three. But, Chahal is a better spinner than Rasool in T20s. But, you can't play two leggies. So, Rasool is almost guaranteed to play. A better bet may have been to include Kuldeep to give variety. Make a call on Mishra. If you can manage his fielding, then include him in the team. Otherwise, don't even include him in the 15. Give Chahal a run. This bizarre sequence of events means that the selectors have no clue and are just randomly picking among the A-team players! Weird.

My team would be: Rahul, Mandeep, Kohli, Yuvraj, Raina, Pant, Hardik, Rasool, Mishra, Bumrah, Nehra. If you can't manage both Mishra and Nehra on the field, choose one and then get one of Chahal or Bhuvi.

[Sin Hombre]

Hopefully Pant can make an instant impact in the T20 series and force his way into the ODI team. We desperately need one big hitter there.

[prasen9]

Yes, I would love that too. Dhoni and Raina played fine today. Everyone else failed with the bat. Maybe Kedar Jadhav should be included in the T20I team. Rasool is not that great a bowler. But, he deserves a fair run. Chahal did great. Seems like Bumrah has lost a bit of his form. Or maybe the rest of the world has worked him out. Maybe he did well in the beginning because of his funky action, but, now the mystery is over.

India should ask Yuvraj to practice bowling. Oftentimes, in the past, in LOIs, he would come in and choke the opposition and get some wickets to bring the bowlers back.

[prasen9]

Talking of bizarre selections, Pawan Negi was a left-arm spinner who can hit the ball with the bat well. He was given 1 match, did well with the ball and now he is gone. I guess he is paying for a lacklustre IPL season. But, young players have ups and downs. If he is not a great talent, why did you select him in the first place? If he is, then dumping him after a handful of matches is not good strategy. Similarly, Barinder Sran another left-arm pacer was given two matches took 6 wickets for 40 runs or so in 8 overs. Gone. I like Nehra. But, he is injury prone and has hardly much left. We have been lacking a left-arm pacer for a long time. Why not let Sran get a few more matches? Bumrah, Sran, Negi, Hardik, Mishra will not be a much weaker attack than the one we are using now. Sran and Negi are much younger than who they would be replacing. If you don't like Mishra, I'm fine with Chahal. Indian selectors' lack of continuity and the knack of not giving youngsters a fair run is very annoying. I could even be fine with Rasool instead of Mishra, but, to drop someone after being given one match and bringing in another inexperienced bowler is rather clueless selection.

[Sin Hombre]

Same old garbage middle order. Sigh. The game and age has left them behind.

[Atithee]

Yes, our batters make Moeen look like a Shane or Murali. What do you do? Can't wait to see the mauling of our slow and fast spinners alike. England will be 50/1 in the first five overs.

Finally, a stadium where boundary was pushed back 10 yards to make it an even contest between the bat and ball. Is there any other sport in the world where playing area is chosen at whim rather than a standard size?

[Sin Hombre]

Football does not have fixed dimensions either.

The better teams generally go with the widest possible and weaker teams often bring it in.

Our team selections in LOI cricket are incomprehensible. We have so much young batting talent but keep persisting with over the hill players.

[prasen9]

Absolutely spot on. I hope Mandeep and Pant get games in the next match. I would drop Yuvraj and Dhoni. Maybe try Kedar Jadhav in the lower middle order in the next series and bring in some youngsters who can hit without fear. Manish Pandey has batted poorly in 8 matches so far. He is talented. So, he should be given some more matches to figure it out. But, he has to improve.

Among the English bowlers, the pacers were the hardest to hit. Nobody took on Moeen, but, I think if they did they could have hit him. Chahal has bowled okay but not that well. Bumrah seems to have lost form and confidence. Nehra cannot field. Mishra cannot field and oversteps! We need some of the youngsters to take their chances. The Raina-Chahal-Bumrah overs 13-16 turned the game decisively. I wonder why the team does not make Yuvraj bowl anymore. He was smart and effective before. And, Hardik did not get a look when the others are struggling! Not very smart captaincy.

[prasen9]

Even our umpires are doing their part! Kohli was given a not out when he was clearly out and Root was given out when he was not!

Bumrah is the MoM for me. What an incredible over! He returns back to form at the right time. Clearly our best bowler at the end. There are too many LOIs and I don't remember them all. But, I don't remember very many Indian bowlers defending 8 runs in the last over in the last 4-5 years or even more. Anyone else remembers?