India in West Indies, June-July 2017

As the other sports forums seem to have taken old to some respect, well here is a cricket forum. NOTE: This forum will be heavily moderated and can be revoked at any time is discussions go out of hand.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
prasen9
Member
Member
Posts: 19124
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:49 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: State College, PA
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 8 times
Contact:

India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by prasen9 »

India is going to play some ODIs and T20Is in West Indies. The team announced is the Champions Trophy team with Rohit Sharma rested because he came out of a hip surgery and has some niggle in his knees. In his place, we have Pant. The other change was Kuldeep for Bumrah. Is Bumrah carrying some injury too? That may be the most probable explanation. Because, the team management prefers Bumrah over Umesh or Shami (and rightly so). So, there is no reason to prefer Umesh or Shami to Bumrah in the West Indies. Also, he seemed a bit lacklustre in some of the matches in the Champions Trophy.

I would prefer we open with Pant. However, we have Karthik in the lineup. I think he will be given a chance before Pant :-( And, the dreaded Rahane is in the team too. Which means he gets in before Karthik! Given the stature of WI, these guys will feast and continue for a few more tours :-(

Kuldeep is a good choice. I think we should rest both Jadeja and Ashwin and try to hone our next gen ODI spinners. I would have played Kuldeep, Chahal, Rasool, etc. I am not that enamoured by Jadeja and Ashwin's limited overs bowling of late. Jadeja is a superb fielder and a hard-hitting bat. So, there may be value in keeping him. But, it is best to preserve Ashwin for tests in India and pray that he can improve abroad a la Kumble.
User avatar
prasen9
Member
Member
Posts: 19124
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:49 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: State College, PA
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 8 times
Contact:

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by prasen9 »

Honestly, I have no idea what we are gaining by playing the full team against West Indies. I would be tempted to play with:

Pujara, Vijay, Fazal, Rayudu, Jadhav, Manish Pandey, SS Tiwary, Pant, Unadkat, Kuldeep, Dhawal, Binny, Hardik, Mohit, Chahal play.

What really are we achieving with Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni as the MO? And, Dhawan as the opener? I can see that they want to help Rahane learn to rotate the strike. We need technically sound batsmen abroad. Hence, I think it would be useful to see if Pujara or Vijay can play that role. I am okay with Rahane being tried for this series. Heck, we could even try Karthik to see if his comeback is for real. Instead we see the usual old guard play. It is heartening to see Bhuvi to learn to take wickets again. Hopefully, this uptick will continue ... Umesh on the other hand looks lacklustre as always.
Sin Hombre
Member
Member
Posts: 5766
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 6:59 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Chicago
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by Sin Hombre »

If the end result of this series is Yuvi finally being put to pasture, that will be a success. Dhoni as well but that is even harder.
User avatar
prasen9
Member
Member
Posts: 19124
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:49 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: State College, PA
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 8 times
Contact:

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by prasen9 »

Dhoni's slow batting cost us at the end. You cannot let the run-rate go up that high without wickets in hand on a dodgy wicket. Bad planning. Bad execution. Why do (a lot of) Indian greats keep playing beyond their past-due dates? Actually, this reflects poorly on our selectors and on our culture of super-star worship. Can we please see Pant next match? Give Karthik one more go and see if he cuts it.
User avatar
Omkara
Member
Member
Posts: 5228
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2005 9:03 am
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: Mumbai
Has thanked: 10 times
Contact:

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by Omkara »

Dhoni said he is like wine.
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by PKBasu »

Bizarre match -- the sort of match that raises suspicions of match-fixing. Dhoni's 54 off 114 balls was bad, but what was DK doing with 2 runs off 19 balls??
User avatar
prasen9
Member
Member
Posts: 19124
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:49 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: State College, PA
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 8 times
Contact:

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by prasen9 »

The pitch was slow and hard to bat on. The West Indies batsmen were on fire. India had lost 2 wickets with the in-form Dhawan and Kohli gone. So, DK was slow off the start. His technical deficiencies possibly meant that he could not get the strike rotated. Dhoni was slow at the beginning --- that makes sense. However, Dhoni keeps everything for the last over. He is not that good to be able to do it. The best solution is not to let the run-rate get too high given that you could not hit at will on this pitch. Bad strategy. He has been doing this for a while now. Overestimating his ability to catch up.
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by PKBasu »

It wasn't that hard to bat on. DK and Dhoni made the pitch look far more difficult than it was; in Dhoni's case, because it is his basic approach (to play as slowly as the required run rate -- usually below it -- and then blast away at the end; Gambhir was right that this aims at unnecessary personal glory and increases drama at the expense of a simple win; quite often in recent years it has resulted in unnecessary defeats). I really cannot understand why DK played ahead of Rishabh Pant.
User avatar
prasen9
Member
Member
Posts: 19124
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:49 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: State College, PA
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 8 times
Contact:

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by prasen9 »

Remember the compromising photos :-) :p
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by PKBasu »

A fine knock of 111* by Kohli (his 28th ODI century) won the series for India with ease -- after Shami and Umesh delivered earlier with the ball.

Kohli had one anxious moment, off a slow bouncer outside moving away from the off stump (the ball that got him in the previous two matches), but his edge fell about two feet in front of second slip. Once he got over that, Kohli was hooking, pulling and driving with his usual élan. The bouncer on off and moving away remains a problem area that he needs to sort out.
Rahane as usual showed his vulnerability against spin, although he has otherwise had an excellent series.
User avatar
prasen9
Member
Member
Posts: 19124
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:49 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: State College, PA
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 8 times
Contact:

Re: India in West Indies, June-July 2017

Post by prasen9 »

Among the batsmen, all of Kohli, Rahane, Jadhav, Karthik (in the few chances the last two got) did fine. Dhoni got the runs but he was too slow. Dhawan faded after a good start and Yuvraj was not successful. A mixed bag. Unless Yuvraj is asked to bowl seriously like he used to, there is not much advantage in playing him. I'd rather move Dhoni up to #4, Jadhav at #5 or Pandey at #5 and the other at #5. #7 is an allrounder --- Hardik is being tried. He failed with the bat but that was only in two innings.

Among the bowlers, Bhuvi was great. Jadhav has been a surprise. He should be asked to bowl more in the nets. Hardik is inconsistent. Ashwin bowled fine for a change. Jadeja bowled without giving runs but did not take wickets. Shami and Kuldeep bowled well. Umesh bowled well but was a tad expensive. Yuvraj was lacklustre in his 5 overs.
Post Reply