Nidahas Cup, (I-SL-B) T20I Tournament, 2018

[PKBasu]

Pandey has lost the match for us, with 28 off 27 balls (in the company of Shankar with 12 off 15) in a T20I.

But DK undoes some of the damage with 16 off his first 3 balls, and 18 off his first 5 — and 22 in the over. Well done! 12 needed off the last over but Shankar facing.

[PKBasu]

Shankar is hopeless, but he’s off strike after making 1 run off 2 balls in the final over.

And Shankar falls to the Bowling of Soumya Sarkar on the fifth ball of the final over. Just how bad can it be??

But DK clobbers the last ball for another SIX! Well, Dhoni’s place is beginning to look dicey now!!

[prasen9]

Vijay Shankar is the MoM. Total crap. I cannot remember a worse performance in a match than this one. MoM for Bangla with the ball, MoM with the bat. He took a good catch though. I don't want to see this chap anywhere near the national team. Axar Patel would have been much better.

Karthik fought off MasterCrap Shankar and QuiteCrap Pandey and won single-handedly. Take a bow Dinesh Karthik. Hats off. The complete opposite of Shankar's performance. Incredible hitting and incredible finish. Again, don't remember any cameo like this to win off the last ball.

[PKBasu]

Dinesh Kartik, 29 off 8 balls with 3 sixes. Take a bow

[Sin Hombre]

DK and Sundar are the only ones who can come off with real credit from this series.

I think it is a bit harsh to blame Shankar for his batting, this was his first ever innings at the international level. Pandey on the other hand can make no such excuses.

[VReddy]

I mentioned this a month ago but please slot in DK into all formats. His keeping may not be as solid as Saha but he is very good in his own right (ofcourse no comparison with PP). He has been amazing in the domestic circuit for the last 2 years. If we can slot him in for 3-4 years, he will have a golden era like Dhoni till like 36-38 years of age.

Hope it happens!

[sameerph]

I think it is a bit harsh to blame Shankar for his batting, this was his first ever innings at the international level.

Still playing 4 dot balls in the 18th over is unpardonable. Why was he sent ahead of DK ?

[prasen9]

Bit harsh? He looked like a novice. He gave away 4 dot balls to Mustafizur. He scored below 6 runs/over. He was total crap. That is actually being gracious to him. If you watched the match, you would have seen how crappy he was. I hope you did not have that misery to contend with. At least Manish hit two fours, etc. And tried to hit fiz and got out. This was one of the absolute worst batting performances I have ever seen in such conditions. Coupled with the crappy bowling, this performance may not have very many peers in LO cricket. Yes, this is his first limited over innings. But, if he is not ready he should not be in the team. Period. Yes, it was the team management's wrong decision to put out this out-of-his-league crappy player in a crucial position. In hindsight, DK should have come out and smoothed the nerves. But Shankar showed today he cannot bat *now*. Can he get better? Maybe. But until he shows he can handle quality bowling and tight conditions in the domestics in a final or something, he should not be near the Indian team.

[prasen9]

I mentioned this a month ago but please slot in DK into all formats. His keeping may not be as solid as Saha but he is very good in his own right (ofcourse no comparison with PP). He has been amazing in the domestic circuit for the last 2 years. If we can slot him in for 3-4 years, he will have a golden era like Dhoni till like 36-38 years of age.

Hope it happens!

His batting under trying conditions has been pedestrian. I don't think he can bat well in tests in the EARN countries where the ball moves or bounces. So, I'd rather get Saha as the keeper. I don't mind taking him as a second keeper and throwing him in to bat in trying conditions in FC cricket abroad. If he shows, he can handle it, then we can try him.

He has done reasonably well in his return in the ODIs. I don't mind resting Dhoni and giving him a chance regularly in ODIs.

[Sin Hombre]

I mentioned this a month ago but please slot in DK into all formats. His keeping may not be as solid as Saha but he is very good in his own right (ofcourse no comparison with PP). He has been amazing in the domestic circuit for the last 2 years. If we can slot him in for 3-4 years, he will have a golden era like Dhoni till like 36-38 years of age.

Hope it happens!

DK should be given a chance ahead of Dhoni in T20Is.

I think it is a bit harsh to blame Shankar for his batting, this was his first ever innings at the international level.

Still playing 4 dot balls in the 18th over is unpardonable. Why was he sent ahead of DK ?

Shastri's genius?

I think they wanted everyone to get a chance at batting?

[Sin Hombre]

@prasen I only saw a few overs around the 10th when Pandey made something like 7 off 14 and then went for some errands.

I agree that his chance has now gone after this "performance".

[VReddy]

I mentioned this a month ago but please slot in DK into all formats. His keeping may not be as solid as Saha but he is very good in his own right (ofcourse no comparison with PP). He has been amazing in the domestic circuit for the last 2 years. If we can slot him in for 3-4 years, he will have a golden era like Dhoni till like 36-38 years of age.

Hope it happens!

His batting under trying conditions has been pedestrian. I don't think he can bat well in tests in the EARN countries where the ball moves or bounces. So, I'd rather get Saha as the keeper. I don't mind taking him as a second keeper and throwing him in to bat in trying conditions in FC cricket abroad. If he shows, he can handle it, then we can try him.

He has done reasonably well in his return in the ODIs. I don't mind resting Dhoni and giving him a chance regularly in ODIs.

He did very well as our opener in 2007 in England. He played as a batsman then when he wasn't even the same batsman as he is now. He never played in AUS/NZ right, so isn't it unfair to bucket him like that. On the other hand, he is an amazing cutter and puller - I would infact do the reverse - DK in EARN and Saha in Asian conditions

[VReddy]

I mentioned this a month ago but please slot in DK into all formats. His keeping may not be as solid as Saha but he is very good in his own right (ofcourse no comparison with PP). He has been amazing in the domestic circuit for the last 2 years. If we can slot him in for 3-4 years, he will have a golden era like Dhoni till like 36-38 years of age.

Hope it happens!

His batting under trying conditions has been pedestrian. I don't think he can bat well in tests in the EARN countries where the ball moves or bounces. So, I'd rather get Saha as the keeper. I don't mind taking him as a second keeper and throwing him in to bat in trying conditions in FC cricket abroad. If he shows, he can handle it, then we can try him.

He has done reasonably well in his return in the ODIs. I don't mind resting Dhoni and giving him a chance regularly in ODIs.

He did very well as our opener in 2007 in England. He played as a batsman then when he wasn't even the same batsman as he is now. He never played in AUS/NZ right, so isn't it unfair to bucket him like that. On the other hand, he is an amazing cutter and puller - I would infact do the reverse - DK in EARN and Saha in Asian conditions

I remember back in 2013 (?), he scored 2 back-to-back centuries against WI / AUS in England in the warm up matches before the Champions Trophy. He didn't get much of an opportunity in the main matches then. So he has definately proved himself in English conditions.

[Sin Hombre]

Cricinfo is timing out

BD are doing a great job of bringing Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan supporters together.

[prasen9]

While I am harsh at Shankar, I do think this is one match and one innings. As it is on the other side with Karthik. I do think Shankar needs more experience batting under such conditions. He was shuffling in and then taking a huge heave ball after ball to Fiz. What he should have done is tried different things. Walk up for one ball and back for another and that does come with experience. Hope he learns from this. Shankar has to go back to the domestics and play good innings at the IPL and bowl well and earn more chances. At this point, I think a fit Pandya is better than him, though Pandya himself has to improve. Ditto with Karthik. I think Parthiv and Uthappa won us one-off matches with great performances in England. And, none other than Dhoni has played several Shankar-like innings although not four or five dot balls in over 18. Anyway, the bottom-line should be to take these performances and others and choose the best players.