World Cup 2019

[prasen9]

In LOIs, strike rate matters. Also, the WCs are run by the ICC and not exactly by the host board. So, the pitches are not doctored in favor of the bowlers. Actually, they are doctored against the bowlers. Thus, you need people with high SRs. Rahane was given a long rope. He failed. His form in tests in the last two years has been abysmal. Pujara was never given a chance in LOIs despite averaging quite highly in the domestics. His test batting put people to sleep before they could write his name in the LOI A-teams every time they tried.

You can argue with this team but there is not much you can do. Maybe bring in Pant and Samson at best. The latter only based on small sample size and current form. That is about it. Gill may be very good but he needs a bit more time to mature.

[prasen9]

Looking at the English WC squad, it is amazing to see so many of them average over 40 and SR over 100. You need the average because you can't score 350 with people who average 30. Bairstow 48/107, Buttler 42/120, Morgan 40/93, Root 50/87, Roy 41/106, Stokes 38/94, Hales 37/96. We have only Kedar Jadhav who averages over 40 and is barely over 100 wrt SR. We do not have anyone averaging even 30 among those who have a SR above 100. If you ignore Iyer who played only a few matches, you can even make that SR 95. And, India has some of the most flat batting pitches in the world. We should try to get at least 3 batsmen who bat over 35 and score at over 100. And, that would be achieved by having our traditional average-conscious batsmen batting faster. The hitters Pant and Hardik, I do not know if they have the skills to average 35. At least now. They need to improve while not sacrificing their SR too much.

[srini]

Just found India were all out for 180 something, an IPL like score line in their first warmup match with NZ in swinging pitch conditions. Weren’t we expecting flat tracks there for this World Cup per some of our forum members? Is it already late or can we still make some changes in squad just asking?

[Sin Hombre]

Pitches will be flat at the WC. Our batting line up is terrible and very top heavy.

[PKBasu]

The World Cup this year starts on 1st June. I recall that in 1999 it started in mid-May and ended on 20th June. The earlier you start the more swing there will be. It is cold and overcast in much of May. By mid-June, it becomes warmer and sunnier. By 7th July (the date of this year's final), swing will be less of a factor normally, although the weather is never predictable. The year we won the Champions Trophy (2013) it was relatively warm in June. The year we won the World Cup (1983), there was a lot of swing throughout the tournament -- but we had Binny, Madanlal, Kapil Dev and Mohinder Amarnath to exploit it (and occasionally also Sandeep Patil). We have decent swing options -- in Bhuvi and Shami -- this time too. The warm-up match against NZ was a sobering start though!

[Sin Hombre]

Last warmup match, another failure from the openers. Typical innings from Rohit where he wastes a lot of balls and scores nothing.

[Omkara]

Last warmup match, another failure from the openers. Typical innings from Rohit where he wastes a lot of balls and scores nothing.

I remember 99 when ganguly failed quite a few times before the cup started. Didn't matter.

[Sin Hombre]

Rohit has been one of the main culprits for our recent losses.

Not only does he fail often but eats up a lot of balls doing so. 19 off 42, on a pitch where we scored 359.

[prasen9]

Not only does he fail often but eats up a lot of balls doing so. 19 off 42, on a pitch where we scored 359.

Add: against a bowling attack like Bangladesh!

Our wrist spinners did fine. That is the problem. Jadeja can bat and field but cannot take wickets (as regularly). We need wickets in the middle overs without which we do not have the bowlers to contain the batsmen in the death overs. We should seriously consider wrist spinners who can bat after this WC. (Where is Atithee?) . See if Gopal can bowl and bat better.

[PKBasu]

Bangladesh comfortably beat South Africa, and the latter are close to elimination after losing their first two World Cup matches.
I worry that, with their backs against the wall, the Proteas will be desperate to win in their third match -- against India on Wednesday.

[prasen9]

Precisely. Bad schedule for us.

[RohitG]

If that's the case we will get a nice welcome in our match. Good to get a kick up our.. to focus on remaining matches. I just hope it's not as bad as the Windies game the other day. If we do win though, we'll be one step closer to eliminating one of the stronger sides from the semis through our match itself because then, SA has to beat Eng, Aus and NZ to stay alive

[Sin Hombre]

This SA team is not a strong one. They have a weak middle order, poor bowling lineup and can't play spin.

We beat them 5-1 in SA last year.

If we can't beat them, there is no hope for SFs.

[PKBasu]

Splendid start to the World Cup campaign by our bowlers. Bumrah was brilliant upfront, Chahal and Kuldeep delivered the knock-out in the middle overs, and Bhuvi put the finishing touches with 2 wickets for 3 runs off the 50th over!

[PKBasu]

Batsmen making a meal of it. Surprised that Jadhav was picked ahead of Vijay Shankar in English conditions. Chance for Jadhav to make some easy runs today though.