Asia Cup, 2018

[prasen9]

Brilliant bowling by Bhuvi! Let's hope this is a good omen and he continues to take wickets!

I am not so sure about Jadhav's batting in tough conditions. But he is becoming a Yuvi with the ball. Batsmen underestimate him and he gets wickets. We do not have a sixth bowler. As was illustrated in the last two games, Kedar should be the #6. He can come in and bowl competently when one of the main bowlers cannot go for whatever reason.

PKB, Karthik is being rewarded for that incredible hitting (in Sri Lanka?). I feel badly for Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer though. They have not been given a decent, continuous run.

[indiansportsfan]

We also have to stop killing Pandya. He is our only genuine seaming allrounder in a really long time. He is arguably the most important member of the team across all formats, because he lends important balance to the side. We need to give him decent breaks in the calendar; specially from this meaningless tournament. We should also have given him some breaks during the England test series, so he might have been more effective when he played.

[prasen9]

He got a week off. Are they asking for Vijay Shankar? Of course, the best replacement is one V. Kohli. But, he should be given time to rest too. For now, I think Axar will play? Bhuvi, of course, contributes with the bat but he is not as good in ODIs as he is in tests abroad.

Or do we try Bhuvi at #7 again and bring in Khaleel.

My XI:

Dhawan, Rohit, Rayudu, Manish, Dhoni, Kedar, Bhuvi, Kuldeep, Khaleel, Chahal, Bumrah

The batting lineup is a bit weak. Of course, we know Karthik will play in place of Manish.

[ankit1407]

Don’t know the records but is Chahal so good to get a nod above Jadeja ? His bowling is pretty ordinary for what I have seen and is an awful fielder as well ..I would personally play Jadeja ( I know he is not part of squad) ahead of Chahar..

Edit :- Ok , seems like he has 45 Wkts in 25 odd matches so must be the ones I have seen that he looks like an ordinary leg spinner..explains why he is preferred as a wicket taking option ...

[indiansportsfan]

The batting lineup is weak precisely because we don't have a good allrounder. Batting stops at #6 (and that includes Dhoni). It looks much better with Pandya at 7 and Bhuvi at 8.

[prasen9]

That is correct.

[prasen9]

Axar, Pandya, and Shardul are out with injuries. Kaul, Chahar, and Jadeja have been called up. In a world cup in England, they are possibly not going to take an inexperienced bowler. So, it may have been useful to get Shami in to see what he can do.

[ankit1407]

Good to see Jadeja back, if he can continue to improve his bowling and focus around taking wickets we can have a have a strong 7,8,9 in the form of Hardik, Bhuvi, Jadeja...we do need this given our top 6 is not very strong specially if we end up losing our openers/top 3 easily..

[prasen9]

Good to see Jadeja take wickets and Bhuvi continue to take wickets. Hopefully, both of them can bring their averages below 35.

[PKBasu]

Good to see Jadeja seize back his place in the ODI side in style. His batting and fielding will add nice balance to the side.
(Ironically he played a Hazare trophy match for Saurashtra a couple of days ago, and went 0/66 while the wickets fell to D Jadeja and P Mankad. Fortunately the selectors ignore domestic cricket!

[prasen9]

Or they look beyond one match. Good.

It seems the Bangladeshis prepared for our spin twins Chahal and Kuldeep and played them carefully. They possibly did not think that Jadeja would be flown in and right into action

[prasen9]

So India qualifies for the finals and will meet the winner of Bangladesh and Pakistan. Given that so many games are being played in a short duration, we have to rest Bumrah and Dhawan in the next match. And maybe old guy and wicket-keeper Dhoni too.

So, Rohit, Rahul, Rayudu, Karthik (wk), Pandey, Kedar, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Khaleel, Chahar, Kaul.

[kna]

Agree completely with your XI Prasen. If the bench does not play in the next game against Afghanistan, they never will. I'd be OK if they want to play Chahal instead of Kuldeep too.

[prasen9]

Yes, I am fine with Chahal. But, Chahal and Jadeja spin the ball in the same direction. That is why I had Kuldeep. Also, Kuldeep is younger than Chahal. So, he can possibly recover physically faster with less rest for the final.

[PKBasu]

Properly experimental side today, with Rohit, Dhawan, Bhuvi, Bumrah and Chahal rested.

Deepak Chahar was impressive in his first over, generating natural swing both ways. But he tried too many variations in his second over, and got hammered for 17 runs. Kaul, as usual, is well short of international class.