India in Australia, 2018-2019

[Sin Hombre]

Dhoni and Karthik finish the match and with this, seal their place in the WC xi.

Our best hope is for Gill to replace Rayadu.

[RohitG]

Most of our guys managed to rectify their mistakes in this match. As discussed on this thread, it's number 4,5,6 that are spots to choose and so far Rayudu is the weak link. If he doesn't manage to pull a rabbit out of his hat in the decider, they should give Shubman a starting position at #4 in NZ series. Dhoni still has got some gas left in his tank and maybe he can polish his game enough in the next 11 ODIs.

[ankit1407]

Everything about Dhoni inning will look good today because he had Virat doing all the scoring earlier and Karthik in later part .. not surprised as Rayudu lack of runs , remember mentioning many times he just not someone you can bank on.. when are top 3 fires these deficiencies gets masked which won’t always be the case (like first ODI)

We need to get Gill as soon as we can in the team to see if he can be a potential #4.. what happened to Jadhav ?

[PKBasu]

What is clear is that Dhoni needs to keep playing (not take long breaks); if he takes a 2-month break from cricket, his game will perforce be rusty. So he needs to be kept busy, and I suppose these two series and the IPL mean that he will indeed be kept busy in the runup to the World Cup.
DK has consolidated his place, but Rayudu is a liability and the quicker a replacement is found for him the better.

[Sin Hombre]

At this point, this is the best xi we can hope for going into the WC

Rohit
Dhawan
Kohli
Gill
Dhoni
Kedar
Pandya
Bhuvi / Jadeja / Chahal
Kuldeep
Shami / Bhuvi
Bumrah

+DK is already 14/15 of the squad.

[PKBasu]

I thought Bhuvi should have been Man of the Match in today's ODI in Adelaide. His 4 wickets were the decisive difference, particularly the wickets of Shaun Marsh and Glen Maxwell in the same over.

[prasen9]

Dhoni should be told to not try to rebuild forever and asked to hit out if he slows down. If the captain/coach assert themselves, then Dhoni will perhaps not go by his stupid method of keeping wickets and hoping that we score 10 runs/over in the last 10. Sometimes it works. Sometimes we give very little balls/overs to the batsmen coming next. Even today Karthik had to hit out. But, that was perhaps because of Rayudu and not Dhoni. Rohit gets a pass because he scored a 100 last innings but what Atithee said comes true again. Rohit is always slow at the beginning. On days he gets out early, the pressure is on the others. I do not know if it is possible but it would be nice if he tried to score a bit more in the beginning of his innings.

[sameerph]

At this point, this is the best xi we can hope for going into the WC

Rohit
Dhawan
Kohli
Gill
Dhoni
Kedar
Pandya
Bhuvi / Jadeja / Chahal
Kuldeep
Shami / Bhuvi
Bumrah

+DK is already 14/15 of the squad.

As of now, DK is ahead of Gill in the pecking order. Hope Gill ( and Kedar) get chances to show what they are capable of.

Just realized that top 7 in the team for this series are all 30+. We need some youth surely from futuristic perspective but probably also for world cup.

So, hope Gill can fit and also one of Prithvi / Mayank as reserve opener.

[S_K_S]

Rohit and Dhawan opening in England means we will be 10/2 every time!

[Sin Hombre]

Dhawan and Rohit were the top 2 scorers in the last Champions Trophy held in England.

English ODI pitches are flat as they come.

[prasen9]

Which is why we should not have dumped Iyer so easily. I hope Gill sets the world on fire and forces the team's hands.

The weaker of the two, Dhawan averages over 60 at a SR of 101 in 15 outs in England. Now, the tournament is in May. I don't know if we are going to face a lot of bad weather causing swing. Then, Dhawan is useless. But, the ICC will prepare the pitches. So, at least off the ground the ball will not move or bounce excessively. All other teams will face the weather issues if we do. So, we will have to have our bowlers take charge if their bowlers get our openers.

Does Kohli have a bias towards people with whom he grew up with especially people who may have made it to the Indian team before him and he may have looked up to as successful bats before he himself made it? That is why he is pushing for Rohit to be in the test team, Karthik in the ODI team, etc. Karthik does have the recent performance but not as much data wrt the SENA countries in the recent years.

[prasen9]

Is there really any good reason to not go in with three spinners when the real WC matches start? Now, we may want to give Khalil experience, etc. But, if we are at a critical match and have a flat wicket, then if the choice is Chahal or Siraj because of injuries, or Chahal and Khalil, and Chahal has bowled well in the previous matches, why not go with three spinners: Jadeja, Chahal, and Kuldeep instead of keeping one out and getting Siraj in? This team has never wanted to go in without three pacers. Although our 3rd pacer seems to have routinely given up 7 rpo.

[prasen9]

For this match, I would rest Kohli and one of Shami/Bhuvi and bring in Khalil and Kedar. Kedar for Kohli would be a K for K replacement. Bringing both in should certainly offset the loss of one K by bringing in two Ks and hopefully also replace the killer-instinct of the departing K.

[karr]

3 changes: Kedhar for Rayudu, Chahal for Kuldeep, and Vinod Shankar for Siraj.
Its good to give these blokes an opportunity. We know what Kuldeep can do. It would be useful to see if Chahal can get back to taking wickets. Likewise, we get a chance to see if Vinod Shankar can cut it at this level. And I am really glad to see us play KJ. He could be crucial with his ability to be a 6th bowling option. I can't fathom why it took them this long to play him.

[Sin Hombre]

And Dhoni drops a catch off a spinner again. As I have been saying, there is no drop in keeping to Pant at this point.