India in New Zealand ODIs, 2019

[prasen9]

The team management thinks highly of their old friends. This is why Rohit will play tests again too.

[indiansportsfan]

I think Mayank would have been the best solution. He is a better player of the limited over format than the longer one; and he has also proved himself against international level opposition (in his weaker format). But I read somewhere he got a niggle, which is unfortunate. While Gill may be better eventually, he hasn't had any exposure at this level and it might be too risky to pitchfork him directly into the WC squad. And Prithvi hasn't really done much in the limited overs format, and I would keep him further down the list.

[ankit1407]

Kohli is rested for last 2 ODIs and T20 , good decision given the workload .. hopefully this will allow Gill a look in final 11..

[Sin Hombre]

Incredibly selfish batting from Rayadu and Dhoni. All they care about is the average.

[SaniaFan]

I thought Virat and Rayadu batted too slowly in the middle overs after a very good start. We should have got 350 here.

[Sin Hombre]

We scored 150/2 in the last 20 overs despite having wickets in hand. 35 of those came in the last 2 so essentially 115/2 in 18 overs, not good enough at all.

Rayadu was just trying to protect his wicket.

[RohitG]

Entrance exam approach just to make the cut-offs

[prasen9]

If we look at the first four players, they roughly played at the same SR. Dhoni and Kedar were the ones who batted faster. And, the first two lasted more balls than Kohli and Rayudu. Why are we blaming them over Rohit, say, who was the slowest of the four? In fact, Rohit is the slowest batsman with respect to the first 10 balls, at about 50% SR.

In this match, Rayudu was trying to protect his wicket at about the same rate as Virat or Dhawan or Rohit. With Dhawan being a tad less protective and Rohit more. I am not a big fan of Rayudu at this point and don't mind Karthik or Gill or whoever being given that slot. But, I think sometimes we are too one-sided with our criticisms. At least, I would like to hear what people's theory is with respect to why they think that Rayudu was any more to blame for the lower score than say Kohli.

In general, the more pertinent question is what is the role of the openers? Do we expect them to bat at a lower or higher strike rate (because they get the best field restrictions)?

[sameerph]

I think on flat pitches, openers should be scoring at a faster rate. On pitches which are doing something wicket preservation is more important. So, they can be slower.

I agree thinking objectively looking only on yesterday's performance Rayudu cannot be blamed anything more than others.

[Sin Hombre]

Teams bat the last 20 overs at T20 pace if you have wickets in hand. We did not, and most of that is due to Rayadu.

The era of trying to bat at 7-8 in the first few overs of fielding restrictions is gone. Modern tactics on flat pitches is to get to 175/2 in 30 overs and then aim to double that score in the remaining 20 (and lose 4-5 wickets doing so).

Bowling teams are always happy to give an easy single in the last 20 if the opposition has wickets in hand. Batting at a 90 S/R is playing risk-free poor cricket in those circumstances.

At 175/2 after 30, the aim should be to get to 350 or the bowling team executes good plans and you end 310 all out. There is no middle ground of 324/4.

[prasen9]

I do not disagree that the team underperformed and should have reached 350. But the point is that Kohli and Rayudu batted about the same time. By this token, both should be blamed about the same.

I am also not convinced that on flat pitches playing slowly in the first 20-30 overs is a good strategy to keep wickets and hit at the end. This is the Dhoni strategy. I like teams that take the initiative early on. Because, the last 10 overs are not that easy these days.

Since 2015, teams have been scoring at 7 runs/over int he last 10 overs and not 10 runs/over that they do in T20Is. Why? I do not exactly know. They used to bat at 8 runs/over before 2015. If you have wickets in hand, you should at least bat at 9 runs/over in the last 10, i.e., a SR of 150 and above. Dhoni was about par. Kedar did well.

Kohli batted from over 25-40 and Rayudu batted from 30-45 approximately. *Both* should have gone at more than 1 run/over at least with more expected off Rayudu.

India is also one of the lowest boundary hitting teams apart from Bangladesh. This may indicate that we need another hitter than Kedar at the lower order. Maybe Hardik will bring that.

[Sin Hombre]

Since 2015, teams have been scoring at 7 runs/over int he last 10 overs and not 10 runs/over that they do in T20Is. Why? I do not exactly know. They used to bat at 8 runs/over before 2015. If you have wickets in hand, you should at least bat at 9 runs/over in the last 10, i.e., a SR of 150 and above. Dhoni was about par. Kedar did well.

That's all teams and not one where the top order puts you at 170/2 in the majority of the games.

Would be curious to see average runs scored in the last 20 overs per team when you have lost 2 or less wickets in the first 30 overs over the last few years.

Kohli batted from over 25-40 and Rayudu batted from 30-45 approximately. *Both* should have gone at more than 1 run/over at least with more expected off Rayudu.

India is also one of the lowest boundary hitting teams apart from Bangladesh. This may indicate that we need another hitter than Kedar at the lower order. Maybe Hardik will bring that.

Kohli tried to from the 34th over which is certainly too late to accelerate imo. Rayadu was set when Kohli got dismissed but continued to take singles.

"I made a conscious effort after the drinks break that I'm going to go hard between 34-40 overs so we can get 340-350. Once I got out, the new batsman had to take time. These are the things we need to look into with the World Cup nearby," he said.

"We would like to score those 15-20 runs extra but at the same time, good too see us chip our way to a balanced total."

[Sin Hombre]

Rayadu's fielding is so bad, annoys me no end. He is the rare case where I feel I collect the ball better than he does.

[prasen9]

Rayudu's fielding has been crappy this match. Kedar missed one (single) and Kohli missed a catch. There were several wides down the legside and some sloppy fielding/overthrows, one by Pandya. Pandya fielded pretty well though in general and took a superb catch of Williamson.

India needs to bat sensibly and rotate the strike with a few boundaries here and there to get these runs.

[prasen9]

I hope we now rest Bhuvi, Shami, and play the rest except Shankar may be because Pandya needs some games.