West Indies in India

[PKBasu]

Shreyas Iyer drops one off Chahar. What's happened to the fielding??

[prasen9]

Rohit screwed up the batting with a very slow innings. Then, he was joined by Rahul, Kohli, Iyer. Done and dusted. We need people to be able to hit right away. Or at least four batsmen who can do that.

[Sin Hombre]

As ankit says, we have a terrible T20 team.

And most of the blame is team management (ie Kohli)'s belief that the same players should play across formats, while the reality is that the only 2 all-format players are Kohli and Bumrah.

Rohit is too slow for a T20I opener on a 200 par pitch.
Dhawan is not even a T20 player. Never been. Neither is Jadeja as a spin A/R.
Washington Sundar is a nothing player in both T20Is and IPL. Chahar will always be a liability on flat pitches.

Honestly, Iyer should be played in ODIs and not T20s but at the same time, I would like team management to give him an extended run.

[Atithee]

If you can’t do most of your scoring in boundaries, you should not be in a T20 team; certainly not as a top order batsman. Ideally, you shouldn’t need more than your top order to bat in T20 except in rare games. Sundar, Chahal, are no match for real T20 batsmen. They shouldn’t be in the Indian team either. Our fielders have really regressed too, which makes these holes even bigger.

[prasen9]

Chahal has a good record. While we want someone better and want Chahal to be more containing, but we have to play our best bowlers. Our best spinners have been Chahal and Kuldeep. Sundar, Bhuvi, Jadeja are all containing bowlers with little to add with the bat. We cannot have all three of them. I woiuld pick Bhuvi. Chahar, I am not a big fan of but like Iyer, he needs to be given a long-ish run. Why did we dump Saini? Dube may not be the fifth bowler unfortunately. So, next match, I would go with Chahar, Shami, Chahal, Kuldeep, and Jadeja.

Pant should be given one more match and then we should try Sampson if he cannot do well.

The top four, we will have to try Rohit, Rahul, Dube, Kohli. Pant for now. One more bat. Pandey. And, tell the players to hit out because we have Jadeja, Pandey, and Dube, i.e., seven people who can bat if needed.

[Sin Hombre]

What does Pandey bring to your IPL team? His S/R is even worse than Rohit who already is too slow for my liking.

Cannot have more than 2 accumulators in your T20 batting lineup.

Why do you want to drop Pant when he has been one of our better batsmen in the first 2 matches? Seems like the kid is always on the chopping block irrespective of how he does.



Looks like Mayank will replace the injured Dhawan in the ODI squad, this will be a debut that's a long time coming. We have talked about his stellar list A record here for years.

[prasen9]

What does Pandey bring to your IPL team? His S/R is even worse than Rohit who already is too slow for my liking.

Given the constraints of the 15, the others are more useless. Pant's SR is worse than Pandey's, Rohit's or Iyer's. As is his average. Having a guy like Pandey down the order should encourage the others up front to take more risk. I am not a big Pandey fan but his utility to me is better than the other useless junk we have in the team.

Cannot have more than 2 accumulators in your T20 batting lineup.

True. But you cannot wish for big hitters who can actually score when we do not have any. Someone who scores 15 runs on average is useless. As is someone who scores at 20 in the top 5-6. Irrespective of SR. Ideally, we want someone who can score some runs AND at a good pace. We need T20I batsmen - several of them.

Why do you want to drop Pant when he has been one of our better batsmen in the first 2 matches? Seems like the kid is always on the chopping block irrespective of how he does.

21 innings, 21.52 at a SR of 122 is horrible. That is why. I do not select based on 2 matches. Being one of the better batsmen in a team of no good batsmen is not doing much. We have to demand better of our players. They should not be in the team irrespective of how they do because who they are. Selection should be based on performance. One more match is what I would give him. Why continue with failures? That encourages people to fail and not try to figure out their issues. It is a moral hazard.

Looks like Mayank will replace the injured Dhawan in the ODI squad, this will be a debut that's a long time coming. We have talked about his stellar list A record here for years.

He will be a very well-deserved selection unlike Pant in the T20I squad.

If we don't have any better bats, bring back Krunal as a batsman. Don't bowl him unless absolutely required though.

[prasen9]

So, Pant after 20 completed innings is at 20.45/121.72. What is going to happen is that the selectors will keep playing him and he will keep failing and then they will bring back Dhoni. I do not want that. The youngsters should get the message that if you play well, you play. If you do not play well, the next person gets chances. We should try Samson.

Good that they played Shami. He has performed badly so far but give him a fair run. Good to see Chahar keep performing. As long as one is performing, they should be in the team.

[indiansportsfan]

The selectors should quickly get rid of Pant for T20s (he might be ok for ODIs) and try out Samson. Otherwise we will very likely end up with same situation as CWC 2019 with Rayudu. If we give Pant 3-4 months and then decide he is useless, there will be no time to try anyone new.
Also Iyer is mostly useless in any spot below #4 in the T20 team; because he is also an accumulator. I don't know why Kohli keeps pushing him down to #5 or 6. We badly need another Hardik, he is the only one who can hit from the first ball. Shivam should be given few more chances at #5 or 6.

[prasen9]

Shivam can bat at #5 or #6. We should try Samson. Or go back to Karthik, who has a fabulous T20I record. Pant can be tried for ODIs and Tests. People who are aggressive like Sehwag had trouble in ODIs while playing very well in tests. Pant has to learn controlled aggression and play freely instead of trying to hit every ball for a six (unless he is batting in the last 5 overs or so).

Shivam and Hardik are for the lower order. Krunal is not that good but if we do not have anyone, just get him. Don't rely on him as a bowler fully though. Maybe Krunal-Shivam can tag team for 10 overs. Or just play as batsmen.

[prasen9]

Bhuvi is injured and out. We hear that it is going to be Thakur who will be called in. Two out of Shami, Chahar, and Thakur will play in the ODIs. Along with Dube manning the pace brigade. Chahar, Thakur, and Khaleel all have performed lukewarmly in ODIs with Khaleel having the best numbers.

[Atithee]

Once again, Rohit’s slow start has caused a lousy start for India. It’s maddening regardless of what he ends up with. Today, he can’t hit the bat straight at all; mostly nervous and awkward defensive plays.

[prasen9]

And Iyer's slow batting too. Coupled with the bowlers not getting wickets.

We need more wicket-takers in this team. Otherwise, you cannot keep a team down. If we are going to lose anyway, let us play Chahar, Thakur, Dube, Kuldeep, and Chahal as the bowlers. Or replace, Dube with Jadeja. Today, they saw off Kuldeep. But, if Chahal and Kuldeep play together, it is hard to see them off in the middle overs. One of them will get wickets. That slows things down. In the batting side, I want to see Mayank. Rohit, Mayank, Kohli, Iyer, Pandey, Jadjav. The reason to include Pandey is to strengthen the batting so that the openers can take more risks.

[Sin Hombre]

As always, Kohli and team management keep confusing formats.

KL is a terrible ODI opener (S/R of 78).

Why are we still persisting with Jadhav?

Dubey is a lollipop player for this level. His leg-side hacking may work for T20 and we should give him a few more chances there but there is nothing there to suggest any evidence of quality at longer formats.

Iyer has always been slow S/R wise which is why I find it strange to see him being given chances at T20, his ODI spot though is well deserved.


Biggest issue in the xi that played today is 20 of your overs had to be bowled by a combination of Jadeja, Dubey and Jadhav. Unless your frontline bowlers do a lot of damage (and we were missing Bumrah and Bhuvi), you will always lose with 20 overs of innocuous bowling.

Jadeja does well as a bowler if pressure is created from the other end. Ok as a 5th bowler and 7th batsman but you are asking for trouble if he is your 3rd or 4th bowler.

Mayank, Rohit, Gill, Iyer, Pant, Hooda*, Jadeja, Chahar, Shami, Kuldeep, Chahal

We don't need Virat to win us bilateral jamodis so would rest him to try out the likes of Mayank, Gill, Hooda. We need to unearth at least a Raina (decent ODI middle order bat + good fielder + decent 6th bowler option), leave alone a Yuvi.

[Atithee]

“Jamodi” is “Just Another Meaningless One Day International” in cricket lingo. I learned a new cricket jargon today.