Need Cameron White in the side instead of Ross Taylor. White's a phenomenal T20 batsman and will be really handy in India with his leg breaks as well. I don't know how you can't have him in the side. In T20 cricket, he's a much better choice than Ross Taylor.
That team looks fantastic on paper. They are suspect at the top of the order though as I've always doubted James Hopes' ability with the bat, especially as an opener. But it is T20 cricket so it might suit Hopes.
Even if the openers fail that team bat so far down that it shouldn't hurt them too much. Looks very well constructed I must say. Has all the bases covered well.
Absolutely, they would be the favourites alongside Chennai with Hyderabad coming in as the other contender. But I'm loving this Bangalore side and I think I'll be supporting them through this.
Wouldn't rather have Albie in ahead of Oram? Considering that Albie has actually shown that he can bowl effectively in T20. Both can hit the ball a long way.
That's a tough one. I haven't seen much of Albie to comment on his bowling, though he seems a sticky, wicket-to-wicket medium pacer. If he's reasonably better than Oram, he may make the team. This is, after all, a tough team to put together, when you already have Fleming and Ntini on the bench.
Easy one to assemble. That said, you can consider replacing Bosman with Dilhara, and you'd have a five-man bowling attack, with four seamers and Harbhajan. To stretch that batting lineup, one bowler may be replaced with Abhishek Nayar, but a strong and under-rated lineup it is.
'Tis a strong team. Loots Bosman has a good T20 batting record as does Dilhara Fernando have a good T20 bowling record. Nayar has been in good agressive form this season with the bat. Mumbai are the favourites for me.
agreed. Vijay is the no.1 opener in TN right now.... Anirudda is rubbish.. Thought IPL would be a great leveller, but seeing Arjun Yadav, Anirudda making the grades really disappoint me....
If you've been looking at my teams, I've favoured specialist Indian openers over pinch-hitters, middle-order batsmen and wicketkeepers at the top of the order. These openers will also benefit a lot more by facing world class pacers.
in my line up,
Benefitting Indian openers does not equal winning matches though... this is Twenty20 cricket, you can bat a middle-order player right at the top with little side-effects. There is an element of innings-building, but I'd have no problem with a middle-order bat opening up. In the English game, the likes of Stuart Law, Cameron White (to name but two) have been very successful openers, yet are usual middle-order players in the longer forms of the game.
agree with that^ .... you have to use the resources in the best possible way that helps the team
Would someone like Parthiv Patel be a better choice for opening? Because he's a wicketkeeper? He doesn't have the big shots. Likewise, Vaas isn't quite the opening batsman you need because he has no technique. When the options available are no better, it's better to persist with the specialist openers, who've been doing a lot better at the top. When there's a choice between Chopra and Ganguly, it's obvious that Ganguly gets to open, because Ganguly's a more proven choice. But when the options at hand are Vijay and Parthiv, it's not much of a difference, so Vijay may open, but Vijay isn't in the team, and Mukund, no mean pick, is the next best choice.
There's a danger to casting openers in the middle-order. They may not be in the right groove when facing slower bowlers with fields spread out, and may either scratch around too long or get out playing a rash shot. When there are few overs left, it's a far-from-ideal state for an opener to come in. Besides, apart from Ravi Teja, the only other options are Vijaykumar (seamer), Dar (keeper) and Arjun Yadav (no use), and foreigners beyond the foreign limit. For Chennai, maybe push down Badrinath and get Dhoni at four, but Oram is merely a late-overs charger, and that's where he may be used best. Likewise, a lot of Hussey's best innings have been late charges in the final overs. A less-explored option would be opening with Stephen Fleming (in place of Oram, getting in Joginder Sharma for that opener) or even opening with Oram or Hussey, but that's a risk.
I look at 20T slightly differently than you do .... I would want the key players in as early as possible so that if one of them clicks a big total is on the cards, w/ others playing around that guy .... I would want to give a chance to play maximum overs to those who can make an impact .... the risk with opening with those locals is that the opposition could tie them up wrt RR which would mean more pressure on the other batsmen. and then there is little a guy like Oram can do in the last few overs
Uh oh! Sounds like trouble.