**Official** Asia Cup 2012

[Agent Nationaux]

No one for certain at the moment, although Pakistan does have one foot there already.

If Bangladesh beats Sri Lanka with a Bonus point and India beats Pakistan with a bonus point, it's an India Bangladesh final. Sri Lanka will have to beat Bangladesh with a bonus point and hope Pakistan beats India to get into the final against Pakistan.

 

[Spark]

did you see that reaction from me for that knock? And trust me Australia and India are totally different bowling attacks and Mirpur and Melbourne are totally different places to bat on.. It is funny that some cán't make out these basics and think everything is the same if the SRs and scores were the same..

Eh?

Nonetheless, in this day and age a strike rate of 70 is a bit low if you're batting deep into the late innings - especially if it stays constant, as you're not providing the acceleration the team needs at that stage. There's not much doubt that India were about 30-40 runs short of where they should have been IMO.

Nevertheless, failing to defend 280 against the Bangers is pretty poor as well. Well played them though.

 

[Turbinator]

So who's in the final?

India vs. Pakistan

 

[Son Of Coco]

At least Tendy got his 100th 100 I suppose...

 

[Contra]

so a 105 off 120 and a 110 off 150 are the same now?

Uh there isn't much of a difference between 100 off 120 (GG's innings) and 114 off 147 (Sachin's innings). The point is that the plan was clearly to go steady till the 40th - 44th over and then blast in the death overs. No one said shiz last game because we got to a decent score and ended up winning. More or less the same scenario here, but because we lost everyone is all "oh he went slow blah blah". Could he have scored a bit faster? Yes he could have. But for anyone who watched the innings he was obviously trying to get going but he kept hitting it to fielders or tried to take singles that weren't exactly there. So it's not exactly like he was blocking deliveries to avoid getting out or something.

I also read somewhere that Tendulkar and Virat realized the wicket was pretty slow and the ball wasn't exactly come on to the bat. Just take a look at the top three B-desh Batsmen, even they scored slowly. What really cost us the match was dew + good batting + Garbage death bowling (full tosses and no-balls at the death wtf). B-desh needed 124 off 84 at one stage, how do you lose from that position?

 

[Spark]

It was the lack of acceleration during the PP that was the problem though.

Anchor innings are fine but you do have to accelerate at that stage.

But yeah the bowling was the major issue.

 

[Contra]

It was the lack of acceleration during the PP that was the problem though.

Anchor innings are fine but you do have to accelerate at that stage.

But yeah the bowling was the major issue.

He did start up the acceleration post his 100 (he hit two boundaries back to back). But yes he got out at the wrong time. As did Raina. If Raina hadn't got out we would have easily got 305-310.

As for the PP I don't exactly buy that. Given that the PP now has to take place before the 40th over you can't expect 50+ runs every time. I'd say 34 off 5 overs with the loss of 1 wicket is pretty decent these days. India have consciously decided to wait till the real death overs to have a go.

 

[Spark]

India were 2 or 3 down though. A slightly more concerted push to score would have been better, but yeah there is a good argument to be made that whilst Raina was scoring freely there was less need for him to up the tempo. Team RR > SR after all.

I mean it's understandable, really, that he found it tough/pressure-inducing in that situation to both try and score quickly whilst preserving his wicket and that's fair enough, but in isolation it's easy to see why this innings would be criticised. Nonetheless, unless you're facing a team of Watson/Clarke/Kohli/Dhoni/Bevan you expect to defend 280-odd most times than not.

 

[Burgey]

India vs. Pakistan

Didn't see that coming...

 

[Spark]

More concerning however would be the fact that in the WC there was a pattern of Tendulkar scores 100 ---> rest of team switch off, either in batting, bowling or often both, and India lose/fail to win a match they really should have. Not Sachin's fault at all ofc but it does raise a potential discipline/concentration issue if so.

 

[Contra]

India were 2 or 3 down though. A slightly more concerted push to score would have been better, but yeah there is a good argument to be made that whilst Raina was scoring freely there was less need for him to up the tempo. Team RR > SR after all.

I'd agree with you, but really have you seen our lower middle order? Jadeja is NOT a finisher, neither is Rohit Sharma (why he's still playing is beyond me, most overhyped cricketer in the Indian set up). Ashwin can handle a bat, but he doesn't really have the big shots IMO. Losing Virat in the first over of the power play doesn't exactly help either. To make matters worse Yusuf Pathan wasn't playing this match.

Also I agree with the WC collapses you brought up. Clearly somethings up because that's 3 games where we've had an excellent platform thanks to Tendulkar and went on to lose. The WC performances in particular were much worse considering our batting depth back then as compared to now. The less said about our bowling the better. Why we're giving chances to the likes of Dinda is beyond me. Is that the best India have got? Sad if that's the case. 10 IPL franchises and you can't produce a half decent limited overs bowler? Pathetic.

 

[honestbharani]

He did start up the acceleration post his 100 (he hit two boundaries back to back). But yes he got out at the wrong time. As did Raina. If Raina hadn't got out we would have easily got 305-310.

As for the PP I don't exactly buy that. Given that the PP now has to take place before the 40th over you can't expect 50+ runs every time. I'd say 34 off 5 overs with the loss of 1 wicket is pretty decent these days. India have consciously decided to wait till the real death overs to have a go.

The point is that the acceleration should have been kicked off based on how many overs were left to bat, not on his individual score.

 

[honestbharani]

Eh?

Nonetheless, in this day and age a strike rate of 70 is a bit low if you're batting deep into the late innings - especially if it stays constant, as you're not providing the acceleration the team needs at that stage. There's not much doubt that India were about 30-40 runs short of where they should have been IMO.

Nevertheless, failing to defend 280 against the Bangers is pretty poor as well. Well played them though.

someone decided that Sachin's and Warner's knock were the same...

 

[honestbharani]

India were 2 or 3 down though. A slightly more concerted push to score would have been better, but yeah there is a good argument to be made that whilst Raina was scoring freely there was less need for him to up the tempo. Team RR > SR after all.

I mean it's understandable, really, that he found it tough/pressure-inducing in that situation to both try and score quickly whilst preserving his wicket and that's fair enough, but in isolation it's easy to see why this innings would be criticised. Nonetheless, unless you're facing a team of Watson/Clarke/Kohli/Dhoni/Bevan you expect to defend 280-odd most times than not.

Not with today's rules.. I think 280 odd is getting chased down far far more regularly than earlier.

 

[smash84]

290 is still a good score to defend

However a score of 290 for the bangers to chase is like a 350 for a test nation

Bangers aren't that great

 

[Spark]

Not with today's rules.. I think 280 odd is getting chased down far far more regularly than earlier.

Indeed so but it's still a total you'd expect to defend on all but the flattest of pitches (which this wasn't) if you have a competent set of bowlers.

 

[honestbharani]

we are going around in circles.. My point is that it really should not be news to SAchin that our bowling attack is mostly crap.

 

[Spark]

Oh indeed but it's a bit hard to blame the batsmen for the bowlers being ****.

As I've said, the latter part of his innings did contribute to India being about 30 short of where they should have been.

 

[honestbharani]

well, we don't really have much better bowlers, tbh.. This is all we got and unless the batsmen act like they know it, we are not going to win too many cricket games.. They may do well in the odd game, but it is more likely that they are gonna screw up like today and the batsmen should take responsibility to get us to above par totals wherever possible.

 

[smash84]

well, we don't really have much better bowlers, tbh.. This is all we got and unless the batsmen act like they know it, we are not going to win too many cricket games.. They may do well in the odd game, but it is more likely that they are gonna screw up like today and the batsmen should take responsibility to get us to above par totals wherever possible.

But HB what exactly is an above par total then? And with this approach don't you think that no total would be above par?

I can understand your POV regarding India playing to their strengths but you have to draw a line for a minimum quality with the bowling