IPL 2015 Thread

[Pratters]

Good to see you still championing the cause of Badrinath honestbharani. Or not. No one would want Badri in the side when you can have players who can score at faster rates. If T20 was a 50 over format, you would have a case, not here.

 

[Arjun]

One other thing MI are doing wrong is the team balance.. I mean if you are playing the West Indian KP and Corey Anderson at 5 and 6, you don really need 5 bowlers after them... I would have shopped for Badri at the auction and let him anchor the side from 4, put Tare in as the Indian finisher after Pollard and Anderson and bat Rohit, Simmons and Rayudu, in that order at the top 3. Rayudu is not awesome but he can do a job as a #3 at the IPL level. This would free them up to play Bhajji, Suyal, Gopal and Malinga as the other bowlers. Add in Rohit, Simmons to the 4 bowlers and 2 all rounders and you got 8 bowling options (4 specialists, 2 ARs and 2 batters who can bowl)... Why on earth would you not select such a side?

You can put in Chand for Badri maybe?

I'd rather play five bowlers and play Corey and KP as batsmen, than give either of those two the ball- more often than not, it backfires. They can't be sustained as bowling options. Corey's career strike rate is 24 and he has an economy touching 9- and in the IPL, it gets worse. Then look at Pollard's bowling figures in the last IPL- dreadful stuff. On the other hand, both have done decently with the bat, so they'd make more sense as specialist batsmen. With Rohit and Simmons, it's a strong top four, followed by Harbhajan and Tare, and two specialist batsmen who are capable fielders and can build partnerships, but struggle with strike rates. Rayudu going up makes sense only when there's a rush of wickets- there's no point pushing him up the order when the going is good, because his sluggish strike rate takes away much of the momentum.

Gopal, Suyal, Malinga and Harbhajan are the best they have, but the fifth bowler is a problem.

 

[cnerd123]

I still can't fathom why they moved Rohit to 4 in that last game. Has to open, he's far and away their best batsman. Arguably the best in IPL history.

Gayle or Raina, plz

 

[SkyBlue]

I'll be surprised if Kings XI dont win the whole thing tbh.Easily the best side on paper.

Vijay-Sehwag-Marsh-Maxwell-Bailey-Miller-Saha-Axar-Johnson

Simply insane looking batting lineup by IPL standards.And they have quality new ball (Indian) bowlers too.Look very complete and formidable atm.

 

[Antihippy]

Hmm, starting to think maxwell is starting to move around too much. He really is at his best when he stands still at the crease.

 

[honestbharani]

I'll be surprised if Kings XI dont win the whole thing tbh.Easily the best side on paper.

Vijay-Sehwag-Marsh-Maxwell-Bailey-Miller-Saha-Axar-Johnson

Simply insane looking batting lineup by IPL standards.And they have quality new ball (Indian) bowlers too.Look very complete and formidable atm.

Too bad that line up can never actually be put together on the field during this IPL

 

[Arjun]

Seven T20I prospects for India in this match alone- Sehwag, Agarwal, Yuvraj, Kedar, Saha, Sandeep Sharma and Mishra. Surely there's a case for at least four of these blokes to play T20Is for India? Sandeep Sharma, described as capable of swinging the ball like Manoj Prabhakar, has an impressive strike rate under 16.

 

[honestbharani]

Good to see you still championing the cause of Badrinath honestbharani. Or not. No one would want Badri in the side when you can have players who can score at faster rates. If T20 was a 50 over format, you would have a case, not here.

I am not exactly championing his cause.. His style of play has its own utility and he is a good T20 batsman in his own way if given the right role. And ATM, I think Mumbai is the one side where his style can gel well more than anybody else. He is wasted with RCB and their star studded batting line up at the top.

I'd rather play five bowlers and play Corey and KP as batsmen, than give either of those two the ball- more often than not, it backfires. They can't be sustained as bowling options. Corey's career strike rate is 24 and he has an economy touching 9- and in the IPL, it gets worse. Then look at Pollard's bowling figures in the last IPL- dreadful stuff. On the other hand, both have done decently with the bat, so they'd make more sense as specialist batsmen. With Rohit and Simmons, it's a strong top four, followed by Harbhajan and Tare, and two specialist batsmen who are capable fielders and can build partnerships, but struggle with strike rates. Rayudu going up makes sense only when there's a rush of wickets- there's no point pushing him up the order when the going is good, because his sluggish strike rate takes away much of the momentum.

Gopal, Suyal, Malinga and Harbhajan are the best they have, but the fifth bowler is a problem.

Which is why they will be better off playing with an extra batsman and letting Pollard and Anderson split those overs.

 

[Arjun]

Which is why they will be better off playing with an extra batsman and letting Pollard and Anderson split those overs.

The fifth bowler is a problem because of Pollard and Anderson being unstable. Going for over 10 runs an over, rarely picking up a wicket. Mumbai doesn't have a strong bowling unit to sustain these two, even for four overs between them. Quite likely the four main bowlers will have to finish the first 16 overs between them so that enough wickets fall before KP and Corey come on to bowl. Neither is Mumbai's bowling stock yet fully capable, nor can they take plenty of wickets/keep the run rate down with those two. They need to get Suyal and Gopal into decent form first.

 

[Arjun]

Sehwag, Uthappa, Agarwal. Three blokes from whom any two can open for India in T20Is.

Hang on, are Kings XI still in it?

 

[honestbharani]

The fifth bowler is a problem because of Pollard and Anderson being unstable. Going for over 10 runs an over, rarely picking up a wicket. Mumbai doesn't have a strong bowling unit to sustain these two, even for four overs between them. Quite likely the four main bowlers will have to finish the first 16 overs between them so that enough wickets fall before KP and Corey come on to bowl. Neither is Mumbai's bowling stock yet fully capable, nor can they take plenty of wickets/keep the run rate down with those two. They need to get Suyal and Gopal into decent form first.

You are underrating Corey as a bowler I feel.. He is a lot better than you give him credit for. I would back these two for 5 decent overs in most T20s anywhere in the world.

 

[viriya]

Not that Angelo is a great captain, but why is Duminy favored over him for DD?

 

[Niall]

Not that Angelo is a great captain, but why is Duminy favored over him for DD?

Matthews stunk it out last time when he was captain for Pune, and Duminy was ok for them last year.

Angelo Mathews steps aside as Pune captain | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

Also Kirsten is in charge so that probably is another factor.

Delhi were a bit of a joke over the last few years, kept spending money, chopping and changing, captaining this lot is not something anybody would be that keen on.

 

[karan316]

Not that Angelo is a great captain, but why is Duminy favored over him for DD?

Good to see Duminy leading the side, also like the way Delhi took the tough decision of dropping Albie after that wonderful performance in the first game, even though I m a big fan of Albie, Angelo is a better all-rounder in comparison ATM and should be ahead of him in the side. I feel they'll do well in the series if they are ready to take such bold decisions.

Even yesterday, who would have made Tahir bowl the last over when the other option is Couter Nile? Duminy took a brave decision and it paid off.

Duminy's captaincy has been pretty decent, even in the game against CSK, people criticized him for keeping himself and Yuvraj a bit low in the order, but CSK's off spinners would have had an advantage if Yuvi and Duminy would have came a bit earlier on that turning track, not to forget Albie was already out there in the middle.

 

[CricAddict]

Both RCB and SRH got it wrong at the auctions.

Bangalore is primarily a batting track and so RCB should have gone for good bowlers to control the run flow but they packed their team with quality batsmen.
Vizag is primarily a bowling track and so SRH should have gone for good batsmen to score runs on those pitches but they packed their team with quality bowlers.

 

[Aditi_Nair]

Any thing can happen in the IPL. We can see thunder of runs in this IPL because all the world class players are in their best form.

 

[kabir9623]

Who is going to win today's match between Chennai or Mumbai? Both are my favourite teams. Can't wait

 

[eroticfishcake]

Who is going to win today's match between Chennai or Mumbai? Both are my favourite teams. Can't wait

You really think minnows Mumbai can win?

 

[OverratedSanity]

lolMumbai

 

[Zinzan]

Everytime I see Harbhajan bat he's the luckiest **** ever.