34th Match - West Indies v India

[GotSpin]

What did Dhoni do wrong last night ffs?

He just couldn’t hit any singles around. Though he may have presumed that Brathwaite would be bowling at the end

 

[Burgey]

He was missed early on but given the state of the game when he came in, I thought he played a pretty decent knock.

 

[Burgey]

He was going at at a strike rate of 55 for the longest time. Got lucky facing Thomas in the last over who could be slogged for a few. Redeemed himself in the end but the missed stumping by Hope was horrid.

Yeah but the only bloke who scored quickly was Kohli, and even he caught up towards the end of his knock. The deck wasn't easy and they'd been losing wickets consistently though not catastrophically. It wasn't the time for a David Hookes 18(8) caught at deep mid wicket style knock. If he'd done that he would certainly have deserved to be killed on the field, but I think he played it pretty well in the circumstances.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah but the only bloke who scored quickly was Kohli, and even he caught up towards the end of his knock. The deck wasn't easy and they'd been losing wickets consistently though not catastrophically. It wasn't the time for a David Hookes 18(8) caught at deep mid wicket style knock. If he'd done that he would certainly have deserved to be killed on the field, but I think he played it pretty well in the circumstances.

Theres a middle ground between 18(8) and 20(40) which he simply isn't able to find these days. It worked out yesterday all right since he managed a good finish in the last 2 overs. But he didn't need to take any risks to get 30(40) instead of 20(40) before that final flourish. That inability to rotate the strike sucks momentum out of the innings is going to be costly against better opposition.

 

[trundler]

Think the Indians are pissed he hasn't been able to pick gaps lately. It's built up over time. He redeemed himself eventually like I said but he hasn't been able to rotate strike very well lately.

 

[Burgey]

Theres a middle ground between 18(8) and 20(40) which he simply isn't able to find these days. It worked out yesterday all right since he managed a good finish in the last 2 overs. But he didn't need to take any risks to get 30(40) instead of 20(40) before that final flourish. That inability to rotate the strike sucks momentum out of the innings is going to be costly against better opposition.

Not as costly as the other chumps who kept getting out.

 

[harsh.ag]

That chump should have been out as well. Huge letoff by Hope.

 

[ankitj]

Yeah, Dhoni got a big reprieve but I think the unsaid rule is to assess batsmen on what they contributed ultimately, not penalize them for chances that were not taken by fielding team.

 

[Burgey]

Look, a majority of you blokes seem to have decided he has to go despite there being no discernibly better player anywhere near the squad. As an India despiser, I’d be happy for your lot to punt him.

 

[Shri]

but Kuldeep turning it away from left handers makes that a hard decision.

None of the top sides at this point except NZ has a lot of lefty batsmen. But that's not the reason I'd keep him in the side. They have made the middle over spin choke with two leggies an art ever since they started playing together and it works. It isn't broken and it doesn't need to be fixed.

What we do need is someone who can rotate the strike at #4 so that Kohli isn't put under pressure. Someone in form who can play a long innings without risks for 20 overs. Rahul was perfect for that role but gabbar had to go and get his thumb broken.

I'd make Dhoni open as a slogger in a role like Baz's in the 2015 WC. Rohit can take his time to get set and Rahul can play at 4. When we got our asses kicked in the test series in England under Dhoni's captaincy, he was really good at dealing with swing so it is not a bad idea for him to open.

And then we need to bring Karthik or Pant into the XI instead of Shankar.

Rohit
Dhoni
Kohli
Rahul
Jadhav
Karthik/Pant
Pandya
Kuldeep
Shami
Bumrah
Chahal

 

[Daemon]

None of the top sides at this point except NZ has a lot of lefty batsmen. But that's not the reason I'd keep him in the side. They have made the middle over spin choke with two leggies an art ever since they started playing together and it works. It isn't broken and it doesn't need to be fixed.

What we do need is someone who can rotate the strike at #4 so that Kohli isn't put under pressure. Someone in form who can play a long innings without risks for 20 overs. Rahul was perfect for that role but gabbar had to go and get his thumb broken.

I'd make Dhoni open as a slogger in a role like Baz's in the 2015 WC. Rohit can take his time to get set and Rahul can play at 4. When we got our asses kicked in the test series in England under Dhoni's captaincy, he was really good at dealing with swing so it is not a bad idea for him to open.

And then we need to bring Karthik or Pant into the XI instead of Shankar.

Rohit
Dhoni
Kohli
Rahul
Jadhav
Karthik/Pant
Pandya
Kuldeep
Shami
Bumrah
Chahal

lol yeah lets change the one thing that works in the batting

 

[harsh.ag]

Dhoni and slogger in the same breath was the thing that made me chuckle

 

[OverratedSanity]

Look, a majority of you blokes seem to have decided he has to go despite there being no discernibly better player anywhere near the squad. As an India despiser, I’d be happy for your lot to punt him.

Most are in the "He should've been dropped a year ago but now it's too late" camp. Obviously binning him now and expecting Pant or Kartik to do any better immediately would be dumb.

 

[trundler]

Replacing Dhoni with Karthik would be like going back to Raina in the middle order.

 

[trundler]

Both Rohit and Dhoni take a while to get going.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Replacing Dhoni with Karthik would be like going back to Raina in the middle order.

This shows you know nothing. India miss Raina immensely. Not being able to replace his unselfish cameos down the order has been very annoying.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Unless you mean Raina when he was coming in at number 4 and ****, that was pretty dumb.

 

[Daemon]

Replacing Dhoni with Karthik would be like going back to Raina in the middle order.

Before Pandya came along, Raina was a legit option as a finisher. They weirdly just never picked him.

When they eventually did take a look at him as a middle order option he got 2 innings and was discarded again.

 

[trundler]

Unless you mean Raina when he was coming in at number 4 and ****, that was pretty dumb.

Yep.

Raina and Yuvrai was invaluable in 2011. Held it together in the middle overs but isn't he past it now? If you could go back in time and get 2011 Raina everything would be solved, obvs.

 

[trundler]

Before Pandya came along, Raina was a legit option as a finisher. They weirdly just never picked him.

When they eventually did take a look at him as a middle order option he got 2 innings and was discarded again.

Yeah but it's too late now. Dhoni is the better keeper too.