Group A - India, England, Australia, West Indies

[adharcric]

I don't understand why India is intent on playing five bowlers at times like this. Our batting has been terrible and if anything, we need to strengthen the batting lineup. If you're not going to play Powar because the Mohali pitch suits seamers, you might as well strengthen the batting lineup by playing all six specialist batsmen. RP Singh isn't likely to pose as much of a danger as either of Pathan, Munaf or Sreesanth on a seamers paradise and we need all the help we can get against that Aussie pace attack. Remember, that's Brett Lee (who I consider the best one-day seamer in the world atm), Glenn McGrath (big-match champion bowler), Nathan Bracken (underrated and exceptional with the new-ball in ODIs) and Mitchell Johnson (raped our top-order in Malaysia, albeit helped by some stupid batting) coming at us.

Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kaif, Dravid, Raina, Mongia, Dhoni, Pathan, Harbhajan, Sreesanth, Patel

Surely Mongia, Sehwag and Tendulkar can combine for ten overs. More likely, RPS will be given a final chance to book his ticket to South Africa.

 

[Johnners]

Michael Clarke could be in doubt for Australia today as he's still getting over a bout of tonsilitis. Simon Katich is apparently on stand-by should Clarke be unfit to play.

It would undoubtadley leave a huge hole on our batting line-up with Clarke imo being 1 of our top 3 ODI batsmen over the last 18months. His finishing abilities are second to only Hussey, and his fielding is also brilliant.

Should Katich indeed play, it will be interesting to see if they slot him in at 6, or if they give him the opening spot, with Watson coming back down the order. Whatever happens, losing Clarke would be a huge blow!

 

[Gajanayake]

I don't understand why India is intent on playing five bowlers at times like this. Our batting has been terrible and if anything, we need to strengthen the batting lineup. If you're not going to play Powar because the Mohali pitch suits seamers, you might as well strengthen the batting lineup by playing all six specialist batsmen. RP Singh isn't likely to pose as much of a danger as either of Pathan, Munaf or Sreesanth on a seamers paradise and we need all the help we can get against that Aussie pace attack. Remember, that's Brett Lee (who I consider the best one-day seamer in the world atm), Glenn McGrath (big-match champion bowler), Nathan Bracken (underrated and exceptional with the new-ball in ODIs) and Mitchell Johnson (raped our top-order in Malaysia, albeit helped by some stupid batting) coming at us.

Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kaif, Dravid, Raina, Mongia, Dhoni, Pathan, Harbhajan, Sreesanth, Patel

Surely Mongia, Sehwag and Tendulkar can combine for ten overs. More likely, RPS will be given a final chance to book his ticket to South Africa.

Powar is hands down a better option that RPS....more often than not he will go for less than 5 runs an over and he can bat reasonably well unlike RPS.

 

[alternative]

Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kaif, Dravid, Raina, Mongia, Dhoni, Pathan, Harbhajan, Sreesanth, Patel

Surely Mongia, Sehwag and Tendulkar can combine for ten overs. More likely, RPS will be given a final chance to book his ticket to South Africa.

Can't see myself disagreeing with you, all 3 combined can bowl much better than RP imo, so we should just stick with this pattern to play an extra batsmen, as the obvious problem is out batting..

 

[adharcric]

Powar is hands down a better option that RPS....more often than not he will go for less than 5 runs an over and he can bat reasonably well unlike RPS.

Oh I'm all for Powar playing. In fact, I was going to mention that Powar >>> RPS. The problem is that this is supposed to be a bouncy, swinging pitch and that may mean that India will only field one spinner yet again.

 

[Perm]

I'm really hoping for a good contest tonight, if I stay up late and make myself very tired for school then it better be a good game. I'd say Australia will come away with a win, but it will be a big blow if Clarke is unable to play. Yuvraj not being able to play is quite a big blow for India.

 

[Gajanayake]

Oh I'm all for Powar playing. In fact, I was going to mention that Powar >>> RPS. The problem is that this is supposed to be a bouncy, swinging pitch and that may mean that India will only field one spinner yet again.

I'd still fancy that Powar is more likely to trouble the Aussies at Mohali than a wayward seamer like RPS.

 

[adharcric]

I'd still fancy that Powar is more likely to trouble the Aussies at Mohali than a wayward seamer like RPS.

Lee-McGrath-Bracken-Johnson are more likely to trouble our lineup than Powar is to trouble the Aussies than RPS is to trouble the Aussies. Exactly why I'd keep them both out.

 

[Gajanayake]

Lee-McGrath-Bracken-Johnson are more likely to trouble our lineup than Powar is to trouble the Aussies than RPS is to trouble the Aussies. Exactly why I'd keep them both out.

So you're advocating something like:
Tendulkar
Sehwag
Kaif
Dravid
Mongia
Dhoni
Raina
Pathan
Harbhajan
Sreesanth
Munaf

Yeah I suppose that's not too bad an option with Mongia's left arm spin providing ten overs.....although tbh, I'd prefer to see Powar ahead of Raina.
Raina hasn't been performing with the bat and Powar would strengthen the bowling.

 

[Dravid]

The side I believe should play today

Sehwag
Tendulkar
Dhoni/Dravid(Depending on when the wicket falls)
Kaif
Mongia
Raina
Pathan
Munaf
Bhaji
Powar


Before I was going to say bench Raina but it's better to bench RP Singh because we don' need that many pace bowlers. The ball does nothing after the 10 overs and Pathan and Patel can bowl the 10 overs.

 

[adharcric]

You're leaving out Harbhajan Singh?

 

[Dravid]

You're leaving out Harbhajan Singh?

Oopss, cant believe I forgot to put him in. Bhaji instead of sree...Munaf and Pathan the only seam bowlers needed

 

[adharcric]

No way, Sreesanth has to play. He's one of the few Indian quicks that can trouble the Aussies. The pitch is supposed to assists the quicks - no way we can leave out Sreesanth.

 

[Dravid]

If you look back at the Pak Saf match..nothing after the first 10 overs. We need two spinners in the team

 

[adharcric]

I would rather rely on Mongia's part-time spin than regret leaving out Sreesanth on a seamers' paradise. I doubt it'll completely die after 10 overs.

IMO, there's no question we must play only four specialist bowlers. If we play five, Powar should be the fifth but we should only consider that option if the track is a turning one. Otherwise, go with the three-pronged pace attack and try to outbat the Aussies.

 

[Perm]

I agree with adhacric on this one, I think Sreesanth should play in this game. I would pick Pathan and Munaf to partner him with Harbhajan being the sole spinner and Sehwag, Tendulkar and Mongia making up 10 or 15 overs.

I only saw the start of the West Indian innings and the end of England's one so I apologise if I missed a few things here. First of all it was great to see Andrew Flintoff back and bowling again, there was a lot of talk between the commentators about his special new footwear and I hope that these new shoes help his ankles and feet. Chris Gayle played a very mature innings, after he played himself in it definately looked like he said to himself that he was going to get a century. I thought Jon Lewis bowled well and contained Gayle. Sending Dwayne Bravo in at #3 was a very interesting move but obviously it worked, he looked pretty good early on and got to about 25 at a run a ball which was a good start for him.

Kevin Pietersen is a matchwinner, I don't think there is any doubt about that and he showed again last night what a class act he could be. He did offer up a few chances which was to be expected but he put that behind him and alongisde Sajid Mahmood (who batted very, very well) won the game for England with the bat. Good knocks at the top of the order by Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell, but Bell should really have gone on to make a better score than he did, laziness when he was run out.

 

[adharcric]

I agree with adharic on this one, I think Sreesanth should play in this game.

This is random, but it's a little strange that whenever my username is misspelled on here it's adharic instead of adharcric. Any particular reason for that choice?

 

[Dravid]

Just started watching extra innings, the video they showed in the start of the Inidan team about that song was really nice.

 

[Perm]

Sorry about that adharcric, guess I just wasn't paying attention.

 

[pasag]

This will be the best game of the tournament and should have been the final. I hope Australia can win, but with the full force of the crowd against them, some of the more nervy ones may crumble under pressure. Will be a great game. Can't and don't want to predict an outcome yet, especially after I put my foot in it last night. But expecting a big game from Ponting, he is overdue.