Group A - India, England, Australia, West Indies

[Slow Love™]

I'm a bit split on Kaif. He's played fairly smartly, IMO, and at times I don't think he's found it easy out there. He's played a few lofted shots lately that might have been caught, though I don't think he was that worried, and might have been willing to sacrifice his innings for someone with better tools to score at a really high rate. But the stable partnership between Kaif and Dravid was quite important, I think.

And as I write this, Kaif is bowled by Lee...

 

[PhoenixFire]

Kaif is in real danger of getting bogged down and he's trying to hit the ball to hard. he just needs to give the strike to Dhoni, who'll either smash it all over, do a go-slow like he did last match, or just get out. Hopefully he'll smack Symonds all ove the park and do well.

EDIT: he's out, fool.

 

[Dravid]

Both batsman are defending right now, which is pretty stupid. Raina not scoring which is making me mad. I understand you are new, but there are eight overs left! And you have less than 200 on the board!

 

[viktor]

He's just come in !!!

 

[Dravid]

He's just come in !!!

7 overs left!! You have to defend this score against australia don't forget.

 

[marc71178]

Oh come on he was walloped when it mattered and only picked up a couple of wickets towards the end because they were slogging.

Right, so if they were slogging, how come they only took 17 from his 3 overs then, especially with so many wickets in hand...

 

[PhoenixFire]

I say if you're under pressure, you have to try hit your way out of it if it's at this stage of the game. If that doesn't work, he needs to give the strike to Dhoni. You can't afford to block at this level.

It makes me think. If a country of more than 1 Billion people, why can't India find a better batsman that Raina. I understand that he's only 19, but surely there's an older vet than would be a better player than him.

 

[viktor]

The last thing we need is to be 220 all out. He is the last batsman left. Its okay if he takes a couple of balls to get his bearings rather than go hell for leather right away

 

[Dravid]

Good shot by Raina for 4(Finally) and then he defends.

 

[Dravid]

The last thing we need is to be 220 all out. He is the last batsman left. Its okay if he takes a couple of balls to get his bearings rather than go hell for leather right away

the last thing we need is 220-5 in 50!

 

[Slow Love™]

Not sure it'd be a good idea to try and get a 10th over out of Watson at this stage - he looks like he's had it.

 

[Dravid]

Raina seems to be getting on my last nerve by not hitting.

 

[Arjun]

This is shocking. Dot balls are played out by Raina. Even Brett Lee has come back in his third spell well by some dreadful batting. This slow batting just defeats the purpose of playing an extra batsman.

 

[marc71178]

Ah but his season List A is

SI Mahmood__12__79.2__6__440__16__27.50__3-16__-__-__29.7__5.54__LANCS/ENG

Average of 27.5 @ 5.5 per over.

Fair enough that the England games affect his record but they are still List A games.

For comparability though, the others are all solely domestic figures, so showing Saj's domestic figures is fair enough.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Put Bracken and McGrath on in the last few overs, they've been Aus best bowlers.

 

[Dravid]

Dravids biggest mistake as captain: Sending Raina over Pathan

 

[Dravid]

Finally...Raina learned how to swing his bat.

 

[Arjun]

Dravids biggest mistake as captain: Sending Raina over Pathan

Dropping Powar and picking all of Yuvraj, Kaif and Mongia was a mistake.

 

[marc71178]

Yardy bowled rather decently in the 20/20 comp this year; I'm sure that won't have gone unnoticed by the selectors given its profile. Having seen him at the top level now he does seem a tad short of the requisite class as a batter.

The next Ian Blackwell?!

 

[marc71178]

Presumably any ideas of Fred or KP batting in the top 3 have been well & truly shelved. Trouble is that none of Fred, KP or Colly are great at number 4, and I don't really know the solution to that. tbh I can't see how KP would have been affected by coming in 2 deliveries sooner at number 4 today, but the fact is that he does so much better at number 5. A wicket keeper who could bat in the top 4 would help!

What would Pothas be like in that regard - anyone seen enough of him to comment?

That would then lead to having one of Flintoff or Collingwood at 7 though...