Group F (Super 8) - Sri Lanka, Australia, India, West Indies

[Burgey]

Mahela. WAG. Just a class act that fella. Love him.

In ridiculous form too. They'll be hard to toss I reckon.

 

[Beamer]

Lord that was awful from the West Indies from start to finish. Awful fielding, awful bowling from everyone apart from Roach and a non-sensical batting order meant that we were simply never in it. Seriously, having Fletcher and Bravo, who love pace bowling, behind Sarwan who loves spin bowling, is ridiculous in this format and Pollard cannot be expected to produce miracles at the end of every innings whenh facing bowlers of that class. Fletchers keeping cost us a good 30 runs or so. It's really annoying, why can't somebody just do his job behind the stumps and punish Ramdin for his slackness? At this rate Ramdin and his average of 20 will be wicket keeper for life!

Also Sri Lanka played unbelievably well IMHO, Malinga was sensational with the ball, the fielding was solid and Sanga and Mahela punished the West Indies for their generousity in the early exchanges. If they play like that they are in with a shout of winning it.

 

[Sir Alex]

LMAO at Uthappa should be there, no he shouldnt.... He would get owned with quick short balls aswell. He uses a heavy bat good for straight hitting. Dont cite some of his IPL pulls as an example, he wouldnt last more than 3 balls in conditions today against such quality bowling. Indians plain suck at playing the short ball, they are accustomed to murdering bowling on flat pitches.

I'd say the only player who is good at handling the short ball in India is Tendulkar, thats why its been a grave mistake to have not picked him early on in the first world cup.

I think you missed his World Cup performances in 07. Particularly his stuff against the likes of Lee (whom he pulled for successive sixes, or was it Johnson?) In the semi at Durban.

Also he played half of his games on the Bang pitch which was quick and bouncy as compared to usual Indian pitches.

Plus I don't think anyone suggested he is the Bradman of pull shots. 99 percent of Subcontinental batsman aren't and that includes Pakistan, sri lanka as well. But he is definitely a better bet to pull it off than a Raina or a Pathan, besides having quite some exotic shots as well, and importantly is in good form.

 

[Sir Alex]

Malinga's wicket summary reads thus

Bowled - 13
lbw - 1
caught keeper - 3
Caught fielder - 10

More than 50 per cent through bowleds and lbws which is just incredible.

Wag.

 

[Top_Cat]

Well **** me, egg on my face after predicting India would annihilate the Aussies. Didn't reckon on Tait continuing his good form and the deck to be as bouncy as it was. Still reckon Lee going home has been a massive blessing in disguise for this team.

EDIT: You can guarantee that Gambhir's play against the short stuff last night will be noted come India's next Test series too. Reckon he'll get more bowled at him from the bowler's half than not.

 

[Noble One]

Nannes what a star!

All other nations should take note. Do not keep your eye solely on the upcoming youth, who knows what gun middle aged cricketers you my miss out on. Does it matter if Nannes might only provide 2 years of service to Australia? Not with the impact he has had. Prefer 2 years of instant results compared with 5 years living in hope a young kid will come good.

 

[Top_Cat]

Nannes what a star!

All other nations should take note. Do not keep your eye solely on the upcoming youth, who knows what gun middle aged cricketers you my miss out on. Does it matter if Nannes might only provide 2 years of service to Australia? Not with the impact he has had. Prefer 2 years of instant results compared with 5 years living in hope a young kid will come good.

Or 10 years in the case of Yuvraj.

Agree, though. Oz has a decent tradition of picking some older blokes who are only around for a couple of years, especially in ODI's.

 

[Xuhaib]

Afridi love for Hafeez and Dhoni's love for Jadeja is worrying me now.

 

[mohammad16]

I think you missed his World Cup performances in 07. Particularly his stuff against the likes of Lee (whom he pulled for successive sixes, or was it Johnson?) In the semi at Durban.

Also he played half of his games on the Bang pitch which was quick and bouncy as compared to usual Indian pitches.

Plus I don't think anyone suggested he is the Bradman of pull shots. 99 percent of Subcontinental batsman aren't and that includes Pakistan, sri lanka as well. But he is definitely a better bet to pull it off than a Raina or a Pathan, besides having quite some exotic shots as well, and importantly is in good form.

I recall those innings, the ball wasnt hurrying and bouncing into him as they were today. The fact is that India will continue to do well since these types of sporting wickets are just plain rare in today's cricket. I think this short ball stuff will be forgotten for a while since Indian batsmen will continue to bully their way on good batting wickets and once in 20-30 matches be subject to such wickets.

Rohit Sharma played well today, but he is by no means a good player of a short ball. I think Indians just have to change their mental approach when dealing with the short stuff, trying not to go as hard after these bouncers might do the trick.

As I said, India will rarely face such quality pace bowling on good sporting wickets especially in Twenty 20s so they will generally do just fine. I think their major problem is in the pace bowling department where they hardly ever seem a threat.

 

[TumTum]

What I noticed is that SC batsmen use a lot of wrist in the pull-shots. Their coach should start teaching them how to play a proper pull shot, this is just embarrassing. BTW Tendulkar sucks at the pull shot too, it's just that he has a great eye, that's why he fails less playing it.

 

[Top_Cat]

That Sachin can play the pull shot at all with a 3lbs 2oz bat, especially considering his lack of size, is remarkable but I don't see how he's a poor puller. Don't see much wrong with his technique at all, tbh.

 

[TumTum]

Don't see much wrong with his technique at all, tbh.

You kidding right?

 

[mohammad16]

What I noticed is that SC batsmen use a lot of wrist in the pull-shots. Their coach should start teaching them how to play a proper pull shot, this is just embarrassing. BTW Tendulkar sucks at the pull shot too, it's just that he has a great eye, that's why he fails less playing it.

Tendulkar is an AWESOME puller and even more importantly a hooker of the cricket ball. The only reason u dont see tendulkar pulling as much as Ponting etc is because he uses a very heavy bat off which he backfoot punches the shorter balls back down the ground instead of pulling, it is a much safer excercise with a heavy bat. Any time the ball was short of pulling length, Tendulkar would hook really well. Easily the best hooker in Indian cricket.

 

[Bobisback]

Mahela

 

[TumTum]

Tendulkar is an AWESOME puller and even more importantly a hooker of the cricket ball. The only reason u dont see tendulkar pulling as much as Ponting etc is because he uses a very heavy bat off which he backfoot punches the shorter balls back down the ground instead of pulling, it is a much safer excercise with a heavy bat. Any time the ball was short of pulling length, Tendulkar would hook really well. Easily the best hooker in Indian cricket.

No doubt he is India's best puller and hooker (although thats not saying much) but I think you are confusing the word AWESOME with DECENT.

 

[Jayzamann]

Just read in the latest S Rajesh article on Australia's merry short pitching that Nannes is now the highest wicket taker in twenty20. Outstanding.

Australia's short-pitched strategy | Cricket Features | ICC World Twenty20 2010 | Cricinfo.com

 

[Migara]

What I noticed is that SC batsmen use a lot of wrist in the pull-shots. Their coach should start teaching them how to play a proper pull shot, this is just embarrassing. BTW Tendulkar sucks at the pull shot too, it's just that he has a great eye, that's why he fails less playing it.

Donald and Co will not agree with you.

 

[Xuhaib]

expecting SL to do a number on Aus. Mahela and Sanga should handle the bouncing ball fairly well and Aus has only faced Mendis once would be a nice game.

 

[Himannv]

No doubt he is India's best puller and hooker (although thats not saying much) but I think you are confusing the word AWESOME with DECENT.

He has complete control over it even though its somewhat unorthodox at times to suit where he's trying to place it. Awesome is an accurate word to describe almost all batting aspects of Tendulkar including his ability against the short ball.

 

[Migara]

expecting SL to do a number on Aus. Mahela and Sanga should handle the bouncing ball fairly well and Aus has only faced Mendis once would be a nice game.

I a not sure whether they could blaze away. But if they could negotiate Nannes and Johnson at 6 per over it'll be fine. Tait will always offer some loose stuff and Mahela and Sanga do play short bowling very well, and will not be intimidated. They should target Harris, Watson and Clark for the bask to score 8 - 10 rpo off them. Mathews is also quite proficient in handling the short ball. Even if Dilshan is out of form, because his way of treating short stuff with disdain, tempting to play him. Aussies IMO will bowl up and length to SL, intimidatory tactics with short bowling might back fire in big time if tried.

Dilshan, Jayawardane, Sangakkara, Chandimal, Mathews, Kapugedara, Perera, Randiv, Kulasekara, Malinga, Mendis.

Kulasekara showed against WI that he can bowl it on block hole with new ball, and that should be his modus operandi against Warson and Warner. Opening with Randiv is also a good idea. personally i would like Malinga + Randiv to open bowling against Aussies and let them face a different type of bowling to what they have been smashing up to now.