***Official*** Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series 2007-08

[Jono]

Gambhir's knock was excellent, no doubt, but I can't believe how little credit Dhoni is getting for his innings.

Was an absolute treat. One of the best he's ever played in the ODI arena, and was the definition of a captain's knock.

Terrific knock by Gambhir. Hope all the Gambhir haters stood up and took notice. It was a terrific knock and even better that he made that drop by Sangakkara come back to haunt Sri Lanka. So many Indian players like Dravid and Ganguly get dropped by the fieldsmen only for them to get out the next over or a few overs later. Why some people were saying that Gambhir should never be picked is beyond me. He's clearly a more accomplished batsman than Raina or Karthik.

the reason people suggest he shouldn't be in the team is because of his dismal ODI record, particularly against the major 8.

I've never minded him in the team, and I reckon people on CW exaggerate how bad he is. He's a decent player, but promised a lot more a few years back. If he plays more knocks like this one I'd be very pleased.

 

[Jono]

btw,he has shown bottle today as he did in the t20 wc final.

Good point. Criticise his technique all you like, but I'm curious as to how SS has come to the conclusion that he doesn't have the temperament to succeed at ODI level.

He's proved in domestic and at the int'l level that he can play well when the pressure is on.

 

[sideshowtim]

I hate to complain about the rain given that we're in the middle of a drought and all but still.....**** the rain.

 

[viktor]

Good point. Criticise his technique all you like, but I'm curious as to how SS has come to the conclusion that he doesn't have the temperament to succeed at ODI level.

He's proved in domestic and at the int'l level that he can play well when the pressure is on.

Actually, its only in these two games that he has shown the bottle to ride the bad periods. Before this, his response to being bogged down would have been to lash out and get out.
Technique wise, he isn't great but is okay for the one day game. Its the change in his temperament that has impressed me these two games.

 

[Anil]

Yeah bloody dire thing to say, but as Anil is an Indian fan he probably knows that's his team's only way of registering some points in this series.

don't know about the whole series(and obviously the rebuilding effort by gambhir and dhoni was also unexpected), just didn't want to see india go down tamely in this match and they seemed to be en route at that point...

 

[JASON]

Very impressed by Ishara Amerasinghe's debut .

I am certain with our long batting line up we would have pulled this one over India, but then again India may have bowled well under lights too...

SL would've expected a favourable result here with back to back ODIs against Australia coming up...on 2 successive Fridays !!

At the SCG this Friday, Maharoof may be a better inclusion in the side. Although who should be dropped, begs the question ....SL may need to leave Kapugedera out , as its essential to have the extra bowling option against the Aussies..

 

[Mister Wright]

Gotta love how it's fine today, although storms are forecast later on tonight.

 

[Johnners]

Will be raining in Brisbane late this arvo I reckon. Storms a plenty around this week.

 

[adharcric]

Nah. I'm a Gambhir hater. He doesn't belong on this stage. A couple of good innings do not make up for ten times as many bad ones. He has neither the the technique nor the temperament to succeed at this level. Quality swing and seam bowling just makes him seem clueless.

His technique is certainly ordinary for an opener but you can't really make a conclusion about his temperament just yet. He has looked good on occasions and on others he has appeared to buckle under expectations and throw away a solid start. Looking at his relative success at #3 in one-day cricket, he may be worth a good run at that position. He certainly doesn't inspire much confidence as an opener (actually, he looks better in tests than he does in ODIs) so let's forget about that at the moment. The verdict on Gambhir is still far from settled.

 

[haroon510]

i can't believe this.. rain is ruining what i call a perfect odi series between three teams that are evenly matched.. another abandoned match that means another day and match to wait for..

well done to Gambir and Dhoni.. they both played well..they are both clean strikers of the ball..

 

[Perm]

On the surface of things, an average of 33.82 and strike rate of 76.88 seems decent after 30 games. Not ground-breaking stuff, but perhaps a sign of things to come. However, once you filter out those 6 games against Bangladesh, Ireland and Scotland in which he has amassed quite a few runs, then his record looks pretty ordinary. Other than his two centuries against Sri Lanka, which have been excellent knocks, the rest of his 50+ scores have come when India have registered over 300. Just some food for thought. Decent record at #3 though.

EDIT: Excellent record for India A also.

EDIT TWO: Good to see Sehwag opening though. He is actually pretty good there.

 

[Top_Cat]

I think the key point is that maybe judgement of Gambhir has been a bit hasty. He looked quite good after a slowish start yesterday and now, given that there was an enormous amount of interest early on in him, now that the pressure is off somewhat, he can relax and hit some big scores. Has all the right tools. He walked off the ground sky high with a huge grin on his face so maybe he's turned a corner? His success yesterday has shades of how Paul Collingwood got back into the England Test side, especially if he can keep it up.

 

[biased indian]

But i am amazed at the amount of catches dropped ......every team seems to give him atleast one chance every game

he had three lives so far in this series and in t20 final also he got chance hope he get them a lot and score more runs, as long as he score runs everything is fine..but if his luck start to end he might be in trouble

 

[masterblaster]

Gambhir's knock was excellent, no doubt, but I can't believe how little credit Dhoni is getting for his innings.

Was an absolute treat. One of the best he's ever played in the ODI arena, and was the definition of a captain's knock.

the reason people suggest he shouldn't be in the team is because of his dismal ODI record, particularly against the major 8.

I've never minded him in the team, and I reckon people on CW exaggerate how bad he is. He's a decent player, but promised a lot more a few years back. If he plays more knocks like this one I'd be very pleased.

Well you do realise that he's not exactly all the way into his career, and he wouldn't be classified as an 'experienced' player yet. He's only 26 and has got a long way to go and the signs are pretty good. I still think he can end up with an ODI batting average of around 38-40 in a few years time when he'll be at his peak as a batsman.

 

[Craig]

Ever been to a game at Telstra Dome? If so, how far are you into repaying the mortgage you would have had to take out to buy a beer? Hate the place.

The rain is good for the farmers I suppose. If we can continue the cricket until May, we'll break this drought.

Yes I certainly have. Well I saw the Rugby Sevens at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Still counts I guess.

 

[Migara]

Now that's the result when you play a lot of medium pacers in your side. Vaas without swing was nothing. SL should've played 4 seamers, and they should make room for Maharoof, who will excel on Australian pitches, because he produces that seam movement.

 

[Nate]

To be fair to the selectors, it was overcast and at the Gabba. If you're going to play Vaas, you'd play him then.

 

[Migara]

Yes, but having Tharanga at the top has blocked Maharoof coming in. Let Jaya and Sanga open. They'll be perfect.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

So you two are saying it rains a lot in December, January and February in Queensland, then? All the months of the season?

Leave cricket to the shoe-wearing states IMO.

 

[honestbharani]

haven't watched much of this series... Got to see the Gambhir/Rohit partnership and that spell of 4 overs that night...


I guess we will now have a pretty settled top 6 for the rest of this tour, but perhaps there is a case to bring in either Karthik or Raina or even another bowler (Chawla or Praveen Kumar, both of whom can bat a bit, based on their FC stats) instead of Uthappa or Tiwary. Neither strike me as particularly likely to do well in Aussie conditions and neither look like guys who can play well unless they walk in with a decent platform... Not sure either of them are that good in rebuilding an innings, which is one of the things you want your #7 to be able to do if you are going to stack your team with batsmen...


I feel we should play Chawla in the bigger grounds and I think he is more likely to get wickets than Harbhajan...