***Official** Malaysia Tri-Series

[adharcric]

Why doesnt anyone ever think that Harbhajan could/should be dropped and Powar tried in his place?

could ~ he's established in this side and Powar isn't
should ~ maybe he should, but I fear for Powar's conventional off-spin sometimes (maybe I'm wrong)

 

[maxpower]

having seen highlights of first 2 games, I would'nt expect much of great bowling from any of the teams, and not specially from IND's they have the worst attack in the tourney. Harbhajan vs Power, what diff does it really make, when others are going 9+ an over (except the great one).

 

[Arjun]

That part I disagree with, but the rest of your post is spot on.

IKP had given away 22 runs in just 2 overs. Given his recent form with the ball, Dravid had to be concerned keeping in mind that D/L would most definitely come in to play. He needed to control the run flow more than he needed wickets. And Irfan wasn't the man for the job, at least to him.

None of the other bowlers were doing anything special. Agarkar was lucky not to go for too many runs, while RP was lucky to get Chanders. Agreed, 2 overs for 22 runs may worry a captain, but–

1. When Chris Gayle gets stuck into someone, it can be quite devastating, with no way out.
2. A total of 310 is not small by any means. They've defended a total a little over 200 without a great start against England recently.
3. He's still their best ODI bowler on form, and he's still their best bet for an early wicket. The rest are either past their best or just too raw.

You can't cast away your Number 1 bowler because of two bad overs.

 

[aussie]

Perhaps it'll be a four-man pace attack with no Hogg?

Yea based on the first two games the pitch & conditions are suiting the fast men so Hogg may not get much game time.

 

[viktor]

None of the other bowlers were doing anything special. Agarkar was lucky not to go for too many runs, while RP was lucky to get Chanders. Agreed, 2 overs for 22 runs may worry a captain, but–

1. When Chris Gayle gets stuck into someone, it can be quite devastating, with no way out.
2. A total of 310 is not small by any means. They've defended a total a little over 200 without a great start against England recently.
3. He's still their best ODI bowler on form, and he's still their best bet for an early wicket. The rest are either past their best or just too raw.

You can't cast away your Number 1 bowler because of two bad overs.

Remind me again, what he did in the last 5-6 ODIs?

 

[SJS]

Here are their comparative figures for the last ten ODI's played for India.

..............Harbhajan..........Powar

Wkts.............8......................15

Avg.............48.9...................29.5

Str Rate.......62.3..................38.5

Eco Rate.....4.71...................4.58

 

[Arjun]

Remind me again, what he did in the last 5-6 ODIs?

And who won those last 5-6 ODI? What did anybody do in them?

 

[Arjun]

Here are their comparative figures for the last ten ODI's played for India.

..............Harbhajan..........Powar

Wkts.............8......................15

Avg.............48.9...................29.5

Str Rate.......62.3..................38.5

Eco Rate.....4.71...................4.58

Still better than most of the pacers, young and experienced. Go back a few matches and he'd be India's best bowler!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Makes sense. The West Indies were "saved by the rain", but probably not in the sense implied by any biased Indian media source. At 20 overs, the match was wide open and WI were in no way favorites considering their weak lower order and what happened against Australia. India went from uncertainty to defeat, while WI went from uncertainty to victory. In that sense, the WI were saved and India were screwed by the rain.

The implication is that the West Indies were on the verge of losing until the rains came or on course to lose until the rains came. Both implications are entirely false. I fail to see how you can justify that headline. The West Indies were not saved by rain. They played well enough to ensure that if the rains came, they'd be ahead and if they didn't come, they'd still have a good platform toward victory.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

And who won those last 5-6 ODI? What did anybody do in them?

How can you justify one player being rubbish by saying "well, everyone else was rubbish too"? Does that make him less rubbish?

 

[Arjun]

How can you justify one player being rubbish by saying "well, everyone else was rubbish too"? Does that make him less rubbish?

He's still India's best bowler, and there's now way a few bad matches can change that.

 

[SJS]

Still better than most of the pacers, young and experienced.

Irrelevant as usual.

 

[Arjun]

Irrelevant as usual.

You want Powar over Harbhajan. How about Powar over Sreesanth, RP Singh, Agarkar or Munaf?

The same Harbhajan took five wickets against England, defending a total a little over 200. Going back a few matches, the scene would look vastly different. How things change in the space of a few matches...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He's still India's best bowler, and there's now way a few bad matches can change that.

Paints a bleak picture of Indian cricket then, but that was pretty obvious already.

 

[Arjun]

Paints a bleak picture of Indian cricket then, but that was pretty obvious already.

What do you think is so wrong with Irfan Pathan that he can't (or shouldn't) be India's best bowler?

 

[SJS]

They are both off spinners and I was talking of the "pssibility' of 'considering/discussing' swapping between them.

The fact that Powar is in the team while someone of the caliber of Kumble is not (besides the dact that Kumble would bring variety to spin department) shows that Powar is rated highly.

To talk of medium pacers is to show one's immaturity.

To talk of Harbhajan being india's best bowler is satrange if one has to go back and back to find proof of that.

In the whole of 2006, Harbhajan has been struggling.

He took 5 wickets in the first game he played in this calendar year against England at home since then he has been far from impressive.

Powar played two games in March 2004 and never played again till this calendar year. How does talking of Harbhajan's performance of any period before 2006 make a comparison with Powar more relevant?

In the 9 games that both of them have played in together this year, Harbhajan has 10 wkts at 36.6 , a strike rate of 54 while Powar has 15 wickets at 27 each with a strike rate of 34.9 !

I was just suggesting that Powar could be considered too but since you seem to feel that Harbhajan has some kind of permanent hold on an India place I thought I might enlighten you with some information you may have missed.

By the way, forget the statistics, I consider Romesh Powar a better off spinner than Harbhajan Singh and this is based on what I can see. The statistics just happen to be good too.

I know most people disagree with this but thats okay

 

[adharcric]

The implication is that the West Indies were on the verge of losing until the rains came or on course to lose until the rains came. Both implications are entirely false. I fail to see how you can justify that headline. The West Indies were not saved by rain. They played well enough to ensure that if the rains came, they'd be ahead and if they didn't come, they'd still have a good platform toward victory.

Precisely why I clearly stated that while I agree with the headline, I don't agree with what the Indian media was trying to imply. The West Indies were not on the verge of losing, but they were not on the verge of winning either. It was still wide open at that point. No one can say that the India were simply denied 5 points, but they were certainly denied the chance to get those 5 points. Similarly, the West Indies weren't simply gifted 5 points, but they were certainly helped along their way considerably by the rain.

 

[adharcric]

Paints a bleak picture of Indian cricket then, but that was pretty obvious already.

Just in case you don't have a clue what you're talking about, this is the same Irfan Pathan who has averaged 21.51 in 2006, with 29 wickets in 17 matches and an economy rate of 4.77. All that includes the out-of-form performances against the West Indies. He's certainly a better ODI bowler than Bradshaw, Taylor or Edwards. Don't take cheap shots when he's going through a bad patch.

Paints a bleak picture of West Indian cricket, doesn't it?

 

[adharcric]

SJS, I certainly rate Ramesh Powar about as much as I rate Harbhajan Singh. I wouldn't mind him getting a game, but I don't see it happening against the Aussies if we're only playing one spinner. With Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Sehwag in the side, I'm not sure if we need 2 specialist spinners.

 

[viktor]

SJS, I certainly rate Ramesh Powar about as much as I rate Harbhajan Singh. I wouldn't mind him getting a game, but I don't see it happening against the Aussies if we're only playing one spinner. With Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Sehwag in the side, I'm not sure if we need 2 specialist spinners.

SJS is talking of replacing Bhajji with Powar. I think its definitely worth a try, esp since I think Powar can get us a few more wickets