***Official** Malaysia Tri-Series

[Jono]

It wouldn't matter if they batted down to seven, eight, nine or ten, if the top six got out cheaply that way. They need to get their act together first. Getting ten wickets is also very important. Besides, with Irfan (sadly) not likely to get another match here, they'll have to stay with batting till seven and Harbhajan contributing a little.

But it does matter man... it does matter.

Fair enough Yuvi, Sehwag and Dhoni have been nothing short of crap, but you need to know that you can still post 240-250 even if wickets fall early. Aus were 5-100ish and scored 270+.

 

[Anil]

Yeah, but he's argued that line as well to be fair.

oh he did? anyway, india still has to beat aus to qualify and that's a tough task....both ponting and mcgrath will be back....

 

[silentstriker]

But it does matter man... it does matter.

Fair enough Yuvi, Sehwag and Dhoni have been nothing short of crap, but you need to know that you can still post 240-250 even if wickets fall early. Aus were 5-100ish and scored 270+.

Yes, well thats Australia. The west indian bowlers of the 70s and 80s could go 100-0, and get you 125 all out too. But thats not us.

They have class, we don't.

 

[Jono]

Yes, well thats Australia. The west indian bowlers of the 70s and 80s could go 100-0, and get you 125 all out too. But thats not us.

They have class, we don't.

Yeah so because they have a better batting line-up we should... make ours worse?

Haddin is good, but he ain't someone so brilliant that India couldn't have someone of similar aboility battint at 7.

 

[adharcric]

I didn't think he bowled that well today. I don't remember him straying down the leg side so often when he made his debut. He seems to pushing the arm across a bit, and is coming in too wide at the crease.

Well let me rephrase that, he's a developing bowler. He's swinging the ball and attacking the stumps more these days and the pace is around 85 mph on average. When he came on for the first time, he used to bowl straight deliveries slanting across the right-handers outside the off-stump and he would get good natural bounce as well. That got him some big wickets (ie Inzamam) and was a good start. After having tried new things over the past year, I think he is learning more and starting to combine the new "attack-the-stumps" style with the "outisde-off-slanters" style rather effectively. Still not a finished product and definitely fifth among our five pace options, but he's on the right track.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Fair enough, but surely it's better to play someone like Taylor into some better form than to give heaps of overs to people who aren't going to be crucial to your chances of winning the final.

I think the idea was that the middle order batting has been rubbish and they're trying to figure out who deserves to be in the middle order for the final, whereas Taylor is a straightforward pick for the final.

My team for the final:

CH Gayle
S Chanderpaul
RR Sarwan
BC Lara (c)
RS Morton
DJJ Bravo
CS Baugh (wk)
DR Smith
IDR Bradshaw
JE Taylor
CD Collymore

Edwards unlucky to miss out, but I think Collymore would do better on these pitches if he gets it right.

That's a bowling attack of Bradshaw/Taylor/Collymore/Bravo/Smith/Gayle, which should be sufficient.

 

[adharcric]

IMO it's a three-way race between Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia and Ramesh Powar. Powar is a cool customer and a resilient lower-order batsman, apart from forming a lethal tandem with Harbhajan Singh. Kaif hasn't seen any action and neither has Mongia. Kaif has in his favor batting experience, a reputation and his fielding prowess. Mongia has in his favor part-time bowling ability.

Now, I haven't understood why we insist on five bowlers for every match when we have Sehwag, Yuvraj and Sachin all capable of consistently (at least the first two) giving you a total of 10+ overs of part-time spin. Furthermore, we should NEVER play all three of RP Singh, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel at the same time; it makes for a terrible tail which is unacceptable when you only have six batsmen. If Dravid and Chappell aren't confident in the part-time options mentioned above, they should really give Mongia a shot sometime soon to see if he can make a difference.

For the match versus Australia, my pick is Powar; the reason: class. I don't think Mongia will survive bowlers like McGrath and Lee, but Powar is a top-class cricketer in my books (and a consistent one at that). As for Kaif, he should only play if he bats near the top, and that's not likely to happen. His fielding is good, but Yuvraj is better and I rate Raina above both of them. Therefore, here's my XI to face Australia in the crucial encounter.

V Sehwag
S Tendulkar
R Dravid *
Y Singh
S Raina
MS Dhoni +
R Powar
A Agarkar
H Singh
S Sreesanth
M Patel

 

[adharcric]

CH Gayle
S Chanderpaul
RR Sarwan
BC Lara (c)
RS Morton
DJJ Bravo
CS Baugh (wk)
DR Smith
IDR Bradshaw
JE Taylor
CD Collymore

Edwards unlucky to miss out, but I think Collymore would do better on these pitches if he gets it right.

That would be my side as well. Edwards is exciting but he's relatively similar to Taylor; Collymore offers variety.

 

[pug]

IMO it's a three-way race between Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia and Ramesh Powar. Powar is a cool customer and a resilient lower-order batsman, apart from forming a lethal tandem with Harbhajan Singh. Kaif hasn't seen any action and neither has Mongia. Kaif has in his favor batting experience, a reputation and his fielding prowess. Mongia has in his favor part-time bowling ability.

Now, I haven't understood why we insist on five bowlers for every match when we have Sehwag, Yuvraj and Sachin all capable of consistently (at least the first two) giving you a total of 10+ overs of part-time spin. Furthermore, we should NEVER play all three of RP Singh, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel at the same time; it makes for a terrible tail which is unacceptable when you only have six batsmen. If Dravid and Chappell aren't confident in the part-time options mentioned above, they should really give Mongia a shot sometime soon to see if he can make a difference.

For the match versus Australia, my pick is Powar; the reason: class. I don't think Mongia will survive bowlers like McGrath and Lee, but Powar is a top-class cricketer in my books (and a consistent one at that). As for Kaif, he should only play if he bats near the top, and that's not likely to happen. His fielding is good, but Yuvraj is better and I rate Raina above both of them. Therefore, here's my XI to face Australia in the crucial encounter.

V Sehwag
S Tendulkar
R Dravid *
Y Singh
S Raina
MS Dhoni +
R Powar
A Agarkar
H Singh
S Sreesanth
M Patel

Just some random views on the team selection.

I wouldn't take Mongia for the next match. He's had too little time in the middle lately against international quality bowlers to be sent for such a crucial match all out of the blue. Powar, I would consider since Australia had found some trouble playing Harbhajan and Sehwag the previous match. Add Powar and we have 30 overs of quality spin with Yuvraj and Sachin also available, in case our medium pacers prove impotent.

But what works against him for me is his batting. I still don't have as much faith in his batting abilities as you have, and as has been said earlier, India must strengthen the batting a bit more for the next match. It must be kept in mind that McGrath and Lee will be bowling in the next match (thankfully Johnson is not) and that will definitely be a bigger challenge than Smith-Collymore-Gayle. But that doesn't really work to Kaif's favour as well for the reasons that you have mentioned. The current Indian line-up just doesn't have space for Kaif really, truth be told. Maybe, if Dravid is injured or not playing but let us hope that doesn't happen.

It is really unfortunate that Pathan's out of form as his batting abilities are much more established than Powar's and would really settle that problem. I would WANT to consider him just in case the next match is the one in which he comes good but it's a real unlikely thing. However, if he's in even then would create a further dilemma - whether to bowl him first up. I doubt if Dravid would want to take that risk and his real value is taking the 1-2 early wickets and if that part is nullified, then his importance is somewhat reduced.

Agarkar has really proven his supporters among the selectors to have made a good decision many a time now to be considered a prime bowler for India (scary as it sounds). Munaf is solid but needs to work up a bit extra pace while Sreesanth has shown himself to be a better option than RP Singh in this match. I would go with your bowling lineup but I wouldn't dismiss Pathan as easily as everyone else has.

For batting order, the team management seems to have kept this series as the test tube for the Dravid-Tendulkar opening combo and I think it likely for them to continue for the next match. Against Australia however, they should really consider sending Sehwag with Sachin not only because we may need the sort of explosive start he gets but also in light of the many batting collapses this series, Dravid should be preserved as our rescue guy if it comes to that. I'm all for experimentation but during such crucial matches I'd prefer a safer approach.

To sum up, I agree with your selection.

 

[pug]

I apologise to all West Indian fans.

I was playing poker tonight and during the break there was some NRL show on the plasma, so I asked them to change the channel to the cricket for me, they did. About 2 balls of watching and Chanderpaul went. Then I had to go back to the table and everytime I looked over a batsman was walking back to the pavillion.

If it is any consolation, I didn't win another hand and had the short stack on the final table which didn't last long for me.

Any chance of going for poker this friday?

 

[aussie]

tournament getting hot now, time for Australia to lift their game to the standards we know.

I guess looking at the increasingly odd selections & strategy by the windies that they weren't that up for todays game as if it were a must win situation.

 

[pug]

I guess looking at the increasingly odd selections & strategy by the windies that they weren't that up for todays game as if it were a must win situation.

To be fair, it wasn't.

But I get what you mean and I hope it wasn't so.

 

[benchmark00]

How have the crowds numbers been in Malaysia across the tournament?

 

[aussie]

Sachin and Lara looked so much better than everyone else today, it was amazing. Lara didn't get out, and Sachin was very unluckily run out at the non-striker's end from a straight drive rococheting off the bowler. Even at 33 and 37 respectively, they're still showing their class.

damn right yo, its going to be a sad day for cricket fans when two legends decide to hang it up.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

tournament getting hot now, time for Australia to lift their game to the standards we know.

I guess looking at the increasingly odd selections & strategy by the windies that they weren't that up for todays game as if it were a must win situation.

... I think the West Indies would prefer to face India in the final...

 

[silentstriker]

... I think the West Indies would prefer to face India in the final...

A U-13 side from Zimbabwe would prefer to face India in a final. India would find a way to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat (for the Zimbabwe side).

 

[Anil]

... I think the West Indies would prefer to face India in the final...

of course not...they would want the challenge of playing the brilliant australian side in the finals....how could they not????....you think?

 

[aussie]

... I think the West Indies would prefer to face India in the final...

That afraid of the Australians i see..

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

That afraid of the Australians i see..

Oh yes. This absolutely dominant Australian team sends quivers down West Indian spines...

 

[Mister Wright]

Any chance of going for poker this friday?

Nah mate, Broncos play Friday night.