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***Official** Malaysia Tri-Series

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
The West Indies batting really is in a horrible state at the moment. They basically have four batsmen who look capable of making a score, and yet they pick only two specialist bowlers.

We're already looking at the two final hopes out there, and there's still 220 needed.
 

adharcric

International Coach
FaaipDeOiad said:
Brilliant call. Aside from the Haddin bit. LBW for 0 off 32.
I've seen this guy bat. He got owned by an out-of-form lefty a few months ago: Irfan Pathan. Pathetic innings, but Bracken ended his misery. God bless you Nate.
 

adharcric

International Coach
FaaipDeOiad said:
The West Indies batting really is in a horrible state at the moment. They basically have four batsmen who look capable of making a score, and yet they pick only two specialist bowlers.

We're already looking at the two final hopes out there, and there's still 220 needed.
I've been very unimpressed by Lara's captaincy at times in this tournament. First of all, several times he's made random moves like take off bowlers right when they start doing good and persist with the ones that start to suck. Then, he's had strange selections. Wavell Hinds is ABSOLUTELY useless in this team - he can't score a run and he doesn't bowl a ball ... and I haven't seen him touch the ball in the field either. Why Samuels isn't playing instead astounds me.
 

Johnners

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Watson in with a chance. Has bowled well, and batted well...

Lee had taken 8 wickets in 2 games though. If he gets another 2/3 here he should seal it.
 

Gajanayake

School Boy/Girl Captain
honestbharani said:
My thoughts on India's performance in this series:


1. Too much experimentation by Greg Chappell. Imran Khan hit the nail on the head during INdia's tour of Pak in the third ODI or second ODI, I think. Pathan came in at 3 when the ball was swinging around and India had just lost Sehwag. He put the question "Is he your regular no.3 now? ". Greg Chappell and Dravid certainly thought so and over a whole season, with the aid of flat tracks and good batting performances by others, it kept looking like a success, even though a few here at CW (including myself) were criticising it all the time. It is one thing to send in Pathan as a pinch hitter in the odd game when quick runs are needed, quite another to play him at 3 every game. Thankfully, the windies tour and this series have helped realize that he is WAY out of his league at that position. Is he really our answer to Ponting, Sarwan, Jayawardene, Younis Khan, Fleming etc.? And thankfully, the experiment with Dravid at the top failed now than at the CT or at the WC. It is time for us to write down a settled side with players for each position and only deviate from it depending on the match situation. Pathan coming at 3 in every game is not exactly a surprise, was it? It would have been a surprise had it only happened once in a while.



2. Sehwag, DRavid, Yuvraj, Kaif and Raina all collectively failed in this series. That is our whole batting line up except Sachin. Sehwag has always had issues in ODIs especially on tracks that did a bit. I am planning to start a seperate thread about him where we can discuss this issue further. Yuvraj looked like he has been out of match practice. Having had a bout of viral fever during the camp, he should have been eased back into the side. It looked as though he was rushed back instead and it showed. It might have been a better idea to have left him out of this squad and got him back in through the Challenger Trophy. The guy is still class and I expect him to come up with good knocks in the Champions Trophy. Kaif and Raina are basically not carrying on with their good work. If they continue like this, they may need to be dropped. I think we have had enough of guys who score the good 20s and 30s. And the thing with Kaif is he should bat at 3 if he is in the side or otherwise, we might as well drop him. He is certainly not the best option at 5,6 or 7 for us right now.


3. Dinesh Mongia made a good comeback. I have been one of the few here who has always been advocating a comeback for him and it was wonderful to see him do well against a very good bowling line up. Hopefully, he can make this comeback count unlike the last time. He can a steadying presence for us at 5.


4. Harbhajan is back to his best with the ball. IT was a pleasure to see him defeat batsman after batsman through flight and length. The fact that he is getting a lot more caught and bowled and stumped dismissals (the classical off spinner's dismissals over the years) shows how good he is at the moment. He probably is up there among the top 3 spinners in ODIs right now and that is a HUGE advantage for us right now.


5. The pace attack did okay. Munaf shows good control even though I really think he is a little too young in international cricket to be talking about giving up pace etc... McGrath certainly used to bowl a lot quicker than Munaf at his age while still hitting the same lines and lengths. Agarkar is still a little blow hot and blow cold with the ball but at least now we need not have any pre-conceived notions of him bailing us out with the bat. He is officially a tailender now even though he has been one since the day he came in. RP Singh is a waste in the national side, AFAIC. He bowls with an economy of 4.5 to 5 in good bowling tracks and it shoots up to above 6 on batting tracks. He can't bat and he can't field. Sreesanth is a better option any day of the week. Even if he goes for more runs, he is atleast more likely to get a batsman out. RP Singh is a one trick pony and if he is gonna be in our side every game in the CT, we might as well kiss our slender chances good bye.



6. Lastly, Dhoni... The man has appeared in more ads than the runs he has scored in international cricket in the last season. Honestly, I don't mind how many ads a guy comes in but when the guy keeps failing and you have to see him in every commercial break, it gets on your nerves. His keeping is still suspect and he probably cost us the first game against the Windies by failing to stump Brian Lara. His batting again, is a bit of a one trick thing. He can hit it well and clean and long if it is in his slot but apart from that he really does struggle to get going. He is still a valuable one day player once he gets his act right because of the power he brings to the lower middle order. But I think he should be left out of the test side now, he really isn't our best option in that form of the game.


Ideally, I think this is our best XI at the moment for ODIs:


Sachin
Sehwag
Kaif/Yuvraj
Dravid
Mongia/Yuvraj/Raina
Mongia/Raina
Dhoni
Harbhajan
Agarkar
Sreesanth
Patel

One thing I don't get is why Sehwag keeps getting a free ride into the team.....whi is VVS Laxman getting ignored repeatedly...in favour of Sehwag who has largely been non performing at ODI level.
Laxman's average is the same as Sehwag's despite having only half the opportunities.

What about Hemang Badani ? Don't see what he ever did wrong in his last matches to be left totally out of the loop now ?

They also need to stop mucking around with Kaif and bat him at either 3 or 4 so he can bat in those middle overs where his running skills would prove most useful.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
It's great to see Watson bowling so well. Moving the ball both ways off the pitch, and he's getting some inswing as well. Obviously it's a decent place to be a seam bowler, but I've certainly never seen him bowl this well in international cricket before. Troy Cooley having an impact? :D

He'll grab MOTS for mine. Four wickets in the opening game and 79 or so in the second, and some wickets in the final too. He'll beat out Lara and Tendulkar due to the fact that Australia will win, and also that they only really had two significant innings each, similar to Hussey.

The other competition is Lee, with 9 wickets in 3 matches.
 

Nate

You'll Never Walk Alone
Ahh... Katich. If he had of looked in control, it wouldn`t have mattered as much. But he looked oh so uncomfortable. Great batting by Martyn, decent work by Clarke and Symonds, Hussey and Haddin were brilliant. Then there`s my man Bracken. :D
 

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