***Official*** New Zealand in Zimbabwe & Zimbabwe/New Zealand/India ODI Tri-Series

[Loony BoB]

I figured it was obvious enough. Hopefully NZ won't do what India did and make me look like a fool, though.

 

[SJS]

Towns - I turned your URL-link into an IMG-link so it's visible here. Now you get to explain what it means!

Its a stroll in the park for the Kiwis !!

 

[_Ed_]

Hamish Marshall has had a really disappointing tour. Off he goes for another single figure score.

He's usually one of our better ODI batsmen so not good to see. We do have a strong lineup though so not too worried yet.

 

[Loony BoB]

Hamish Marshall does his trademark thing for this series and gets out for less than ten runs.

 

[Arjun]

Are you serious or are you.......

Some of India's finest cricketing feats have come against the Aussies. India play above themselves against the Australians and seem to sink to the depths against the Kiwis of late.

• World Cup final: AUS 359/2, IND 227 all out.
• TVS Cup match: AUS 349/2; IND 281/8
• VB Series Final 2: AUS 359/5; IND 147 all out

These are just the bottom three. There may be more to come. They may have played 'several levels above' against Australia, but still they're way, way behind as their recent record suggests. What does that tell you? Performances in bits and pieces don't matter!

 

[Jono]

What is the point in arguing who India suck the most against? They've lost many games to many teams. We've had some terrific wins against Australia in both forms of the game, but some terrible losses to.

I remember India belting NZ not too long ago in the World Cup and TVS Cup. At the same time they had some disgraceful losses when they tourned NZ in 2002/03, both in tests and ODIs.

India have always been inconsistent. Always.

 

[Sanz]

Relax everyone !! There is still lot of runs to be scored. Couple of wickets and we are back in the game.

Hope it makes fans feel better.

 

[Jono]

Sehwag gets 2 wickets in one over. I wish Loony Bob was India's captain

To be fair to Ganguly though, our pace bowlers haven't helped him.

 

[Loony BoB]

Aye, 'tis true. India aren't out of the game yet. NZ once made a trademark out of collapsing. I think we're out of it, though, knock on wood.

 

[meatspx]

Dissapointing end for Fleming, stupid shot to play under the circumstances considering he did it against H Singh.

He really needs to look at how Astle plays - chances are he'll see us to the end of the game.

 

[Loony BoB]

Sehwag gets 2 wickets in one over. I wish Loony Bob was India's captain

To be fair to Ganguly though, our pace bowlers haven't helped him.

I assure you, I would have scored 31 runs less than India's current captain.

 

[Jono]

Hope it makes fans feel better.

A little but NZ's batting line-up is very long. I hope we can snag a couple more before the 25th over.

 

[Jono]

I assure you, I would have scored 31 runs less than India's current captain.

Maybe we could have supersubbed you on or something

 

[Arjun]

To be fair to Ganguly though, our pace bowlers haven't helped him

They've dropped Zaheer and Balaji, so they were left with these three. If they can't look around, they can't find anyone, can they? Then again, they've opened with Nehra once more.

Could this be a strong case for Zaheer's recall?

 

[Loony BoB]

It could be a strong case for paying an Australian pace bowler a few bucketloads to move to India for five or so years.

 

[Arjun]

Now there's no excuse not to attack. Forget that useless stat known as economy rate, just rush for the wickets.

They can now cut out ten overs from the pace frontliners and let Sehwag bowl them. He's in some form now.

 

[Jono]

They've dropped Zaheer and Balaji, so they were left with these three. If they can't look around, they can't find anyone, can they? Then again, they've opened with Nehra once more.

Could this be a strong case for Zaheer's recall?

I don't know, all 5 of them aren't special anyway. All we seem to do is rotate between the 5 of them, and play a young one in a meaningless match. But in the crunch games, 3 of the 5 are always chosen and most of the time they fail, no matter which 3 they are.

But if we're going to choose Pathan, Nehra and Agarkar... why the hell would we not open the bowling with Agarkar. The only asset he has is the ability to swing it a little. We may as well have Pathan and Agarkar make use of the new ball, and have Nehra bowl with the old one.

 

[Arjun]

It could be a strong case for paying an Australian pace bowler a few bucketloads to move to India for five or so years.

One may really feel sorry for the Aussie pace bowler when he starts playing for India.

 

[Loony BoB]

Final powerplay on with the spin bowlers still sending them down. If Astle and Styris go for big hits and get them over the infield, there will be few fielders on the boundary to make catches off those slower moving balls. Odd tactic. Will be interesting to see if the spinners can play it tight enough.

EDIT: Only one run off the first of the five overs, though. Not bad, Harbhajan.

EDIT: Oh, but Pathan is brought back in. I like this, by the way: "Irfan Pathan brought into the attack now, good change this one" - by the cricbuzz chap.

And then...

24.1 Pathan to Styris, FOUR!!, what a day he is having, everytime he has bowled today, he has been taken for runs, pitched up, Styris reaches for the pitch and drives it to long off, beautiful shot!!

101 Ways To Eat Your Words, by Cricbuzz Commentary.

 

[Arjun]

I don't know, all 5 of them aren't special anyway. All we seem to do is rotate between the 5 of them, and play a young one in a meaningless match. But in the crunch games, 3 of the 5 are always chosen and most of the time they fail, no matter which 3 they are.

But if we're going to choose Pathan, Nehra and Agarkar... why the hell would we not open the bowling with Agarkar. The only asset he has is the ability to swing it a little. We may as well have Pathan and Agarkar make use of the new ball, and have Nehra bowl with the old one.

Zaheer may have had a bad series in SL, but on his day, he's a lot better than those other four. When he played his first ODI against the Aussies, he bowled a yorker that got Steve Waugh out, which announced his entry in international cricket. He's often bowled at a good pace (not quite the tearaway pace, but still reasonably fast by Indian standards) at his peak and yorkers at that pace can suddenly put the brakes on a batting side. He's also built like a fast bowler- unlike many Indian fast bowlers of the past and present, who were under-powered. However, he's been a little too insecure these days and looked tenative when he bowled. Once he gets some confidence back and regains his attacking intent, he can become a potent strike bowler for India. But Zaheer's case is yet again a case of good leaders and bad ones, since he has the potential to be a major wicket-taker.