India Tour New Zealand- 2022- Limited Overs only tour.

When straight and square boundaries are 60 to 65 meters long, 300 runs aren't enough
 
New format, same old template. 300 on NZ grounds in this day and age is easy. Totally destroyed us today.
 
What you are talking about is an IDEAL situation which can actually be worked out with Hardik and Jadeja/Washington at 6 and 7 but apart from them, we don't have anyone who can be called as reliable genuine allrounder (Shardul, Axar and Deepak Chahar are obviously bowling allrounders) and I am afraid neither of them would make a cut based on their batting.

IIRC, Kedar Jadhav was a keeper early on before he started to roll his arm over. Now this might not be the most appealing option given the performance in the recently concluded T20I WC but KL Rahul can try and emulate something similar so can Shreyas (would really solidify his spot at 4 against Sky in ODI team) and Gill.

Rahul has been phenomenal at 5 with the bat if you ask me but then again, he would be keeping wickets if he wants to make a cut. That leaves us with Rohit who used to bowl off spin earlier. Not sure what induced him to give up bowling. An extra option is always a bliss if any/both of Hardik and/or Jadu gets injured. That way, we would be able to play an extra batsman/specialist keeper such as Sanju/Pant/Kishan.

Rohit
Gill
Virat
Shreyas
Rahul (keeper)

We do have all-rounders in domestic cricket. The problem as always is that we seem content to shoehorn them into roles where their secondary skill is gradually laid to waste away until it challenged infrequently.

I’d say Shahbaz is the closest we have to a true all-rounder other than Hardik in Indian cricket. He’s got a track record of also being Bengal’s Ben Stokes chipping in with vital performances in either discipline when needed. Any other team would have earmarked such a talent and groomed them for the national side but he’s just been in and around the squad a few times with a couple of games so far.

Our attitude towards bowling all-rounders is also terrible IMO. Just off the top of my head.. these are the names that other sides have played at various points in international cricket at seven….

Ashton Agar
Mitchell Santner
Chris Woakes
Liam Plunkett
Sam Curran
Akeal Hosein
Jason Holder
Chamika Karunaratne
Rashid Khan
Mehidy Hasan Miraz

None of these guys are close to being called a proper all-rounder who can bat in a good top six. Yet teams have played them when needed because every side knows that it is far more important to have six bowling options even at the cost of a weakened batting order because the sixth specialist batter is seldom useful. A sixth bowling option is always useful. The only exception to this was South Africa until they got Markram capable of bowling when needed. It’s also important to note that Markram was always kept in and around the team despite his horrible returns as they wanted him to focus mainly on bowling improvement. Now will the Indian side or it’s fanbase afford such patience towards a Shreyas Iyer for instance if he loses form temporarily whilst practicing his bowling? We see our fans call for the heads of Rahul who was world class just 18 months ago and Hooda who is the readymade option that you crave for because he can’t bat properly against good bowlers. Why is Shreyas going to risk throwing away his chance at making the Indian side as a pure batter in the vain hopes of chasing the all-rounder dream without any backing?
 
No matter what the experts say, I absolutely loved watching Umran bowl today. Was a breath of fresh air. This format suits him well compared to T20I where he would have less chance to turn the tables if he gets tonked early on. I am eagerly waiting for Natarajan to get at his best. He is such an exciting bowler too.

Can we have an all left arm pace attack once again for India with Natarajan-Arshdeep-Mohsin in the future? Reminds me of Zaheer-Nehra-Irfan-RP Singh era. Pakistan did the same few years ago by having the likes of Mohammed Irfan-Junaid-Amir-Wahab in their ranks. England are trying follow suit with Willey-Topley-Mills-Curran in their ranks.

Given the recent success of left armers, it is evident that all teams are looking to have left arm seam options in their ranks which (the inclusion of left arm pace bowlers) was reflected in the T20I World Cup as well.

I must say Umran is winning me over slowly as a prospect for the future and a player who can contribute now. The times he went awry in this game were only due to inexperience. In a sense he looked like he belonged to this stage of international cricket unlike in those T20I games he played once. The India A games have definitely helped him out. With some proper guidance he can easily be our most threatening pacer in the WC that’s two years away.
 
When straight and square boundaries are 60 to 65 meters long, 300 runs aren't enough

New format, same old template. 300 on NZ grounds in this day and age is easy. Totally destroyed us today.

Today was one of those scenarios where everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for us with the bat. Dhawan and Gill both threw away platforms in quick succession necessitating an anchoring of sorts by Shreyas and Pant. This was then followed by Pant and SKY both throwing away their wickets in the same over which meant Shreyas had to be cautious again for a while. Now these are ultimately excuses as Samson did show that it was possible to play positive cricket without necessarily risking your wicket but it’s clear that we had three Williamson like knocks that couldn’t transition into a Latham like knock because we lost wickets at the worst possible moments. If I had to look at this game in retrospect…

  • There was an argument for Gill being too cautious in the powerplay even if NZ seamers were very good with the new ball. Gill and Dhawan could have gone a bit more aggressive in the first few overs to set a template down and strike early fear in NZ bowlers.
  • Shreyas could have perhaps been more aggressive once he got his eye in. His knock today wasn’t really great at all, he was troubled by the short ball often and was very lucky to not be dismissed earlier.
  • Sundar really bailed us out with the bat and also the ball. We’d have been short on both departments without his contribution today.
  • Our bowling needs a serious rethink. Teams across the globe are now employing specialist middle overs bowlers for the sole purpose of hunting down wickets. We seem to be just content with.. getting all overs from our five bowlers at a par rate instead? That’s not how a modern ODI works as any set batter will take you down unless they gift you their wicket and relying on the opposition to screw up is never a winning strategy.
 
I must say Umran is winning me over slowly as a prospect for the future and a player who can contribute now. The times he went awry in this game were only due to inexperience. In a sense he looked like he belonged to this stage of international cricket unlike in those T20I games he played once. The India A games have definitely helped him out. With some proper guidance he can easily be our most threatening pacer in the WC that’s two years away.
You know what he'd really benefit from, going to do a season in the BBL like Haris Rauf had done when he was still a raw talent.
 
We do have all-rounders in domestic cricket. The problem as always is that we seem content to shoehorn them into roles where their secondary skill is gradually laid to waste away until it challenged infrequently.

I’d say Shahbaz is the closest we have to a true all-rounder other than Hardik in Indian cricket. He’s got a track record of also being Bengal’s Ben Stokes chipping in with vital performances in either discipline when needed. Any other team would have earmarked such a talent and groomed them for the national side but he’s just been in and around the squad a few times with a couple of games so far.

Our attitude towards bowling all-rounders is also terrible IMO. Just off the top of my head.. these are the names that other sides have played at various points in international cricket at seven….

Ashton Agar
Mitchell Santner
Chris Woakes
Liam Plunkett
Sam Curran
Akeal Hosein
Jason Holder
Chamika Karunaratne
Rashid Khan
Mehidy Hasan Miraz

None of these guys are close to being called a proper all-rounder who can bat in a good top six. Yet teams have played them when needed because every side knows that it is far more important to have six bowling options even at the cost of a weakened batting order because the sixth specialist batter is seldom useful. A sixth bowling option is always useful. The only exception to this was South Africa until they got Markram capable of bowling when needed. It’s also important to note that Markram was always kept in and around the team despite his horrible returns as they wanted him to focus mainly on bowling improvement. Now will the Indian side or it’s fanbase afford such patience towards a Shreyas Iyer for instance if he loses form temporarily whilst practicing his bowling? We see our fans call for the heads of Rahul who was world class just 18 months ago and Hooda who is the readymade option that you crave for because he can’t bat properly against good bowlers. Why is Shreyas going to risk throwing away his chance at making the Indian side as a pure batter in the vain hopes of chasing the all-rounder dream without any backing?
I get your point about the team formation and I am all in for Shahbaz but the thing is he will have fight with Jaddu for a place and at this point, Jaddu has made #7 of his own. Good shout though. Shahbaz is a better option for ODIs rather than Axar or even Washington upto a certain extent in my opinion. I personally would want Axar nowhere near the ODI/T20I team. He is good in Tests but his slight lack of batting may become an issue in ODIs. For T20Is, I don't think he gives confidence as a bowler.
 
Watching some highlights and I’m blown away by Umran’s bowling.

He got some improving to do but I think thats gonna come with experience. He’s still a bit young yet so I expect his average to be a touch above 150kph consistently.

Not really a complicated action either which is good with regards to becoming injury prone.

Wanted him in Australia but in hindsight the selectors are probably keeping him away from the fast food T20 style. ODI is a good opening, then start him in Test cricket!
 

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