Australia tour of India Jan-2020

[Bevab]

That was a proper thrashing.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Excellent from the Aussies. I'm not surprised with this result. I also feel the gap between the teams is vastly exaggerated because the Aussies have batted at a time where there is due and the ball is flying off the bat. Kuldeep bowled really well with no luck and Jadeja still needs Dhoni behind the sticks. He just starts bowling darts when the wicket is flat.

The batting line up?

It's madness in my book to even contemplate moving Rohit and Kohli in the order. I think, India need to respect what Dhawan has done for us in the white ball format, specially in ICC tournaments, but keeping Rahul out right now is criminal. You can almost feel that he's on the cusp of breaking through. I think Iyer was settling in nicely at 4 and there's no need for this shuffling around. Dhawan should be our reserve opener and de facto choice regardless of form as long as he's fit.

Rohit
Rahul
Kohli
Iyer
Pant
Jadeja
Pandya
Kuldeep
Saini/Shami
Bhuvi
Bumrah

I am shocked Jadeja is still floundering around at 7. He's ready to bat 6 and we need a 6th bowler as seen so many times!

 

[Bevab]

Why is everyone so surprised about how well we are playing? Recently we've turned our form in the complete opposite direction in white ball cricket and in my opinion,Finch and Warner have been one of the most dominant opening pairs in ODI since 2015. India however have been playing West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for the longest time now and have now been faced with a team of equal, maybe even greater skill. Without a doubt England is still the best ODI in the world but I believe that Australia is a better team with everyone fully fit because as shown in the World Cup Semis vs NZ, if that top 4 is out early, the game is over.

Australia hadn't won a single ODI series for nearly two years until last year's victory in India if I'm correct and played a similar style of stodgy, slow cricket that India are doing right now. I remember the ODI series right after the Ashes down under where Finch would score a century patiently to take Australia to a total near 300, only for England to comfortably chase it down. The turnaround from that to the more aggressive style of modern ODI cricket is excellent and bodes well with the current bowling lineup. If they could find a good spinner and get Mitch Marsh back in the side as the all-rounder, Australia might very well challenge England for the title of the best ODI team.

I do think West Indies deserve greater respect though, given that they nearly won a series versus us.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Shardul Thakur is back to earth I guess. Idiotic pundits who were comparing him to the likes of Bhuvi & Saini!

Our fast bowling is Bumrah, Bhuvi, Shami, Chahar and Saini as of now with the white ball for me.

Our spinners are the two wristies. Our all rounders are Pandya and Jadeja, both of whom should play at 6 and 7.

Rohit, Rahul, Kohli, Iyer and Pant should be our top 5 consistently.

 

[Jalen]

Australia hadn't won a single ODI series for nearly two years until last year's victory in India if I'm correct and played a similar style of stodgy, slow cricket that India are doing right now. I remember the ODI series right after the Ashes down under where Finch would score a century patiently to take Australia to a total near 300, only for England to comfortably chase it down. The turnaround from that to the more aggressive style of modern ODI cricket is excellent and bodes well with the current bowling lineup. If they could find a good spinner and get Mitch Marsh back in the side as the all-rounder, Australia might very well challenge England for the title of the best ODI team.

I do think West Indies deserve greater respect though, given that they nearly won a series versus us.

Agreed that we definitely lack a consistent spinner as well as Mitch Marsh getting back into the ODI lineup, average in mid 30s and handy with the ball. His fitness is always an issue when it comes to white ball cricket because I can't remember the last time he performed badly in One Day cricket

 

[Bevab]

Excellent from the Aussies. I'm not surprised with this result. I also feel the gap between the teams is vastly exaggerated because the Aussies have batted at a time where there is due and the ball is flying off the bat. Kuldeep bowled really well with no luck and Jadeja still needs Dhoni behind the sticks. He just starts bowling darts when the wicket is flat.

The batting line up?

It's madness in my book to even contemplate moving Rohit and Kohli in the order. I think, India need to respect what Dhawan has done for us in the white ball format, specially in ICC tournaments, but keeping Rahul out right now is criminal. You can almost feel that he's on the cusp of breaking through. I think Iyer was settling in nicely at 4 and there's no need for this shuffling around. Dhawan should be our reserve opener and de facto choice regardless of form as long as he's fit.

Rohit
Rahul
Kohli
Iyer
Pant
Jadeja
Pandya
Kuldeep
Saini/Shami
Bhuvi
Bumrah

I am shocked Jadeja is still floundering around at 7. He's ready to bat 6 and we need a 6th bowler as seen so many times!

Spot on!

Rahul looked to have finally turned a corner in 50 over cricket with his opener plus keeper role for Karnataka and was performing consistently for India too. He has now played as an opener, number three, number four and even as the finisher once over the past year for India. Tinkering with his position to this extent is ludicrous.

I swap Pandya and Jadeja in your lineup, Pandya IMO has the potential to bat even at five if he is properly given the role of a batting all-rounder and disregard for spinners is taken advantage of fully. Also, I would have Shami as a certainty in the ODI lineup, he is the closest we have to a strike pacer in the mould of Starc and I would rather have a bowler go for an extra 10-15 runs if it means they take a couple of wickets more. And given that the next WC is in India after all, I wouldn't mind playing the spin twins together depending on conditions.

One thing that I found strange was the number of boundaries the Aussie openers were able to hit with ease. They were constantly finding the gaps in comparison to the Indian batsmen. Just how much of it is truly attributable to dew and how much is it down to good field placements by the respective captains? I've seen RCB, another team captained by Kohli constantly suffer from needlessly conceded boundaries in gaps that are too exposed whenever they are under the slightest of pressure.

And finally, just why do we insist on cramming every top order batsman into the lineup (Three natural openers, two top order batsmen who like to be the number three and a keeper who was once an opener and prefers batting at least one if not two positions higher)? I appreciate that Kohli and Shastri can find out issues with our lineup like the lack of batting depth, weak middle order (including Jadhav's role as a passenger in every game) but their solutions to these issues have never really been consistent and we see constant changes instead. If you need a middle order batsman capable of scoring from the start, play someone like Dube who has more sixes than fours in domestic white ball cricket. If you want a more consistent batsman, pick someone like his captain in Surya Yadav who starred at five as the finisher this season. Why is Shankar suddenly out of the frame and demoted to the A team when he has all the characteristics needed to be a part of the side (part time bowler, can go big if needed, has experience in the middle order)?

 

[Master Bates]

Let's see what should be the lineup for second match:

I have a feeling that India will drop one of Rahul or Dhawan. Tough to pick but I feel it should be Dhawan.

The next three pick themselves. Kohli, Iyer and Pant (injured).

Jadeja did well with the bat so no need to get him out. We have only Dube as a sixth bowling option so he will play. Kedar Jadhav has to go.

Kuldeep, Bumrah and Shami will play. Shardul needs to go unfortunately. Navdeep should play. We need pace and Navdeep can consistently bowl 140+. But if the pitch demands two spinners (not counting Jadeja) then Chahal can play. We all are dying for KulCha. Let's hope the selectors are reading .
the forums.

The lineup looks something like this:
Rohit
Rahul
Kohli
Iyer
Manish Pandey
Jadeja/Dube
Dube/Jadeja
Shami
Kuldeep
Navdeep/Chahal
Bumrah

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Spot on!

Rahul looked to have finally turned a corner in 50 over cricket with his opener plus keeper role for Karnataka and was performing consistently for India too. He has now played as an opener, number three, number four and even as the finisher once over the past year for India. Tinkering with his position to this extent is ludicrous.

I swap Pandya and Jadeja in your lineup, Pandya IMO has the potential to bat even at five if he is properly given the role of a batting all-rounder and disregard for spinners is taken advantage of fully. Also, I would have Shami as a certainty in the ODI lineup, he is the closest we have to a strike pacer in the mould of Starc and I would rather have a bowler go for an extra 10-15 runs if it means they take a couple of wickets more. And given that the next WC is in India after all, I wouldn't mind playing the spin twins together depending on conditions.

One thing that I found strange was the number of boundaries the Aussie openers were able to hit with ease. They were constantly finding the gaps in comparison to the Indian batsmen. Just how much of it is truly attributable to dew and how much is it down to good field placements by the respective captains? I've seen RCB, another team captained by Kohli constantly suffer from needlessly conceded boundaries in gaps that are too exposed whenever they are under the slightest of pressure.

And finally, just why do we insist on cramming every top order batsman into the lineup (Three natural openers, two top order batsmen who like to be the number three and a keeper who was once an opener and prefers batting at least one if not two positions higher)? I appreciate that Kohli and Shastri can find out issues with our lineup like the lack of batting depth, weak middle order (including Jadhav's role as a passenger in every game) but their solutions to these issues have never really been consistent and we see constant changes instead. If you need a middle order batsman capable of scoring from the start, play someone like Dube who has more sixes than fours in domestic white ball cricket. If you want a more consistent batsman, pick someone like his captain in Surya Yadav who starred at five as the finisher this season. Why is Shankar suddenly out of the frame and demoted to the A team when he has all the characteristics needed to be a part of the side (part time bowler, can go big if needed, has experience in the middle order)?

Rahul needs to convert. I think, from what I see, he is clearly insecure. The sort of batter he is, given the vote of confidence he can shred an attack from top and bottom. He is at best, a franchise T20 WK and because I like him I follow almost all of his games and there's a reason Punjab went about acquiring WK batters in the 2019 auction. He's a reluctant WK and I prefer to have him just bat because I think he could end up as a pretty brilliant test bat too.

I would always play both Pandya and Jadeja. We need six bowlers but no-one listens to me. I think, Jadeja's batting has grown enormously in the last 18 months and I think Pandya lacks common sense in general. He needs a 10-12 over stint and he can win us the game single handedly from there. But, I get your point. No reason why Pandya can't bat 5, he should ideally but he lacks brains. Some of his shot selection in the WC had me really agitated.

I like Shami. But he's cannon fodder in the death overs. I think we need to look past Bhuvi and Bumrah for the death because they're fast bowlers and they're always brittle by nature. I think Saini is fast, tall, awkward and he looks to be developing a Yorker. Could become our own Morne Morkel. Shami though definitely plays right now. But, on any track like Wankhede or Chinnaswamy I would always pick Saini. He just has that height and on these tracks under lights, I rather a bowling machine that delivers from the first floor than one that does from the ground.

I think Kohli is a bonafide terrible captain. There is no aspect of his captaincy apart from fitness and trying to develop a pace battery that I like and mind you, most of these blokes that are coming of age right now served their apprenticeship under Dhoni.

Honestly, the batting order has been a joke ever since Dhoni retired. FFS, Manish Pandey made a match winning century in Sydney chasing on a track that was one of the more difficult white ball surfaces I've seen and he didn't get a fair go. Iyer did everything asked of him in SA and then he got dropped. Everyone knows Rayudu more for being dropped than understanding why he was picked. Make no mistake about it, the next year or two of development will determine the future of Rahul, Iyer and Pant. Two of these three are among the top 3 most destructive batters in our country and the other is a definite contender for becoming India captain. To add to all this, Karun Nair is lost and I for one cannot stomach the fact that Kedar Jadhav has played the amount he has and in this day and age of 'experimentation' someone like Surya Kumar Yadav has not even been given a go!! Any sensible management/captain would have realised immediately after 2019 England that a call had to be made on Dhawan and Jadhav. But, here we are, clueless then and perhaps more clueless now!

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Sanju Samson dropped after being picked after 4 years and playing 2 balls in the last T20 series.. Great for him and his confidence!

 

[Master Bates]

Sanju Samson dropped after being picked after 4 years and playing 2 balls in the last T20 series.. Great for him and his confidence!

This management is a joke. I want India to lose in group stages in world cup this year so that they are force to remove Kohli-Shastri duo from their respective positions.[DOUBLEPOST=1579152802][/DOUBLEPOST]Since Pant is not playing, I would play Manish Pandey in place of him.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

This management is a joke. I want India to lose in group stages in world cup this year so that they are force to remove Kohli-Shastri duo from their respective positions.[DOUBLEPOST=1579152802][/DOUBLEPOST]Since Pant is not playing, I would play Manish Pandey in place of him.

I'd put aside my dislike for Indian glory but you are mistaken if you think that they can be removed by being knocked out early. If you were to believe the murmurs that I am hearing in Kolkata, Ganguly is in pole position to lead the BJP's charge for the upcoming elections against Mamata Banerjee and if that happens, it means another feeble BCCI chairman. In the current scheme of things, I see no administrator capable of giving the boot to this duo apart from Ganguly. You need to understand the role the media plays in all of this- A good administrator removing Kohli can be printed as 'oh what does he know about cricket?' by the duo's media brigade but Ganguly is adored all over India and if he makes that call, there will be less backlash from media and public. Mind you, I don't think even Dada has the stones to touch Kohli at the moment!

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Kohli at 3 is the right move in my opinion, but the change shows the impatience of this management. One mediocre result and they go crazy! Bananas to make him keep too.

 

[Bevab]

Couldn't watch the game today, can anyone say how good the batting lineup performed today?

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Couldn't watch the game today, can anyone say how good the batting lineup performed today?

Dhawan and Rahul were good. Rahul more so.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

I like the way Rahul has played but I don't feel convinced to see him bat as low as 5. I think he has to open in limited overs Cricket. And having him as keeper is just another blunder and I don't see what good it could do to Rahul. But this actually have been done to accommodate Dhawan as they don't want to keep him out for some unknown reasons whatever known to the management.

Another thing is I find trouble playing in one of Kuldeep or Chahal and therefore I think both had to play in this team.

I am just mighty impressed with Navdeep Saini with the way he has learned to keep that ball in the right place and a plus point is that he has express pace.