There are some reports coming out that the Netherlands are playing ODI warm up matches against Karnataka.

Karnataka literally humbled them or some might say humiliated them. At one time Dutch team scorecard was 3/7, all top 7 batters scored 0 ( 3 extras were the high scorer), followed by 39/9. Then their tail wagged before getting bowled out for 123. Karnataka won by 142 runs. Wish there was some highlight to watch.

I believe hosting some part of T-20 WC in the USA will give some reality check to ICC and broadcasters. ATM they are planning to host the biggest premier match of Ind vs Pak there.

Pro - It'll be a superhit in terms of gate money.

Cons - The Timezone is not suitable for the Indian prime time slot unless they start a match in the morning like 8-10 am. Also, the Stadium is in work in progress.

That's one part of the argument but at the same time, their bowlers both spinners and seamers are doing an alright job on rank turners in Bangladesh and that too with the second string team.

Lot of outcome will depend on the WC pitches, overall spin does come into play in India during middle phase of the inning but Pitches in India are diverse. You have bouncy-fast paced pitches in Wankede/Dharmshala, you also have an absolute road in Mohali/Indore, slow pitch in Delhi, spin heaven in Chepuk and mix bag in Kolkatta so there is something for everyone.

Still more than a week left and few reports did suggest that he's recovering quite well so there might be some possibility. We might get our answers when we get into warm up fixtures.

IDK, they were hardly fielding their first choice team in ODI bilateral (Everyone was doing this) so you never know and like i said many times these guys always punch above their weights so there is a possibility of some surprise.  

Kiwis might surprise as they are dark horses and always punch above their weight.

Proteas batting order is looking threatening to me this time and if their bowling clicks at the right time then they could wonder as well, although one of their primer bowler is ruled out due to injury.

You never know what Pakistan can do, one day they will look Prime Pakistani team and they also have a strange capability of becoming a club level cricket team so highly unpredictable.

Bowling figures were amazing so props to Titas Sadhu and India but keep in mind that Pingfeng Campus pitch hosted around 11-ish matches for this tournament and a handful of innings (only 5 times) crossed 100 runs marks on the scoreboard.

This should clear the air in regard to pitches. Batters had virtually no chance, not complaining but it does play a part in an overall context.

True! When you become a favorite for any big event, there is a possibility of being complacent or like Indian management says " 30 minutes of bad cricket" Don't want to hear these words again.

Let's hope no left arm fast bowler takes us by surprise, if it happens then we are practically 3 down in powerplay lol. In the last 5-6 years it happened in literally every crucial match and we never recovered.

Bummer that there were no fireworks in the second inning. I was literally praying for another slaughter but i guess they crumbled due to scoreboard pressure.

It wasn't an easy pitch for any bowler so kudos to Krishna and Chadwin for making inroads on the flat deck. Especially Ash Anna, he was amazing and loved it when he outfoxed Labuschagne with a carrom ball.

Blood, just blood everywhere and I reckon we'll see a similar slaughter in the second inning.

No one should expect less when the pitch is flat and boundaries are not that big. Indian bowlers might demand a raise and praise if they can avoid similar treatment, if not then it's alright as bowlers are 3 class citizens and labours in the cricket world anyway lmao.  

Another example of Batriarchy domination over Bowlsheviks. 

The way Indians are going today, a mammoth total is definitely on the cards. Australia would be very lucky if they could restrict India under 350. If by any chance India gets out under 300 then shame on them as this pitch looks like a belter. Aussie batter will enjoy their batting as well.

Happens sometimes, at least you didn't say that it was only Dhoni, who was solely responsible for winning the WC for India lol

We are living in an era of franchise rivalry. Dhoni vs Gambhir vs Kohli vs Rohit and so on. Tbh, it's a very toxic environment in social media due to the PR ecosystem and that's why these sorts of comparisons dominate the narratives.

Sreesanth?

Zaheer Khan was the highest wicket taker in the 2011 WC for India, followed by Yuvraj. Sreesanth came in 3rd and he was wicketless in the finals, also didn't even play in the semis. 

It was Yuvraj's brilliance with the bat and ball. Zaheer as a strike bowler, Gambhir with his crucial match-winning innings and finishing touch of Dhoni.

Pakistan, Australia and South Africa stand at 2,3,4 positions respectively.

If these guys organize 3 back to back series with the likes of Zimbabwe, Ireland or Netherlands then they will top the ODI ranking and if they manage to clean sweep then potentially remain at the top for at least 1 year. 

My overall point is a strong test nations like Ind +Eng +Aus hardly field their strong whiteball team against every team. They always try their bench strength (you can notice this even in the current series), and you can add Kiwis as well in this mix.

In contrast, teams like Pakistan + Sri Lanka +Bangladesh always go with their full strength team, unless there is some injury issue. For ex: Pakistan faced literally second string teams from Aus, NZ in the last year or so and add some WI + Netherlands +Afghanistan bilateral series, result? They were the number 1 team for a week or so.

Why we are not accepting it?

We are big but not big enough in terms of economic or military power, even diplomatically and definitely not strong when up against a Western block. Canada is weak only if we look at it bilaterally but not when we club them with the big western block. I mean just look at all the major institutions, everything comes under the Western powers. Yes, we are making inroads but it's a recent development and we have a long way to go so denying the accusation is practical, unless it's proven otherwise.

RAW comes directly under PMO, which basically means if the former is caught, in result the latter party will get $ucked royally (not domestically but internationally). Blowback can be drastic like facing sanctions or start acting like a vassal state against China/Russia because you know, we are beastly people with a beastly religion and were supposed to follow the white master.

Or maybe we are really innocent lol.

CBC broke this story and it's basically the mouthpiece of the Canadian government-funded news outlet (69% gov funded lol hinting at Funny incident)  so it's obviously leaked by gov.

Everyone spies on each other, including friends (We also do this) but no one speaks about it publicly because it has severe repercussions, hence the leak via media and there is no doubt that this -alleged- intel (if there is any) came from the five eyes, basically the USA but I won't count the UK as well. Don't look at this gameplay as some economic POV only, it's just one of the many factors.

Trudeau digging a hole and so far no one is willing to pull him up but again Canada is the USA's neighbor and founder of the Anglosphere intelligence alliance (Five Eyes) so you never know. If there is any intel (which is a possibility) then USA has to make a decision if they want to release the tapes etc or not and more importantly at what cost? If they do release it then it will backfire on India-USA relations and it is not good for Indo-Pacific strategy. Both the parties Delhi and DC, mainly the latter party invested heavily in this relationship due to new geo-political realities.

Why would you say that Proteas are not a favorite? They just beaten Australia in 5 match series, despite being 2 down. Their middle order is in some form and the opposition bowlers should be afraid of it, they are also very familiar with the Indian condition (Well, in white ball actually it's true for every SENA team).

Kiwis are dark horses as usual, no hype but they are a big tournament team.   

Only the second team to achieve this feat, which is nice but might change in the next 2 matches because Aussies are fierce opponents.

PS : Only Test ranking matters in cricket. T-20/ODI rankings are jokes.

The way it's progressing it looks like a test match so we are up for some long haul unless Uncle Sam does his thing behind the door.

I don't think tension would go away easily even if conservatives came into power because India will surely demand a crackdown on Khalistan and this isn't straightforward through the Canadian system. Overall this incident is very educational for Western audiences (minus gov) as far as Khalistan terrorism is concerned. 

Aha Hassan is back eh, nice..

I won't count Ashwin and Axar just yet because the former is playing ODI after a long break, although he's a champion bowler but let's be honest it's a white ball cricket. The latter got injured and lately off color with the ball.

Also not sure if India would go regularly with 4 frontline bowlers (Shami+Bumrah+Siraj+Kuldeep) because of the new mindset of "batting depth". In modern cricket, you don't want 4 proper tailenders in your playing XI.

In what sense? 

Tbh now batting order looking bit stable to me.

Openers Gill and Rohit are in good nick, Virat seems to be back in form, KL was always good in no 4-no 5 in ODI (only confidence was the issue because of fall out from the test and t-20 team).

For number 5 they have to test Iyer more because recent form matters. He's a good bat in this position but fitness is a big issue with him. His potential replacement Kishan is doing a fairly good job. Hardik is solid at number 6. Jadeja is looking rusty for number 7 but he's a prize all rounder. SKY selection would be based on gamble IMO, if Iyer or Kishan fails.  

Surya Kumar Yadav =SKY 

At one point run chase was looking straightforward task and Indian openers were going exceptionally well but after the first wicket partnership, it went in a different direction because of a mini collapse.

Still, plenty of batting left and the remaining target is moderate so it shouldn't be that tight contest but you never know, if Rahul thinking of taking this deep. Hope SKY goes into a bit of T-20 mode and scores some quick runs.