It is strange that you are blaming Pant. Actually he did much better than the other batsmen. Scored a total of 101 runs from three matches and let's not forget the fact that he is the keeper as well. Rohit would have made a difference? I don't know, because Shikhar Dhawan was also in good touch as the opener (169 runs from 3 matches). KL Rahul failed, both as a captain and as a batsman. It was the bowlers who failed - especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Pant under-performed in my opinion and Rohit would have definitely made a difference. He could have replaced Rahul as both the captain and as a batsman. Also, Thakur single-handedly decimated the South African batsmen in one of the tests while Ashwin shouldn't be blamed since the pitches aren't spin friendly and he didn't concede too many runs. I have to say that in my opinion, Rohit is a better captain in comparison to Kohli or Rahul. Because of Virat, I think that he wins by his own performance, not because of crazy good captaincy. But Rohit is a better captain and makes better decisions.
I disagree. Rohit hasn't proven himself as a better captain when compared to Kohli at the international level yet though he has proven himself as a better captain in the IPL. Just to let you know under Hitman's captaincy India won Asia Cup, Nidahas Trophy and also under his leadership Mumbai Indian have won 5 IPL trophy, second best is Dhoni as far as IPL captaincy goes. There are reports coming in that BCCI is set to hand over all format captaincy to Rohit, quickfix for 2 years max. |
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ICC has announced T20 WC 2022 schedule. Super 12 will start on October 22 and the most important match of any icc event i.e. Pak vs India will on 24 Oct. India, Pak, SA and BAN are in Group B, while Aus, NZ, Afghan and England are in Group A. There will be two more teams in each group that will come from qualifying round. So arch rival fixtures are fixed no matter what. Aus vs Eng and especially Ind vs Pak. That's a easy recipe of guaranteed return of interest. Boring and expected move but hard to blame the poor ICC to follow this route cause revenue does matter. These types of fixtures might be boring but the matches are going to be interesting, and I don't think that any cricket lover is going to just look at the fixture and be disappointed just because this type of match are going on for a long time. At least I don't have any complaints if I get to see some good games. And we all know it's hard already to game revenue from any type of things under the coronavirus situation, so I don't think we should blame ICC for these types of fixtures. I wasn't implying that these fixtures are boring to watch, i was merely pointing fingers at ICC old tactics for revenue generation that how they only focus on tapping every ounce of profit at start with Ind vs pak match and rest of the remaining seasons everyone preach about spreading the game bla bla. |
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There are two recent incidents which I wanna discuss:
1. Kohli addressing directly broadcasting in stumps during 3rd test against SA
2. Moises Henriques saying "nice throw" to Pak bowler Hasnain in BBL
So far ICC has not taken any disciplinary action against both player's. The reason is obvious both are from big 3 countries. Had this done by player from Pakistan, Bangladesh or WI ICC will have used his guide book against them. Cricket truly is under big 3 control.
Didn't see Hasnain bowling action (and not interested in BBL) so don't know what to make of Henrigues's comment but i did watch the SA vs India match. Virat said “Focus on your team as well when they shine the ball eh, not just the opposition. Trying to catch people all the time,” Personally i don't see any wrong in Virat's comment. He was indicating towards "Sand Paper Gate" and how broadcaster Supersport only follow opposition players, which is 99% true. Timing of comment was very wrong tho. But overall i do agree with your post. PIG-3 players, especially Indian players gets only a slap on the wrist for any disciplinary breach.
I guess most of the test cricket fans are either retirees or those who are unemployed, as none of the other demographic groups have that much spare time.
Ummm does fanatic fan counts? |
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I understand that statistics has a great role while selecting players but for me, stats are not everything because a player also needs to have the calmness to perform under pressure and in key moments. And I think ok I would prefer Jadeja to have my back in those moments instead of Ashwin or Shardul.
I agree with this. Statistics can be deceiving. If we go solely by stats, then Shardul and Ashwin may look far better options when compared to Jadeja. But from what I can recall from all these years, Jadeja has performed under pressure, during crucial situations. Matches India won as a result of Jadeja may be far more than the number of the matches India won as a result of Shardul and Ashwin. And in the end it should matter. What is the point in having personal milestones, when you can't guide your team to a win? Yes, stats do deceive sometimes. Which is why Jadeja is first choice spin allrounder in pace friendly countries, no benefit on denying this fact but at the same time it would be pretty ignorant to say that Jadeja is better match winner than Ashwin and also bizarre to compare Shardul with Jadeja. One is seam all rounder and later is spin all rounder, comparison doesn't make sense at all. Btw this is all time Man of the series list.  https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283469.html |
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ICC has announced T20 WC 2022 schedule. Super 12 will start on October 22 and the most important match of any icc event i.e. Pak vs India will on 24 Oct. India, Pak, SA and BAN are in Group B, while Aus, NZ, Afghan and England are in Group A. There will be two more teams in each group that will come from qualifying round. So arch rival fixtures are fixed no matter what. Aus vs Eng and especially Ind vs Pak. That's a easy recipe of guaranteed return of interest. Boring and expected move but hard to blame the poor ICC to follow this route cause revenue does matter. |
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One major point to contribute on sorry state of ODI -Reverse-Spin.
Reverse swing and spin is missing from limited overs cricket due to rule change in cricket and not because we have less talented bowlers.
Discard 2 balls system in ODI ( need to increase quality of balls) and you would witness bowlers running riots at the pitch. Likes of Bumrah, Shami, Bhuvi, Ashwin, Shaheen, Starc, Hazelwood etc would make modern day batters their bunny for fun. I might also add that Bhuvi and Strac are last breed of reverse swing.
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Ashwin has 5 test centuries (against WI and ENG), not many regular batters can brag about this 5 tons stats tbh. Everything depends on the conditions, if playing in subcontinent or Caribbean conditions then Ashwin is genuine all rounder and excellent choice for even number 7 but when playing at SENA then he's good batter for number 8. Having said that i would also opt for Jadeja because of his batting-fielding and more importantly i believe in horses for courses argument when selecting test teams. Mortals shouldn't judge Lord Thakur  . Anyways i agree that he doesn't look genuine all rounder but bhai he's performing regularly with the bat and ball. 6ish match and Already got 3 50's (1 in Aus -Gabba- and 2 in Eng), averaging 22 with the bat at number 8 + 26 wickets. What else you want from your 4th bowling option? I understand that statistics has a great role while selecting players but for me, stats are not everything because a player also needs to have the calmness to perform under pressure and in key moments. And I think ok I would prefer Jadeja to have my back in those moments instead of Ashwin or Shardul. Yes i will also prefer Jadeja over Ashwin but only when playing at South Africa, NZ or majority of green top pitches of England. Ashwin's record in Australia improved in last 2 tour tho so its open for debate. Stats do matters because Jadeja and Ashwin are playing for a long time of period and both of em are great spin allrounder and been on top ICC rank since 2014-15 along with Shakib. No spin all rounder comes close to this trio by country mile. Shardul is seam allrounder so his comparison with Jaddu is not fair. India need 2-3 more shardul type of seam allrounder when playing at SENA country, in subcontinent we really don't need his services cause we already have 2 best allrounder Jaddu, Ash and Axar- Washi duo is also there. Like i said horses for courses. |
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Gill honestly I don't like that much, he has been given too many chances now, and he is not at all consistent. Vihari and shreyas I think are better options there are a lot of other options in the pool too.
Yes, Gill failed against England at last home season but i believe he's our best bet for the future along with Vihari, Shreyas. Yes there are other options but only for openers, not many banging a door for middle order. Shreyas and Gill are not finished product tho. I won't mind Pandya in the team if he's fit to ball at least 10-12 a day when playing at SENA (tests) and 5-6 overs in ODI and 3-4 overs in T-20. The reason is he's our best slogger in country and fits perfectly at 6 or 7 number. I really hope that he get his fitness back.
Atm India is going with Ashwin at 7. Don't get me wrong i like Ashwin and consider him clever batter but he's no good for number 7 in any format. Lord Thakur and Ashwin good enough batter at number 8 or 9 regardless of format.
Think of middle lower-lower batting order. Pandya at 6, Jadeja at 7, Thakur at 8 and 3 pure seam option (SENA country) or Spin (Ashwin) + 2 seam for 9,10,11.
Ashwin is too inconsistent to be considered as an allrounder. I wouldn't even consider Shardul as an allrounder. They are not up to a level, where they can be considered above genuine bowlers such as Bumrah, Shami and Ishant. IMO, Jadeja is the only genuine allrounder right now, and he is extremely underrated. Looking at the stats, I can see that Jadeja has performed at a level much higher than either Shardul or Ashwin (especially in SENA conditions). But I don't know why he's not in the team. Ashwin has 5 test centuries (against WI and ENG), not many regular batters can brag about this 5 tons stats tbh. Everything depends on the conditions, if playing in subcontinent or Caribbean conditions then Ashwin is genuine all rounder and excellent choice for even number 7 but when playing at SENA then he's good batter for number 8. Having said that i would also opt for Jadeja because of his batting-fielding and more importantly i believe in horses for courses argument when selecting test teams. Mortals shouldn't judge Lord Thakur . Anyways i agree that he doesn't look genuine all rounder but bhai he's performing regularly with the bat and ball. 6ish match and Already got 3 50's (1 in Aus -Gabba- and 2 in Eng), averaging 22 with the bat at number 8 + 26 wickets. What else you want from your 4th bowling option? |
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~
Where the heck is Shami? Also, how many more chances will they keep giving Bhuvi who has been struggling for a long time now? Even i was thinking what happened to Mohammed Shami, he is the best bowler along with Jasprit Bumrah and they are sticking with Bhuvneshwar Kumar who is not able to get the swing like he expected in these pitches. India lost the test series and they are about to lose the ODI series which could end as a whitewash by South Africa considering how some of their key bowlers and batsmen have been underperforming in recent times. I was not having any hopes when India travelled to Australia or England and they surprised me with the performance and in this tour against South Africa i thought if they beat teams like Australia and England then South Africa who i think have the weakest team in a long time will not be a huge task, but the situation is far from the truth  . Shami is rested because of work management issue and so its fine i suppose, even Bumrah needed some rest. Despite this fuckery i would say this is good team but going through some bad phase (last month or so), not the other way around. |
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Well bhai Pandya last good performance for India was way back in bilateral series against Australia before 50 overs world cup. He's been out of form for like 3 years now, not to mention hehardly contribute with the ball anymore and don't remember when he took his last wickets in any format.
Even he doesn't contribute (either with the bat, or with the ball) for another 3 years, he will be in the team. When Kohli was fired, I thought that things would change. But the toxic nepotism and bias remain with the team. KL Rahul is also part of the system, so there is no real change. The way he refused to allow Venkatesh Iyer to bowl during the match once again shows the dirty tactics employed by the senior player cabal, to keep out promising youngsters. And that is the reason why I always wanted someone from outside the cabal as the captain (Shreyas Iyer for example). I won't mind Pandya in the team if he's fit to ball at least 10-12 a day when playing at SENA (tests) and 5-6 overs in ODI and 3-4 overs in T-20. The reason is he's our best slogger in country and fits perfectly at 6 or 7 number. I really hope that he get his fitness back. Atm India is going with Ashwin at 7. Don't get me wrong i like Ashwin and consider him clever batter but he's no good for number 7 in any format. Lord Thakur and Ashwin good enough batter at number 8 or 9 regardless of format. Think of middle lower-lower batting order. Pandya at 6, Jadeja at 7, Thakur at 8 and 3 pure seam option (SENA country) or Spin (Ashwin) + 2 seam for 9,10,11. |
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Yes in test match cricket it is not that much issue specially when sir jadeja gets back in side provide depth in batting. The top order is strong and number 4 is kohli and 6 and 7 jadeja and pant arre good as well. I think the time has come that team management replace rahane and pujara and give chance to Iyer and Shubmann gill.
Yup ~snip~
I think the problem with the middle order is inexperience, now when you talk about removing Puji Rahane, you are not left with any experienced test batsmen in the middle order who has played let's say more than even 30 test matches. In fact even overall the team wouldn't have a lot of batsmen who have played Overseas. So removing both of them together is going to be a challenge for the management too. I think removing one of them and rotating each of them for a match can probably be one way of creating a balance, Shreyas Iyer is obviously a very good option for middle-order which is altogether unexplored, he can be a very good replacement for Rahane.
This year India is playing 9 tests. 2 against SL (Home) 4 against Aus (Home) 1 remaining test against England (Away) 2 against Bangbros (Away) Home series are considered easy series so they have 2 options. They could continue with Puji-Rahane at home and help them to get their form back or go with the young guys like Gill at number 3 and Shreyas/Vihari at number 5 so that they get more exposure and experience. (Vihari must get long rope when playing at SENA) |
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~snip~
@darewaller I believe that soon we shall see Rahul Dravid dropping non performing player’s, and currently he’s taking his time to understand all the available player’s and once he gets a good idea he’ll start shaping the new Indian team. Also Jadeja is a very important player because he constantly lifts the team by taking that important wicket, or scoring those crucial runs, and it’s important that team India find a player that can be his direct replacement.
In test format situation is not bad as compare to White ball cricket. In test cricket middle order is going to change given management move away from Puji-Rahane due. When playing at home there shouldn't be much problem because India can pick any inform batter from the domestic and 90% chances are that they are going to succeed against every bowling attack. Just to give you example of batting depth in sub continent Jadeja, Ashwin, Washi, Axar all are exceptional players and comes at 7,8,9 and so on, so playing at home is okay. Mayank, Shreyas etc also got terrific number at home so middle order or all rounders problem is not big. For India problem comes when they are touring SENA countries and that's where they need to find solid replacement in middle order. In white ball cricket Indian team is competitive but not champions, would be great if they learn from the England in the limited overs. |
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I do not think the ongoing dispute is the reason for India's loss. South Africa really played well in the first ODI. They had lost very quick 3 wickets but an amazing knock by Rassie van der Dussen was the primary reason for India's loss. Another reason is that India's lower middle order also collapsed very quickly. If Thakur hadn't contributed his 50 then India would have lost the match by a big margin.
Protea's batter Buvama and Dussen did play excellent but i do agree with Sithara on captaincy issue tho. KL Rahul looks clueless when leading the team. Witnessed multiple times in IPL, in last test against SA and now this ODI. They added Venkatesh as all rounder in the team and they didn't even bother to give him 2-3 overs? If he's not bowling then why add him in the playing XI, add another full time batter instead, if that's your gameplan. |
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^^ This article might clear things a bit on KL and Pandaya, everything for now seems like a marketing https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/rahuls-possible-coronation-a-sign-of-ipl-logic-infiltrating-indian-cricket-7726961/Only because of him useless players such as Hardick Pandya could find a place in the playing XI.
Hardik Pandya : Useless player? I disagree. His form went down the drain recently, but he is easily one of the best all-rounders that India has ever produced in the ODI and T-20 formats. Well bhai Pandya last good performance for India was way back in bilateral series against Australia before 50 overs world cup. He's been out of form for like 3 years now, not to mention hehardly contribute with the ball anymore and don't remember when he took his last wickets in any format. |
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Here goes middle order.  5 down. Even in the Test matches if the middle order would have performed the results would have been different. The same situation is happening in ODI as well, the openers started well and Shikhar Dhawan played a really great innings and his position is safe until Rohit Sharma returns. Not sure what happened to the younger players that used to perform. Not expecting much in this series. If they really want to use these young players effectively then both Iyers in the middle order(Shreyas and Venkatesh) need a long rope, like 2-3 complete series and not just 1 match every now n then. Don't want to see another Ambati Rayudu fiasco in the middle order. |
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3 wickets down (including 2 set batters) and India still need 129. Good set up for Pant and 2 Iyers (Shreyas and Venky), middle order was big problem in the past so let's see what these young guys do when they are into this tricky situation. Dhawan and Kohli were looking excellent but sadly no ton for them, especially koach.
Edit Here goes middle order. 5 down. |
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In the wake of the Covid-19 Omicron scare, will IPL 2022 be held overseas? After the amid Covid-19 Omicron scare, many star players are likely to miss games.
Last time the IPL was shifted because the situation in India was worse when compared to the other countries. Also, at that point the vaccination rate in India was far below the that in neighboring nations. The situation has changed now. More than 90% of the adult population is vaccinated and now the COVID situation is better when compared to the SENA nations. From what I could understand, the only concern is regarding the tax liability. Staging the IPL in India would mean the BCCI paying around 43% of the revenues as tax. Last time they didn't had to pay any, as matches were hosted in the UAE. 43% sounds way too much to me, not sure if its accurate number. Anyways even if they host IPL in India, its very unlikely that they are going to get permission for crowds at stands. Which means virtually zero gate amount for all franchise and add tax amount into this, doesn't look good from franchise and BCCI's perspective at all. |
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Coming back to the Indian test cricket, i guess KL Rahul looks set to lead team India  , this new transition period is going to be very exciting. KL Rahul is confirmed? I was thinking about Rishab Pant due to his significant success as skipper in IPL matches rather than any KL Rahul's records. So, India will have Rohit for white ball cricket and Rahul for test matches. What would be the next test series for India? Because, I am as well excited to watch how India will cope up their form and dominance in test format across different skippers. Moreover, I also expected to have Bumbrah like how CA opted Cummins as a surprise package but bowlers' frequent prone to injury must be a criteria they would have considered like how most boards do consider these days. Not confirmed per se but he seems first choice atm considering all other options are out of form, fitness issue, work management or too young to lead. We have home season coming soon against SL (Feb-March), BAN (Away) then AUS at home. I think in red ball cricket India already peaked, competitive in White ball cricket but not at top due to lack of ICC trophies. I don't mind if bowlers leading their team. Coming back to the Indian test cricket, i guess KL Rahul looks set to lead team India , this new transition period is going to be very exciting. I am curious to see how KL Rahul leads the team with all the senior members in the team. Depression |
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It is expected that Ben Stokes will walk away from IPL2022 and focus on playing in England's County Championship ahead of England's home summer. It is in his best interest to be ready for that. An injured player cannot just play T20 and hope to be ready for the longer version. Even COVID could now affect the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). In the wake of the Covid-19 Omicron scare, will IPL 2022 be held overseas? After the amid Covid-19 Omicron scare, many star players are likely to miss games.
Stokes looked cooked in recent Ashes series so its not a bad idea and the way they performed in the Ashes, i won't be surprise if more English players (Test) pull out their name from the Mega Auction. There is some serious debates going on there about resetting county and test cricket. Sri Lanka and i think SA are on the card for the 2022 IPL venues if something goes wrong. |
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Usman khawaja would love to tour Pakistan since he was born in Islamabad, Pakistan and moved to Aus later. The real point is whether CA will allow there team to travel to Pakistan or they will do something like NZ did last year? ENA countries (not SENA as South Africa has toured Pakistan) have serious issues in playing cricket in Pakistan.
It's just his personal opinion and as such doesn't carry much weight. First of all, Usman Khawaja is not a regular member of the squad. And even if he was one, he can only give suggestions to Cricket Australia in this matter. If the government agencies decide that Pakistan is not safe enough to travel, then CA is not going to get the clearance to do that no matter how hard they try. All that said, I would like to see SENA nations (and even India) touring Pakistan. The cricket fans in that country have been devoid of quality entertainment for quite some time. @Sithara007 you’re absolutely correct his words carry very little value, and in the end Australian Government needs to give them the clearance, and I believe it won’t be an easy one so despite what’s being said, so we should be prepared for Australian B team or even cancellation of the tournament. Lastly India vs Pakistan won’t happen anytime soon, because of their political issues and that’s why I don’t see these two teams clashing with each other anytime soon. Despite CA dodgy record in recent time, i'm hopeful that they would visit and keep their promise because they haven't tour anyone in last 3 years except England. Although if we look at their attitude towards last South African tour then things looks tough, they could even create covid situation drama along with security issue. |
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