• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

***Official*** Asia Cup

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
the BD tri-series was irrelevant, not the Asia Cup .... Asia Cup has a long history and ranks amongst one of the better tournaments, probably 3rd after the WC and Champions Trophy
The so-called Asia Cup is effectively only a competition between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. If one of them has a bad time, Bangladesh is in the equation. The others just make up the numbers.

Not surprisingly, the performances of the Asian giants here are under-rated. They are said to be established only if they perform against non-Asian teams.
 

ret

International Debutant
The so-called Asia Cup is effectively only a competition between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. If one of them has a bad time, Bangladesh is in the equation. The others just make up the numbers.

Not surprisingly, the performances of the Asian giants here are under-rated. They are said to be established only if they perform against non-Asian teams.
Asia cup has always been an Ind-Pak-SL affair .... it's obvious that other teams are there to make numbers but that doesn't take anything away from the tourney

i wouldn't term Ind's performances vs Pak and SL as under-rated .... in fact Pak and SL are stronger than some of the non-Asian teams
 

ret

International Debutant
Ret, i feel Raina is wasted at 6..he should be tried at 3 imo.He has the technique and the aggression.Rohit struggles to rotate the strike sometimes and is not as attacking as Raina,though he is good.So why not put Raina ahead of Rohit at 3 and save Yuvi,Dhoni and Irfan for the big hitting??We should then drop Yusuf for a genuine bowler(RP/Goni/Ojha) as having another big hitter just doesn't make sense as the team is already packed with enough big hitters.Clearly playing an extra batsmen cost us in the final(however insignificant it may have be).
yeah .... thats^ another good way to make up the 11

why i put Rohit at 3 is because he probably has the best technique to play at 3 amongst those in the squad .... Sehwag-Gambhir is a volatile opening combination so someone like Rohit can help build a partnership in case we lose an early wkt or keep the momentum if he comes in at say 120/1 in the 16th over

playing 5 bowlers, makes this a Raina vs Yusuf proposition .... and it's a tough call .... Yusuf impressed with his big match temperament and big hitting in the IPL, so did Raina
 

Lambu

U19 Debutant
yeah..its definitely,Raina vs Yusuf atm.Its upto Dhoni.Also regarding the no.3 spot,i got the feeling that Dhoni had both Raina and Rohit padded up and sent in one of them depending on who got out(to maintain left-right combination).So we may just continue to see this in Asia Cup too.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
I am sure Raina is a good bet at 3 but he has to prove that he can make his starts count. I am a big believer that you have to earn your way to the important spots and Rohit has already shown that he can bat for a period of time, even though he is guilty of throwing away starts. I don't think he is as bad as Raina and as ret pointed out, Rohit's technique makes him more likely to succeed than the other guys at that spot. And I think the time has come to give Yuvraj a permanent place. He is a class act in ODIs, esp. in the subcontinent, and he has proved to be very consistent in ODIs from the time Greg Chappell took over. He HAS to bat 4 and I think Dhoni is one of the better ODI batters we have, inspite of his obvious weakness against quality bowlers, and so he has to bat 5. So whoever comes in (Uthappa/Raina/Badrinath/Karthik whoever) has to bat 6 and prove themselves. Maybe after a decent run at that spot, we can think of moving them up.
 

cricman

International 12th Man
Any bets on How many 400/500 scores there will be vs UAE/HK and you would think a few of the openers may take a crack @ the 200
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Raina v/s Yusuf? Only Raina! Yusuf doesn't cut it as a specialist batsman. Make no mistake, his batting is no different from any lower-order batsman out to smash big hits on the back of some substantial performances from the top six. If anything, his spin bowling should be a factor in the middle-overs and end of the innings, more than his batting, because he doesn't look the type who'll play a long innings over a hundred. He's a quick fifty batsman, and that's not enough for a specialist. Raina may have thrown his wicket away after getting a few starts, but he's got a wide array of shots he can put to good effect. The key here, of course, is putting them to good effect. On potential, he's a much better century prospect.

That said, I don't agree with some newspaper/television letters who say that he shouldn't have made the ODI team on the back of T20 performances. Make no mistake, this has happened on the back of an impressive IPL showing, where he smashed the best of international bowlers all around. Moreover, the temperament he has shown, albeit in a different role, is just right for Team India.

The middle order? Yuvraj and Dhoni have to play at three and four. They are the best batsmen of the team, and should get a premier role. Maybe a role for Dhoni lower down, and more responsibility coming on youngsters Rohit and Raina. That would mean, of course, only one has a chance to play a stellar role for the team, while the other would (unsuccessfully) try to smash things around in the final overs. Rather than cushioning them in a batsman-laden lineup, they should be thrown in the deep end. Performances by specialist batsmen coming in with less than ten overs to spare should be taken with a pinch of salt, because they don't get a good knock out there.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Any bets on How many 400/500 scores there will be vs UAE/HK and you would think a few of the openers may take a crack @ the 200
Given your estimation of UAE/HK, I'd even back a middle-order batsman to get a 200.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Asia cup has always been an Ind-Pak-SL affair .... it's obvious that other teams are there to make numbers but that doesn't take anything away from the tourney

i wouldn't term Ind's performances vs Pak and SL as under-rated .... in fact Pak and SL are stronger than some of the non-Asian teams
You look at some of India's best players of late, such as Gambhir, Irfan and Dhoni, and you'll find that many of them have done very well against Pakistan and Lanka, but failed against other teams. Maybe they have it in them to set the record straight later, but this has a telling effect. We see many Indians doing well against Pakistan and SL, but falter against other teams. Likewise, Kamran Akmal comes into his element playing against India, but not a team from outside the subcontinent.

Pakistan and SL, stronger than most other Asian teams? I wouldn't take it beyond (among top teams) New Zealand, suffering a (more or less) mass retirement. Australia is still champion. South Africa is getting better with every match, so is England. West Indies are still a very formidable opposition. Pakistan, on the other hand, have lost a lot of great players, and are now a very average team. Sri Lanka has also struggled after their legends played their last and don't look a top team anymore- in fact, they're a one-bowler team more than ever now.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
AWTA. Both the Champions Trophy and Kitply Cup are tremendously pointless. Eradicating the Champions Trophy totally, without replacement, would do a lot to reduce the saturation of ODIs.
I'd rate the Champions Trophy as a far more important tournament than those exhibition events held at neutral venues or triangulars involving minnows. When all of the world's best come together, it is something very important.
 

andruid

Cricketer Of The Year
I'd rate the Champions Trophy as a far more important tournament than those exhibition events held at neutral venues or triangulars involving minnows. When all of the world's best come together, it is something very important.
Given tha in this day and age hardly a day goes by without some random ODI tourney involving any combination of the top 8/10 cricket team in thw world while the teams beneath them go months on end without any kind of international cricket I wonder how the Champions trophy, especia;;y now that its been mad a top 8 only affair would be that much more significant than a triangular series wher lo and behold they actually involve a minnow.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
the BD tri-series was irrelevant, not the Asia Cup .... Asia Cup has a long history and ranks amongst one of the better tournaments, probably 3rd after the WC and Champions Trophy
:laugh: :laugh: Are you really serious ?
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Look at this stupid article. The guy is against the asia cup. Why does almost every one brings IPL to the argument? the truth is most people outside india didn't even watch the matches. People of pakistan are eager to have a oneday series like asia cup after such a long time. These people should really look at the bigger picture and not just from a indian prespective

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/asiacup/content/current/story/355879.html
And the truth is Asia Cup isn't even watched by people inside India.

Popularity of IPL is >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Asia Cup.

That said I am not really against any sort of Cricket in Pakistan.
 

Mard

Banned
^ i really dont understand how can IPL be more popular then the national team? dont you guys have any national pride any more?
 

ret

International Debutant
:laugh: :laugh: Are you really serious ?
No, I m not .... I m just posting meaningless one-liners w/o having a clue to kill my time :p

yeah, why would a tournament that been held since 1984 and which involves top cricket playing countries of a continent be important 8-)
 

James90

Cricketer Of The Year
Given tha in this day and age hardly a day goes by without some random ODI tourney involving any combination of the top 8/10 cricket team in thw world while the teams beneath them go months on end without any kind of international cricket I wonder how the Champions trophy, especia;;y now that its been mad a top 8 only affair would be that much more significant than a triangular series wher lo and behold they actually involve a minnow.
For a moment I thought Richard was drunk but realised even then he wouldn't draw attention to the fact that minnow don't play "enough" cricket. Have to stop judging posts on the avatar.
 

Top