**Official** India In West Indies

[Arjun]

Originally Posted by Manee

Or to be dropped! Ishant has not done well in limited overs cricket, with the exception of the series in Australia, which was quite a while ago. Moreover, him and RP must be fatigued from the World T20 and IPL. I think it would be prudent to go in with Kumar, Nehra, Harbhajan and Ojha as the bowlers and possibly get Nayar in for Jadeja to add variety to the bowling line up. Nayar's low OD average (26.28, strike rate of 92.64) may be a concern though, as he would have to be batting at six or seven, which may be a tad high for him in a team where the tail stars at nine.

He's still one of the top (possibly the second-best) pace bowler on skill alone, so that should keep him in. All his replacements have been found wanting. Irfan has lost his place in the team, after being the lead bowler for a long time. RP Singh was found out today, and doesn't contribute any more than Ishant. Sreesanth, on his day, is a handful, but on a bad day, a liability. Praveen Kumar is a little over medium-pace and now struggles with the old ball. Nehra has played well, but the question is whether you can depend on him to shoulder the responsibility for the long term- there's far too much done keeping only the next match in mind.

As for Nayar's low OD average, many of India's top batsmen struggle in the ROD matches, which are played on dreadful surfaces not worthy of FC status. On better pitches, he's done a lot better. That said, he may be useful as a Number Eight, as his bowling, on form, can get him ahead of one of the struggling pacers.

[Jigga988]

Is it me or are the West Indian umpires just plain incompetent. The two umpires I remember seeing have been absolutely pathetic, suppose it's lucky these guys are no where near the test game but still, seen some shockers today and i remember the taller fella who umpired in some ODI's and a T20 against england who was also shocking... Any possible reason for such poor umpires to come out of the West Indies, not enough experience perhaps?

[Beamer]

The standard of umpiring in West Indies domestic cricket is disgraceful and IMHO far worse than the players who get constantly criticised for their low standards.

If you get hit on the pad by a finger spinner you are given out lbw basically. That is why anyone averaging over 45 in our domestic cricket is doing very well and why Jaggers and Nikitta Miller have such ridiculously good FC records.

The fact that Benn has such an ordinary FC record given those circumstances shows just how ordinary he is.

[oitoitoi]

Bucknor said he was retiring from international umpiring to try and improve the standard of umpiring in WI domestic cricket, so hopefully it will improve. Alsways thought it amazing how Jaggernauth has such an incredible record, he's not the only one.

[Naumaan]

Saw the highlights of the match & i think Yuvraj was the difference between both sides
but a good game of cricket

[G.I.Joe]

Originally Posted by oitoitoi

Bucknor said he was retiring from international umpiring to try and improve the standard of umpiring in WI domestic cricket, so hopefully it will improve. Alsways thought it amazing how Jaggernauth has such an incredible record, he's not the only one.

Could be argued that he raised the umpiring standards in the West Indies by just retiring himself.

[Anil]

Originally Posted by G.I.Joe

Could be argued that he raised the umpiring standards in the West Indies by just retiring himself.

and isn't that the truth?

[Manee]

Originally Posted by Arjun

He's still one of the top (possibly the second-best) pace bowler on skill alone, so that should keep him in. All his replacements have been found wanting. Irfan has lost his place in the team, after being the lead bowler for a long time. RP Singh was found out today, and doesn't contribute any more than Ishant. Sreesanth, on his day, is a handful, but on a bad day, a liability. Praveen Kumar is a little over medium-pace and now struggles with the old ball. Nehra has played well, but the question is whether you can depend on him to shoulder the responsibility for the long term- there's far too much done keeping only the next match in mind.

True. I think it would be too generous to give Ishant any sort of compliment in ODI cricket. It is a poor situation we have. We really do not have any good pace bowlers on flat pitches in ODIs. Kumar is underrated though, he is very useful with the new ball. I agree he is poor with the old ball and with two pace bowlers, that is a very annoying situation as it is hard to bowl spinners at the death.

Originally Posted by Arjun

As for Nayar's low OD average, many of India's top batsmen struggle in the ROD matches, which are played on dreadful surfaces not worthy of FC status. On better pitches, he's done a lot better. That said, he may be useful as a Number Eight, as his bowling, on form, can get him ahead of one of the struggling pacers.

Ooh, not too sure about that. He is about 70-75mph and doesn't move the ball massively. More of a useful part timer, I feel. I'm also not sure he can help the problem of seam bowling on flat pitches, he may be cannon fodder when batsmen can swing through the line. I don't think he could get in unless he bats at seven. That being said, he could bog batsmen down if he is extremely accurate and bowls a very good length, because the pitches are slow.

[Raghav]

Yuvraj has done exceptionally well against WI in the first one-day. Gayle gang would love getting his wicket early, so that they can put some pressure on other Indian batsman. I do feel that Gayle did not use his bowlers properly on his bowling changes. He needs to sort that problem out before the 2nd ODI.

My Prediction: WI to win the Second One-day

"That West Indies were chasing a total of 340 was down to their bowlers indiscipline in line and length and their inability to fight back once the Indian batsmen raised the tempo. They will have to reduce the number of loose deliveries drastically to avoid another hiding on Sunday. " - Cricinfo

[pup11]

Originally Posted by honestbharani

yeah.. Why not play Praveen Kumar.. And give him the new ball along with RPS with Nehra coming in first change and being the guy to bowl during powerplays and the slog...

If the ball doesn't swing or seam, then PK can get clobbered tbh, its very unlikely that the ball would swing or seam in the West Indian condtions, so therefore sticking with Sharma makes a lot more sense, and not only that, he can use a low-profile series like this to improve his OD bowling.

[Raghav]

Originally Posted by pup11

If the ball doesn't swing or seam, then PK can get clobbered tbh, its very unlikely that the ball would swing or seam in the West Indian condtions, so therefore sticking with Sharma makes a lot more sense, and not only that, he can use a low-profile series like this to improve his OD bowling.

Just as we speak about Praveen, Dhoni calls him for Ishant for the second ODI!

IMO, one of the crappiest thing to do..On the other hand, WI replaces Baker with Rampaul..handy replacement though

[Raghav]

dream start for WI...IND 7/3

[S Chanderpaul]

What a start for the West Indies!!

[ret]

Ind 7/3 .... Gambhir and Rohit have been struggling of late so not surprised at the score. may be Ind should consider playing Vijay and Badri instead for the next two games

It's a good opportunity for Yuvi and Dhoni to bat for long! It will be interesting to see how they go abt it

Good to see Praveen in .... Ishant needed a rest

[atisha_ro]

quite a start for india with the bat. three wickets down in two overs. may just forfait and go have a nap on the beach.

which they would have preferred anyway