*Official* Sri Lanka in India

[Sir Alex]

He can't bat or field too well. Nehra is, for all his problems, a lot more experienced, and has done well since recall, though his record after the Champions Trophy has been quite dire. Ideally, neither should be there.

He bats and fields much better than nehra. Anyway as bowler ojha has demonstrated his miserliness in SL as well.

 

[Arjun]

He bats and fields much better than nehra. Anyway as bowler ojha has demonstrated his miserliness in SL as well.

Nehra's hardly a benchmark in versatility. Ojha's way behind Irfan Pathan with the bat, and has been found wanting on the field. Besides, he's had just one good match in his short ODI career so far, but he's been average otherwise. He doesn't add much- Piyush Chawla, Amit Mishra and Ravi Ashwin (and among seamers, LR Shukla) offer a lot more.

 

[Shri]

He doesn't add much- Piyush Chawla, Amit Mishra and Ravi Ashwin (and among seamers, LR Shukla) offer a lot more.

Indeed.

 

[Zinzan]

That's some horrible fielding.

India don't deserve to win this. I almost don't want us to win this.

Absolute rubbish.

Yet you jump all over Raghav for saying rubbish pitch & rubbish bowling?

Obviously only you're allowed to criticise their inept performances

 

[Jono]

Yet you jump all over Raghav for saying rubbish pitch & rubbish bowling?

Obviously only you're allowed to criticise their inept performances

Did you honestly put a in that post? Wow.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Its more to do with the fact that Raghav shows up only to ever point and laugh.

 

[Zinzan]

Did you honestly put a in that post? Wow.

Truth be told, was supposed to be a surprised smiley...but couldn't be arsed editing

 

[ret]

Appears as if many watch cricket games with an eye for being critical. Imagine someone hitting a brilliant shot but instead of admiring that an arm chair expert saying how bad the ball was and how that fielder didn't dive (like he is in a pool) to stop that .... damn! what a way to enjoy cricket!

 

[Migara]

Well, Sehwag is going to score five centuries, unless Malinga bowls his heart out.

Murali and Fernando out of ODI series

At least Malinga is coming back.

Now we have lost Thushara, Fernando, Murali and Prasad. Easily the four most threatening bowlers we have. Now who will be the replacements?

Spin options is easily available. Mendis is the the squad. Herath, Suraj Randiv, Pushpakumara are waiting in the wings, perhaps with Prasanna and Senanayake as well. But my pick is Herath and Pushpakumara, if the second spinner is needed (If Mendis is ineffective)

Pace options are little tricky. We have Welagedara, Kulasekara, Malinga and Mathews as bowlers, but cover is needed. My pick is Nuwan Zoysa, who can be effectively used to bash spinners (Harbhajan is the biggest trouble maker).

New Squad

Batsmen - Tharanga, Dilshan, Sangakkara, Mahela, Kandamby, Samaraweera, Kapugedara
All rounders - Jayasuriya, Mathews, (Pushpakumara)
Pacemen - Kulasekara, Malinga, Welagedara, Zoysa
Spinners - Herath, Mendis

 

[aussie]

Well looking at SRI choking at the end here along with India recently in the 5th ODI vs AUS chasing these big targets when they really should have won.

It makes you realise how important having Bevan in a ODI team is & why Boucher's innings vs AUS in the 434 chase was so important.

 

[Jono]

Truth be told, was supposed to be a surprised smiley...but couldn't be arsed editing

Fair enough then

 

[ramkumar_gr]

He bats and fields much better than nehra. Anyway as bowler ojha has demonstrated his miserliness in SL as well.

Ohja bats better than Nehra. Where did you see that?

 

[ramkumar_gr]

A few random thoughts-

• What are Lanka doing here that India couldn't do last time at Hyd? It sure seems a lot better here.
• The Lankans threw the part-timers into the deep end while India were batting, and the plan drowned. The Indian frontline bowlers are getting caned, with economies over eight, nine and ten. Yet, we find a part-timer bowl only four overs in the whole innings. Where are they when you need them most?
• Some comentators constantly bag the Indian fielding, each time a catch is dropped or there's one that slips under someone's arm. What about all those times when boundaries are saved, singles are snuffed into dots and a run-out is forced? What about the other fielding side that makes as many blunders? The Lankans were hardly an example of perfection, while the Indians are fielding as many as eight good fielders, and no liabilities, except possibly Praveen.
• What is Jadeja doing in the team? He's a waste of space, given an extended run only because of his youth. He adds nothing to the team, with just one decent batting performance and seven matches out of ten without a wicket- with figures worse than Yusuf Pathan. Now the team has to cover up for him.
• In case they lose this one, what changes would you expect? Nehra's dream return has now become a team nightmare. Zaheer's comeback seems enough to have him on the bench. Jadeja's been utter rubbish today. Then again, we've seen too many players lose their places in this year, and that's affected the team's performance lately.

Jadeja is becoming a Kaif these days. It is sad to see the selectors invest a lot in Jadeja when we all know he is useless. R Ashwin for sure is a better bet in both departments.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Well looking at SRI choking at the end here along with India recently in the 5th ODI vs AUS chasing these big targets when they really should have won.

It makes you realise how important having Bevan in a ODI team is & why Boucher's innings vs AUS in the 434 chase was so important.

Because Bevan was a master at scoring at 8 an over in chases?

 

[Migara]

Well looking at SRI choking at the end here along with India recently in the 5th ODI vs AUS chasing these big targets when they really should have won.

It makes you realise how important having Bevan in a ODI team is & why Boucher's innings vs AUS in the 434 chase was so important.

Bevan did not sucessfully chase 300+ totals though. But he was good when target was around 260-270. It's a pity that, era is over now. Bevan, de Silva, Ranatunga, Salim Malik, Javed, Inzamam, Azhar, Crowe, Jones etc clinically chasing down targets is a thing of past. Now it's bash, bash, bash and bash.

 

[aussie]

Because Bevan was a master at scoring at 8 an over in chases?

Bevan did not sucessfully chase 300+ totals though. But he was good when target was around 260-270. It's a pity that, era is over now. Bevan, de Silva, Ranatunga, Salim Malik, Javed, Inzamam, Azhar, Crowe, Jones etc clinically chasing down targets is a thing of past. Now it's bash, bash, bash and bash.

I wasn't really suggesting a Bevan type player would have been needed because he could have scored 8 PRO in chases or anchor 300+ total chances (although i reckon he could have if AUS in his time ever had to chase such big targets often). But that teams need a level headed finisher @ # 6/7, while the other players seem to fold under pressure in such big chases.

As i said look at SA chase vs AUS 06. Very similar to recent AUS vs IND & IND vs SRI ODIs. But the key difference in SA winnings & IND & SRI losing was that the saffies had a finisher in Boucher who held things together.

Usually we see in ODIs most teams have a slogger coming in @ 6/7 these days. Only AUS & SA with Hussey/Boucher have a traditional finisher in such a role

 

[Prince EWS]

I rate Jadeja tbh, I don't really think he helps the balance of the team a lot of the time though. India clearly don't like the idea of going into any game with only two seamers, so they pigeon-hole themselves into leaving Mishra and Ohja out all the time because all their bowling options out of the top seven batsmen are spinners.

Dropping Nehra for Mishra and playing a seam-bowling allrounder in Jadeja's spot would make a lot more sense to me, even if that player is Irfan Pathan.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I wasn't really suggesting a Bevan type player would have been needed because he could have scored 8 PRO in chases or anchor 300+ total chances (although i reckon he could have if AUS in his time ever had to chase such big targets often). But that teams need a level headed finisher @ # 6/7, while the other players seem to fold under pressure in such big chases.

As i said look at SA chase vs AUS 06. Very similar to recent AUS vs IND & IND vs SRI ODIs. But the key difference in SA winnings & IND & SRI losing was that the saffies had a finisher in Boucher who held things together.

Usually we see in ODIs most teams have a slogger coming in @ 6/7 these days. Only AUS & SA with Hussey/Boucher have a traditional finisher in such a role

Dhoni's better than Hussey/Boucher at finishing games. Other than that T20 game against England in the last WC, I can't recall him left not out with India not winning the game.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I rate Jadeja tbh, I don't really think he helps the balance of the team a lot of the time though. India clearly don't like the idea of going into any game with only two seamers, so they pigeon-hole themselves into leaving Mishra and Ohja out all the time because all their bowling options out of the top seven batsmen are spinners.

Dropping Nehra for Mishra and playing a seam-bowling allrounder in Jadeja's spot would make a lot more sense to me, even if that player is Irfan Pathan.

 

[Jono]

Jadeja's a good bowler. Just a bit of a choker with the bat.