*Official* India Tour of New Zealand 2019

[ankitj]

Why on earth would you push Rohit down from where he's played his best? You find other options, not disrupt existing ones. No. 4 is our only real concern. Dhoni too but we've all grown resigned to that situation. Try out both Shaw and Gill at 4 in the coming games.

Because Rohit is middle order batsman actually? It's too late now but would have been worth a try 12 months ago and who knows it would have all worked out. As it stands, best thing we can do is drop Rayudu and promote Dhoni to #4 followed by Karthik, Jadhav and Pandya who all seem to be capable to scoring quick runs.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

If Larsen has been encouraged by a bowler who has averaged 131 during this series and been flogged to all parts then we as a cricketing nation are ****ed.

If Larsen had been the captain of the Titanic, it would have been a head on collision.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Because Rohit is middle order batsman actually? It's too late now but would have been worth a try 12 months ago and who knows it would have all worked out. As it stands, best thing we can do is drop Rayudu and promote Dhoni to #4 followed by Karthik, Jadhav and Pandya who all seem to be capable to scoring quick runs.

What? Statistically Rohit is one of the best openers in the history of ODI cricket!

 

[nzfan]

To make the semis, unless something unexpected happens*, we need to be in the top 2 out of ourselves, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan - that doesn't look particularly easy, all four are a similar level so it'll be tight regardless. We also need to avoid slipping up against someone like Bangladesh, who are decent. I reckon we're about even odds of making the semis. Hoping for a huge tournament from Guptill - he's one player who, in form, can lift us above the pack.

* like England doing an England and failing to qualify in a creative and embarrassing manner.

Good openers are a must, it's not about holding on to wickets but playing proper shots all around the ground. Hackers like Collin Munro hasn't ever worked for us. Even the sensational Mark Greatbatch had good technique and hit through the line of the ball. Munro just relies on leg side swipes. Still staggering who picked him for opening. Likely there's a place for him at no.6 or no.7 to hack away and chip in with few overs.

The hacks for India aren't to be seen till their no.9? Hackers start at shami and finish at Yadav?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Rohit on a good day as an opener can score 200 and win the game off his own bat. Leave the top 3 as it is.

 

[SteveNZ]

Can't see how Astle is going to be the answer. Serviceable bowler but turgid middle order batsman, which isnt going to help us a jot in England.

And Larsen talking up Bracewell, **** me dead.

 

[Grasshopper]

NZ squad for the last 2 ODIs:

Kane Williamson (c), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor

So Bracewell and Sodhi out and Neesham and Astle in. The passenger seat's still occupied by Munro.

 

[Cruxdude]

It has been such a clinical performance by India. I think Shami is a must in the playing 11 after these performances. Shami, Bumrah, Chahal and Kuldeep will be such a good lineup. Now let us see how good Gill is!

 

[ishqiya]

It has been such a clinical performance by India. I think Shami is a must in the playing 11 after these performances. Shami, Bumrah, Chahal and Kuldeep will be such a good lineup. Now let us see how good Gill is!

all avg 25 or below. woo

 

[Arachnodouche]

So many match winning bowling options. I really hope they monitor their workrates during the IPL.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

So many match winning bowling options. I really hope they monitor their workrates during the IPL.

Expect the pacers to play ~7/8th to 3/4th of the games in the round-robin stages...and the spinners to have as much match time as possible.

 

[NZTailender]

India really have one of the best all-round sides going. Not only that but they seem to have coherent plans. Our plan for India seem to be the same that we trotted out vs Sri Lanka. Full credit to them, they're a class above.

Hoping Neesham continues his excellent form this summer. We need a finisher who can come off after Taylor/Williamson-Latham partnerships. How good is Ross, deadset. Kane seems a bit panicky which isn't like him, but when you're coming in with no start it's understandable. Funnily enough, Munro has scored more runs than Guptill this series. Guptill will come good, though. Munro, however...

Honestly, coming around to the CdG opening idea. Munro hasn't got the goods. I don't think CdG does against top sides though, either, and his attempts the other night to hit over the top against a quality attack with a plan, the field out, never seemed like it was ever going to get really going. With the field up and pace on the ball he's more likely to be successful. Don't think his bowling will be much chop beyond sharing the 6th bowling duties with someone like Kane.

Bowling is looked a bit tired and toothless. Boult continues to be class but it seems like the team just expects him to bring out an epic spell to destroy a team and we'll be sweet. Lockie is good but he needs to take the new nut. Bracewell is innocuous as a strike bowler, and if his batting was even better he might pass as a 5th bowler who can contain, but he's not there. Santner is tight but his batting is suspect at this stage, dunno if it's post-injury rustiness or whatever but he's not the power hitter we want at 7...he's best at 8 to turn strike for someone like Neesham.

I was looking up the stats for how Boult bowls with Southee in the team, to see if it's worth it, as it seems he bowls better. It's the opposite. Without Southee he averages 20, with him he averages 28. Strange. I'd rather Henry, Milne or Bennett as third seamer - though they don't have enough game time (or are injured).

1. CdG
2. Guptill
3. Williamson*
4. Taylor
5. Latham+
6. Nicholls
7. Neesham
8. Santner
9. Henry/Bennett/Milne/Astle(turners)
10. Ferguson
11. Boult

Not 100% convinced with nicholls at 6. Seems to be better at 5, but so does Latham...unless you swap them over, which breaks the Taylor-Latham dynamic but we could potentially get more out of Nicholls with Latham even more of a safety net? Of course, a fully fit Corey Anderson would shore up this line up with with his handy wicket taking and ball striking ability.

 

[Athlai]

What do you mean by plan btw? Reckon in terms of bowling the plans have been very different. We bowled that short line to SL and haven't really bowled short to India at all. If you mean the makeup of our side and how we bat then sure.

 

[NZTailender]

What do you mean by plan btw? Reckon in terms of bowling the plans have been very different. We bowled that short line to SL and haven't really bowled short to India at all. If you mean the makeup of our side and how we bat then sure.

To some extent we seem to be putting the onus on India to make a mistake rather than forcing one. Part of it comes down to pressure, which Bracewell opening the bowling releases a lot of. Also, in the recently concluded Sri Lanka series, their lowest score was 249. Reliant on the batsmen too much for a big total to defend rather than aiming for <250 bowling efforts. Granted, there's not a lot of that these days given how pitches are, and considering the quality of the Indian batting, but the general plan of score big, hope they get a rush of blood in trying to score quickly and lose a bunch of wickets, is not working.

 

[NZTailender]

And on the short pitch plan - we seem to be bowling a line to try and nick India out, as though previous tours where they succumbed to seaming pitches and a moving ball will magically happen this time round. Only Boult has really gotten any shape, and India have mostly been too good.

 

[shifty_eyes]

Can't wait to see Shubhman Gill get out first ball with all the hype around

I was not even 10% of what Shubman Gill is when I was 19 : Kohli

Lol wut

 

[Prince EWS]

1. CdG
2. Guptill
3. Williamson*
4. Taylor
5. Latham+
6. Nicholls
7. Neesham
8. Santner
9. Henry/Bennett/Milne/Astle(turners)
10. Ferguson
11. Boult

This eleven (with Henry probably, unless Milne makes a really eye-catching comeback) is what I'd be leaving towards right now too. I don't really mind who opens out of CdG, Latham, Nicholls or even Williamson. I'd lean towards CdG because I've been leading the cheer squad on making him open even since Munro went up there 18 months or so ago, but there are pros and cons of each of those options. It's definitely the best balanced team other than that problem though.

In terms of the fifth bowler, I've always been a pretty big advocate for actually picking five bowlers if you can manage it, and I've even mocked mocked the "10 overs 0/80 from one bowler might be unacceptable, but 5 overs 0/40 from two bowlers is fine, and if you can have four different pie chuckers combine for 10 overs 0/80 then you're golden" mentality. However, as far as mix-and-match fifth bowlers go I think CdG and Neesham compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses pretty well (Colin can keep things relatively tight, and Neesham can be relatively penetrative/jammy), and you've got Kane turning it the opposite way to Santner if it's slow too. I'd rather have five real bowlers but if that'd mean Santner at 7 and Henry at 8 behind a struggling batting lineup with a spud and/or unproven opener and either specialist icing or specialist cake at #6 then it's probably just too big a compromise right now.

 

[NZTailender]

I think we've dug a hole and with only several ODIs before the world cup I really don't see how we can improve the batting without blooding Young or bringing back CJ (not going to happen regardless) and calling up Bennett in the bowling stakes.

On the flipside, at least we aren't peaking too soon like the last WC.

 

[straw man]

It's certainly better to have the reality check now rather than at the world cup itself. Several players who put in passable performances against Sri Lanka were really just papering over cracks which have now reappeared against tougher opposition. Sadly, I expect the next thing we'll find is that Neesham doesn't finish quite as well when he doesn't have Thisara Perera bowling half-volleys at him.

Agree with all that it's poor that we aren't trying an alternative to Munro by bringing Young into the squad. I guess they could still be planning to try Nicholls as opener in the remaining matches. There's really nothing to lose by trying someone different - can always revert to Munro if the alternatives are worse.

 

[Grasshopper]

I think we've dug a hole and with only several ODIs before the world cup I really don't see how we can improve the batting without blooding Young or bringing back CJ (not going to happen regardless) and calling up Bennett in the bowling stakes.

On the flipside, at least we aren't peaking too soon like the last WC.

How is making the final peaking too soon?