44th Match - Sri Lanka v India

[Daemon]

Everything is falling apart

Dhawan gets injured and ****s up the one good thing that's been working - the top order. Rahul scores a century at 4 but now has to go back and open, reopening that gaping hole at 4. It's now occupied by a child who looks like he's playing baseball.

Dhoni is being Dhoni.

Karthik, a thoroughly mediocre cricketer finds himself making his 25th comeback to the Indian side.

We are now playing 3 wicket keepers.

Bhuvi looks great but then gets injured. Shami comes in and tears **** up but then starts going the distance and then is dropped. Our spinners who were doing well initially get toyed with against England and then one of them gets dropped.

There's no way we'll get up against England in Birmingham at this rate.

 

[h_hurricane]

Everything is falling apart

Dhawan gets injured and ****s up the one good thing that's been working - the top order. Rahul scores a century at 4 but now has to go back and open, reopening that gaping hole at 4. It's now occupied by a child who looks like he's playing baseball.

Dhoni is being Dhoni.

Karthik, a thoroughly mediocre cricketer finds himself making his 25th comeback to the Indian side.

We are now playing 3 wicket keepers.

Bhuvi looks great but then gets injured. Shami comes in and tears **** up but then starts going the distance and then is dropped. Our spinners who were doing well initially get toyed with against England and then one of them gets dropped.

There's no way we'll get up against England in Birmingham at this rate.

Additionally, we are playing 4 wicket keepers and 2 batsmen.

 

[harsh.ag]

Without Dhawan, it was always going to be an uphill task.

 

[MW1304]

India fan Gambhiring is an epidemic.

 

[weldone]

India fan Gambhiring is an epidemic.

No man, that was his frustration not Gambhiring.

 

[artvandalay]

We really should have called up rayudu ahead of shankar n pant. Way too many wks in the team now. Im no fan of him but we had atleast invested in him for a few years and then hes at least a proper batsman. Poor guy done gone n retired now.

 

[Burgey]

All non-India fans hoping this convinces them to play jadeja in the finals

 

[h_hurricane]

All non-India fans hoping this convinces them to play jadeja in the finals

I would hope for an Indian win in semis and a Jadeja **** show so that you are disappointed.

OTOH, you are massively over-rating India if you think we will stroll to the finals.

 

[h_hurricane]

That is horrible from Bhuvi. A miserable match today.

 

[MW1304]

No man, that was his frustration not Gambhiring.

I mean it's both. Sure some things have gone wrong but it's nowhere near as bad as every India fan is making out.

 

[Burgey]

I would hope for an Indian win in semis and a Jadeja **** show so that you are disappointed.

OTOH, you are massively over-rating India if you think we will stroll to the finals.

I’m not rating them at all beyond Kohli, Sharma and Bumrah. All of whom I rate really highly.

So go you (y)

 

[Daemon]

I mean it's both. Sure some things have gone wrong but it's nowhere near as bad as every India fan is making out.

It's just really bad relative to where we started off imo.

 

[Arjun]

Completely surprising, this reversal of form for Kumar. He has his shortcomings, but he was in good form until that injury. Perhaps it's back to Pandya, lack of bowling consistency notwithstanding. If the team plays on a flat deck, they'll be in a spot of bother, with the spinners being found out at Birmingham and the third seamer also struggling.

 

[vcs]

This will be a tough chase. Bumrah has been great but the rest of the bowlers and the fielding effort has been uninspiring.

 

[h_hurricane]

Classic death bowling from Bumrah. He is so good isn't he ? What a way to sign off for Mathews though. Fine innings.

 

[Arachnodouche]

It's just really bad relative to where we started off imo.

You're indulging in crazy hyperbole here. We are no better or worse than when this thing began. Dhawan, regardless of his exploits in ICC tournaments, was in suspect form coming into the WC. Bhuvneswar recovered reasonably well from his injury. Shami played two good hands before losing the plot but he isn't quite done yet, just needs his quota utilized before the 40th over. Pant if anything should have been played earlier; him being a keeper does not matter when he's going to make more impact than anyone else you care to name. Everyone was resigned to Dhoni and Rahul playing so nothing has changed on that front, and dare I say has even garnered a few positives. Rohit has performed superlatively to the extent we haven't needed Kohli to be the run machine he normally is.

We are in the semi finals with a side I didn't think would make it because our batting was so top heavy. Luckily it has stayed heavy and the bowling's done enough to haul us over. I see no reason for the handwringing.

 

[cnerd123]

Great recovery by the Lankans. Could be in for an upset tonight

 

[MW1304]

Your batting is no worse than Australia's really, just as heavily reliant on two players. I suppose Smith's reliability is a bit of a trump card, but it's pretty close.

The bowling is still better than England's and always gives you a shot.

 

[trundler]

I think I don't even process SL Vs India ODIs anymore.

 

[h_hurricane]

You're indulging in crazy hyperbole here. We are no better or worse than when this thing began. Dhawan, regardless of his exploits in ICC tournaments, was in suspect form coming into the WC. Bhuvneswar recovered reasonably well from his injury. Shami played two good hands before losing the plot but he isn't quite done yet, just needs his quota utilized before the 40th over. Pant if anything should have been played earlier; him being a keeper does not matter when he's going to make more impact than anyone else you care to name. Everyone was resigned to Dhoni and Rahul playing so nothing has changed on that front, and dare I say has even garnered a few positives. Rohit has performed superlatively to the extent we haven't needed Kohli to be the run machine he normally is.

We are in the semi finals with a side I didn't think would make it because our batting was so top heavy. Luckily it has stayed heavy and the bowling's done enough to haul us over. I see no reason for the handwringing.

I think you are right from the perspective that all these shortcomings were anticipated before the WC started. There was still some hope that some of them would not be so blatantly evident.
However, at the end of the league stage, there is an inevitable realization about almost all of them. I don't think Daemon is saying that we have been hopeless. Winning 6 league matches(soon to be seventh) means we have been a quality team. It is just that some of our gravely concerning areas,if they are exploited by the opposition, **** will indeed hit the fan in the knockout matches.