The West Indians had exposed the Indian top order’s technical inability to cope with fast, accurate short-pitched bowling the other day and the Englishmen exploited it to perfection today bouncing India out of the Twenty20 World Cup.
England came in with the obvious strategy to bounce the Indians and Dhoni’s own response was to promote Jadeja playing his first match of the tournament ahead of the in-form Yuvraj as a pinch-hitter – apparently to ease the pressure off the other star batsmen (Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf). If that was the intention, he should have at least been sent at three ahead of Raina, who was absolutely at sea facing bouncers in the previous match. In the end the pinch-hitter could neither hit out nor get out! When he did eventually get out after scoring 25 off 35 balls in the 14th over, leaving 67 runs to be scored off the last six overs, it was a little too much even for the icy cool Pathan (33 off 17 balls).
Earlier in the day Harbhajan and Jadeja did well to restrict England to 153, particularly after Pietersen (46 off 27 balls) was threatening to lead them to an above par score. But, the Indians conceded too many extras and weren’t sharp in the field. Also, it was baffling to see RP Singh who was most economical bowler on either side not finish his full quota of overs.
Well, this is a reminder that you still need to master the basic cricketing skills to be a successful T20 player. Rohit and Raina – both exceptional talents – need to work out their technical flaws if they are hoping to make it to the next generation Test team. Dhoni, probably needed this break. He has a very talented team at his disposal, he just needs to keep things simple. Hopefully, he will come back - along with some clarity in thinking – rejuvenated.
Hello
ReplyDeleteI am a great fan of Team India like all the crores of Indians.
Yesterday I don’t understand how Dhoni's Wonder Boyz' turned into a group of Dhoni's Wonder less Boyz'. I say that it was a suicide by team India. It was not a sudden suicide, instead a well planned suicide.
When IPL commenced, the Chairman Selector said that the good performers at the IPL will be selected for the T20 World Cup. But before the start of the second round of IPL itself the team was announced. And there came a big blunder. Abhishek Nayaar, the Mumbai player was expected to be a part of Indian team due to his high class performance with bat and ball in the domestic season. But it was heard that even his name was not been taken into consideration by the selectors!
Then the second blunder decision I feel is that the decision of selecting three spinners into the team. India has a very good part-time bowling line-up; R.Sharma, Y.Singh, S.Raina and Y.Pathan. Then why did they go with Harbhajan, Ojha and Jadeja? Like the first world Cup India should have go with two spinners; Harbhajan and Ojha. Jadeja is a good all-rounder. I agree. But Instead of taking him India should have taken a good batting finisher - say Robin Uthappa or S. Badrinath.
And the third I feel the picking of Praveen Kumar and dropping of J.Sharma and S.Sreesanth. Praveen is a very good bowler. His medium pace causes troubles for every batsman. But he's not a good finisher to bowl at the last over’s. Remember Joginder, he was the only option of Dhoni to bowl the last over in the finals against Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup. Why he was eliminated? May be due to injury; OK! But what is there for eliminating S.Sreesanth? He was the one that won us the 2007 World cup (T20) with that mind blowing catch. Not only his fielding, but also his bowling. He is an attacking pacer with aggression. We had seen his use many a times. An attacking pacer can make a spark in every batsman's mind. His exclusion lost India an attacking Right Arm Fast bowler. Irfan has turned to a good finisher, so Joginder Sharma is not essential; but there is no replacement for S.Sreesanth.
The squad should have been like the one I drop below.
M.S. Dhoni C WK
Y. Singh
V. Sehwag
G. Gambhir
S. Raina
R. Sharma
I. Pathan
Y. Pathan
H. Singh
A. Nayaar
R. Uthappa
P .Ojha
Z. Khan
I. Sharma
S. Sreesanth
Now coming to yesterday's match.
With the match between India and Windies itself it was known that the elimination of Sehwag has affected the whole team. It was also known that Rohit is not getting the momentum. So Dhoni should had made a change. He should have pulled back Rohit down the order to No. 5 and Dhoni himself Should have opened the innings with Gambhir . Or else he should have replaced Rohit with Karthik.
And also I say that India should have played Irfan replacing Ojha. There was no need of playing Jadeja since India had good Slow left arm in the team Yuvraj Singh. And I don’t understand why Irfan was not there in the playing 11. RP Singh is good intelligent bowler. He is a sure wicket taker at any conditions. But he’s not a good finisher. But he is an essential part of team India. I agree. But Irfan should have been there.
Yesterdays should have been (in Batting order):-
MS Dhoni
G. Gambhir
Y. Singh
I. Pathan
R . Sharma
S. Raina
Y. Pathan
H. Singh
Z. Khan
RP. Singh
I.Sharma
This is my personal opinion. Anyone who oppose this opinion, I welcome them
I totally agree with Vishnu with the batting order... India started of as favorites but could not sustain the momentum and ended up losing everything.. There were some technical errors to be blamed but the team management needs to seriously rethink their options and strategies
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