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Let Rahul Open and move Rohit to 4


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Rahul is looking in good form and we must give him his best spot to bat. He is a stroke player and can utilize 1st 10 overs powerplay better. Rohit on the other side is struggling big time with form and sucks all the momentum at top. I think he can fare better at no.4 with field spread out and relatively older ball.

 

Discuss.

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One of my posts .... KL is good at #4 but would not mind him opening in lieu of someone like Pant, who was considered for a spot in the squad 

 

Quote

 

With Ind slotted to go into its last international engagement before the WC19 vs Aus to play 2 T20s and 5 ODIs, it is an opportunity for Ind to take new initiatives to strengthen its case for another WC title 

 

 

One initiative would be to try Pant as the opener. But why Pant?

  • Because he has the explosive game to take advantage of the PPs on batting friendly surfaces in Eng where par scores are expected to be 300+ (Eng has an RPO of 6.4 in Eng since 2016. This translates to a score of 320). On batting friendly surfaces, ideally, a team should try to be par RPO + 1 in PP. If par RPO is 6.4, we should be around 75 in the first 10    
  • Pant is also expected to be in the WC squad. It appears as if Shaw and Agarwal are not being considered 

 

 

But Rohit-Dhawan is a successful opening partnership, why should India tinker with it? And if it is tinkered, who should make the way for Pant? 

  • Rohit-Dhawan is definitely a good pair. However, most of their success as a pair has come in bilaterals where the team gets to play the same opposition over a bunch of games, which helps players to eventually have some great games when they encounter batting friendly surfaces. In WC group games, you would play a different opposition till you meet a team again in the SF 
  • If we take ICC and world events into consideration, Dhawan averages 77 with a SR of 98, while Rohit averages 32 with a SR of 76, which is similar to how openers played in 1980s 
  • Additionally, Rohit SR is among the lowest till he gets to his 50. If we take his 50+ scores conversation ratio into account, it would translate in to 4-5 50+ scores in the 9 group games. However, if those 50+ scores come in games vs. the subcon teams, many of which are expected to not make it to the SFs, it will not benefit Ind, which could get knocked out by virtue of losing to strong SENA teams 
  • Therefore, in ICC events, Dhawan could continue to open to leverage on his past good record in world events. Rohit can be played in the MO 

 

 

But Rohit struggles in the MO

  • As a MO batsman, Rohit averages 34, which is not much considering the options we have 
  • However, Rohit played in the MO a long time ago. If he is an improved batsman now, he should be able to be successful in MO
  • If not, it shows that players of similar talent cash in when opening so it would be hard to blame our MO if it fails
  • It should not be about what benefits Rohit, but what benefits the team more 

 

 

While it sounds great that a) Pant can potentially solve our problem of slow starts in PPs on good batting surfaces, b) if he gets going can take the game away from the other team, and c) If he fails, we would still have 9 wkts in hand including that of Rohit and Kohli, is it not too late to make changes for a key event like the WC? 

  • As they say Man Plans, God Laughs. It is never late to make positive changes. A team is expected to not only rotate its players in a tourney, but also replace those who get injured. In 2011 WC, Ind did not expose Ashwin till the final few games iirc. In 1992 WC, Imran promoted himself to #3 in the final iirc. Dhoni promoted himself in WC2011 final too. Teams constantly have to evaluate their performance and make changes accordingly both in the tournament and in the games 

 

 

Bonus

  • Left handed openers do well in ICC events. Besides Dhawan's average of 77, Ganguly averages 67

 

 

So what are the next steps?

  • Give Pant, if he is expected to be in the WC squad, an opportunity to open in LOIs vs Aus 
  • Evaluate his performances to see how he can be used as an opener in the WC to counter some of the challenges discussed here and elsewhere 
  • Last thing we want to do is not try at all. A bilateral series could serve to pad up the stats of the incumbent opener but may not help Ind in the world event to the extent they would have hoped 

 

 

Over and Out! 

 

 

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1 minute ago, maniac said:

Not happening and not logical

Not happening - Agree.

 

But why not logical? Rohit is clearly a slow starter and most teams are utilizing the 1st 10 overs field restrictions which our openers are failing to do. Rahul clearly is a stroke player and can give us a flying start which we are missing. Rohit will add more value at no.4 with fields spread out and can go for big hits during the slog end overs.

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2 minutes ago, Austin 3:!6 said:

Not happening - Agree.

 

But why not logical? Rohit is clearly a slow starter and most teams are utilizing the 1st 10 overs field restrictions which our openers are failing to do. Rahul clearly is a stroke player and can give us a flying start which we are missing. Rohit will add more value at no.4 with fields spread out and can go for big hits during the slog end overs.

Replacing the greatest odi opener of the last decade is not logical just like replacing the greatest no.3/ greatest batsman’s position to accommodate Rahul isn’t.

 

Rohit has all 5 gears+ 2 more. Rahul can play in the 4th gear throughout. Sorry I am going with a 7 gear premium car.

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8 minutes ago, maniac said:

Replacing the greatest odi opener of the last decade is not logical just like replacing the greatest no.3/ greatest batsman’s position to accommodate Rahul isn’t.

 

Rohit has all 5 gears+ 2 more. Rahul can play in the 4th gear throughout. Sorry I am going with a 7 gear premium car.

:hysterical::hysterical:

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Don't do drastic changes now. We are doing fine. Rohit has batted at the opening slot all of last 4 years, why change now for just one tournament, even though its a World Cup. That is what is called "panic". Tournament hasn't even started. We must stick to this top 5 now which was used today. 

Let's stick to them for first 3-4 games and worry about changes later. 

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2 minutes ago, Cricketics said:

Don't do drastic changes now. We are doing fine. Rohit has batted at the opening slot all of last 4 years, why change now for just one tournament, even though its a World Cup. That is what is called "panic". Tournament hasn't even started. We must stick to this top 5 now which was used today. 

Let's stick to them for first 3-4 games and worry about changes later. 

This. Treat yourself with a Amit Mishra buffet spread or as he would say regular meal for this wonderful post 

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26 minutes ago, maniac said:

Replacing the greatest odi opener of the last decade is not logical just like replacing the greatest no.3/ greatest batsman’s position to accommodate Rahul isn’t.

 

Rohit has all 5 gears+ 2 more. Rahul can play in the 4th gear throughout. Sorry I am going with a 7 gear premium car.

Not anymore. He has lost his gears now. He is at most a Dhakka start scooter with a broken clutch wire..:giggle:

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Well he's not setting the world on fire @1 either, he only knows 1 way to bat & fails consistently against the moving ball. People claiming this guy is one of the best openers ever need to hang their collective heads in shame, FFS tulleybaaz Fucher/Imam/Azam avg above 50 so this guy's return in bilaterals is hardly world beating :facepalm:

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