Lets not forget the lessons learnt

[bharat297]

Although we won , we need to start addressing some issues here that are of concern. * Opening the batting - uthappa and sachin have done a good job so far, but is Uthappa wasted up there? Could a Sehwag be more handy? Should Gambhir open? * Middle order, particularly lower middle order slogging - I dont mean just boundary hitting, but also being able to run the 2s and 3s consistently, and being able to convert starts of 2/150 after 30 to 300+ scores. Perhaps Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan or Suresh Raina in the middle might be handy, but its just a case of Yuvraj, Sharma, Dhoni and Pathan being able to play a bit more responisbly. * Hitting the stumps - probably the main difference between Australia and India in the field at the moment. * Death bowling - Yes, we scraped home today ... but we dont really have a bowler who can fire in the yorker consistently. Zaheer was doing it for us last year, and I hope he comes back soon. Yorkers on the stumps at the death. You can never practice that enough. Lets not get complacent. We have a young team, which has a lot of belief and already 2 tournaments under their belt, with the u19s also coming through. Lets go for the kill, India.

[fineleg]

Yusuf Pathan can be a wild card if he is capable of slogging in Intl matches...we can try him in Indian series against SA? (are there odis?) We need some "good" sloggers in overs 40-50...he can bowl 6+ overs offspin too

[IndianRenegade]

no time for retrospection... celebrate guys!

[fineleg]

Once we get Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma in squad we'll get our death bowling right. You bring a good point in: Fielding-->Hitting the stumps - probably the main difference between Australia and India in the field at the moment. We will improve on this.

[bharat297]

Yes of course ... but we cant afford to get complacent either, because the world is after us now. We cant pull an England after Ashes 2005, and lose everything after.

[IndianRenegade]

Yes of course ... but we cant afford to get complacent either' date=' because the world is after us now. We cant pull an England after Ashes 2005, and lose everything after.[/quote'] We will celebrate for now, and look back at the game tomorrow... no harm....

[Zakhmi]

One of the best and meaningful thread...I will also share my observations, too.

[karns]

I agree with what you have written. Especially in regards to death bowling. India does seem to lack quality death bowlers. I have been thinking that we just need someone that can bowl yorkers and has a bit of variety. It is true that we are missing three front line bowlers today, but our front line bowlers aren't great death bowlers. In regards to opening batting, Sehwag is very very important. Not only is he a good batsman but he can be handy with the ball. The Sehwag debacle is one that will require much discussion and thought. Our middle order is good considering Yuvraj is out of form and we select five bowlers.

[IndianRenegade]

* Hitting the stumps - probably the main difference between Australia and India in the field at the moment.

Wasim was making a good point during the other finals. The Aussies are far better prepared to this than us. During the pre-match practice, Wasim saw an Aussie team that had 4 camps [i am not sure about the split], throwing at the stumps. But India had 2 camps, throwing the ball at each other. The Aussies have a far better practice than us. The way Indians do it, was the same thing they used to do during wasim's time. We need to move on towards efficient methods...

[Gambit]

Series Stats Most Runs

Iframe: Open in new window

This has been a watershed series for Gambhir. Hope he carries on in the same vein against RSA. Yuvi would like to forget this one in a hurry. Dhoni with his unnoticed and quiet contributions was the third highest run getter. Tendulkar top scored for India v RSA in Ireland, v Eng in Eng, v OZ in OZ, second highest run getter v Pak in Ind and now second highest run getter in the CB series v OZ and SL. Most Wickets

Iframe: Open in new window

Bracken and BLee were awesome. For India, IS was the standout performer and PK in the last three games.

[Kartikey]

Punter sucks.

[Gambit]

Punter sucks.

If we take out the 124 from Punter's run tally(because taking out 100s and recalculating the average is the 'in' thing to do ), he averages just 7 in 9 innings!

[Anakin]

If we take out the 124 from Punter's run tally(because taking out 100s and recalculating the average is the 'in' thing to do )' date=' he averages just 7 in 9 innings![/quote']But he does play magnificently under pressure, too bad finals were not pressurized enough.

[Anakin]

Did the budda score the fastest among the indians, not taking into accounts bhajji's and pk's very little cameos?

[Anakin]

I'm perplexed by Uthappa, he should be the aggressive one in the opening partnership.

[Zakhmi]

Bench strength is most important factor. ( After Ishant's injury, Sreesanth could immediately take his place ) Rotation policy must be followed irrespective of big names. ( Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, etc. must be given chance in place of Rohit Sharma, Yuvi, GG, etc., though its risky ) Never succumb to sledging or outside pressures. ( Well done Bhajji, SRT and Dhoni ) Play as a team, not as an individual. ( T20 and this series is the proof) Be ready for any role. ( Look at PK, he took charge with new ball and VS sitting outside )

[Predator_05]

Sachin Tendulkar scored well over 60% of his runs in India's last three (and most crucial) matches. That's a statistic which will make you feel warm and fuzzy. Talk about hitting form at the right time...

[Gambit]

SRT ODI series average: 44 Punter ODI series average: 19 SRT Test series average: 71 Punter Test series average: 38 :two_thumbs_up:

[Mandrake]

SRT ODI series average: 44 Punter ODI series average: 19 SRT Test series average: 71 Punter Test series average: 38 :two_thumbs_up:

Punter choked big time in this series:haha: Sachin :hatsoff::hatsoff::hatsoff::hatsoff:

[bunny]

CB series: Indian player ratings Methodology: 10.0 * (number of above-average performances)/(number of matches performed) + 1.0 * (number of extraordinary performances) SRT: 7/10 VS: 2/10 GG: 8/10 RU: 3/10 YS: 4/10 RS: 4.3/10 MSD: 8.5/10 IP: 7/10, batting (5/10) HS:7/10, IS: 9/10, SS: 6/10 PK: 9.5/10 (didn't play enough matches though) PC+MP: 5/10 Tailenders batting: 4/10 (all the points due to HS batting) Part time bowling: 5/10 All in all, the bowlers were on top in most of the games, and consistent performance by MSD, and contributions by SRT and GG (they were almost exclusive) helped us win the CB series. ----- Edit: Australia ratings Hayden: 6/10 Gilchrist: 5/10 Ponting: 2/10 Clarke: 5.5/10 Symonds: 2.2/10 Hussey: 7/10 Haddin: 0/10 (didn't play in enough matches) Hopes: batting(4/10), bowling (8/10) Lee: 7/10 Bracken: 10/10 Johnson: 9/10 Hogg: 6.5/10 Clark: 8/10 part time bowling: 3.5/10 tailenders batting: 6/10 The batsmen were non existent throughout the series but their new ball bowlers were brilliant but gave a below par performance in the finals. When the batsmen (Ponting and Symonds in particular) regain form they will once again start dominating (Haddin as Gilchrist's replacement will be a worry though and Lee looked exhausted).