SMAT - 2023 Edition

[singhvivek141]

42 minutes ago, vice said:

Punjab wins!!

Champions

 

Winning the match after losing the toss was great.  IMO, stronger middle order this time around set up the title.  Previously, they always sneak into knockout stages and to win it all the way, this time around credit goes to a stronger and inform middle order.  Abhishek at the top, Prabhsimran (wasn't in great touch), Anmolpreet really turned out to be a surprise for me to be striking at such high strike rates.  Even Mandeep chipped in the semis.  Arshdeep wasn't in great touch on these pitches but stepped it up in the final.  Wadera, Ramandeep, or even Sanvir.  Everyone chipped in at one stage or another. IMO, bowling is still weak but kudos for winning the cup. Kaul gets you wickets like in semis at the front.  Markande has the goods, needs to tighten it up. Anyways, happy with the batting. There's some decent talent in this lineup. I'd like some new faces in the pace dept to be given chances.

 

 

Sanvir's inns vs UP was a delight. He single handedly changed the game courtesy of that over vs Yash Dayal.

[prudent_kreeda]

13 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

I think he is in competition with Tilak. Pure batters who can bowl a bit. Jaddu's competition are Nishant, Washy & Axar.

In future for a team which don't have Kohli or Rohit in XI, he can easily bat at no 3 (assuming Gill & Jaiswal as openers).

 

A bowling option in top 3 also helps us with bowling depth and we can play 5 high quality bowlers at the bottom...plus we can eliminate dependency on Pandya.

   Frankly i do not see Abhishesk in Top 3 with his game against quality pace at least in next 2 years.  

   Gill, Jaswal, Pant, KL,Tilak ,Sai  seem  better than Abhishek . 

  Will have to upgrade quite a bit to race ahead of the above for a place in top 5.

  

[singhvivek141]

15 minutes ago, prudent_kreeda said:

   Frankly i do not see Abhishesk in Top 3 with his game against quality pace at least in next 2 years.  

   Gill, Jaswal, Pant, KL,Tilak ,Sai  seem  better than Abhishek . 

  Will have to upgrade quite a bit to race ahead of the above for a place in top 5.

  

I am worried about Pant..tbh. He has put on a lot of weight and we don't know if he can really come back or will struggle from fitness issues throughout his career.

 

KL is floating alright, but he is also made of glass...plus we never know when the meek KL will take over the current version.

 

Sai is a weird case, for some reason his home team TN itself not using him as an opener and instead promoting Washington as opener. I dont like this experiment coz Sai can't bat below three...and Washy as an opener makes no sense for Indian cricket.

 

Abhishek can bowl as well which from above group only Tilak can (Jaiswal too but as he is a leggie, it will be lot tougher for him to be a part time bowler if he don't practice it enough). Plus Abhishek's power hitting is showing improvement post his stint with Yuvraj..so there is a good chance of him doing well. He did very well in last SMAT as well.

Edited November 6, 2023 by singhvivek141

[Lord]

1 hour ago, prudent_kreeda said:

Where to fit Abhishek ?  Problem is he is not 10 over bowler to replace Jaddu , also cannot be taken as pure batter with some  bowling . We have far far better batters than him. Dilemma !

top order. As of now backup to Jaiswal

[Lone Wolf]

21 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

I am worried about Pant..tbh. He has put on a lot of weight and we don't know if he can really come back or will struggle from fitness issues throughout his career.

 

KL is floating alright, but he is also made of glass...plus we never know when the meek KL will take over the current version.

 

Sai is a weird case, for some reason his home team TN itself not using him as an opener and instead promoting Washington as opener. I dont like this experiment coz Sai can't bat below three...and Washy as an opener makes no sense for Indian cricket.

 

Abhishek can bowl as well which from above group only Tilak can (Jaiswal too but as he is a leggie, it will be lot tougher for him to be a part time bowler if he don't practice it enough). Plus Abhishek's power hitting is showing improvement post his stint with Yuvraj..so there is a good chance of him doing well. He did very well in last SMAT as well.

Tilak holds the edge coz he is a middle order player. 

Nehal Wadhera did impress in IPL but we need to see him more in IPL. 

 

Abhishek has put himself into contention for sure after this.  I'll take him over Ruturaj ATM in T20 cricket as an opener. 

[Lord]

How did Raj Bawa do in this tourney?

[prudent_kreeda]

45 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

I am worried about Pant..tbh. He has put on a lot of weight and we don't know if he can really come back or will struggle from fitness issues throughout his career.

 

KL is floating alright, but he is also made of glass...plus we never know when the meek KL will take over the current version.

 

Sai is a weird case, for some reason his home team TN itself not using him as an opener and instead promoting Washington as opener. I do not like this experiment coz Sai can't bat below three...and Washy as an opener makes no sense for Indian cricket.

 

Abhishek can bowl as well which from above group only Tilak can (Jaiswal too but as he is a leggie, it will be lot tougher for him to be a part time bowler if he don't practice it enough). Plus Abhishek's power hitting is showing improvement post his stint with Yuvraj..so there is a good chance of him doing well. He did very well in last SMAT as well.

 Respect your views . We have bit of our bias when we see a player. Could be you see lot more ability in him to be a top 4 batter than me.

 Its not that others mentioned also do not have weaknesses .

1. Gill against in duckers and against SLH when pitch is spinning  -Its his own doing. He fetches lot of runs on off side and prepare to drive or cut by remaining sideways to hit those shots . But when ball jags in sharply from outside off , he is caught in no man's land. 

Against Leftie spinners , never covers the stumps while playing on side . Stands almost outside the leg and tries to play to onside . Its fine when ball is not turning sharply  but when it does he will either risk getting bowled and nicking to slip. But his range & ability to hit any bowler is unmatched in his age level in India. So ceiling is quite high to over come his issues .  

2. Tilak - 2022 IPL there were lot of talks that Tilak is poor against short ball. Come 2023 IPL, he is hitting majority of short balls to the stands .Not flustered by even 90M balls. Still bit more improvement needed when balls are head  high and sometimes gets cramped. But the power , the range of shots ,both off side & onside and down the ground even against top pace is top stuff. One of the best in india in hitting good balls to boundaries. Again ceiling is high. 

3. Jaiswal - Another star in the making with  good technique . He is not keeping his pull/hook down , and getting caught in the deep currently .

     But has all other attributes to come good and has ability hit pace as well spin . Hard working guy and hence again high ceiling to come good. Will be able overcome that .

4. Sai -Could be the one guy where i may go wrong. He is suspect against good short stuff . But there is that quality of timing, placement which catches the eye. 

 Abhishek's game right now against quality pace has more weakness compared to above guys esp around off stump be it the downswing ,feet movement , covering the movement and i do not see same level of shot making ability vs quality pace consistently for a longer period as other 3. His maximum hitting so far has been against spin and lesser quality bowling.

Hence my observation - for another 2 years difficult to race ahead of above guys and get a place in top 5 either in tests or short format . Best chance may be T20  can provide a chance around no.6 or 7 or a replacement  of Jaddu /Axar . 

[Vijy]

10 hours ago, singhvivek141 said:

I think he is in competition with Tilak. Pure batters who can bowl a bit. Jaddu's competition are Nishant, Washy & Axar.

In future for a team which don't have Kohli or Rohit in XI, he can easily bat at no 3 (assuming Gill & Jaiswal as openers).

 

A bowling option in top 3 also helps us with bowling depth and we can play 5 high quality bowlers at the bottom...plus we can eliminate dependency on Pandya.

Parag is also in the mix, although this fellow goes missing vs better opposition

[Vijy]

10 hours ago, singhvivek141 said:

I am worried about Pant..tbh. He has put on a lot of weight and we don't know if he can really come back or will struggle from fitness issues throughout his career.

 

KL is floating alright, but he is also made of glass...plus we never know when the meek KL will take over the current version.

 

Sai is a weird case, for some reason his home team TN itself not using him as an opener and instead promoting Washington as opener. I dont like this experiment coz Sai can't bat below three...and Washy as an opener makes no sense for Indian cricket.

 

Abhishek can bowl as well which from above group only Tilak can (Jaiswal too but as he is a leggie, it will be lot tougher for him to be a part time bowler if he don't practice it enough). Plus Abhishek's power hitting is showing improvement post his stint with Yuvraj..so there is a good chance of him doing well. He did very well in last SMAT as well.

regd SMAT, parag has done very well, but not sure that he can be trusted. SMAT should be taken with a lot of salt

[singhvivek141]

9 hours ago, Lord said:

How did Raj Bawa do in this tourney?

Not very well.

Average with both bat and ball.

 

[Vijy]

Just now, singhvivek141 said:

Not very well.

Average with both bat and ball.

 

bowling seemed to be okay, although down in pace. batting was sub-par

 

coming from a major injury.

[singhvivek141]

10 minutes ago, Vijy said:

regd SMAT, parag has done very well, but not sure that he can be trusted. SMAT should be taken with a lot of salt

Parag needs a decentish IPL season, every year he performs in SMAT, VHT, Ranji but fails badly in IPL.

He is the charismatic performer in weak Assam team, which highlights his game a lot. But he need to perform on big occasions as well...his slog at the cow corner often gets him out there.

[singhvivek141]

4 minutes ago, Vijy said:

bowling seemed to be okay, although down in pace. batting was sub-par

 

coming from a major injury.

I hope he recovers from this slump and performs in VHT & Ranji though, we really need a fast bowling allrounder in longer formats.

[Vijy]

Just now, singhvivek141 said:

I hope he recovers from this slump and performs in VHT & Ranji though, we really need a fast bowling allrounder in longer formats.

esp someone who can bat in top 6/7 as bawa could in peak conditions. harshit rana, hangu, gurnoor, etc are all no. 8/9 types

[singhvivek141]

So Punjab has 2 domestic teams

Gujrat has 3 teams

Maharashtra has 3 teams

 

But

UP, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu has only 1 ???

 

This needs to change...a state shouldn't have more than 2 teams.

 

I hope from next season

1. Keep the max. number of teams to 2 (for one state)

2. Combine the North East teams (minus Assam) into one..to reduce the irrelevant one sided games.

3. Remove this useless rule of Impact Player..it's diminishes the value of allrounders

4. UP, Rajasthan, Karnataka & Tamil Nadu must have 2 different teams..these are big states

Edited November 7, 2023 by singhvivek141

[singhvivek141]

6 minutes ago, Vijy said:

esp someone who can bat in top 6/7 as bawa could in peak conditions. harshit rana, hangu, gurnoor, etc are all no. 8/9 types

Yes, he is probably the only genuine fast bowler allrounder around the horizon.

Rest all of Shivam Dube, Venky Iyer, Vijay Shankar are batsman first and time pass bowlers 

[Suhaan]

18 minutes ago, Vijy said:

bowling seemed to be okay, although down in pace. batting was sub-par

 

coming from a major injury.

He is not a 140+ bowler in the first place

[Sandz]

So did Gurnoor Brar not play SMAT?

 

He is the only exciting prospect out of Punjab for now, and he was bowling 140+ in the only match he played in IPL, was unlucky that a catch was dropped of his first over and then 2 no balls destroyed his figures and never played after that, Managment was too quick to discard him when every other bowler also got clobbered in that match.

[singhvivek141]

25 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

He is not a 140+ bowler in the first place

What's his pace like ?

 

[tapandrun]

14 hours ago, singhvivek141 said:

He won't, he is in top 3 pacer of J&K

Simarjeet Singh should play for Punjab...he is missing chances in Delhi.

Delhi provides more opportunity to pacers, With Ishant retiring there is more chance for Simarjeet and others.

 

They also prefer to play 3 pacers do not think they have any spinner in their Rnji side