What's the point of our openers?

[Ultimate_Game]

We've the worst possible opening pair in WT20. They can neither score quickly nor last too long. Rohit doesn't even deserve a spot in the team. And as for Kohli, he falls when he tries to score quickly, and the way for him to survive is to barely score at run a ball. If that's the case why hog the opening spot? He can very well do the same at no. 3 spot.

 

Every time we talk about "batting with intent", bat "positively", "maximize power play" and then we see the same shyte again. We're no better, and in fact worse than in WT2021 as the same TTFs have become even older and slower. Compare to the other contenders like Aus and Eng, our openers are a laughing stock and don't even compare to Warner-Head, or Buttler-Salt.

 

And we went with this opening pair over Jaiswal and Abhishek! Surely, they can't be any worse and at the very least give you a quick 20-30 runs rather than run a ball scores. We're putting way too much pressure on Pant as he has to score quickly to make up for our oldies, and also consolidate. That begs the question, what's the point of these over the hill openers? May as well let Jaiswal and Pant open.

Edited June 20, 2024 by Ultimate_Game

[Frustrated]

To ensure that Ind's ICC trophy cabinet remains empty.   

[kosingh]

It is them that viewers come to see. 

[zen]

To leave as less balls as possible for other, inspiring the rest of the batting to go from ball 1

 

 

[rageaddict]

To see off the dangerous new ball and allow the incoming batsman to take advantage of when the ball becomes blunt. Selfless Openers. 

[Mariyam]

Ice breakers in conversations between strangers.

 

You can become paly with *anyone* once you start discussing how terrible the Kohli Ro Sha combination is rn.

Edited June 20, 2024 by Mariyam

[Suhaan]

India showing the way,what should not be done in ICC events

[Ultimate_Game]

8 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

India showing the way,what should not be done in ICC events

 

We've been showing the way over the last decade. This is what happens everytime...

 

1. We pick TTFs and seniors for WT20

2. We get hammered as the team is nowhere close to playing T20

3. Captain and team management make a statement about not being "brave enough", "lacking intent" or "15 bad mins"

4. Selectors and team management talk about playing with intent moving forward, and they pick youngsters and newbies for bi-laterals where we actually play the right way, and we win those bi-laterals

5. Global tourney comes along and the youngsters are sidelined and we revert to seniors and "experience"

6. We fail again and our "intent" results in PP scores of 30-40 for 2 wkts.

 

Has seen the same scene play out after WT2021, 2022, and we're still doing the same in WT2024.

[singhvivek141]

To the OP

 

They bring brands, revenue and viewership.

Kohli himself told that his name was used to promote cricket in US...why shouldn't he use it for his own personal glory. Rohit is long before the T20 WC was announced as the charioter of this team. No one cared about his recent form and fitness.

 

Reality is no one cares in India if we win trophy or not, our clicking acumen is limited to milestones like most runs, most centuries, most 50's, highest avg etc. Both our openers are chasing some milestones...that's enough for the audience.

[MK55]

I’ve said this before. This guy Rohit has been losing his reflexes off late. His fitness levels are an embarrassment. His irreversible decline is gonna keep accelerating. In the IPL he was even troubled by extreme pace and that wasn’t the case before.

[Ultimate_Game]

We're struggling against Afg. I shudder to think what will happen against Aus, and in the SF if we somehow sneak in there

[cricketfan28]

Chokoli..wth

[Ultimate_Game]

There's still time to make changes before the Aussie game and knockouts. Bring in Jaiswal and maybe niggle out Jadeja or Chahal to bring in Rinku. Please don't waste this prime Bumrah. That guy's the best bowler on the planet by a distance and deserves better support from the so called "seniors"

[cowboysfan]

Kohli is not an opener,this terrible idea needs to be nixed next game.

[straighttalk]

2 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

We've been showing the way over the last decade. This is what happens everytime...

 

1. We pick TTFs and seniors for WT20

2. We get hammered as the team is nowhere close to playing T20

3. Captain and team management make a statement about not being "brave enough", "lacking intent" or "15 bad mins"

4. Selectors and team management talk about playing with intent moving forward, and they pick youngsters and newbies for bi-laterals where we actually play the right way, and we win those bi-laterals

5. Global tourney comes along and the youngsters are sidelined and we revert to seniors and "experience"

6. We fail again and our "intent" results in PP scores of 30-40 for 2 wkts.

 

Has seen the same scene play out after WT2021, 2022, and we're still doing the same in WT2024.

India has a set template ..target 50 in 6 overs best case and 40 in worst case. Their template is watch 2 overs...then go bang bang for 2 overs and then opposition takes a wicket or something and it is slow. So our 6 overs read like 4 6 15 10 8 7. Then of Kohli is still there ...until over 15 we go at 7 an over and reach 110  for 3 wicket. Then we hope pandya and others can take us to 160 to 180.

 

If Kohli falls quickly..and sky gets in ..we are in a much better shape unless we lose a lot of wickets..then we are *ed. Kohli does Jack **** until the last 5 overs and then on a good day he hits pedal to metal ...but on other days it's game over for us.

 

He calculates everything and likes to plan..issue is he is best at chasing because he plays acc to situation. While batting first he plays acc to pitch and his odi template. Best way to use him is to use him if we lose two wickets in power play..let others attack and if we want to consolidate..he comes in .else he doesn't come in and let sky pant and all play more balls. If we are chasing...then he comes in at 3.

Edited June 20, 2024 by straighttalk

[Ultimate_Game]

3 minutes ago, straighttalk said:

India has a set template ..target 50 in 6 overs best case and 40 in worst case. Their template is watch 2 overs...then go bang bang for 2 overs and then opposition takes a wicket or something and it is slow. So our 6 overs read like 4 6 15 10 8 7. Then of Kohli is still there ...until over 15 we go at 7 an over and reach 110  for 3 wicket. Then we hope pandya and others can take us to 160 to 180.

 

If Kohli falls quickly..and sky gets in ..we are in a much better shape unless we lose a lot of wickets..then we are *ed. Kohli does Jack **** until the last 5 overs and then on a good day he hits pedal to metal ...but on other days it's game over for us.

 

He calculates everything and likes to plan..issue is he is best at chasing because he plays acc to situation. While batting first he plays acc to pitch and his odi template. Best way to use him is to use him if we lose two wickets in power play..let others attack and if we want to consolidate..he comes in .else he doesn't come in and let sky pant and all play more balls. If we are chasing...then he comes in at 3.

 

Challenge is that our openers are over the hill and walking wkts so we can't rely on them for anything. Secondly, our lower order and tail is useless as well. Even on our best days we aim for 160-180, and against better teams (Eng, Aus), that score's not gonna scare them

[The Realist]

Is Sharma-Kohli worse than Ponting-Tendulkar?

 

[tapandrun]

Ind has been lucky that for Pant's 116 runs he has at-least been given 5/6 drop chances else the batting would have looked lot worse .

 

Today as well he was dropped in the deep, Ind needs to find the solution here, these openers are neither steady nor scoring at higher pace. 

All they are doing is to make things worse for middle order. There was no intent show by both and the only time their pair tried to play some shots Rohit got out and then as usual if wkt is down they try to pull the shutters - Seen this multiple time that they fail to score runs and save wkts at the same time.

 

One could think of getting Jaiswal back in opening that shifts kolhi to 3 and Pant at 5 where his SR is less than 125 and all the hitting again comes to SKY.

This is why picking non-format specific batters/players in T20s is a bad choice, Pak had similar problem they were relying on Fakar for hitting  and some 6/4 by tailenders.

 

There is not much difference between Kolhi+Rohit+Pant or Dhawan+Rohit+Kolhi or KL+Rohit+Kolhi. All 3 combination are v.much the same in their approach, can Add Gill to in this combination all the same. This IPL showed it clearly you need to aim at more than 2 boundaries per over. They are hardly aiming at 1 boundary per over, this 1 boundary per over thinking is too old 1 boundary and try to make it to 10 runs that over.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2024 by tapandrun

[Ultimate_Game]

1 hour ago, The Realist said:

Is Sharma-Kohli worse than Ponting-Tendulkar?

 

 

Given that Ponting and Tendulkar are mid 50s now, it might be a decent match-up but I would back Ponting-Tendulkar to still score more in PPs

[Ultimate_Game]

1 minute ago, tapandrun said:

Ind has been lucky that for Pant's 116 runs he has at-least been given 5/6 drop chances else the batting would have looked lot worse .

 

Today as well he was dropped in the deep, Ind needs to find the solution here, these openers are neither steady nor scoring at higher pace. 

All they are doing is to make things worse for middle order. There was no intent show by both and the only time their pair tried to play some shots Rohit got out and then as usual if wkt is down they try to pull the shutters - Seen this multiple time that they fail to score runs and save wkts at the same time.

 

One could think of getting Jaiswal back in opening that shifts kolhi to 3 and Pant at 5 where his SR is less than 125 and all the hitting again comes to SKY.

This is why picking non-format specific batters/players in T20s is a bad choice, Pak had similar problem they were relying on Fakar for hitting  and some 6/4 by tailenders.

 

There is not much difference between Kolhi+Rohit+Pant or Dhawan+Rohit+Kolhi or KL+Rohit+Kolhi. All 3 combination are v.much the same in their approach.

 

 

 

If Jaiswal comes in and "King" Kohli drops to 3, which is not likely to happen given the history of Kohli's selfishness, Pant should bat at 4. He has done so in IPL and still has time to get set. 5 is too low for him and SKY would be a better fit. Ideally, we should've Jaiswal and Abhishek as openers and Rinku & Parag in the middle overs. But these over the hill TTFs are ruining one more tourney for us.