Mike Hesson's sharp analysis : Match up of top players favors NZ in finals against India

[Ultimate_Game]

3 minutes ago, Frustrated said:

That's a bit harsh on Bumrah.  If we strictly talk about ICC KO games, he did well in WC2023 Final as well. We were defending a below par total.  Aus played out Bumrah's overs and attacked the rest.    (Yes, he was mediocre in SF vs NZ though).   But overall had a good WC.   

 

Same with 2019 WC SF. Batters shyte the bed again while chasing 239. And if you've to pick a bowler, it should be Chahal who failed as usual.

[coffee_rules]

All good .. but Rohit will the the infamous Dhoni line - Same team

[Ultimate_Game]

1 hour ago, coffee_rules said:

All good .. but Rohit will the the infamous Dhoni line - Same team

 

Dhoni made changes when needed. He pushed Yusuf Pathan to open in 2007 WT20 and handled the bowling really well and refusing to give Bhajji the last over which any other captain would've done.

 

He also replaced Yusuf Pathan with Raina in 2011 WC knockouts. He saw Pathan was struggling and got in Raina. No bullshyte excuses about "he hasn't played a game" or "he's undercooked" etc. He made that call and it paid off big time!

 

Wish Rohit does the same and replaces Kuldeep with Sundar.

Edited March 7, 2025 by Ultimate_Game

[vayuu1]

By the way henry could miss the final as there is injury scare around him

[Ultimate_Game]

5 hours ago, vayuu1 said:

By the way henry could miss the final as there is injury scare around him

 

All mindgames. He'll play the Final no matter what.

[R!TTER]

10 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

Bumrah at least looked like our best bowler. Kuldeep doesn't. When he's the 4th best spinner till the finals, why back him? Bumrah didn't look like our 4th or 3rd best bowler. Neither was he hammered or looked so ineffective as Kuldeep did the last 2 games.

 

In Dubai conditions, Kuldeep should've done a lot better. As a specialist spinner you expect figures of 2/40 at the very least from him. But he has done zilch and has figures worse than a part timer. So why not go with Sundar? There's a reason Sundar is selected and he has done pretty well recently with the ball, and also adds depth to the batting and a better catcher/fielder than Kuldeep.

 

Playing Sundar is a no-brainer and playing Kuldeep would be the very definition of insanity, i.e. "doing the same thing but expecting a different result". If we had followed the same thought process, we probably wouldn't have picked Varun and would probably be knocked out in SF. Time to be pro-active and pick Sundar.

No he doesn't, he was nowhere near the best bowler in 2017 CT finals it was Hardik same goes for 2019 WC final where it was Jadeja.

 

Ok maybe you forgot how he failed consistently to pickup wickets in the PP in 2019 WC, you do remember India's got the worst record for picking up wickets inside the PP right? Is that on Kuldeep as well or somehow we all have Ghazini moments post 2024 WT20, what about 2021 WTC finals again where he was a complete non show in helpful conditions 

 

Sundar isn't a bad choice per se but it is a defensive one. We're picking him mostly to cover for our poor batting down the order & of course the speed runner T10 specialist RGS  

[Suhaan]

12 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

e bowling really well and refusing to give Bhajji the last over which any other captain would've done.

That was a forced change Sehwag got injured just before the final

We needed someone at the top who had the same tempo, although Dhoni was levels above Kohli,Rohit when it comes to reading conditions(especially spin) and leading in lois

[Ultimate_Game]

2 hours ago, R!TTER said:

No he doesn't, he was nowhere near the best bowler in 2017 CT finals it was Hardik same goes for 2019 WC final where it was Jadeja.

 

Ok maybe you forgot how he failed consistently to pickup wickets in the PP in 2019 WC, you do remember India's got the worst record for picking up wickets inside the PP right? Is that on Kuldeep as well or somehow we all have Ghazini moments post 2024 WT20, what about 2021 WTC finals again where he was a complete non show in helpful conditions 

 

Sundar isn't a bad choice per se but it is a defensive one. We're picking him mostly to cover for our poor batting down the order & of course the speed runner T10 specialist RGS  

 

It's not just for the batting depth. Sundar is ahead in bowling as well to Kuldeep. Don't have any faith in Kuldeep in either stopping the runs or picking up wkts. I expect Sundar to be better in both respects and have bowling figures of 2/45 instead of 0/55 which Kuldeep is gonna get.

[vvvslaxman]

5 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

It's not just for the batting depth. Sundar is ahead in bowling as well to Kuldeep. Don't have any faith in Kuldeep in either stopping the runs or picking up wkts. I expect Sundar to be better in both respects and have bowling figures of 2/45 instead of 0/55 which Kuldeep is gonna get.

 

Kuldeep started his career welll against NZ. Post COVID Kuldeep's numbers against NZ are not that great. Infact across formats Kuldeep is exceptional against England. , Pakistan,  SA.   But against Australia and NZ his numbers are up and down.   Very poor as they attack him and he wilts.

 

 

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

Last 10 years Indian spinners against New zealand across the formats. Even with Tests Kuldeep's ER is 5.79. LOok at collar chewer. 6.16

 

 

 

 

[cowboysfan]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

Last 10 years Indian spinners against New zealand across the formats. Even with Tests Kuldeep's ER is 5.79. LOok at collar chewer. 6.16

 

 

 

 

why across formats? only ODIs are relevant right now.

[vvvslaxman]

9 minutes ago, cowboysfan said:

why across formats? only ODIs are relevant right now.

That is poor as well. Reason i used across the format is because he couldn't trouble them much in any format. Even in Tests they attacked him. He went for 29 runs in 3 overs or something at Bengaluru. May be the sweep him well. Something doesn't work against them as well as it works against England.

[cowboysfan]

1 minute ago, vvvslaxman said:

That is poor as well. Reason i used across the format is because he couldn't trouble them much in any format. Even in Tests they attacked him. He went for 29 runs in 3 overs or something at Bengaluru. May be the sweep him well. Something doesn't work against them as well as it works against England.

he bowls at predictable speeds,Kiwis will happily sweep full balls from him knowing he cant vary his speeds.

[Ultimate_Game]

15 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

Kuldeep started his career welll against NZ. Post COVID Kuldeep's numbers against NZ are not that great. Infact across formats Kuldeep is exceptional against England. , Pakistan,  SA.   But against Australia and NZ his numbers are up and down.   Very poor as they attack him and he wilts.

 

 

 

 

 

Problem is everyone knows Kuldeep wilts when attacked. Aussies and Kiwis do that relentlessly, and NZ's deep batting lineup allows them to do so. Kuldeep's record also shows bigger the game or deeper into a tourney, more irrelevant he gets. He's just like Chahal in that respect - beating minnows and performing in group games and outbowled by part-timers in the bigger matches.

 

He should be saved for Tests, and shorter formats is not his cup of tea, especially when he doesn't give you anything else and is one-dimensional. Even if he could bat like Santner, maybe could've backed him but not with his fielding and batting skills on top of his going AWOL when it matters.