Missing ingredients in Indian cricket

[tapandrun]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

 

Reason i want to back Iyer is his hitting style. That is probably similar to you see from Australian, South African big hitters. That strong base, clean swing, accessing both sides with equal power.  Yes He does play percentage cricket even in T20.  Sometimes not ideal. But he  is the best counter puncher under crisis. Once he did against SA when we were 4 down. Early this year  India lost both Jaiswal and Rohit in 5 overs 19/2. Gill was tuk tuking too. He came in and immediately went after Archer and completely turned the game on its head. Smashed him for back to back six. Then punished every short ball. In place of current SKY it is a no brainer. Also very level headed under pressure unlike SKY who choked very badly even when he was world no.1 ranked T20 batsman.

 

As mentioned before at current form anything is better than Sky, but iyer is not a longterm solution in t20is.

He plays for the team and keep team above himself, comparing him to gill is not right. Gill is all about self preservation plus gill does not have many shots. Gill is the worse kind of t20 batter there can be. 0 intent and no 6-hitting shots. This may work in IPL where he can be the main gig and team is set-up for him and around him and if he gets some easy pace and bounce wkts

 

The matches vs eng are mentioning Odis, he is v.good in odis and I posted that  as well batter can work in odis with limitations, he just need to negotiate some balls and pick and chose which ones he wanted to hit.

 

The issue is with t20 hitting batters needs to get 2-3 boundaries per over and if they can not let go of some-balls and hope to cover-up in next over it just build pressure.

 

In odi a 3 run over without a wkt is well accepted, batter can get 9-12 some time later. 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2025 by tapandrun

[Suhaan]

18 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Then punished every short ball. In place of current SKY it is a no brainer. Also very level headed under pressure unlike SKY who choked very badly even when he was world no.1 ranked T20 batsman.

It doesn't work like that ,there is no sample size to be certain about him replacing a dud  with his career SR of 133

It is like bringing in another limited batter in a format which is getting too fast ,

He's is not coming today and post T20 WC ,there is high chance he won't be coming either with SKY gone anyway 

I want him in our odi setup but I'm very certain there too he'll will be a sitting duck in SA27

[vvvslaxman]

12 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

 

As mentioned before at current form anything is better than Sky, but iyer is not a longterm solution in t20is.

He plays for the team and keep team above himself, comparing him to gill is not right. Gill is all about self preservation plus gill does not have many shots. Gill is the worse kind of t20 batter there can be. 0 intent and no 6-hitting shots. This may work in IPL where he can be the main gig and team is set-up for him and around him and if he gets some easy pace and bounce wkts

 

The matches vs eng are mentioning Odis, he is v.good in odis and I posted that  as well batter can work in odis with limitations, he just need to negotiate some balls and pick and chose which ones he wanted to hit.

 

The issue is with t20 hitting batters needs to get 2-3 boundaries per over and if they can not let go of some-balls and hope to cover-up in next over it just build pressure.

 

In t20 a 3 run over without a wkt is well accepted, batter can get 9-12 some time later. 

 

 

 

 

 

That is why six hitting ability has to be valued. That is exactly why guy like Iyer can be devastating. He can make up for 3 over tuk tuk in a single over.  Guys like Samson , Iyer can give you a 25 run over. Guys like Gill don't do that. Even Tilak is not a big over guy. If you find some stinky bowler you make the most of him.  Rohit is the one guy who would do that generally. In the current lot ABhishek, Pandya  and Samson can do that.  Guys like Sundar, Dube, Axar are not big over guys.  Rinku is a big over guy. He has proved it. SKy is washed up. If they need a tmeporary replacement he is an ption. These padikkals, Patidards all these guys are useless. SKY's position will be open shortly. INdia need someone to play that spot. I can't think of anyone other than Iyer.

 

 

[tapandrun]

6 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

 

That is why six hitting ability has to be valued. That is exactly why guy like Iyer can be devastating. He can make up for 3 over tuk tuk in a single over.  Guys like Samson , Iyer can give you a 25 run over. Guys like Gill don't do that. Even Tilak is not a big over guy. If you find some stinky bowler you make the most of him.  Rohit is the one guy who would do that generally. In the current lot ABhishek, Pandya  and Samson can do that.  Guys like Sundar, Dube, Axar are not big over guys.  Rinku is a big over guy. He has proved it. SKy is washed up. If they need a tmeporary replacement he is an ption. These padikkals, Patidards all these guys are useless. SKY's position will be open shortly. INdia need someone to play that spot. I can't think of anyone other than Iyer.

 

 

 

yes in short-term Iyer can be answer to sky, but team is already selected. The selection here on should be for next 2 years, 2-4 year is long term in t20i crkt now, t20 crkt is changing too fast A series back SA didnt look like a white-ball team now they are at same level in terms of batting as other top team.

 

Padikal is nt intnl quality, patidar is already spin basher and he is 32-33 rt now in 2 years will be 34-35 , if he is good by then sure try him. T20 should be looked at as 2 years cycle. 

 

 

[Suhaan]

Just now, tapandrun said:

 

yes in short-term Iyer can be answer to sky, but team is already selected. The selection here on should be for next 2 years, 2-4 year is long term in t20i crkt now, t20 crkt is changing too fast A series back SA didnt look like a white-ball team now they are at same level in terms of batting as other top team.

 

Padikal is nt intnl quality, patidar is already spin basher and he is 32-33 rt now in 2 years will be 34-35 , if he is good by then sure try him. T20 should be looked at as 2 years cycle. 

 

 

Na Iyer isnt even short term solution,he won't get those opportunities to make up for his slow batting invariably,there is a reason he has such low impact int20s

We shouldn't be holding back

[vvvslaxman]

1 minute ago, Suhaan said:

It doesn't work like that ,there is no sample size to be certain about him replacing a dud  with his career SR of 133

It is like bringing in another limited batter in a format which is getting too fast ,

He's is not coming today and post T20 WC ,there is high chance he won't be coming either with SKY gone anyway 

I want him in our odi setup but I'm very certain there too he'll will be a sitting duck in SA27

 

Iyer was a misfit in T20 even at franchisee level until last year. He has changed. I don't think we have anyone  to play high impact innings and also does well udner pressure from the domestic. Everyone is a journey man. Because we use Stoinis, Tim David, Dre Russ, Pooran, Mitch Marsh and other guys to be middle overs enforcers. 

 

We always have a great power play thanks to Abhishek. WHere we stutter is middle overs ( if Abhishek gets out early ) and death overs (if Pandya is not having one of those days). Guys like Axar, Sundar , Dube are pretty much useless. I highly value guys who can do range hitting in T20. They can break the game open. These technically sound guys often struggles in tight situation when we ar up against asking rate.

 

If you look at balls/6 Iyer takes very little time to go after bowling in between balls both in MO and DO.

 

 

 

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

10 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

Na Iyer isnt even short term solution,he won't get those opportunities to make up for his slow batting invariably,there is a reason he has such low impact int20s

We shouldn't be holding back

 

He played T20 before he found a tempo last season. So we can't keep hanging on to that much like we are hanging on to useless stats of SKY who has absolutely done zilch under pressure. Went mssing 8 matches against Pakistan. 

[vvvslaxman]

Among the youngsters  we have to keep an eye on Urvil patel's progress. If his domestic form translates into international he can be a genuine match winner. Fast hands, incredible bat speed like Pandya.. May not be  a range hitter. But he can hit some flat sixes

[tapandrun]

34 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

Iyer was a misfit in T20 even at franchisee level until last year. He has changed. I don't think we have anyone  to play high impact innings and also does well udner pressure from the domestic. Everyone is a journey man. Because we use Stoinis, Tim David, Dre Russ, Pooran, Mitch Marsh and other guys to be middle overs enforcers. 

 

We always have a great power play thanks to Abhishek. WHere we stutter is middle overs ( if Abhishek gets out early ) and death overs (if Pandya is not having one of those days). Guys like Axar, Sundar , Dube are pretty much useless. I highly value guys who can do range hitting in T20. They can break the game open. These technically sound guys often struggles in tight situation when we ar up against asking rate.

 

If you look at balls/6 Iyer takes very little time to go after bowling in between balls both in MO and DO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its hard to take data from 1 season on its face value when you have larger sample frm Intnl cricket. 

We have seen Tim,pooran,klasen do in other places and do it over the years so it good, brevis is know to be a good striker of the ball.

 

Now you take Parag , Jitesh, Jurel, Msd and you can understand this data can not be taken on face value based on 1 season. Jitesh has struggled at intnl level he is not intnl quality, Jurel is not t20 material, Ashutosh was awful in the emerging asia cup, we have wadehra in this list too.. saw how got stuck in emerging cup .

 

Ind picked kl based on IPL and he got stuck in t20is

 

Edited December 28, 2025 by tapandrun

[tapandrun]

52 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

It doesn't work like that ,there is no sample size to be certain about him replacing a dud  with his career SR of 133

It is like bringing in another limited batter in a format which is getting too fast ,

He's is not coming today and post T20 WC ,there is high chance he won't be coming either with SKY gone anyway 

I want him in our odi setup but I'm very certain there too he'll will be a sitting duck in SA27

See right now anything is better than sky, he is out of form and he has bad record in multi-team tournament

[tapandrun]

11 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Among the youngsters  we have to keep an eye on Urvil patel's progress. If his domestic form translates into international he can be a genuine match winner. Fast hands, incredible bat speed like Pandya.. May not be  a range hitter. But he can hit some flat sixes

Urvil is 27 yo, plays in top-order which is already stacked unless they go by t20 format and make wk to open the innings.

 

Their Initial plan was when rohit and kolhi retires , Jaiswal, Gill and Rutu will form top3 with gill and rutu one will play at #3. Abhishek disturbed their plans and then tilak also disturbed the #3 position.

 

Think they will try again to get Gill back in t20i side 

[vvvslaxman]

12 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

 

 

Its hard to take data from 1 season on its face value when you have larger sample frm Intnl cricket. 

We have seen Tim,pooran,klasen do in other places and do it over the years so it good, brevis is know to be a good striker of the ball.

 

Now you take Parag , Jitesh, Jurel, Msd and you can understand this data can not be taken on face value based on 1 season. Jitesh has struggled at intnl level he is not intnl quality, Jurel is not t20 material, Ashutosh was awful in the emerging asia cup, we have wadehra in this list too.. saw how got stuck in emerging cup .

 

Ind picked kl based on IPL and he got stuck in t20is

 

 

T20 is all about form. . MSD, JUrel, Jitesh , Parag is not even close to Iyer beacuse IYer has very high sample across 14 overs.   That will be a dishonest comparison. He is the best Indian in all categoris. If you look at death over strike rate against pace and 6 hitting Iyer is the best Indian.  He ahs the highest sample.  Kela is an orange cup hunter. Never rated as an impact player by any of us.

 

Edited December 28, 2025 by vvvslaxman

[vvvslaxman]

13 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

Urvil is 27 yo, plays in top-order which is already stacked unless they go by t20 format and make wk to open the innings.

 

Their Initial plan was when rohit and kolhi retires , Jaiswal, Gill and Rutu will form top3 with gill and rutu one will play at #3. Abhishek disturbed their plans and then tilak also disturbed the #3 position.

 

Think they will try again to get Gill back in t20i side 

Gill is useless in power play. Even more useless in other phases. India desperately needs middle order and death over hitte.r The day Hardik pandya pullls something we will be brutally exposed. There is no stability, reliability, skill in the current unit. Dube is punching above his weight with his static foot approach. THen Sundar, Axar are all total waste in terms of finishing.  SKy past by sell date. There is a gigantic hole there compared to other teams where even their no.9 can whack a few.

[tapandrun]

28 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

T20 is all about form. . MSD, JUrel, Jitesh , Parag is not even close to Iyer beacuse IYer has very high sample across 14 overs.   That will be a dishonest comparison. He is the best Indian in all categoris. If you look at death over strike rate against pace and 6 hitting Iyer is the best Indian.  He ahs the highest sample.  Kela is an orange cup hunter. Never rated as an impact player by any of us.

 

 

If they would have tried him in few of the series in t20is after the IPL tht would have given better Idea. There is pant also on this list just below iyer, where pant had a 133 sr in this season.

 

If iyer didnt have that obvious short-ball issue may be get him in t20is but intnl is diff specially in ICC events big teams on full strngth know how to exploit such weaknesses.

 

The only player Iyer can replace is dube/rinku because sky is the captain and can not be dropped. If dropping rinku is an option sure go for it. 

The other solution is there is no point of having sundar in the side drop him get iyer.

You play Abhishek+ Sanju open, can rotate with Tilak, Sky and Iyer at # 3-5 and then Pandaya comes at 6 and then dube, then 4 bowlers Axar,Arash, Bhumrah, varun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2025 by tapandrun

[Suhaan]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

He played T20 before he found a tempo last season. So we can't keep hanging on to that much like we are hanging on to useless stats of SKY who has absolutely done zilch under pressure. Went mssing 8 matches against Pakistan. 

Talking about Iyer doesn't people want sky either

Iyer is far too limited for t20s,Iyer needs to replicate his ipl25 performance next season as well like others to stake a claim

[vvvslaxman]

11 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

 

If they would have tried him in few of the series in t20is after the IPL tht would have given better Idea. There is pant also on this list just below iyer, where pant had a 133 sr in this season.

 

If iyer didnt have that obvious short-ball issue may be get him in t20is but intnl is diff specially in ICC events big teams on full strngth know how to exploit such weaknesses.

 

The only player Iyer can replace is dube/rinku because sky is the captain and can not be dropped. If dropping rinku is an option sure go for it. 

The other solution is there is no point of having sundar in the side drop him get iyer.

You play Abhishek+ Sanju open, can rotate with Tilak, Sky and Iyer at # 3-5 and then Pandaya comes at 6 and then dube, then 4 bowlers Axar,Arash, Bhumrah, varun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last season we never even talked about Iyer rightfully. This year he has worked hard on his game. Did the hard yards in domestic. He has improved. First of all none of our batsmen are good against short ball except Rohit. Even Jaiswal would hole straight in the air when it outside eye line.  Sanju got out 2 or 3 times against raw bounce. Abhishek also lose control. Just that because of 1 bouncer per over rule batsmen can manage it easily.  Playing both Axar and Sundar is a disasterous move. India must use Abhishek the bowler. 

 

Even with crappy SKY we can find a place for Iyer. But if SKY goes he should get this for sure not Gill.  Right now this unit lacks a distinctly pedigree batsman. If SKY goes we can get Rinku in. That will be perfect.

 

Samson

Abhishek
Tilak

Iyer

SKY

Pandya

Dube

Axar/Sundar

Varun C

Arshdeep

Bumrah

 

 

 

[tapandrun]

9 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Gill is useless in power play. Even more useless in other phases. India desperately needs middle order and death over hitte.r The day Hardik pandya pullls something we will be brutally exposed. There is no stability, reliability, skill in the current unit. Dube is punching above his weight with his static foot approach. THen Sundar, Axar are all total waste in terms of finishing.  SKy past by sell date. There is a gigantic hole there compared to other teams where even their no.9 can whack a few.

 

Ind  is stacked with top order options, that why I suggested to ask and try one of the openers in the finisher's role. 6 hitters like Arya, Viabhav should have been tried for short-term solution.

 

Yes there are issues, which needs to be resolved, one issue is Ind bowlers can not even hold the bat. If Inds top3 does not score Ind does not have the batting capability to case or to set-up a target.

 

After the wc they need to find player and not just rotate and bring like for like which is already a downgrade model.

 

Have not seem much but players who should be tried just after wc should be urvil and prashant veer. Do know who are #3-5 then they should try Jakhar and Vipraj may be at 6 ot 7, bring in vaibhav as finisher for short term so that he gets the feeling of intnl cricket, Arsad khan some where.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tapandrun]

7 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Last season we never even talked about Iyer rightfully. This year he has worked hard on his game. Did the hard yards in domestic. He has improved. First of all none of our batsmen are good against short ball except Rohit. Even Jaiswal would hole straight in the air when it outside eye line.  Sanju got out 2 or 3 times against raw bounce. Abhishek also lose control. Just that because of 1 bouncer per over rule batsmen can manage it easily.  Playing both Axar and Sundar is a disasterous move. India must use Abhishek the bowler. 

 

Even with crappy SKY we can find a place for Iyer. But if SKY goes he should get this for sure not Gill.  Right now this unit lacks a distinctly pedigree batsman. If SKY goes we can get Rinku in. That will be perfect.

 

Samson

Abhishek
Tilak

Iyer

SKY

Pandya

Dube

Axar/Sundar

Varun C

Arshdeep

Bumrah

 

 

 

 

yes there is no point of sundar in the team, if he is playing Ind is hoping than it wins on the basis of bowling and spin bowling specially.

Do not think Sundar will make to the playing 11 every single game but iyer can, the 2 options are either to remove sundar or rinku from 15.

And if rinku is playing 11 he is more like a batter after batters, he is no finisher.

 

combination of sky.iyer and tilak can play #3-5 depending on form and situation 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2025 by tapandrun

[vvvslaxman]

4 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

 

Ind  is stacked with top order options, that why I suggested to ask and try one of the openers in the finisher's role. 6 hitters like Arya, Viabhav should have been tried for short-term solution.

 

Yes there are issues, which needs to be resolved, one issue is Ind bowlers can not even hold the bat. If Inds top3 does not score Ind does not have the batting capability to case or to set-up a target.

 

After the wc they need to find player and not just rotate and bring like for like which is already a downgrade model.

 

Have not seem much but players who should be tried just after wc should be urvil and prashant veer. Do know who are #3-5 then they should try Jakhar and Vipraj may be at 6 ot 7, bring in vaibhav as finisher for short term so that he gets the feeling of intnl cricket, Arsad khan some where.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to stupid Impact player role and foreign finishers we are unable to unearth finisher and middle order enforcers. We largely rely on foreign guys. I don't think they will try others in middle order. Especially all formatters should not bat out of position. That will mess up their mind in other formats.  They can pick some niche players. Also when you come down the order failure rate is very high. They may be banished forever after a few failures. Right now RInku is the only one we have to support Pandya.  Everyone else is total waste.

[vvvslaxman]

4 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

 

yes there is no point of sundar in the team, if he is playing Ind is hoping than it wins on the basis of bowling and spin bowling specially.

Do not think Sundar will make to the playing 11 every single game but iyer can, the 2 options are either to remove sundar or rinku

 

 

Parag and Abhishek can easily bowl 4 overs between them. We have Varun C> Also both Varun C and kully cannot  play together as a general rule as it will weakne the batting and fielding. May be against some teams. Not every team.

Edited December 28, 2025 by vvvslaxman