Our ODI team is too jaded and lacks X factor to win the ODI WC

[Ultimate_Game]

I'm sorry but this ODI team is way too jaded to win the ODI WC. There're glaring gaps with lack of left-handers, too many "experienced" players, lack of X factor, and barely any hitting power down the order. Once Kohli is back the only left hander in our top 3 (Ishan) will make way for him and then it would be the same old right-handed top order. The only leftie in the whole batting lineup would be either Sundar or Jadeja who're useless in white-ball.

 

We saw in the recent WT20 how important a left-right combo is at the top of the order where our fortunes changed once we made that change. And we all saw the energy the youngsters brought to the table. But our ODI team is like a time machine who takes us back a couple of decades. No excitement, no aura, no X factor. Take Ishan out and you would think we're watching a team from early 2000s!

 

We have options like Jaiswal, Sai and Sooryavanshi (left field pick) at the top of the order and we've all seen how a left-right combo makes things difficult for bowlers and they struggle to maintain line & length and generally offer freebies down the leg while making adjustments, or have difficulty in formulating a strategy for a left-right combo. But we haven't made any changes despite knowing it. At the very least we need two lefties as batters in the team - one of the 3 I mentioned in the top order (I would prefer 2) and Ishan Kishan in the middle order as the wk. Also need hitter down the order coz I struggle to see who can consistently give us runs quickly after Iyer.

 

Plus we're still putting faith in Sundar when we've seen that he isn't a replacement for Axar in either bowling, fielding/catching or batting. And yet Gambhir loves him. If we don't make adjustments, we're doomed as we've seen the same old story with this team over the last 3 ODI WCs and we all know how it ends. Compare the ODI team to our T20 team and the difference is eye opening. This team is built to win bilateral series or group stages, not a World Cup.

[cowboysfan]

the only saving grace is the Aussies look worse so neither of us will be favorites in SA.

[nevada]

After watching Vaibhav, Abhishek and Priyansh in the IPL, this present batting lineup feels about as exciting as watching the paint dry!

[Norman]

Root of the problem is Rohit Sharma at the top who refuses to quit for his selfish interests of leaving behind a "legacy". He desperately wants to join Dhoni and Kohli in the list of Indian players who have won all ICC LOI titles. 

 

Replace him with Jaiswal at the top and half our problems are already solved. I would love to see Tilak Varma in the ODI middle order at no.5 and start bowling more. We can't afford to play Jadeja yet again just for the 6th bowling option. 

[Ultimate_Game]

32 minutes ago, nevada said:

After watching Vaibhav, Abhishek and Priyansh in the IPL, this present batting lineup feels about as exciting as watching the paint dry!

 

32 minutes ago, nevada said:

After watching Vaibhav, Abhishek and Priyansh in the IPL, this present batting lineup feels about as exciting as watching the paint dry!

 

I tried watching the match but the lineup was so depressing there was nothing to look forward to. When the most "exciting" batter in the team is Gill, you know there's a problem. I genuinely look forward to our A team matches coz of Sooryavanshi and other youngsters than watch this dross. In fact our early 2000s team with Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj, Dhoni was more exciting and that was 20 years ago!

 

Our T20 team has improved but our ODI team has regressed and stagnated. Sad part is that Aussies are on the decline so this is our best chance to win the tourney. Next time we won't have Bumrah and knowing Aussies they would've come back. What a way to waste this golden chance by our selectors coz they don't have balls to make tough decisions 

[Ultimate_Game]

35 minutes ago, Norman said:

Root of the problem is Rohit Sharma at the top who refuses to quit for his selfish interests of leaving behind a "legacy". He desperately wants to join Dhoni and Kohli in the list of Indian players who have won all ICC LOI titles. 

 

Replace him with Jaiswal at the top and half our problems are already solved. I would love to see Tilak Varma in the ODI middle order at no.5 and start bowling more. We can't afford to play Jadeja yet again just for the 6th bowling option. 

 

Rohit is completely done. Even in CT he struggled massively and only showed up in the final. Except for that match he didn't do much. And the ODI WC is still 1.5 years away and he would be older and slower. Anyone can see that we're carrying him when we have likes of Jaiswal, Sooryavanshi and Sai waiting in the wings.

 

Not sold on Tilak for ODIs as he doesn't have the game for it now. Plus he's not needed as we have Sai and Ishan Kishan available. But the biggest challenge is that we're going with almost the same team with only one change - Sundar in place of Jadeja, which is a downgrade. The team is 4 years older and hasn't improved in any area. In fact the bowling is weaker as we don't have prime Shami. Instead of us trying to improve and adding more game changers, we've regressed. The 2027 WC fiasco is on selectors and we can see it coming with this team 

[Nikhil_cric]

No quality batting allrounder at #6 and geriatric Top 3 batsmen who will likely fail against bounce in South Africa at 40 and 39 years of age.

 

Those are the only issues.  But I don't expect Indian cricket to either acknowledge that or try to correct it. 

Edited June 13 by Nikhil_cric

[Ultimate_Game]

2 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

No quality batting allrounder at #6 and geriatric Top 3 batsmen who will likely fail against bounce in South Africa at 40 and 39 years of age.

 

Those are the only issues.  But I don't expect Indian cricket to either acknowledge that or try to correct it. 

 

They've been the same issues since the last 3 WCs - the top 3 which crumbles in a must win and no hitting power down the order except for Pandya. We have the time to experiment or at the very least upgrade our top order and yet here we are. The only so called "upgrade" is replacing Jadeja with Sundar, which is a huge step down from when Axar was in the team. We haven't improved even in one area. In fact our batting is older and weaker, and even our bowling has regressed due to no Shami.

[BacktoCricaddict]

1 hour ago, cowboysfan said:

the only saving grace is the Aussies look worse so neither of us will be favorites in SA.

Yeah. Insipid.

 

I do want them to be at their best, so it feels sweeter when we beat them. But I must say, in some ways, I am enjoying their struggles. Wonder if they'll make RP / JL or someone from the cheat-gang their coach so they can be "aggressive" again.  

[Gollum]

There is no standout team presently. Also because bilateral ODIs are becoming rarer, youngsters aren't learning the tempo of ODI batting. Best batsmen are Kohli, Mitchell, Root, Hope, Kock, Head, all in their 30s. Surprisingly best bowlers are also the ones in their 30s, meaning the youngsters are adjusting better to the extreme formats, ODIs is somewhere in the middle and already because of so few games, they have been unable to hone their skills. Rachin is probably the only rookie who has cracked the tempo of ODI cricket. Even Harry Brook struggles in ODIs, his weakest format by far. Gill is statistically good but yet to deliver in pressure games. 

 

So don't need anything extraordinary to win the ODI WC. ODI cricket peaked in 2000s, quite good in 90s and 2010s. Now it is a question of crowning the least flawed team. 

Edited June 13 by Gollum

[BacktoCricaddict]

47 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

No quality batting allrounder at #6 and geriatric Top 3 batsmen who will likely fail against bounce in South Africa at 40 and 39 years of age.

 

Those are the only issues.  But I don't expect Indian cricket to either acknowledge that or try to correct it. 

If only they can get Jaiswal and Vaibhav in, and give them enough time to hone their ODI game, it would go a long way towards rectifying things.

 

Tangentially, TBH, I think VK still has something to give in ODIs. RG is done. 

[BacktoCricaddict]

2 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Gill is statistically good but yet to deliver in pressure games. 

He delivered today ;-)

[vvvslaxman]

We will have middling outing unlike dominating outings like 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023 even in group stage.

[vvvslaxman]

59 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

He delivered today ;-)

 

"convenient pressure games" lol

[Ultimate_Game]

1 hour ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

He delivered today ;-)

 

He always delivers in bilaterals. Challenge will be in a knockout chasing 310 against Aussies in SF or batting first and we're 2 wkts down against SA. Let's see what he does then.

[BacktoCricaddict]

25 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

He always delivers in bilaterals. Challenge will be in a knockout chasing 310 against Aussies in SF or batting first and we're 2 wkts down against SA. Let's see what he does then.

Dear message board gods,

 

Please turn on U_G's sarcasm sensor.

 

Thank you.

Yours, B2C

[putrevus]

If ace bowler and spinners did not lay eggs instead of winning matches then India would have won in 2023 and also who knows maybe in 2019 too.

 

Aussie bowlers delivered for them in finals. Head flayed our bozo bowlers like no tomorrow.

 

Batting will be just fine in world cup , bowlers have do do something.

 

[tapandrun]

Ind will have hard time if the bowling does not do well in Odi wc-2027. The batting line up looks good on the paper and all of them pick themselves in the playing 11.

 

The issue is batting is full of rh monotonous batters, so while batting Ind will never be ahead of the game, 1-2 wkt here and there opp. will be always in the game.

So as a batting unit the team will always be looking to score just par scores, but as this is wc and all the teams will be having their best bowling line-up small cracks in Ind batting can flare-up specially when SA pitches offers more bounce and pace compare to Ind wkts. Then there is no fire-power in the batting line Pandya can he hit pacers ??

 

Iyer who is the one who Ind looks for impetus in mo, does not have good record vs pace , he is more of a spin hitter, yes in last 3 yrs he has improved his batting a bit vs pace but can he do it in SA ??

Iyer's record in Odis::

Bowling Type	Timeframe	Batting Average	Strike Rate
Vs Spin	Overall Career	~71.00	~102.50
	Last 3 Years	~78.20	~103.50
Vs Pace	Overall Career	~34.00	~95.00
	Last 3 Years	~44.50	~98.10

 

Ind does not bat deep and they do nt have fire-power and lack of LH in mo.

 

Ind is like Nz in batting with no fire-power but good thing with NZ is most of the players are multi-utility and because of that they bat deep. plus they find some luck in icc events 

 

 

[jf1gp_1]

While I enjoyed watching Rohit in Indian colors and shut down match as soon as he was run out it was evident he is well past his due date. I just hope he announces retirement in few days and plays last game at home in this series.

[vvvslaxman]

1 hour ago, tapandrun said:

Ind will have hard time if the bowling does not do well in Odi wc-2027. The batting line up looks good on the paper and all of them pick themselves in the playing 11.

 

The issue is batting is full of rh monotonous batters, so while batting Ind will never be ahead of the game, 1-2 wkt here and there opp. will be always in the game.

So as a batting unit the team will always be looking to score just par scores, but as this is wc and all the teams will be having their best bowling line-up small cracks in Ind batting can flare-up specially when SA pitches offers more bounce and pace compare to Ind wkts. Then there is no fire-power in the batting line Pandya can he hit pacers ??

 

Iyer who is the one who Ind looks for impetus in mo, does not have good record vs pace , he is more of a spin hitter, yes in last 3 yrs he has improved his batting a bit vs pace but can he do it in SA ??

Iyer's record in Odis::

Bowling Type	Timeframe	Batting Average	Strike Rate
Vs Spin	Overall Career	~71.00	~102.50
	Last 3 Years	~78.20	~103.50
Vs Pace	Overall Career	~34.00	~95.00
	Last 3 Years	~44.50	~98.10

 

Ind does not bat deep and they do nt have fire-power and lack of LH in mo.

 

Ind is like Nz in batting with no fire-power but good thing with NZ is most of the players are multi-utility and because of that they bat deep. plus they find some luck in icc events 

 

 

 

The pitches that pakistan got were benign pitches. Pakistan is the most notorious team against bouncers. They got bullied by Nahid Rana's bouncers at Mirpur. But they scored heavily in SA. Pitches were flat. IF anything they were very dry.  SA's home performance in the last  3 series against Asian teams

 

 

Pakistan 3-0

India 2-1

Bangladesh 2-1

 

This boogeyman story about SA pitches is not longer true. When they had guys like Steyn and others they dliberately offered spicy pitches. Look at Rohit's average in SA. It is an appalling 19.  But Sai Sudarshan has more fifties in 3 games than Rohit ins 14 mathches in SA. 

 

India also beat SA 5-1 in 2018. 

Edited June 14 by vvvslaxman