Where should the axe fall ?

[cowboysfan]

we should bite the bullet and bring in mishra for rp,we got nothing to lose and the aussies have shown a vulnerability against good spin bowling.

[Lord]

frankly speaking I would personally rate Irfan more than RP for sure and maybe even Nehra though not sure about Ishant. The good thing about Irfan's bowling is his variation of pace and his ability to reverse swing and I do not see them in either of RP or Nehra (though has still got a beter line and control than RP). But right now the competition is like "best amongst the WORST" and that is very worrying. I want to check Tyagi if he is better than all of them as we are in serious need of grooming QUALITY and FAST bowlers now. Anyways I would advice that tell Irfan to concentrate on his bowling and that he will be taken into the team as soon as he gains some pace. And maybe I would also support dropping Prasad as the bowling coach. I do not see a tinge of improvement in our fast bowlers under his coaching. Bring in a foreign coach. If they even bring in Ian Pont too and if Pont can seriously increase their pace' date= I dont have any problem at all. Bring somebody who can increase their pace and improve their bowling.

improvement in pace != improvement in bowling.we dont have speed demons.but atleast they can maintain thier line n have variations.the main problem is not pace but direction. only Ishant was quick but there seems to be a major fault iin his action.i would give Venky some more time.

[Celeste]

Commentators were discussing about 2 best left arm fast bowlers from recent U19 WC. One was Parnell and another one from India. They are surprised that he has not made into Indian side yet. any one knows who and where is he?

[Lord]

Commentators were discussing about 2 best left arm fast bowlers from recent U19 WC. One was Parnell and another one from India. They are surprised that he has not made into Indian side yet. any one knows who and where is he?

must be Sangwan.he was good in that U19 WC but has gone downhill since

[The Outsider]

Agree with OP.

[vvvslaxman]

I am willing to drop Dravid , RP, Yusuf for Karthik, Mishra, Nayar. Send Karthik at 7 Nayar at 6.

[ViruRulez]

Commentators were discussing about 2 best left arm fast bowlers from recent U19 WC. One was Parnell and another one from India. They are surprised that he has not made into Indian side yet. any one knows who and where is he?

I was also searching for links of the U-19 world cup team for the last half an hour after listening to that commentary and it seems that he was Sangwan. There is also one Ajitesh Argal in the team who seemed to bowl good but he is mentioned a right arm medium and he is also in the under-14 team.. an under-14 boy might be good prospect but not sure right now :hmmm: Jadeja was also one of the best bowlers there it seems. Here are the scorecard for the U-19 final and the semi final respectively if you want to check the bowlers. http://www.cricinfo.com/u19wc2008/engine/current/match/317016.html http://www.cricinfo.com/u19wc2008/engine/match/317005.html

[Celeste]

I was also searching for links of the U-19 world cup team for the last half an hour after listening to that commentary and it seems that he was Sangwan. There is also one Ajitesh Argal in the team who seemed to bowl good but he is mentioned a right arm medium and he is also in the under-14 team.. an under-14 boy might be good prospect but not sure right now :hmmm: Jadeja was also one of the best bowlers there it seems. Here are the scorecard for the U-19 final and the semi final respectively if you want to check the bowlers. http://www.cricinfo.com/u19wc2008/engine/current/match/317016.html http://www.cricinfo.com/u19wc2008/engine/match/317005.html

Thanks. This is where the good coaches & management come in to play. SA knew Parnell had talent and Mickey Arthur brought him to their set up and now he has become SA opening bowler.

[Sooda]

Should Kartik have played instead of Kohli yesterday- much more experience and not a bad batsman, has done well under pressure for India before...? Shd he plays vs Aus..?

[shak]

whoever selected Harbhajan for an ODI V Pak should be axed. He sucks against them and has done so regularly. mishra or Powar would have fared better.

[ludhianvi]

Actually, I have some doubts over Kohli's position in the team. From what I've seen of him, I think he needs a #3 batting position to be successful in the current setup. Anything below and he seems to find it hard going under pressure situations. Hopefully, he can overcome this. I would think someone like Nayar would be a better #6. He's got a good slog sweep although being primarily a legside player when going all out.

[patriot]

For the do or die match against Aussies? Yusuf Pathan and RP Singh for me. There is no point in persisting with any of these players. Both of them must be kicked out of the team if we are to progress in the competition. Mishra and Nayar must be in the playing X1 tomorrow.

Dhoni will not play Nayar. He is a Paul Collingwood type of bowler who would be murdered on these flat tracks. Yousuf's bowling will save his @$$ I am sure. Mishra will be in for RP Singh. That will be the only change. If either of the opening bowlers - Nehra/ Ishant get a stick - Harbhajan will be bought on early. In absence of Hayden and Gilly none of these Aussies have the wherewithal to attack Harbhajan.

[shak]

So who will the axe fall on once Australia tomorrow extinguishes the remaining flicker for India? After such a demoralising thrashing at the hand of arch rivals and depressing and gloomy Sunday (for those who were feeling indifferent going to sleep last night, it must have sunk in this morning), Indian players in my opinion cannot get up for the game V Australia. Main problem is that the skipper fared so poorly in both his captaincy and in batting.....he will find it quite difficult to gee up the players.

[zubinpepsi]

We shud have taken Tyagi.. cant believe he was left out after he had agood tour in ozz.. RP shud b sent home and never picked again.. someone should slap harbhajan so hard for bowling leg side tripes.. and Pathan shud b kicked out... forget abt this CT.. we are not going to the next round..

[SachDan]

So who will the axe fall on once Australia tomorrow extinguishes the remaining flicker for India? After such a demoralising thrashing at the hand of arch rivals and depressing and gloomy Sunday (for those who were feeling indifferent going to sleep last night, it must have sunk in this morning), Indian players in my opinion cannot get up for the game V Australia. Main problem is that the skipper fared so poorly in both his captaincy and in batting.....he will find it quite difficult to gee up the players.

All is not lost man! Any sort of victory over Australia and thrashing Windies will help us reach semi-final. We beat Aussies in the last two meetings and there is no reason why we can't win tomorrow.If anything Aussies have weakened as a team since then.

[Bumper]

Where should the axe fall ? First of all its important to realize that this Indian team is not an all time great ODI team like Australia of the past, to crush everything on its way. Rather this is merely a good ODI team that is capable of winning consistently. When you take out a dashing opener, your best ODI batsman & your best ODI bowler from a team like that you will be challenged by all opponents. And Pakistan is no push over. With their stars returning from ICL and some new players in the mix, they've solved their batting problems. They are always going to be tough to beat when they are batting well. I reckon they are the favorites to go on & win the tournament from here. We have to just acknowledge the fact that we were beaten by a superior team. Thats all! As for the axe, when Sehwag, Yuvraj & Zaheer returns, India will be back in form. Its important not to resort to knee jerk reactions based on one loss & keep our long term goal in perspective. Yusuf Pathan would be very handy in subcontinental conditions where the world cup will be played. He will frustrate you if you expect him to pull off miracle chases. Perhaps with the exception of Kohli (who could be replaced by Nayar) I dont see much wrong with this team. The bowlers should be played/rotated based on form.

[The Outsider]

Yusuf Pathan would be very handy in subcontinental conditions where the world cup will be played. He will frustrate you if you expect him to pull off miracle chases.

You think run a ball 15 over chase with a specialist batsman set at the other end is a miracle chase?

[Bumper]

You think run a ball 15 over chase with a specialist batsman set at the other end is a miracle chase?

I never had great expectations from Yusuf. He should be given the role of an Afridi. Bowl 7-8 overs of spin at a decent E/R & score 20-25 runs. If we count on Yusuf to make a sizable contribution in a 300+ chase, we've lost the battle already.

[The Outsider]

I never had great expectations from Yusuf. He should be given the role of an Afridi. Bowl 7-8 overs of spin at a decent E/R & score 20-25 runs. If we count on Yusuf to make a sizable contribution in a 300+ chase, we've lost the battle already.

I think the Indian team is much better than to have Afridi type players in the side. Nayar can probably bowl 3-4 overs and is a much more reliable batsman than Pathan. Pathan is alright for T20, but in ODIs you cannot have just a slogger at number 7.

[vvvslaxman]

No matter what the team composition is there is an imbalance in the side thanks to our inept opening bowlers and inconsistent players like Kohli, Karthik, Yusuf Pathan. Tendulkar should be used as a bowler in the middle overs. Who knows he might come off. In a situation like this horses for the courses should have been the policy. Asses the strengths and weakness of the opposition and pick team accordingly. If they had done that Bhajji would have never played. Mishra would have played. They always use Bhajji as a source of runs. They reserve his 10 overs for acceleration.