Struggling middle order batsmen - Yuvi, Dhoni and Raina

[Pak_Fan_4_Eva]

Dhoni in the post-game interview clearly hinted at Yuvi being in' date=' Raina being out...[/quote'] Fair enough I should say. Yuvraj is a big match player which he has demonstrated in the past as well

[Ram]

Its easy to say lets just pick the best/most in-form batsmen we have' date= but it way more complicated than that. You need players with specific skill-sets for specific requirements. Virat is a great no.3 bat in the sense that coming up the order gives him ample time to ease into the innings, but how effective can he be, coming lower than that? Or are we talking about bumping Gambhir down the order and playing Kohli at no.3? In that case, how effective will Gambhir be? Having 2 players with similar games could potentially have a damaging effect on our middle order. Ideally, you want to have 2 (atleast one), attacking opener. Numbers 3 & 4 should ideally have a mixed game, with the ability to rotate the strike, plus being able to clear the boundary when required. Numbers 5,6 and & must compulsorily have a power game. That is the basic requisite. If they can rotate strike against both spin and pace, that is just an added bonus.

Dhoni hints Kohli will play instead of Raina The most heated debate in recent weeks about the composition of the Indian team for the World Cup has been who among Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina will make the final XI. MS Dhoni gave the first clear indication of the Indian team's decision when he said, after the warm-up match against New Zealand, that the in-form Kohli is likely to play at No. 4 in the opening match against Bangladesh. "Right now it is a matter of deciding slots; it's the No. 4 slot where Virat Kohli needs to bat with Gautam [Gambhir] at No. 3, because to perform to his potential Virat needs to bat up the order," Dhoni said in Chennai. "Raina has done well for us batting at No. 5 and No. 6, still there's a bit of a chance that Virat may get an edge over Raina seeing the current form that he [Kohli] is in." A starting spot in the World Cup will be a reward for Kohli, who has soared to second spot in the ICC one-day batsmen rankings on the back of several outstanding series. His journey to becoming a first-choice player began with the chances he got in the absence of some of the senior players from one-dayers over the past year. He backed up a match-winning hundred against Australia, in October, with plenty of runs in the home series against New Zealand, before looking the most assured of the India batsmen against the pace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the South Africa one-day series. He was also fluent in both of India's warm-up matches, making 21 against Australia and a brisk half-century against New Zealand. Raina has been a regular with the Indian side for a couple of years now, but his patchy recent form seems set to cost him his place at the start of cricket's marquee tournament. He has only one half-century in his previous 21 innings, and even the 25-ball half-century he hammered against New Zealand on Wednesday hasn't, apparently, been enough to convince the team management. Another middle-order batsman whose recent form hasn't been great is Yuvraj Singh, who didn't bat in the warm-up against New Zealand. With India playing only four specialist bowlers, and Virender Sehwag's shoulder problem still preventing him from sending down his offspinners, Yuvraj's regular contributions with the ball will be important to the balance of the side. "Once Yuvraj gets going in a series, he makes it a point that India wins that series; that's definitely a big positive," Dhoni said. "Also being a proper left-arm spinner, he has been contributing in all the games right from South Africa, taking the ball away from the batsmen. It's another big asset that he has got which gives him an edge over the others." Yuvraj's batting form is shaping up as a big factor in deciding whether Kohli or Raina will play. He will start out the World Cup at No. 5, but could move up a slot if he hits form. If that happens, Kohli looks likely to have to vacate not just the No. 4 spot but a place in the team itself as the management rates Raina as a better player in the lower order, in the subcontinent. "Once Yuvraj gets going and he scores one or two fifties, that will be the time when we will be in a dilemma," Dhoni said, "because that No. 4 slot is very important for us, and if Virat is to bat at No. 5, 6 or 7 then his performance will get affected, because he's the kind of player who likes to spend a bit of time initially and then look to go after the bowlers

http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/story/501317.html I had brought this issue up earlier when people were talking about including Kohli for Raina. If both Kohli and Gambhir HAVE to play, then Yuvraj has to be demoted to no.5. MSD seems to indicate that if Yuvi gets runs early in the tournament, then it would be hard not to play him at no.4, which would mean Virat gets bumped down to no.5 Again, I had bought this up earlier – Kohli is the sort of guy who likes to take his time to construct an innings. How effective would be, coming down the order at 5 or when the score is 200-2 in 30 overs? The suggestion back then was - Well, if we get off to a great start, we can always demote Kohli and promote Yuvraj or Yusuf. In that case, would Raina, with his slightly more accomplished hitting credentials, be more effective in those scenarios? MSD seems to agree with that opinion, except that his reasoning is – If Yuvraj scores early and we promote him, we may as well drop Kohli and pick Raina instead. While that may sound interesting, it might get complicated if Kohli scores lots of runs, early in the tournament. Either ways, if we’re going to have problems, might as well have one of too many options! :--D

[asterix]

The moment opposition teams start bowling with a short pitch strategy, few batsmen will be found out. Tonight NZ failed to use the short pitch bowling effectively against Indian batsmen. Other team will not. If I would've been the rival captain, I would've bought fast bowlers to pepper short pitch bowling at Raina, the moment he comes in. It doesn't matters in which position he bats...Just pepper him with short pitch bowling and see how he manages to play his shots. In that respect I would still back batsmen like Kohli ahead of Raina in whichever position he is asked to bat...

[Ranjha]

the one man who is yet to score.....Yuvi :hmmm:

Yuvraj is playing as an allrounder. If you drop Yuvraj, you will have to play another bowler and your beloved Raina will still not get in. Get it?

[vvvslaxman]

The moment opposition teams start bowling with a short pitch strategy' date=' few batsmen will be found out. Tonight NZ failed to use the short pitch bowling effectively against Indian batsmen. Other team will not. If I would've been the rival captain, I would've bought fast bowlers to pepper short pitch bowling at Raina, the moment he comes in. It doesn't matters in which position he bats...Just pepper him with short pitch bowling and see how he manages to play his shots. In that respect I would still back batsmen like Kohli ahead of Raina in whichever position he is asked to bat...[/quote'] In one dayers there is a limit for short balls. just 1 allowed per over against a batsman. he will go after other balls.

[gaurav92]

Terrific innings by the captain yesterday :hatsoff: Now I can see only one thing happening, either Yuvi out or Yusuf out, but what I prefer is both of them in and Harbhajan out :D. We can go in with 2 seamers + 1 spinner (Chawla preferably)/ 3 seamers and let our part timers share 20 overs between them.I am sure that the likes of Yuvi, Raina, Yusuf and even Sehwag (if fit) can bowl 25-30 overs between them, so even if one of the regular bowler go for runs, he may be replaced by one of the part timers. Plus it gives a batting depth till no.8, so we can chase the target even if we ended up giving 20-30 more, no ?

[zen]

Uncheck Dhoni, please :--D Though Raina did well in the last warm up game, I still have some doubts against his form to succeed against better bowling attacks. Same goes for Yuvi too. Let's see how these two perform, if given chances, in the first 3-4 games. By the 5th group game, Ind would hopefully have figured out its best 12 for the rest of the tournament

[Ranjha]

Uncheck Yuvi

[Ranjha]

Thread Fail Yuvi = MVP Dhoni= Mom Raina = played 2 crucial cameos in knock out

[saneindian]

"For us to do well in the WC, we need this trioka in good touch." Well done to the trioka. Stood up when it counted the most.

[Sachin=GOD]

All of them came to the party when it really mattered :hatsoff: