Even South Africa are playing only 2 frontline seamers

[The Outsider]

Will we finally get rid of the 3 pace bowler strategy going into England's match? On evidence so far the pitches have not turned out to be complete pattas. There has been some turn for spinners and it would be foolhardy to persist with the three mediocre pace bowler strategy. Moreover, a leg spinner is worth his weight in gold if he gets it right. In the absence of a genuine attacking pace bowler, perhaps a leg spinner can fill in the void for India.

[Sid]

2 spinners-2 seamers is the way to go but only problem Dhoni must be having with that would be the absence of the seamer all rounder which is not the case with the teams like SA,PAK AND SL,so they can go with 2 spinners without any second thought But still like to see us playing 2 spinners

[Sooda]

True. Of course the difference being their pacemen are actually good! One of ours is either Munaf or Sreesanth. I like Munaf but Im scared a good opening duo can hit him out of the attack. Piyush seems to have developed his leg break (going by one match on a friendly track) could add a bit of variety to the attack.

[cowboysfan]

tbf the saffers have morkel and steyn,2 of the best fast bowlers around.Dhoni's thinking with the 3 pacer theory is obvious,he wants insurance if one of the fast bowlers has a really bad day and in most matches we have played one of them has had a really bad day.I think the state of the pitches might require a rethink of this because the 2nd frontline spinner may well be our 2nd best bowler on any given day.

[ganeshran]

So Zaheer, Munaf, Bhajji and Chawla?? But would Munaf be good with the new ball, as he doesnt have the pace. In Powerplay overs openers could hit him all across the ground.

[Clarke]

I haven't seen the game but this was Kotla and it will be interesting to watch their composition in the coming games. In the current playing XI, they do have a back up seamer in Kallis. Our general mentality must be that if multiple seamers are going for runs, we have Raina/Yusuf to roll their arm other than Yuvi. As usual, another defensive strategy by our leadership. Having said that, i would agree on the leggie. I had my doubts on Chawla but if he can extract some of the turn he did in the warm up, he should be playing.

[zen]

Dhoni should be flexible in his strategy. IF the pitch has something in it for spinners, then he should play 2 spinners .... I would go for 6+5 unless either Yuvi or Raina are showing signs for improvement in batting. Yes, Yuvi could be an useful bowler in these conditions, but if he is not really able to contribute w/ the bat then why not play a specialist spinner, who is no mug w/ the bat Let's look at the venues, Ind would be playing at against top teams: - vs Eng @ B'lore. This one could turn or could assist pace bowlers as well. - vs SA @ Nagpur. I guess, this will be a batting track but we are playing against SA - vs WI @ Chennai. A batting track but could assist spinners On some of these wkts, you can't allow the batting side to settle down, because once someone settles down he will pick up the RR and even play a match winning innings. I would focus on picking up wkts in the first 10-12 overs w/ the new ball and then take it from there.

[coffee_rules]

B'lore is two-faced. It will help pace bowling early as well and spinners late in the day.

[Chaos]

what u mean... we have **** ton of spinners already inour team... bhajji, yuvi, pathan, raina, sehwag, tendulkar... i dont get why we should go with an Extra spinner no variety ata all...

[The Outsider]

what u mean... we have **** ton of spinners already inour team... bhajji' date=' yuvi, pathan, raina, sehwag, tendulkar... i dont get why we should go with an Extra spinner no variety ata all...[/quote'] Thanks for contributing. Just wanted to mention that Raina is not in the playing XI. Sehwag and Tendulkar do not bowl anymore, and Pathan and Yuvraj are not leg spinners. Moreover all of them are part timers. kthxbai.

[VRV Singh]

Ashwin would surely be a more reliable bet than the 3rd seamer. He can't do any worse than Sree's effort against Bangladesh anyway. Chawla would be more bold but as an option to put the brakes on at least, Ashwin is logical. I can't see it happening though, for whatever reason...3+1 is a fixation...just hope the part-timers don't get carted Another way of putting the weirdness in context - SA who have amongst the best fast options in the tournament, left out a frontliner to accommodate another spinner. India have amongst the poorest and we play them all.

[Desi Cartman]

ideally we should be playing Ashwin + Chawla but Bhajji can not be dropped for some reason.

[Chaos]

Thanks for contributing. Just wanted to mention that Raina is not in the playing XI. Sehwag and Tendulkar do not bowl anymore, and Pathan and Yuvraj are not leg spinners. Moreover all of them are part timers. kthxbai.

if u r were indian team captain, we would have been rolled over by bangladesh. :hysterical::hysterical:

[Cricket_Guru]

and............saffers are chokers here strategy is on reverse when it comes to world cups :--D

[Clarke]

what u mean... we have **** ton of spinners already inour team... bhajji' date=' yuvi, pathan, raina, sehwag, tendulkar... i dont get why we should go with an Extra spinner no variety ata all...[/quote'] Question, did u catch the warm up game against Oz ? Do u expect two of yuvi/pathan/raina to run through their middle order like Chawla managed to on that helpful wicket ?

ideally we should be playing Ashwin + Chawla but Bhajji can not be dropped for some reason.

Come on DC, Bhajji is jolly good at home.

[Ultimate_Game]

Hope BCCI and team management send a message to state associations and pitch curators for the India matches and make sure turning tracks are prepared. Then go with 2+2 combo (Zaheer, Munaf, Harbhajan, Ashwin) backed by part-timers (Yuvraj, Pathan) :smiley:

[gaurav92]

We must surely go in with 2+2 combo against England. The Bangalore wicket will have some bounce for the spinners and the leggies can be a real handful.So Chawla instead of Sreesanth in the playing XI certainly.

[jhakati]

Will we finally get rid of the 3 pace bowler strategy going into England's match? On evidence so far the pitches have not turned out to be complete pattas. There has been some turn for spinners and it would be foolhardy to persist with the three mediocre pace bowler strategy. Moreover, a leg spinner is worth his weight in gold if he gets it right. In the absence of a genuine attacking pace bowler, perhaps a leg spinner can fill in the void for India.

umm u conveniently forgot they have a 3rd fast bowler in kallis more importantly they do not any spin bowling all rounders so they have to go with 2 specialist spinners

[Chandan]

Will we finally get rid of the 3 pace bowler strategy going into England's match? On evidence so far the pitches have not turned out to be complete pattas. There has been some turn for spinners and it would be foolhardy to persist with the three mediocre pace bowler strategy. Moreover, a leg spinner is worth his weight in gold if he gets it right. In the absence of a genuine attacking pace bowler, perhaps a leg spinner can fill in the void for India.

But Shwetabh, they have Kallis who can certainly bowl 7-8 overs, if not full 10. Who do we have to go to, for the third seamer if we go with 2 front line spinners?

[The Outsider]

I really doubt South Africa would be able to get more than 4-5 overs from Kallis against good teams on these pitches. Yeah, it's a buffer option for them. But it speaks volumes about their change in strategy when they are playing Botha, Tahir, and Peterson together. They are ones who have always relied on pace. Our strength in bowling is spin and we have a leg spinner in form. I find it a shame not to utilize the strength for bowling our fast bowlers who get hammered on a regular basis. It's at least worth experimenting with against teams like England and South Africa.