Defend or chase- the dilemma?

[saneindian]

With this bowling and fielding side and with Dhoni making far too many mistakes as a captain, should we opt to field first? The down side to this is that in the knock out games, chasing a total will come with the additional pressure and a few early wickets would put the middle order under immense pressure? So what exactly should we be doing on winning the toss? Batting first and making use of the foundation laid by top order is definitely the way to go, but looks like our middle order loses its way in going for too many shots. Perhaps while chasing, they would know what is needed and will be more focussed. As the thread title says, its a real dilemma for us.

[Ravi.]

We should bat first if win the toss. what If we bowl first and our bowlers give 350+ runs?

[Little_Master]

2003 Wc final jaisa halat ho jaayega.

[Karan114]

Bat first, but aim for a realistic score and not an outrageous one because you feel you have to cover up for the bowlers. Like today, 330 should have been a target but we seemed to be going for 370 fearing our bowling/fielding and ended up making just 290. Yes, our bowling/fielding is a weakness and may well cost us the World Cup. But the batsmen have to do their bit to the best of their abilities, not trying to save the bowlers as well because that will leave us in the middle of nowhere with no chance (dhobi ka kutta na ghar ka na ghat ka). As it turned out, today was one of the better bowling/fielding performances and we would have won with 330...we just have to hope we can somehow have three such performances in a row in the knockouts.

[Switchblade]

Did the right thing by batting 1st today and we were well on course for a 350 score if we play in Ahmedabad the pitch is very flat there so better to chase there is also the dew factor.

[RedFlow]

India should change its strategy. Going with 4 bowlers doesn't make sense at all. India was again 1 bowler short today and in England match also. It was so easy to defend 297 on this pitch. The ball was keeping low and turning also. If they had selected Chawla or Ashwin they would have atleast picked one or two wickets. Part timers failed again today. If others teams no. 7 8 9 10 11 numbers are hitting sixes easily when needed. What can you expect from this bowling lineup? Everyone is complaining about Nehra but the most expensive over was from Zaheer Khan and you can't rely on him always. If he is injured during game? Then?????? I am sure if India had scored 400 they would have lost because SA would go for kill from start. But after restricting India under 300 they had obviously planned their chase and pulled it off superbly at the end.

[riwi999]

Definitely bat first and post as big a score as you can. Chasing comes with a lot of pressure and we really don't want that. Even today, if our batsmen had not lost it, we were heading for 350+. If we are chasing, there is a very good chance we will be chasing 300+. That means, RRR of 6.00 from the start itself. We know what this will do to Sehwag and possibly even Sachin. No, we should just bat and not lose our brain cells.