India's Tour of Zimbabwe, 2013: 5 ODIs

[adi B]

no speed guns,this is BS :((

[express bowling]

I am actually liking this ' no speed gun ' series. We can still ascertain whether a bowler is hurrying batsmen by pace and/ or bounce. Batsmen's reaction is what really matters Shami is looking lively and skiddy. Getting consistent outswing. Unadkat is looking bouncy and fast medium. Bowling off cutters to right handers. Vinay is looking medium fast and low on bounce.

[carnish]

'I was fortunate they dropped my catches' - Dhawan

After his startling reincarnation as an international opener, it's easy to forget that Shikhar Dhawan was once written off by many observers as being unfit for national service. Since his return to ODIs at the Champions Trophy, he has scored 631 runs at 57.36, relying mainly on his silken touch through the off side. In the course of his third ODI century, however, he relied as much on luck as anything else. "The wicket wasn't easy to bat on," he said after his Man-of-the-Match performance against Zimbabwe. "The ball was swinging and cutting, and they bowled really well in the first 25 overs. I was just fortunate enough that they dropped my catches today." Despite their lapses in the field, Zimbabwe had reduced India to 65 for 4 before Dhawan found an able partner in Dinesh Karthik - incidentally, another cricketer who has, more than once, been discarded by the national side. "The team really needed a big partnership when we were four or five down, and myself and Dinesk Karthik played really well and made a big score for our team," Dhawan said. "We're really happy. It was a very important partnership which brought us back into the game. We knew that we had to score big runs on this wicket because it gets much better in the second innings. Then things went our way." Cricket was a slightly different game when Dhawan was first picked for India, and as an opener one of the rule-changes that he has had to pay particular attention to is that which stipulates that a new ball will be used from each end in ODIs. The rule means that batsmen have to deal with a hard, moving ball for longer than they used to. "It's more difficult nowadays because you've got new balls from both ends," Dhawan explained. "When the ball is swinging you really need to play close to your body. You'll see that in the first 10 overs, openers are not scoring that many nowadays because the ball is new and it swings a lot and you have to be more careful. Shot selection is very important, because you don't want to lose wickets at the start and put pressure on the rest of the side." Dhawan's international resurrection has occurred during a transitional phase for Indian cricket, and he has been given another chance thanks partly to the fading fortunes of long-time opening pair Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Such periods of upheaval present myriad challenges, but India have so far largely weathered them, recently winning the Champions Trophy and scrapping their way to success in the Caribbean tri-series. Dhawan said he was pleased with what he saw from the team. "Our team is gelling really nicely. All the young boys are very fit and really good in the field. Fielding-wise, we have really improved a lot. I feel like everything is working our way."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe-v-india-2013/content/story/655609.html

[JaFanatic]

for 3rd ODI Rohit Dhawan Chintu Virat Rayudu DK Rasool Amit Shami Mohit Jaidev :om:

[JaFanatic]

3rd ODI

[carnish]

Worked so hard to maintain a thread with the proper schedule in the OP aand all relevant articles ... And now some one merges this with stupid Jinx threads of Skindia. Can't even find my OP post anymore :facepalm: This is Ridiculous.

[adi B]

this is sad

[G_B_]

yes carnish has worked hard on his efforts. (which i appreciate a lot) well done carnish and i hope the mods reverse the merge

[Old guy]

Worked so hard to maintain a thread with the proper schedule in the OP aand all relevant articles ... And now some one merges this with stupid Jinx threads of Skindia. Can't even find my OP post anymore :facepalm: This is Ridiculous.

Mods plz unmerge:((

[carnish]

'I don't think we're mentally sharp enough' - Brendan Taylor

It's an old adage that cricket is a game played mostly in the mind. With India having cruised to an unassailable 3-0 series lead, Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor identified his team's major weakness as their mental frailty under pressure. "I think [the problem is] mental toughness," Taylor said. "I don't think we're mentally sharp enough. We're just not making the precise decisions at the right time and not putting a real price on our wickets. Too many soft dismissals. "We all know in the mornings it's a little tricky [to bat] but technically we haven't been good enough. The Indian bowlers, they just keep it nice and simple. They don't give you too much to hit, but if we can get through that initial period and keep wickets in hand there's no reason why we can't catch up and post a decent total." Taylor is Zimbabwe's most accomplished batsman and part of the reason for their collective failure has been his personal one. In his last eight innings, Taylor has a top score of just 40 and in this series has had to juggle batting, captaining and keeping wicket. He is not panicking yet, though. "I'm a player who hits an extremely large amount of balls when I practice," he said. "It's just [about] continuing to do those things and try to prepare well every game and I'm a believer that if you do that a big score's not too far away." In all three games so far, Zimbabwe's batting has faltered at crucial moments. In the first match, they lost regular wickets while they should have been accumulating in the middle of their innings, while in the second the middle order frittered away a good start to the chase. Sunday's defeat was the heaviest, but Taylor identified the second defeat as the hardest to stomach. "The most difficult one for me was the second game when we had an opportunity to win that game, and we dropped Dhawan and we dropped plenty of chances and allowed them to get to 290," he said. "It would have been a different story if we'd caught our catches and probably chased 230-240, we would have gone about our chase a lot differently. It's very frustrating to see, knowing our batting ability and not getting the runs that we know we can get." Sunday's defeat was also played out in front of the largest crowd of the series. Though the grandstands weren't full, almost all of the smaller stands and the grass banks were. A boisterous crowd weren't given too much to applaud - though they did enjoy the obdurate efforts of Tendai Chatara and Brian Vitori with the bat. "It hurts," Taylor admitted. "It does hurt because they are passionate and they want us to do well, and today it was a bit disheartening to play the way we have played. But fortunately there's more cricket coming up and we haven't played our best cricket here but hopefully we can give the people of Bulawayo something to smile about. "There's always pride [to play for]. We use that word a lot, because it's a privilege to represent your country. Just to be playing against the best team in the world, that's an honour in itself." The series now moves to Bulawayo for the final two matches. While conditions will be similar to Harare and the games will start just as early, the Queens Sports Club pitch has a reputation of being easier to bat on. "Bulawayo is a bit more friendly in the morning to the batters, though there was a bit there against Bangladesh not too long ago so each side may have to be up against the ball nipping around a little bit," Taylor said. "But that generally burns off pretty quickly and then it gets really good to bat on."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe-v-india-2013/content/story/656123.html

[carnish]

Mishra makes most of opportunities

Amit Mishra must feel the pressure to establish himself in the Indian team more than the other untested hopefuls on this tour to Zimbabwe. The wrong side of 30, it had been two years before this tour since Mishra last played an ODI and his tally of 18 ODIs in the ten years since his international debut suggests underuse of his talent. Yet without the long-term confidence of the selectors on his side, he has little choice but to keep plugging away and make the most of whatever opportunities come his way. With nine wickets in three games in Zimbabwe, including a Man of the Match-winning 4 for 47 on Sunday, he's done just that on this tour. But while Mishra's performances can't have hurt his chances, when India A head to South Africa in August he'll be heading in the opposite direction. He isn't part of the Cheteshwar Pujara-led group which is staking a claim for India's Test tour of South Africa later this year. "I'm not in the Test side," Mishra conceded. "I'll try and do my job in the next two matches, and then it's up to the selectors. I've been waiting a long time for this and I'm doing my best and it's working for me now." Mishra has found particular success with his variations on the traditional legspinner's delivery against Zimbabwe. His front-of-the-hand quicker delivery has helped to tie the Zimbabwe batsmen down, while his googly has brought about six of his nine dismissals . "I've done lots of hard work on my googlies and variations and it's paying off," he said. "When I came here I was just thinking about the conditions and how to bowl on these kinds of tracks. I've spoken a lot with TP [Trevor Penney] and Duncan [Fletcher] who have given me a few tips, which I've been working hard on." With so many of the touring Indians hoping to use this trip to win further honours with the national side, Mishra suggested that their was a positive competitive streak among his team-mates. "All the players have done so well in domestic cricket, so they came here with the confidence," he said. "There's a lot of healthy competition going on - everyone wants to do well for India, so it's working for the Indian team."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe-v-india-2013/content/current/story/656147.html

[Cricashfaq]

india 5-0!!!!

[Texan]

India should rest the first choice XI and try new players for the remaining 2 matches. This would be my team: 1. Rohit Sharma 2. Rahane 3. Pujara 4. Kohli (would like to rest him, but he's the captain) 5. Karthik 6. Rayudu 7. Rasool 8. Mishra 9. Shami 10. Unadkat 11. Mohit Sharma

[skindia]

Agree with carnish.

[carnish]

Pujara, Rasool likely to debut in 4th ODI

Having already clinched the series with an unassailable 3-0 lead, a dominant India may look to test their bench strength when they take on minnows Zimbabwe in the fourth cricket one-dayer on Thursday. The convincing seven-wicket win in the third ODI gave India the series title, reducing the remaining two ODIs to academic interest and that could prompt the team management to experiment with the combination. The Indians may look to rest some of the key players and give an opportunity to Cheteshwar Pujara, Parveez Rasool, Mohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane as they have not played a single match in the series. India might look to bring Rahane as one of the openers and give Pujara a chance to lend support to the middle order, while Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Rasool may get a look-in in place of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja or Amit Mishra. However, it will be difficult for pacer Mohit to make his way to a team which already has youngsters Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami doing reasonably well. Whether skipper Virat Kohli hands Mohit his ODI debut by resting R Vinay Kumar, who has been a trifle disappointing, remains to be seen. Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan has been the run-getters in the series, while Ambati Rayudu did well to score 101 runs in the three ODIs that he has played. However, the series has not gone well for Rohit Sharma who could manage only 35 runs in the three matches so far and he will look to get his touch back in the remaining ODIs, if he is persisted with. In the bowling department, Amit Mishra has been the most successful bowler in the series, scalping nine wickets, while young pacers Jaydev and Shami too have contributed well to compliment India`s batting strength. For Zimbabwe, the three loses in as many matches at home will be difficult to stomach but skipper Brendan Taylor has to motivate his boys to play out of their skin and restore some pride in the remaining matches. Batting has been the problem for the hosts in all the three games so far as their batters sometimes faltered in the middle of the innings, while they let go a good start while chasing in another match. The odds were always against Zimbabwe as they were taking on the world champions and Taylor felt it was the "mental toughness" which made all the difference in the end. For Zimbabwe, Sikandar Raza, E Chigumbura and V Sibanda scored maximum runs but they will have to do more if their team has to pose any threat to the world champions. Among bowlers, BV Vitori and P Utseya took three wickets each and Zimbabwe would have to add more teeth to their bowling if they have to test the world number one ODI side in the remaining two ODIs. The conditions at Queens Sports Club will be similar to Harare and is expected to be more batsmen friendly.

[Bleed-Blue]

Karthik wants to fire as specialist batsman

Such is MS Dhoni's value as a player, it takes two men to replace him. But while one of the talking points of this tour has been how well Virat Kohli might fill Dhoni's shoes as captain, rather fewer people have been discussing Dinesh Karthik's merits as a wicketkeeper-batsman. If Karthik had it his own way, however, his keeping wouldn't be a factor. Of all people, Karthik knows that the keeper's gloves belong to Dhoni for the foreseeable future and so he has set his sights on proving his worth as a batsman for India in all three formats. "It's not something I've ever felt bad about because I feel it's a great opportunity playing with [Dhoni]," Karthik said. "I've always looked at myself [as someone who] can play as a batsman in this side and that's what I'm looking to do - play as a batsman in all three formats of the game." It was his batting as a teenager that first attracted the selectors' attention, and once again the runs he scored during a fruitful IPL season with Mumbai Indians led to his recall in a simplified batting role for the Champions Trophy in June - his first games for India in three years. Karthik has also benefitted from some minor tweaks to his batting technique which have aided his balance at the crease. "I feel I have the technique," Karthik said. "It's important that every time I get an opportunity I pile up the runs and make sure I do well as a batsman. We won the Champions Trophy and that was great. West Indies was a quiet time, but Zimbabwe again in the two innings I've played I've done well." Yet, Karthik's figures do not quite convince. Since his return in England, Karthik has scored two fifties in 11 innings. Although the runs haven't begun to flow just yet, on a few occasions since his recall Karthik had shown he has the ability to absorb pressure in the middle order after the loss of early wickets. Most recently, he entered the fray during the second ODI at Harare with India wobbling at 65 for 4. He didn't need as much luck as his partner Shikhar Dhawan, who was dropped twice and caught off a no ball, and compiled a tidy 69 that helped set a match-winning total. His reaction to pressure situations like that will be key to Karthik's future. "I'm looking forward to these things," he said. "It's important that you keep putting in performances every time you go into bat and be as consistent as you can, and that's something I'm really looking forward to doing."

[cowboysfan]

rohit sharma's favorite ground,another hundred coming up.

[carnish]

Mohit revels in 'dream' debut

Mohit Sharma revelled in a "dream" debut after he helped skittle Zimbabwe for just 144 in the fourth ODI in Bulawayo. Entrusted with the new ball, as he had been through most of the IPL by MS Dhoni, Mohit made the first incision for India with the wicket of Sikandar Raza and then returned to remove Malcolm Waller in the batting Powerplay to snap a stubborn middle-order stand. "Yeah, it all feels like a dream," Mohit said. "But I have worked on my bowling and it is showing. I am ready to do well in whatever opportunity I am going to get. I was just focusing on keeping things simple and sticking to basics. I did not want to try too many things and it worked for me today." It was that same formula that first brought Mohit success in the Ranji Trophy with Haryana and it also worked a treat at this year's IPL, where he emerged as one of the most miserly and effective new-ball bowlers of the tournament. It was also noticeable that, during every Indian nets session on this tour, Mohit consistently impressed with his ability to hit a length on or around off stump with almost every delivery. A correct call at the toss by Virat Kohli supplied Mohit with almost ideal conditions this morning and, apart from a single wide probably brought about by nervous excitement, his first over in international cricket was exemplary. He beat Vusi Sibanda's bat four times in that first over, and it wasn't until his third that a run was scored off the bat. It was his stock outswinger that brought his maiden wicket, with Raza feathering one behind, and Mohit's opening six-over spell yielded just 13 runs. After a brief turn in the middle overs, Kohli brought him back for the Powerplay, with a well-set Waller and Elton Chigumbura having taken 11 runs from the first over under the fielding restrictions. Sharma responded to his captain's call with Waller's dismissal, also via the outside edge. A battling 80-run stand was broken, and Zimbabwe quickly subsided. "It is difficult to bowl in Powerplays but we work hard in practice sessions," Mohit explained. "We create match situations during training and bowl a lot and that has helped in matches. And that is why we don't feel much pressure in matches. Playing under Mahi bhai [Dhoni] and in pressure conditions has taught me a lot. I am just carrying that experience into the international level." Everyone already knew that Mohit could do a job with the new ball, and such was the ineptitude of Zimbabwe's batting that his ability to vary his bowling with slower balls - which, again was on prime display in the IPL - and yorkers has not yet been tested. He's in no rush to add new strings to his bow, however, and given his successes so far that's understandable. "After coming into the Indian team I have learnt a lot from bowling coach Joe Dawes. It's just about sticking to the basics and working on your strengths and improving on that. As far as learning new things in bowling, I can do that later and not in match situations. Now I want to focus on the next game and doing well in that as well."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe-v-india-2013/content/story/657473.html

[carnish]

Kohli pleased with fringe players' performance

Job done for Virat Kohli. India were always likely to beat Zimbabwe, but any errors or slip-ups could have blotted the apprentice-captain's copybook. With India barely breaking a sweat while cruising to a 5-0 win, Kohli was particularly pleased with the way some untested and fringe players in his squad proved themselves. "The guys who got a chance for the first time showed a lot of character, especially someone like Mohit Sharma and [Jaydev] Unadkat," Kohli said. "Ajinkya Rahane coming back into the team, scoring some runs. So it was pretty good to see all the guys performing and playing their roles. Amit Mishra sat out for two months on the road regularly and then came out with 18 wickets in this series, so there were a lot of great performances by individuals and some good team efforts as well." Kohli also won four tosses out of five, but that only served to widen a gap that would probably not have been bridged even if India had had to bat first each morning. Zimbabwe's bad luck with the toss and their worse form with the bat meant that, apart from in the second match, India's batsmen were never really put under pressure in testing conditions. As Kohli explained, though, that wasn't really the point of this trip. India know what Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma offer, but a seaming wicket and helpful conditions allowed a greenhorn set of bowlers to build up valuable confidence. At no point was there any chance that Kohli would have sent his batsmen in first. "The thing is that we analysed and considered the fact that our bowling line-up is pretty new so we wanted to give them more confidence rather than the batting, because the batting has been doing well for about three months," Kohli said. "There's no point in going out there and trying to prove something to ourselves because all these individuals have performed at international level. It's about giving people the right kind of confidence in games, and the new-ball bowlers got a lot of confidence from bowling in the first innings and that was the plan. The batsmen have all scored runs in this series, so it was all about making sure the bowlers go back as more confident individuals." Perhaps the only point one might call Kohli out on was his failure to give an opportunity to Parvez Rasool. The Kashmiri offspinning allrounder was the only member of the squad to have sat out the entire series when he could have been brought in as a like-for-like replacement for Ravindra Jadeja. "It's very hard to leave someone like Jadeja out because he's the kind of bowler who can get you wickets at any point in time," Kohli said. "We didn't want to take any game lightly and I didn't want to change too much in the bowling department. Mishra has been sitting out for a while so we wanted to give him four or five games. Parvez is going to South Africa now for the India A tour and he's going to play a lot of games there and pick up more experience. He could have been given a chance but I just didn't want to take a chance with the bowling line-up, leaving someone like Jadeja out. "I'm not really bothered about what's being said about people getting chances, because a lot of people who have played these five games have been sitting on the bench for two months or so. Parvez realises we had a set bowling combination and we didn't want to make any changes to that. It was unfortunate he didn't get a game, but it just didn't go according to our plans. Maybe in future when he plays more series he'll get a few games to test his skills out." India took just about as much as they could out of this whistle-stop tour. Five wins, a truckload of runs and wickets and a good dose of confidence. They move on to far tougher assignments in the months to come, with some of the group heading to South Africa for an A tour before India - with MS Dhoni back at the helm - take on Australia in seven ODIs at home and then travel to South Africa. By then, Zimbabwe will be a distant memory but, perhaps, a happy one.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe-v-india-2013/content/story/658577.html

[carnish]

Lack of application costing Zimbabwe - Chigumbura

The silver lining for Zimbabwe after Thursday's thumping, and it's a very slim lining indeed, is the batting form of Elton Chigumbura. The allrounder, who was unbeaten on 50 as Zimbabwe disintegrated, is their leading run-scorer in the series with 142 runs at an average - boosted by two not-outs - of 71. Indeed, Chigumbura seems to have a thing for Indian bowlers: in six one-day innings against India, he's been dismissed just twice in compiling 182 runs and has scored at close to a run a ball against them. "[india] always seem to come at a good time, when I'm playing well," he said. "This is the second time I've played against them, and mostly that has been on wickets that are good to bat on." It was expected that Zimbabwe would have an easier time of things at Queens Sports Club, where the pitch usually favours batting, but that proved - spectacularly - not to be the case. Chigumbura pointed to a lack of application by his side's batsmen rather than any misreading of the pitch. "It was a good wicket to bat on. We all know when we play at Queens, it's always a batter's wicket and if you apply yourself then you can make runs. [A lack of application] been the problem for the last three games. Losing early wickets, it's hard to come back, especially if you then keep losing wickets. Some of the batters are now coming in at different times that they are not used to. If we can have no early wickets, then the rest of the batters will end up batting in their natural position. 'Things are not coming together while batting' - Chigumbura "The guys are working hard, but I think it's just a matter of being smart when we start our innings, especially our first ten overs when we're losing two to three early wickets. Besides working hard, I think the guys just need to maybe take a little bit of time at the wicket. It all comes together when you stay out there." A repeated mantra for Zimbabwe during this series has been that they've put in a lot of preparation, and now is the time to put it into action. Their failure hasn't been for a lack of trying, but Chigumbura was at a loss as to how to explain the root cause of their inadequacies. With this series gone, it seems all that is left is to look forward to the next one, and hope it will be better. "We are all trying to improve in every game, but it's unfortunate on this tour we haven't done so. But if you look at our past history, playing at home we have done well. It's just one of those tours, where things are not coming together on the batting side. We just need to finish well, and hopefully when Pakistan come our batting will gel."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe-v-india-2013/content/story/657491.html