Kohli, the captain - Right approach but wrong players

[Shivaji bhonsle]

dude he averaged 51 for yorkshire with the bat....

oh. Come on. He scored a century in his last match. He flopped in rest of the matches. Doesn't he?

[Old guy]

Kohli has failed in WI and Eng and he got consistent chances, we saw him improve as a player. Not everyone succeeds overseas while on their first tour, no matter how many A-games you've played away. Pujara failed to score big but he showed he was no mug with the bat away. Rohit and Dhawan not only didn't score but struggled to defend balls. Even Kallis made Rohit look like a tail-ender. And he did score in SA the second time around, he failed in his first tour there as well. Also kept improving in his county stint. Poor stuff from team management imo.

this is where kohli was bit lucky or i should say pujara is unlucky . he failed against west indies and did not play in england (was not picked as raina was selected ) then he had home series to get some runs and then in australia he failed for 2 games but in perth on last chance he played really well and from then on got settled in. now he did fail in england but before that did score 100 in NZ and then had amazing australian tour so his failures were never so long and to add to that he was setting limited over cricket on fire and that does play little part even though it should not... this was same reason pujara who did well in south africa was part of team against england and australia while others like rohit were given less chance to prove..its unfortunate he had to play 4 away tours one after another at most difficult position for batsman (specially as dhawan failed mostly as opener ) but you cannot say he did not deserve to be dropped for now on form ..

[Shivaji bhonsle]

Good form in ODIs doesn't transform into Test form.

you are in either good or bad form as a batsman. Doesn't matter what format they are playing in.

[Pagalpanti]

this is where kohli was bit lucky or i should say pujara is unlucky . he failed against west indies and did not play in england (was not picked as raina was selected ) then he had home series to get some runs and then in australia he failed for 2 games but in perth on last chance he played really well and from then on got settled in. now he did fail in england but before that did score 100 in NZ and then had amazing australian tour so his failures were never so long and to add to that he was setting limited over cricket on fire and that does play little part even though it should not... this was same reason pujara who did well in south africa was part of team against england and australia while others like rohit were given less chance to prove..its unfortunate he had to play 4 away tours one after another at most difficult position for batsman (specially as dhawan failed mostly as opener ) but you cannot say he did not deserve to be dropped for now on form ..

He deserved to be dropped, no doubt but his replacements are the point of discussion here. He was dropped for KL Rahul, who made a strong case. Now with his injury Pujara should've been back, this is a guy who can potentially win us away tests and his record on SC tracks are bradmanisque, so to not pick him over Rohit/Dhawan is absurd. IMO the team went for a short-sighted approach, they probably expect Rohit and Dhawan to score quickly to force result on this pitch.

[Old guy]

He deserved to be dropped, no doubt but his replacements are the point of discussion here. He was dropped for KL Rahul, who made a strong case. Now with his injury Pujara should've been back, this is a guy who can potentially win us away tests and his record on SC tracks are bradmanisque, so to not pick him over Rohit/Dhawan is absurd. IMO the team went for a short-sighted approach, they probably expect Rohit and Dhawan to score quickly to force result on this pitch.

i agree with dhawan he was given proper chances to succeed against good teams nad yet failed almost everytime and i blame him a bit for bad form of pujara too as he was literally opening the batting .. rohit on other hand did do well at home and did not get proper run once he was dropped...i honestly do not rate him that high but you just have to atleast give him run now and if he fails then he should be never picked.. sure i can argue his technique is not good enough but no one can 100 percent right him off from test cricket with limited games he had. i also agree with rahul part ..he if fit should replace dhawan even after this knock.

[cricketpitch]

He deserved to be dropped, no doubt but his replacements are the point of discussion here. He was dropped for KL Rahul, who made a strong case. Now with his injury Pujara should've been back, this is a guy who can potentially win us away tests and his record on SC tracks are bradmanisque, so to not pick him over Rohit/Dhawan is absurd. IMO the team went for a short-sighted approach, they probably expect Rohit and Dhawan to score quickly to force result on this pitch.

Pujara isn't an opener and as soon as India decided to play 5 bowlers and Lokesh Rahul was unfit, Dhawan was going to play no matter what. The team is not going to mess with Kohli and Rahane. Pujara was only competing with Rohit and Kohli decided Rohit was the better option. Pujara was never going to replace a opener, that's the reason India picked 3 openers for the one off game.

[G_B_]

oh. Come on. He scored a century in his last match. He flopped in rest of the matches. Doesn't he?

still he did score a century in his last match right? His replacement Glenn Maxwell has been sucking balls. You cannot just discard an innings. Keep in mind he got two wrong calls in his brief stay in England. In one case the keeper dropped the ball yet claimed the catch. http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report-yorkshire-fans-boo-umpires-after-cheteshwar-pujara-s-controversial-dismissal-2081611 You have to take the good with the bad. He did have a good outing in England. Had he not been given bad calls his average would have been much higher.

[adi B]

Nohit will do well in SC but I dont trust him to play a crunch knock or match saving innings,I'll always rate pujara above nohit but then it's been more than 1.5 years since we last played in the SC ,if nohit does well,can't complain

[Pagalpanti]

Nohit will do well in SC but I dont trust him to play a crunch knock or match saving innings' date='I'll always rate pujara above nohit but then it's been more than 1.5 years since we last played in the SC ,if nohit does well,can't complain[/quote'] Let alone "crunch innings", he was struggling to put bat to ball in SA. Even if he does well in SC, that wont serve any purpose for us. Pujara will do well in SC as well, in fact better if his stats are anything to go by. Outta the 2 though we all know who has the ability to come good away.

[G_B_]

The key point is I feel Che will do a better job long term at 3 than Rohit. I am afraid Rohit at 3 (where he does not even bat at Mumbai most of the time) just does not have the technique. Looking at the pitch if anything i am not 100% sure playing 3 seamers was the right call. I dont want this to be a lets be aggressive so we must play 5 bowlers constraint. There are many ways to be aggresive. A person can play 4 bowlers and set aggressive fields with plenty of fielders in catching positions. Two spinners especially, can easily bowl 25-30 overs per day leaving 15-20 overs per day for the seamers. Not to mention Rohit can do some spinning as well. If anything on spinning SC decks lets play 7 batters and two frontline spinners along with two pacers. Ishant IMO has no business playing. Shami Umesh and Aaron (2 among them when shami is fit would be my choice) Will be interesting to see how many overs the third seamer does bowl in this match. When aus toured India for the test series, Bhuvi bowled 64 overs in 8 innings.... http://stats.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2013/engine/records/averages/batting_bowling_by_team.html?id=7977;team=6;type=series

[Muloghonto]

Mixed feelings about this lineup. For one, i am SUPER-STOKED that Virat went with a 5+1+1+4 option. Ashen is clearly playing as a bowling allrounder this match. With 2 pacy fast bowlers, one work-horse type and 2 spinners, our bowling is looking a lot stronger and should be fresher, especially on batting paradises as this. But I am not happy with the batting lineup. Dhawan needs to go and it needs to be Rahul that gets a chance to establish himself in the top order. Yes, his century was chancy and he made a few rookie mistakes against the 2nd best bowling attack in their home conditions but he displayed enough mental cool, crisp technique and has age on his side to form potentially the most solid Test opening partnership India has ever had. I understand dropping Pujara (he had a horrible time recently at #3 and his overseas disasters should not be inconsequential when he's played less than 40 tests and is still a newbie). But our options at #3 needed to be someone like Sreyas Iyer or Baba Aparijith or even Sehwag ( given that Dhawan is not Sehwag, an attacking batsman at #3 is better option than at opening). And Saha is NOT going to succeed as a #6, his batting is simply not good enough, we all can see this. This needed to be the time to see if Chidambaram Gautham/Uday Kaul/Naman Ojha have the goods to be test class wicketkeepers and at at #6 with a 35-45 average. But atleast, this is a start.

[putrevus]

Kohli has failed in WI and Eng and he got consistent chances, we saw him improve as a player. Not everyone succeeds overseas while on their first tour, no matter how many A-games you've played away. Pujara failed to score big but he showed he was no mug with the bat away. Rohit and Dhawan not only didn't score but struggled to defend balls. Even Kallis made Rohit look like a tail-ender. And he did score in SA the second time around, he failed in his first tour there as well. Also kept improving in his county stint. Poor stuff from team management imo.

Kohli is proven Odi player so he got more chances , no3 is not position where you show you can survive. Pujara got same tests as Kohli from SA series to Australia series till he was dropped, other than that one score when Morkel was injured he did not do anything else.( Kohli scored nearly two hundreds in that match). Kohli scored hundreds in NZ and Australia so don't compare Kohli with him.Only place Kohli flopped when Pujara was also there was England but Pujara also flopped.