When will Dhoni and the selectors learn their lessons

[Adi_91]

He was very bad in that series...no excuses.

But, he generally becomes a wicket-taker in helpful conditions and his mindset is such that he starts bowling better after he gets success.

Agreed. But, he need not pick up a wicket immediately in his spell. He needs to learn to at least keep it tight (by bowling on one side of the stumps.)

[express bowling]

 He needs to learn to at least keep it tight (by bowling on one side of the stumps.)

There can be no question about that.

[rkt.india]

Whoever says Jadeja is a batsman and increases our batting depth, please stop fooling around. Stop counting him a batsman since long.

[zen]

Coming back to Dhoni's comment after Ind-Pak game on using Asia Cup to practise for WT20 and pitches in BD not allowing teams to do that. Why would he want to use a multi-national tournament to practice for another when:

a) His own country gave him a green pitch vs SL 

b) There would be warm-up games before the WT20 

There is no guarantee that Ind will win WT20. And a bird in hand is better than two in bush

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by rett

[Adi_91]

Coming back to Dhoni's comment after Ind-Pak game on using Asia Cup to practise for WT20 and pitches in BD are allowing teams to do that. Why would he want to use a multi-national tournament to practice for another when:

a) His own country gave him a green pitch vs SL 

b) There would be warm-up games before the WT20 

There is no guarantee that Ind will win WT20. And a bird in hand is better than two in bush

 

He did voice his anger over the Pune pitch. 

[zen]

He did voice his anger over the Pune pitch. 

The point is that he should focus on playing and selecting players as per the conditions. What if he gets a green pitch in WT20, is he going to keep complaining? Or is he going to play 4 spinners on the green pitch to make a point?

Edited February 29, 2016 by rett

[Adi_91]

The point is that he should focus on playing as per the conditions. What if he gets a green pitch in WT20, is he going to keep complaining?

Agree that he needs to be content with the conditions given. 

[express bowling]

The point is that he should focus on playing and selecting players as per the conditions. What if he gets a green pitch in WT20, is he going to keep complaining? Or is he going to play 4 spinners on the green pitch to make a point?

This is a very important issue...I was thinking about it too.  What if we get a green top like Pune in an important World T20 match ?   Are we mentally and strategically ready for it  ?

[Adi_91]

This is a very important issue...I was thinking about it too.  What if we get a green top like Pune in an important World T20 match ?   Are we mentally and strategically ready for it  ?

Dharamshala can well be a Pune like pitch. 

[express bowling]

Dharamshala can well be a Pune like pitch. 

Yes

[express bowling]

If Jadeja has to be played at all costs then Stuart Binny should be in the W T20 squad and should replace Yuvraj if we have to play on a green top.

Binny would be better bowler than Yuvraj on a green-top.  He showed in England that he can play swing and he can hit big shots too.

We should be flexible in our approach

Edited February 29, 2016 by express bowling

[zen]

If Jadeja has to be played at all costs then Stuart Binny should be in the squad and should replace Yuvraj if we have to play on a green top.

Binny would be better bowler than Yuvraj on a green-top.  He showed in England that he can play swing and he can hit big shots too.

We should be flexible in our approach

Hopefully, Shami would be back for WT20 

Ind has too many similar players in the squad - Yuvi, Negi and Jadeja, and then there is Bhajji who may not even get a game. Rahane and Bhuvi have some questions marks over them? So selectors could have been wiser in selecting the squad and they had options in Binny, Mangal Panday, etc.  

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by rett

[express bowling]

Hopefully, Shami would be back for WT20 

Ind has too many similar players in the squad - Yuvi, Negi and Jadeja, and then there is Bhajji who may not even get a game. Rahane and Bhuvi have some questions marks over them? So selectors could have been wiser in selecting the squad and they had options in Binny, Mangal Panday, etc.  

 

Would it be safe to play Shami straight-away in a big tournament after a 9 month break  ?   We are not sure about either his fitness or his match-readiness.

Yes.....5 finger-spinners is a bit too much even if the tournament is in India.  I would have picked Binny over Harbhajan as a hedge against a sudden green-top.

Edited February 29, 2016 by express bowling

[zen]

Would it be safe to play Shami straight-away in a big tournament after a 9 month break  ?   We are not sure about either his fitness or his match-readiness.

Yes.....5 finger-spinners is a bit too much even if the tournament is in India.  I would have picked Binny over Harbhajan as a hedge against a sudden green-top.

Selectors have to try to cover more bases unless they have a say in how the pitches would be too .... A squad like the one below would have been more balanced:

Batsmen - Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Raina and Panday 

Batsmen who can bowl seam - Pandya and Binny 

WK All-rounders - Dhoni & ?

Spinners: Ashwin, Jadeja and Negi / Mishra / Kuldeep(?)

Seamers: Nehra, Bumrah and Shami /Aaron / Ishant (skipping Yadav because it appears he could be uncomfortable bowling under Dhoni)

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by rett

[Lannister]

Hopefully, Shami would be back for WT20 

Ind has too many similar players in the squad - Yuvi, Negi and Jadeja, and then there is Bhajji who may not even get a game. Rahane and Bhuvi have some questions marks over them? So selectors could have been wiser in selecting the squad and they had options in Binny, Mangal Panday, etc.  

 

Isn't Shami out of the squad of World T20?? 

[zen]

Isn't Shami out of the squad of World T20?? 

My impression is that Bhuvi is only chosen for AC so Shami is likely to be back for WT20 .... If Shami is still unfit, Bhuvi will likely continue  

Edited February 29, 2016 by rett

[express bowling]

Selectors have to try to cover more bases unless they have a say in how the pitches would be too .... A squad like the one below would have been more balanced:

Batsmen - Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Raina and Panday 

Batsmen who can bowl seam - Pandya and Binny 

WK All-rounders - Dhoni & ?

Spinners: Ashwin, Jadeja and Negi (or Mishra / Kuldeep)

Seamers: Nehra, Bumrah and Shami/Aaron/Ishant (skipping Yadav because it appears he could be uncomfortable bowling under Dhoni)

 

This would have been a more balanced team.  I would just like another  batsman who can bowl some decent spin. 

[zen]

We saw in the Pak vs UAE game that random decisions on the field can hurt a side. For e.g. Amir was the only bowler bowling well but Afridi removed him after 2 overs to hold him back for the death which allowed UAE to settle and get to a decent total so much so that Amir's bowling at the death could not stop that 

So when a bowler is bowling well, the captain should keep him going. In Ind context, if the two quicks are bowling well, the captain will not give them more than 3 overs each to have a couple of overs from them for the death. Playing a wkt taking 3rd pacer, esp in helpful conditions, allows the captain to keep the pressure on w/o worrying about holding a bowler for later on 

Sometimes, if the pace bowler is turning the heat on, he could lose his stamina quickly so in that case you still would have a quality seamer to back up the effort and continue to go steaming-in in favorable conditions 

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by rett

[zen]

Mistakes repeated by the captain. And as expected some of the things that I said above^ happened in the Ind vs SL game

 

* Conditions suited quicker bowlers more - however only 12 overs of pace could be bowled (These bowlers picked up 5 wkts so almost a wkt every 2 overs b/w them)

* Apart from Ashwin, other spinners were not successful 

 

In these type of conditions, a captain should be thinking about how to bowl the opposition out asap. Because Dhoni does not play players as per the conditions, whenever wkts fall, he is thinking about getting rid of the overs of some of the other bowlers rather than focusing on picking wkts. And this allows the opposition some breathing space and the opportunity to claw back in to the game 

 

In this game, SL probably got 30 runs more. Now its up to the batting to bail the team out  

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by rett

[jusarrived]

If Jadeja has to be played at all costs then Stuart Binny should be in the W T20 squad and should replace Yuvraj if we have to play on a green top.

Binny would be better bowler than Yuvraj on a green-top.  He showed in England that he can play swing and he can hit big shots too.

We should be flexible in our approach

who said we will have green Tops for WC ?