CRICKET WTC and Ashes Tour of England

[BroncsFan]

India won the toss, having looked at the pitch and thought "we'll bowl them out in under 2 sessions". That's the only conclusion one can come to given the way they stacked their team with pace and left out their best spinner.

Yeah they definitely saw the green deck and let it influence their team selections, but when you see a green deck and think you're going to bowl them out cheaply, then why do you need 4 pacers??

If you rip through them then you don't need to rotate your pacers, but if you struggle then having an alternative spin option becomes beneficial, especially in those middle overs when you're waiting on a new ball, rather than sending down an old ball doing nothing at pace to get flogged.

 

[BroncosFever]

Yeah that is the only thing that makes sense but even then, surely someone in their brains trust would have said, wait a second, we'll have to bat on that too, shouldn't we at least go with one of Ashwin / Axar as insurance over one of Yadav / Thakur?

I mean, Thakur can bat and while he bowls some absolute trash, also has the ability to produce wicket taking balls, so with Jadeja-Ashwin-Thakur-Shami-Siraj you still have more than enough variety and you bat to 9, which given India's extended period batting woes, is really important.

I would have left out Umesh Yadav as well, it's slightly amusing that India served up doctored wickets in India (which they are entitled to do) but have been found wanting after over reacting to the state of a pitch in another country. Part of me thinks they were almost scared of getting taken apart by the Aussie pace attack on that surface had they decided to bat first.

It's hard to fathom India have struggled with the bat, outside of their tail wagging. They've got as good a top 4 in world cricket as any other side.

 

[Sproj]

I would have left out Umesh Yadav as well, it's slightly amusing that India served up doctored wickets in India (which they are entitled to do) but have been found wanting after over reacting to the state of a pitch in another country. Part of me thinks they were almost scared of getting taken apart by the Aussie pace attack on that surface had they decided to bat first.

It's hard to fathom India have struggled with the bat, outside of their tail wagging. They've got as good a top 4 in world cricket as any other side.

May be hard to fathom but it is true, the stats back it up.

 

[Bull Shark]

All of which just makes absolutely no sense with them going into this game without Ashwin. India's batting has been problematic for the last two years despite their big names in that side, so you drop the guy who makes Aussie batsmen look second rate AND can bat you out of trouble. Absolutely head scratching. They obviously learned nothing from Australia dropping Head for 'reasons'.

Along with the fact that Ashwin is just in the heads of a lot of our batsmen.. he’d always be in my XI against Australia

 

[Fernando]

Hope Boland takes a few and makes hinself a must for the first Ashes test

 

[Fernando]

That's a good start! No way he misses out, surely

 

[Sproj]

That's a good start! No way he misses out, surely

Absolutely, he's been unplayable.

 

[Sproj]

Stinking dropped catch Batman.

 

[Sproj]

Well that's Scotty lose ball for the decade done.

 

[Sproj]

Thakur looks in a fair bit of pain out there.

 

[Sproj]

Wow he's in a lot of trouble, might well be a broken arm, he can't even hold the bat.

 

[Sproj]

Eww hit on the arm actually, same spot. Poor guy.

 

[Sproj]

Man that was pretty ruthless by Cummins. Smacks him in the arm, unintentional. Very next ball, smacks him in the arm.

 

[Sproj]

Tough dude, respect for continuing, that arm has to be in all sorts.

 

[Sproj]

Oof goes the arm again.

 

[Sproj]

My gosh, ANOTHER drop.

 

[Sproj]

I've never seen Green drop one and that was a sitter.

 

[Bull Shark]

60-odd run partnership for the 7th wicket.. if we let them off the canvas here…