[ebonho]

Originally Posted by NPV

Honestly, no I don't know and didn't want to assume.

And I'm perfectly fine with you or anyone else not agreeing with my views, after all that's why we have this forum here - to express our honest opinions.

I'm perfectly ok with the same.

When you talk about 5 international batting greats playing together in one team, to most Indian cricket fans regardless of vintage it's fairly obvious which 5 you are referring to.

Hence my assumption.

https://youtu.be/l6WW9JjXYBI

Cheers, Doc

[Eddy]

What a brilliant interview by one of the games greats - Michael Holding - as a bowler and as an expert.

https://indianexpress.com/article/sp...m-t20-7378608/

[srvm]

Originally Posted by Emvi

.....
Jasprit Bumrah might have a cricketing feat(a dubious one) named after him. He not only scored a pair in the final of the WTC, also ended up with a "bowling pair" going wicketless in both the innings despite bowling 36 overs cumulatively! Bumrah might not be the first player to achieve this dubious feat(I am not sure). But, doing this in one of the most significant matches in the history of cricket, it will be really hard for Bumrah to escape the ignominy!!....

I remember a bloke called Gavin Hamilton who played for Scotland in 1999 ODI World Cup. An allrounder who was the only bright spot for Scotland in their forgettable tournament. Later that year he was selected to play tests for England (I think he was eligible because he played county cricket for Yorkshire & English selectors had a fetish to find the next "Botham"). He debuted at Wanderers against the mighty South Africans - only to score a pair and go wicketless in an innings defeat. Never played test cricket after that forgettable match.
At least Bumrah is a known No. 11/Bunny. Can be forgiven for the pair. And most likely to play more matches for India to "redeem" himself. Poor Hamilton never had a chance for redemption. Mind you, that Wanderers pitch on 1st day was tough to bat. England was 4/2 against Donald, Pollock & co at one point. They reached respectable score thanks to another debutant who went on later to captain England.

Your post was interesting and brought back some old memories. So, thought I will share the above -Bumrah isn't alone in this ignominy. I'm sure more cricketers share this dubious record, especially ones who played in early 20th century. But Hamilton's meteoric rise and fall is etched in my memory.

Thanks for reading

[hothatchaway]

^^^ I feel bumrah can be a better bat than the numbers suggest. He was sent in as a nightwatchman in Australia and I was impressed with his technique. He looked better than the specialist batsman at the other end (can't remember who it was)

He can definitely bat above ishant and Shami in tests. I don't know if they do enough to push their batting abilities to a decent level. This aspect of Indian cricket is yet to improve

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

^^^ I feel bumrah can be a better bat than the numbers suggest. He was sent in as a nightwatchman in Australia and I was impressed with his technique. He looked better than the specialist batsman at the other end (can't remember who it was)

He can definitely bat above ishant and Shami in tests. I don't know if they do enough to push their batting abilities to a decent level. This aspect of Indian cricket is yet to improve

I hope we dont try to convert him into a batsman.
We already messed up one of our best swing bowlers (Irfan Pathan) by trying to convert him into an allrounder.

[Venkatesh]

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will now be staged in the UAE and Oman due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in India.



The BCCI will remain the hosts of the event, which will now be held in Dubai International Stadium, the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Sharjah Stadium, and the Oman Cricket Academy Ground, from 17 October to 14 November 2021.

Source

[msdivy]

During the tour England tour of 2018, though India were losing, they were not playing practice matches. When asked, this is what Kohli said,

• There is no point wasting two days for the warm-up game
• Virat Kohli questions the utility of tour games

Originally Posted by harry10

That's a wrong assumption. India asked for practice matches but they couldn't get any as English players were busy with Vitality blast and County stuff so Indian players played among themselves.

After IPL was canceled, I think there was time to reschedule the tour and include few practice matches before WTC and before England tests. Since the Captain is not aligned with practice matches, scheduling them didn't cross BCCI bosses' minds. The preference was for intra-squad games and this was the thinking,

“What’s wrong with that? In a warm-up game, if a Kohli gets out, there’s no way he can practise on the centre wicket. He will have to bat in the nets. Whereas in an intra-squad game, even if you get out early, you can continue to bat and gain valuable practice against the best bowlers of your team,” justified a former India cricketer.

Now BCCI has - After Virat Kohli's 'lack of first-class games' remark, BCCI set to ask ECB for warm-up matches. But it was a late request for ECB and difficult during pandemic restrictions.

IMHO, Kohli doesn't require practice. But many in the squad do on an international tour, either it is Test, ODI, or T20I.

[NPV]

The Indian team think tank in England seems to be on an overdrive - recently there was talk about Prithwi Shaw joining the team from Sri Lanka where he was part of the squad for the series against the Lankans. Now, the team also seems to have indicated they want Devdutt Padikkal. Looks like there is a plan to make changes in the opening combination as well as middle order.

Will it be Rohit Sharma and Padikkal (right left combo) opening in the England test series ? And maybe Pujara making way for KL Rahul in the middle order ?

Probably Kohli taking the number 3 spot and Rahul at 4 or 5 ?

[PPS]

Originally Posted by NPV

The Indian team think tank in England seems to be on an overdrive - recently there was talk about Prithwi Shaw joining the team from Sri Lanka where he was part of the squad for the series against the Lankans. Now, the team also seems to have indicated they want Devdutt Padikkal.

Hope Paddikal & Shaw get enough chances in SL & are not hurriedly flown to England where at the most they'll be carrying drinks for the entire duration unless there are further injuries to the openers! Also, its a classic case of the team management not having enough confidence in the reserve opnener Easwaran who's already part of the squad. They can also open with Vihari incase of an extreme urgency.

[pandey.jai]

Originally Posted by NPV

Will it be Rohit Sharma and Padikkal (right left combo) opening in the England test series ? And maybe Pujara making way for KL Rahul in the middle order ?

Probably Kohli taking the number 3 spot and Rahul at 4 or 5 ?

That’s just too much of a rejig to make up for the loss of Gill. They have given Gill a long rope and I hope they do similar with Mayank Agarwal.

Pant at 6 followed by Ashwin, Jadeja and three fast bowlers formula is not going to work in England, if the conditions are similar to what we saw in the WTC final. At that point, I think one of Ashwin or Jadeja will have to make way. Hopefully this will not be the case as we go into the summer, with conditions slightly more accommodating of Ashwin and Jadeja.


Also - does anyone else find the scheduling weird? The gap between WTC and the tests against England is way too much for modern test tours.

[NPV]

I think some sense prevailed and the selectors denied the request for Shaw and Padikkal to be flown to England. Maybe Rahul Dravid had a role to play in driving some sense by providing his feedback ?

Shaw and Padikkal will get some good experience playing in Sri Lanka and then go from there. I think the experiment to catapult Shaw into the team gave initial sucess against West Indies, but later backfired when tested against other teams, was hoping they wouldn't repeat that with Padikkal.

Let them take the natural progression to the senior/main team.

Also, since Easwaran is in the squad, it would be unfair to him, but unfortunately such things aren't new in cricket (team and selectors not being in agreement). Wondering what kind of a message they're trying to send and how (badly) it can impact the youngster's confidence.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by Emvi

A 'blob' has a few iterations in the game of cricket- duck, golden duck, diamond duck, pair, king pair. We might well have a new entrant to the list.

Jasprit Bumrah might have a cricketing feat(a dubious one) named after him. He not only scored a pair in the final of the WTC, also ended up with a "bowling pair" going wicketless in both the innings despite bowling 36 overs cumulatively! Bumrah might not be the first player to achieve this dubious feat(I am not sure). But, doing this in one of the most significant matches in the history of cricket, it will be really hard for Bumrah to escape the ignominy!! Bumblob/Jaspair, anyone?

Note: Bumrah is one of my favourite cricketers.

Hi. Similar query was recently posted by someone in ESPNcricinfo. Seems 5 other players have bowled more overs than Bumrah's 36 overs and scored a pair in the same test match - Amit Mishra, Walsh etc. https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/a...-final-1268635

[harry10]

Originally Posted by NPV

Also, since Easwaran is in the squad, it would be unfair to him, but unfortunately such things aren't new in cricket (team and selectors not being in agreement). Wondering what kind of a message they're trying to send and how (badly) it can impact the youngster's confidence.

Not just Easwaran it also insults Mayank a little. Before Gill arrived Mayank was our first choice opener and only 2 bad tests against Aussies doesn't make him a bad player. Even KL Rahul was taken as a backup opener and now team management is treating him as a middle order bat

Seems WTC humiliation has messed up the management when all they need to do is show faith in their players and back them up to come good.

[papr23]

Originally Posted by harry10

Not just Easwaran it also insults Mayank a little. Before Gill arrived Mayank was our first choice opener and only 2 bad tests against Aussies doesn't make him a bad player. Even KL Rahul was taken as a backup opener and now team management is treating him as a middle order bat

Seems WTC humiliation has messed up the management when all they need to do is show faith in their players and back them up to come good.

Looks like the captain (and coach) seem to back only those they think have the potential to definitely last long. Mayank, Nair and sadly now Easwaran might never be a regular in the team in the near future.
We seem to have a lot of openers performing consistently in the domestic circuit. Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt, Easwaran, Ruturaj etc. But who are the next-gen middle order players?

[landcruiser123]

Seeing the highlights of the recent T20Is played by WI (against RSA & Australia), I can safely my top 2 picks for this T20 world cup are the calypso kings followed by the poms. (1 = WI; 2 = England). India has a very good chance if Rohit, Rahul, Pandya, and Pant have a good tournament.

Among the calypso kings, it is pretty remarkable how the senior citizens - Lendl Simmons(36), Chris Gayle(41), Dwayne Bravo(37), Fidel Edwards(39) have managed to remain fit and ageless. They're hitting sixes and bowling yorkers for fun. With Evin Lewis, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Fabian Allen, and newer players like Cottrell, McCoy, and Sinclair, this West Indian side is definitely one of the favorites.

In other news, Bangladesh managed to avoid other being Mayers-ed against Zimbabwe. Test cricket played by associates(sorry for being politically incorrect) is definitely interesting.