India vs NZ 2nd T20 debate

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NZ:
RJ Nicol, MJ Guptil, BB McCullum†, KS Williamson LRPL Taylor*, JDP Oram, DL Vettori, JEC Franklin, RM Hira, AF Milne, KD Mills

India:
G Gambhir, V Kohli, SK Raina, Yuvraj Singh, RG Sharma, MK Tiwary, MS Dhoni*†, IK Pathan, R Ashwin, Z Khan, L Balaji

India won the toss and put NZ in, NZ lost both openers cheaply, currently 28/2 after 5

Rohit can't do it, just 2 of the last ball, New Zealand wins by 1 run, India's 5 year wait for their first T-20I win against New Zealand will go on!!. Fine bowling from Franklin and Oram, and Mills too chipped in.

Dhoni will have to reassess his batting strategy in this format. His recent style of taking up a few balls before launching himself doesn't seem to be working in this format. T-20 demands the earlier pre-captaincy version of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pure and simple!.

Perhaps Pathan should have come in place of Rohit Sharma? Sharma couldn't buy a run in Sri Lanka last month!.

It is unfair to shift the blaim to Rohit Sharma for today's loss, but I hope this is the last he played for India for some time to come. When Sehwag comes back as he has to, I think Sharma, and not Manoj Tiwary should give way.

Even playing Harbhajan Singh as a batting all-rounder is worth the experiment, rather than playing Rohit at this stage.

The results in India show the true gulf in class between India and NZ, i am sorry if i keep on repeating this but T20 is a complete farce in terms of cricket. Just a way for the money men to make more money. But to the detriment of pure cricket. It will not last.

Should we judge Rohit on one series though? I didn't see any of the SL series, but before then he was pretty good. I know you don't want out of form players in T20, but the SL series was a few weeks ago now too.

I think this match presented more questions than answers for both teams.

It is clear to me that against the best teams NZs batting is reliant on McCullum or Taylor coming off. The problem is that neither of them generally come off more than 1 in 5 and against the better bowling attacks like SA, England and Pakistan it is less likely that they'll come off. I don't see Williamson as offering anything more than a supporting role in this form of the game at this stage. It must be disappointing that they couldn't get past 170 on a good pitch when one man made 91. They can however be pleased with how they played Ashwin.

In the bowling department NZ do have some problems. Vettori seems to have become less effective of late (don't know why - perhaps having to do everything for so long taking its toll on him), and I'm not sure Hira is good enough to trouble the Asian teams. Southee is probably their best T20 seamer in these conditions and I'm sure he'll come back in, but the current version of Mills and young Milne both look very hittable. And you can't seriously expect Franklin to play a key role with the ball in every game - rather like Bopara these days he's most effective when the pressure is already on.

India know that their bowling isn't perfect but today it was OK. I was surprised Ashwin didn't open, but wherever he bowls I'm sure today's performance was an exception rather than what we can expect in SL. He's certainly miles better than Harbhajan currently is. I do think, as I said earlier, that they should play five proper bowlers. They have plenty of batting and so surely its better to have Irfan or Ashwin at 7 than rely on Sharma/ Raina/ Kohli/ Yuvraj for 4 overs every match. That might bring Harbhajan into the team, given that they haven't picked Ojha or Rahul Sharma.

In the batting department Gambhir got out to a nothing shot again, but they don't have that much to worry about. I'd rather see Raina at 5 mind. Dhoni will be disappointed not to have quite finished the game - its very rare that he fails in that situation.

skyeman wrote:The results in India show the true gulf in class between India and NZ, i am sorry if i keep on repeating this but T20 is a complete farce in terms of cricket. Just a way for the money men to make more money. But to the detriment of pure cricket. It will not last.

But it's also a way for the players to make money, which for me isn't a bad thing.

Exacatly, this is where cricket has gone wrong. Now it is a commidity.

I don't think Larwood bowled his line for mega bucks.

I guess i have to move on too. Now it is not just for the love of the game but equally for the rewards it brings.

ECB, in my view who thought they were doing the right thing in trying to save the game have in fact taken away the very essence of cricket.

You might as well toss a coin to find your winner. And that imo does not make for good cricket.

But i know quite a lot enjoy it. I detest it. But each to their own.

Shelsey93 wrote:Should we judge Rohit on one series though? I didn't see any of the SL series, but before then he was pretty good. I know you don't want out of form players in T20, but the SL series was a few weeks ago now too.

I think this match presented more questions than answers for both teams.

It is clear to me that against the best teams NZs batting is reliant on McCullum or Taylor coming off. The problem is that neither of them generally come off more than 1 in 5 and against the better bowling attacks like SA, England and Pakistan it is less likely that they'll come off. I don't see Williamson as offering anything more than a supporting role in this form of the game at this stage. It must be disappointing that they couldn't get past 170 on a good pitch when one man made 91. They can however be pleased with how they played Ashwin.

In the bowling department NZ do have some problems. Vettori seems to have become less effective of late (don't know why - perhaps having to do everything for so long taking its toll on him), and I'm not sure Hira is good enough to trouble the Asian teams. Southee is probably their best T20 seamer in these conditions and I'm sure he'll come back in, but the current version of Mills and young Milne both look very hittable. And you can't seriously expect Franklin to play a key role with the ball in every game - rather like Bopara these days he's most effective when the pressure is already on.

India know that their bowling isn't perfect but today it was OK. I was surprised Ashwin didn't open, but wherever he bowls I'm sure today's performance was an exception rather than what we can expect in SL. He's certainly miles better than Harbhajan currently is. I do think, as I said earlier, that they should play five proper bowlers. They have plenty of batting and so surely its better to have Irfan or Ashwin at 7 than rely on Sharma/ Raina/ Kohli/ Yuvraj for 4 overs every match. That might bring Harbhajan into the team, given that they haven't picked Ojha or Rahul Sharma.

In the batting department Gambhir got out to a nothing shot again, but they don't have that much to worry about. I'd rather see Raina at 5 mind. Dhoni will be disappointed not to have quite finished the game - its very rare that he fails in that situation.

Some interesting points there Shelsey.
On Rohit Sharma, other than the recent home and away ODI series against the West Indies, Rohit Sharma was never consistent as a batsman. He has been very good in the IPL, but when it comes to the international level, its one good performance in 10 outing. The Sri Lanka series took his troubles to a new low, he just couldn't get going and very much looked out of touch.
Now on the 5th bowler. India have always been comfortable playing the 7 batsman and 4 bowlers. Yuvraj is more than a handy parttimer, and Sehwag and Raina can be useful with an over or 2. Forget 5, not even a couple of bowlers have been shouting pick me with their performance. Unlike England, the Indian bowling depth is next to nothing. Not even Zaheer Khan is a worldbeater in the shortest format. So I think an additional 5th bowler may not make so much difference from find 4/5 overs from Yuvraj, Raina and Sehwag. As the bowling is weak, batting depth is important for India, and they would be feeling more comfortable in the knowledge that Irfan Pathan will be coming in at 8 and Ravichandran Ashwin at 9.
Very much agree with your assessment of Ashwin the bowler, but I wouldn't want Harbhajan even as the 5th bowler, Yuvraj is at least as much handy with the ball at this stage.
I would start the world event with
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Manoj Tiwary
Irfan Pathan
Ravichandran Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Lakshmipathy Balaji

The only Harbhajan I would like to see is the one hunting for wickets, tossing the ball up and giving it a good rip so that it could get to really turn. Not the one who has defense as the only thing in his mind, firing it as flat and as fast as possible on the middle and leg line. T-20 would in all likelyhood make him go the latter way, thanks but no thanks, you have done enough in the past to have nice memories, and the test team has no vacancy and would need a bowler who IS a wicket taker.

Harbhajan coming in at 7 as the batting all-rounder in place of Sharma can make more sense than picking him as a bowler.