dhoni langde pe mat ro...

shared by straight point on Saturday, May 08, 2010

only the name has changed but not the fate... earlier i wrote about gambhir... yesterday dhoni did the same... with same result... and surrendered the advantage of winning the toss on platter to australia...

at the cost of repeating myself... i believe t20 is too abbreviated a format to let go any advantage that you have over your opponent...but it seems like legacy that one captain after another chose to chase in pressure cooker matches as if the pressure to perform is not enough in world events...

to quote what soulberry succinctly wrote at his blog...

Indian captains exhibit the strangest behaviour ever known when they are confronted with Australia and a won toss in a crucial encounter in a tournament or ICC tournament - they, almost predictably, opt to field first! It doesn't matter who the captain is - Azza, Ganguly or Dhoni - they exhibit the same unlearning behaviour.

team india thinking seems like they do not want to bat themselves out in first innings when the pitch is helping bowlers... but it is seen time and again... when they chase they bat themselves out of not only just the match but also from tournament...

another argument is that our bowling is weak so we decide to chase... but this is also wrong on two counts...

first... in all probability batsmen will not muddle things in middle as often as they do while chasing...

second... the pressure of a total on board coupled with pressure of a world event gives additional teeth... additional potency to the weak bowling...

so to me... the decision to bowl first is an utterly defensive and inexplicable decision... i hope the lesson is learned...

8 comments:

Soulberry said...

"i believe t20 is too abbreviated a format to let go any advantage that you have over your opponent"

Yeah...why give an iota of advantage? India fails to employ all the weapons it can, and that's tragic when you consider that some of those which it possesses and employs are pretty harmless/impotent.

Soulberry said...

I hope MSD's boys don't go ahead and lose after batting first in future games, just to spite all Indians who are feeling the after effects of batting second and letting it be known! :)

Thanks for the mention too.

straight point said...

sb... as i said the chances of mucking up are more higher while chasing than batting first... coz apart from good bowling the additional pressure of asking rate can make you do stupid things...

as for harmless/impotent weapons... they have brought it on themselves by opting for bowlers who bat... rather than bowlers who take wickets...

straight point said...

as i write this... i have just learned that our beloved neighbors have done the same thing today against new zealand... god bless them...

vmminerva said...

Ha! Yes, the neighbors have done the same. My thoughts exactly. Looks almost like they're having a contest as to who will get eliminated sooner. :)

Barry said...

India's strength is in the batting and should look to bat first. Unless there is too much sideways movement on offer any captain should always look to bat first in any format of the game

If a team has below par bowlers like Jadeja and Pathan and yet opt to bowl first I don't know what to say. Back your strength and win the match

straight point said...

indeed vm... it looks like we are in competition to outdo each other in foolish pursuits...

straight point said...

exactly GM... india is currently bowling with just 2 front line bowlers and depending upon bowlers like pathan jadeja and co. to restrict opponent to manageable score... its not even a sick joke...

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