Four defeats and one tie, the rigid Indian team has lost again overseas. It really doesn’t surprise me, as they haven’t really been consistent. I am not looking much into the Champion Trophy as the 20 over final wasn’t the right way forward for ODIs. The series against Australia was almost lost if Faulkner had stayed for another two overs. Yes, we beat a weak Windies but then South Africa and this. A lot is said about our defeat in NZ in 2002-03, but it was still 5-2 and in unplayable conditions. This is special for Kiwis because they beat the ranked one team in batting tracks and that too 4-0. Test series wouldn’t be so easy for the Kiwis. Pujara is a world-class player and with Kohli and him in the middle, Indian batting are in safe hands. However will miss Gambhir and Sehwag. Congratulations New Zealand and I hope you give India a real tough time in Tests too. ODI series points New Zealand Ross Taylor: 9 | Superb Kane Williamson: 9.5 | Five fifties & 4wickets – the real differentiator Corey Anderson: 8.5 | Power & Impact Luke Ronchi: 8 | Team player Martin Guptill: 7 | Brilliant in patches Tim Southee: 7.5 | Leader of the bowling attack Brendon McCullum: 7 | Team player & wonderful leadership Jesse Ryder: 4.5 | Important brisk starts but couldn’t convert Mitchell McClenaghan: 5.5 | Promised more, delivered less but was one of the heroes in the first game Nathan McCullum: 8 | Amazing fielding & though only 2 wickets, he was another difference maker against the good Indian batters against spin James Neesham: 6 | Another promising all-rounder, batted well in the last game Hamish Bennett: 6 | Decent Kyle Mills: 7.5 | Experience mattered Matt Henry: 8 | Fabulous debut, looks a good prospect Adam Milne: 5.5 | Played only a game but did enough to traumatize Raina 15 players played, well rotated and team average is 7.2 India Mahendra Singh Dhoni: 6.5 | Consistent with the bat but baffling tactics contributed to the loss Virat Kohli: 8.5 | Brilliant as usual Ravindra Jadeja: 7 | Bowled well in patches but lot was expected out of him. Batted better than expectation. Rohit Sharma: 4.5 | The same old story Ambati Rayudu: 3.5 | Harsh but missed opportunity Suresh Raina: 3 | Same old story & didn’t make his experience count Shikhar Dhawan: 2 | A lot was expected Ravichandran Ashwin: 2.5 | Barring one good knock, there’s nothing he has done & had it not been for Dhoni, Mishra would have got a few games Ajinkya Rahane: 1 | Time is running out. A big Fail Mohammed Shami: 7 | Got wickets, bowled well but leaked a lot of runs Bhuvneshwar Kumar: 4.5 | Didn’t get early wickets, not at all threatening Ishant Sharma: 1 | Pathetic Varun Aaron: 4 | Needs to learn a lot. Better he learns quick. Seems a good prospect Stuart Binny: 5 | Unfair to rate him 14 players played, selections didn’t make any sense and team average is 4.25
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 09:31:35 +0000
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