The Silver Fern

@chris-b

Jadeja only sits if he's hurt.

I'm assuming/hoping Virat plays only 5 batsmen along with Ashwin and Jadeja, given the fact that Ashwin isn't injured and the # of leftys in the Kiwi XI.

Question is whether the Indian team play Mohammed Siraj or not - they may have to bench Shami to fit him in, which is very contrary to Virat's loyalty to 'senior' players.

Regardless, there's not much to worry about on the bowling front for India - they will be OK in spite of Virat's selection stupidity, and the outcome of this one-off test primarily rests on the competency of the batting unit. Which for an Indian fan that grew up on decades of Indian teams with cannon fodder for 3rd seamers, is....different.

For all of Shubman Gill's heroics in Australia, both him and Rohit Sharma have obvious weaknesses in their technique that really make it difficult to be optimistic about their chances in 'English' conditions. Gill is a #3 bat who converted to opener, in order to get into the national team. And as good as Che Pujara is, if he's having to deal with 10/2 in both innings, it just sets up the team to fail.

So not too worried about the bowlers, but just hoping that the openers surprise in a good way.

I expect India to have a different opening pair by the end of the 5 test series against England.

Guptill in place of Munro, Lockie in place of CDG - that's a capable Kiwi XI.

Don't go by the results in this series, yes it looks ugly. But other teams are not as formidable as India. I think Kiwis are likely to make semi-final in the WC. Obviously top order needs to make it count - but Guptill, Kane, Ross, I think they can do it more often than not.

Astle is a tempting pick, he can obviously bat. But I think NZ has to pick the leggie that's more likely to get wickets, and Astle looks more of a T20 leggie to me, not a guy who can get that breakthrough against a team that plays spin decent and has a partnership going.

Boult, Henry, Santner, Sodhi, Neesham, Add Lockie or another bowler who you can bank on for 10 quality overs. There's enough batting up top to needlessly pick guys like Munro, CDG. Maybe use Munro against teams with weaker new ball bowlers in a few games in the WC, but not against the quality of Bumrah, Cummins, Rabada, etc.

@chris-b

I've personally met Mohinder Amarnath when I was a kid, and he had some stories to tell too!

One thing that was shocking to me, especially as a naive teenager, was when he shared the anecdote about how he was at the non-striker's end, and the 'home' umpire informed the Pakistani pace bowler that he was overstepping, and to just mind it. Didn't call the no-ball, just politely asked the bowler to mind the line. The bowler showered the umpire with a torrent of punjabi f-bombs, and told him to do his job while he does his!

And of course, the umpires allowed the Pakistani team to take the match ball into their dressing room during breaks, to do with as they please. The 80s were a very different time.

Good luck to the black caps, will be rooting hard for them.

I had expected an India-NZ final, with India winning - but it just wasn't meant to be for India.

NZ and the Windies are the guys I'd like to see win it if not India. And here we are.

After all these years of regularly making the knock-outs, I really hope the kiwis can manage to finish the job - would hate to see the pompous pommies win it.

Here's hoping Colin Munro is back in the XI and does the haka on England bowlers in the 1st 10 overs.

Congratulations to the Kiwi u19 boys for pulling off a remarkable win in the QF.

I tend to agree with those wanting DRS implemented - its not perfect but is an improvement. But BCCI's decisions are always driven by practical considerations ($$$$). That's where the BCCI reluctance stemmed from initially. Think about the number of test and ODI venues in India and the cost involved in implementing a tech solution that had only vendor. And that vendor refused to negotiate with the BCCI even a bit. And now they've sort of worked themselves into a corner of arrogance and won't change their position unless they get a fig-leaf. The much talked about adjustments to "Umpire's call" might do the trick. Hopefully anyway.

And also, no issues with those venting on bad decisions -its a fan's privilege - Shows you care!

Ever since John Wright's stint as India Coach, my soft corner for the Kiwi cricket team has only increased. Fleming was a jerk when he was playing though.

@Chris-B Fair point. I'm hoping for a closely fought series as well. Better prep for the WC.

I wouldn't even mind if the Indian team got beat here, will expose the weak links in the team tactics nicely.

Let's hope India has to bat first today.

@Chris-B saw this too late! Anyway, Afghans were a typical Afghan team - strong on spin, weak on batting. They actually punched above their weight with the bat I think.

I hope NZ gets past the Bangla toygers and makes it to the final against India - The toygers will be too easy for India to swat aside.

@chris-b Bit before my time, but I would have liked to read the book. Cricket books are a weakness, I end up buying a whole bunch whenever I go to India. Hard to find them in the US.

@chris-b said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:

@majorrage They've got to bat three sessions and bowl us out in one?

That doesn't sound like the power is with them.

However, while we're anxiously sitting here with a modest lead of 32, spare a thought for our friend @newsjunkie, who's going to be behind his sofa sweating on his fear of 20/4!

Up since 4.30 am here, and the 1st session is going to be stressful for sure!

Some of the whining about umpiring, while claiming kiwis don't whine is.....interesting.

Hello all, haven't been here in ages and had to re-register. Had some fun with some of you back in the Fleming days. Recognize some of the handles - DonSteppa etc.

From my perspective, after watching the dismissal a couple of times, Ronchi's legBefore wasn't that much of a shocker - Jadeja doesn't turn the ball that much, he's all about pinging away at the stumps with slight changes in length, angle and a bit of turn. Ball pitched in line, and was turning a bit. But not all Indian spinners turn the ball big, especially not Jadeja.

Anyway, let's hope the cricket stays competitive and the 5 kiwi fans that care about cricket are still interested

Back to the cricket, enjoyed watching Williamson's batting. This guy is a quality player. And Ronchi is showing how even a limited player can do well against quality spin if you bat with a free mind and positive intent. The key is to not to over-do it like the Aussies tend to do - dancing down the wicket every second ball or trying to hit spinners out of the attack.

If Kiwis learn the right lessons from this test, there's still hope for some competitive cricket this series. India's batsmen are immature and undisciplined enough to give plenty of opportunities. But they need others to stand up with the bat. I think they should give Guptill a longer rope and stick with him. Not sure that will happen though.

@mariner4life said in Black Caps v India:

I've bagged out the Indians in the past. Like, a lot. Their team was massively over-rated by their dominance at home, but then they sucked on the road.

Those days are well gone. That attack they have assembled is fucking classy. This summer, in Aus and in NZ, they have won games by regularly taking wickets throughout innings. They are able to build pressure with consistent plans; they have seamers with genuine pace; and of course the ubiquitous classy Indian spinners.

They are then backed up by a strong, if not dominant, batting lineup (led by a genuine star in Kohli) who are benefiting from the attack not putting them under too much pressure. Fuckers have learned to field as well.

It's been a nice little romp through Australasia for them this summer, and a great warm up for later in the year.

Watching yesterday it was amazing to watch two of our best ever batsmen get frustrated as the Indian's just gave them nothing.

Amazing to see an Indian team come here, take 3 times as many wickets as us, and then run down our meagre totals without anyone racking up a big score.

And Jaspreet Bumrah isn't even playing yet. Career Econ rate of 3 something in ODIs in the days of 330 par scores.

Felt good to read that as an Indian fan - too many years of having a talented team that underwhelmed away from home often.

@mariner4life

which Brian Lara? The sulky one who shat the bed a big chunk of the times? Or the one who batted brilliantly some of the time?

Until 2002 Tendulkar NEVER had a slump, pretty much dropped a century every damn series, everywhere in the world. The definition of Consistent excellence. Brian was one of my favorite batsman, and absolutely brilliant when the mood took him. His peaks were awesome, but far too many valleys separated them.

But feel free to stick to your confirmation biases - I can't be bothered about arguing such history. It doesn't matter really.

@Siam said in Black Caps v India:

my opinion is that in a discussion involving an impossibly subjective verdict, allocating and inferring a mental shortcoming says more about you than your opinion.
We call it playing the ball and not the man.

Fair point.

@Godder said in Indian Cricket Tour of NZ 2020:

Not sure how that's much of a story or why racism was suddenly part of that.

Well according to the article, the rent-a-guard was hassling the viewer after the hip flask question was already resolved. Not sure how reliable the account is, has that vibe of an over-eager student stridently trying to win points in a middle school debate.

@crucial

Siraj missing out in these conditions sucks, but Shami isn't that much of a downgrade either.

Conditions definitely favoring NZ and significantly at that. If this test was to be played anywhere else - Aus, SA, WI, I'd be feeling so much more confident about Indian chances. Asia obviously as well. But England and NZ are the 2 places where the conditions level things off for NZ.

If the ball is darting around and India end up 20/4, thats the ball game then.

That sort of collapse is NZ's best shot at winning this test. Outside of that, I'm not that worried.