If i could be Mr.Jennings for a match!
After being at the top n considered hot favourites for the title, RCB is currently facing loads of criticism from enraged fans! here is what i would have done as the RCB coach.
Of the wealth of top class foreign players, I would have the main allrounder Kallis, Steyn Ross n Petersen. Some fans will argue about not having these 4 but i think its the approach to the game thats affecting RCB than these player's capabilities. The evergreen Dravid is used as plan B by Jennings for any required damage repair or if Kallis falls early. But why not change the approach as 'why fear, when Dravid is here!'? For a 20 over innings, u dont need anyone to place anchor till the end. Even shorter brisk knocks will help. N if anyone is required to play the anchor, why not it be the great Dravid while others take on the bowling! A 20 ball 35 from kallis will better than his 40+ball 50. He is in great form n capable of accelerating if he desires to. He has the technique to deal with good bowling. Some who think Merwe should replace him should understand that he is bit reckless n unreliable. He has aggressive intent but not the class to deal with good pace or spin bowling. White may replace Kallis but Kallis seems to have done a better job than him so far. Finally, a 180/7 is a better score than 160/4. So the big guns should keep a high runrate by taking some risks fearlessly while Dravid will hold the batting at the other end. Kallis n Pandey should aim play at 9 rpo. I will have KP at 3 to keep the runrate high even if wicket falls n Dravid bats at 4. Virat, Robin n Ross will provide the fireworks at the end! Many fans are irritated by KP's poor show last match. but he has destroyed top Aus & SA bowling attacks on his own n is capable of doing what our immensely loved Rosco can do!
My main pacers will be PK n Steyn with kallis used as the 5th bowler. Steyn provides the extra firepower to the otherwise similar paced bowling lineup. Appanna should play if the pitch suits in place of Vinay. No need of Mithun as he doest seem much better than Vinay who is also handy with the bat. An intense 'yorker' sessions is what i will often have for our pacers. look what impact Malinga does with his superb yorkers! Let our pacers bowl atleast 2 yorkers n 1 good short ball per over. Pace variation is a big key which our bowler need to do wisely.
So with the above team combination n the approach 1) Dravid gets utilised well thus delight his huge fan base. 2) runrate will improve. 3) Bowling gets more formidable. 4) good balance between bowling n batting
Therefore increases RCB's chances of winning!!!
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For today's match I would go with the foll players:
Kallis, Manish, Robin, Rosco, Virat, White/Boucher, Dravid, Praveen, Vinay/Appanna, Steyn, Kumble.
As for batting strategy, Kallis and Pandey to open and for god sake lose the conservative approach. Pandey shud go for his strokes from the word go. Irrespective of who gets out Robin to follow and play his natural game. Rosco and Virat shud follow and play their natural game as well. In case this does not work and we lose to many wicket Dravid shud come in to stabilize or else White/Boucher continues the party and Dravid drops in only if he gets a chance;-)
According to you, they have made a right decision in dropping merwe and also a wrong one in asking kallis to bat less aggressively and play the anchor.. So what are they, fools or not..
and in the two scenarios:
we have kallis playing slowly in one and frustrating us to the core, also making no efforts to win the match
In the other we have the freak Merwe, going bang bang or atleast trying to.. Here we have a 50 50 chance..
atleast I prefer the latter
two... This format, is 20 overs.. Now where did this concept of anchoring come from. Anchoring is just too strong a term to be even use here.. it is what Rahul dravid and VVS did in kkolkata when they batted six sessions together.. Kallis as a batsman has been asked to do that.. Are the set of batsmen comprising, Rahul, Virat, Ross, Merwe, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa, Cameron White so incompetent that they cannot last 20 overs and score at a better rate than kallis.. Sorry, but I think noe and many will agree..
three.. I wanted to include Merwe for two reasons
one .. he is a far far better 2020 bowler than kallis and has a great pairing with kumble cjoking one end up.. This has been proved in the past and kallis is just an atrocius bowler in this format conceding boundaries like he is on a charity mission.. the records bear the testimony to that
and as far as reading the wrong ones, slower balls goes, I would want you to rewind the tapes and see, kallis was a joke against Mishra and vettori..
So theres no reason for him to actually warrant his place.. Merwe on the other hand has won some matches for south africa purely on his big hitting.. hes not the most conventional batsmen out there but hes definitely a freak batsmen..
when the asking rate is soaring over 9-10, I and I believe many would like to see a freakish big hitting batsman on the crease rather than the one who frustrates taking singles till victory goes beyond our reach..
I hope all my points are logical..
@mahesh- Its seems a strategy that kallis should bat long n so he mayb trying not to take risk. that doesnt mean he can't hit! I hav said tht approach is the problem not the player ability. he is a modern day great n has enuf skill n class to attack atleast in the powerplays. U dont always need past instances to prove. if he is givn the license to attack freely, we will see a diffrent kallis. White is a big hitter n shud replace kallis if he can improve as a bowler to bowl tight overs. but over all, kallis lends more balance to the team at the moment.
DD were bowling well tht too on a difficult track to bat in the 2nd innings. Thts y KP struggled. he has hit a 12 ball 23* n 44 ball matchwinning 66. dont judge him by 1 bad innings!
I dont feel we are going to see Kallis, KP n ofcourse Ross getting dropd. thus Steyn will replace White. Merwe is highly unlikely to get a chance.