Cause and effect in the land of MS Dhoni

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You wonder whether Ishant Sharma’s ‘sore leg’ might have resulted from his workload. And how did Bhuvneshwar Kumar look in the third Test, MS?

“I think Bhuvi seemed to be a bit tired.”

Maybe you shouldn’t have picked just the four bowlers then.

“In the first couple of games we played with that extra bowler, who was part of the side. But we never really used him to that extent, giving him only eight to 10 overs. That’s the reason we thought of making our batting stronger by getting Rohit in.”

If only someone, somewhere had the power to ask a fifth bowler to deliver more overs.

DON'T BE LIKE GATT!

Mike Gatting wasn't receiving the King Cricket email when he dropped that ludicrously easy chance against India in 1993.

Coincidence?

Why risk it when it's so easy to sign up?

19 comments

  1. Yes, yes. But what we all really want to know is whether Bhuvaneshwar or Ashwin will play at Old Trafford, and whether Finn or Stokes come in for Jordan.

    Transfer time is running out!

    1. Following my shocking performance in the last Test (I went on holiday, forgot to do transfers, and left Plunkett and Ishant Sharma in), it’s all or nothing for me now.

      Hopefully the OT ground staff have taken my bribe and prepared a pitch that all 40 wickets will be taken by spinners on…

    2. I was at OT a couple of weeks ago for the T20 against Durham, and from that experience I would suggest they’ve prepared a pitch that suits easy boundaries off leg side long hops.

    3. I just realized that I had a shit team and was not paying attention at all. I still had Dhawan in place of Vijay. These faults have now been corrected and the Badgers are ready to rule.

    4. In what might be tantamount to an admission that I don’t know a damn thing about the Indian side, over the four tests I’ve variously picked:

      Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Dhoni, Ashwin (even recalled after being dropped), Kumar, Shami, Sharma and Aaron.

      Shows you what I think of Jadeja.

      The only Englishman I’ve dropped was Stokes.

    5. My moves:

      Woakes in for Jadeja
      Rahane in for Robson

      Kohli is still sitting there, just begging to be dropped for Gary Ballance, but I’m trying to avoid the temptation. Partly because I’d have to add another Indian player if I did that and I don’t know who that would be.

    6. My hunch is Dhoni would play both Ashwin and Jadeja. I couldn’t get Ashwin in even though I really wanted to. Damn three transfer limit!

  2. My last team was oddly similar to those above. My bowling attack was Binny, Stokes, Ishant and Plunkett but Leg Stump somehow came 49th. In my haste to replace as many as possible I now have Kohli as a holding bowler.

  3. Please describe the mechanism for appealing against the ICC Chief Executive’s decision not to convene an appeal against the appeal.

    What do you mean, there isn’t one?

    So what are honest cricket lovers like me supposed to do for aggravation now?

  4. Far more importantly – in the maturity versus cricket is a young man’s sport debate, I raise you one Younis Khan who, as well as being the least celebrated great batsman of the last wee while, seems to have been in his mid-30s for about two decades. That’s taking defying time to a whole new level that is.

    1. No mention of his batting partner, who’s over forty?

      For a side that’s meant to be so unpredictable, Pakistan have been quite the opposite so far. Openers fail, middle order saves things. Now we just need Ajmal to spin Sri Lanka out for a pretty low score and it’ll be Business As Usual.

  5. Vijay for Dhawan
    Woakes for Ishant
    Ashwin for Shami

    Pinning my hopes on Bhuvaneshwar being fit and Robson, Kholi and Dhoni finally scoring some runs.

  6. Daisy was very taken by the rugby commentary vid, courtesy of Bert at 21:32 on 31 July commenting here:

    http://www.kingcricket.co.uk/sack-dhoni/2014/07/31/#commentlist

    Unfortunately, she has latched on to the phrase “shuv it up yer arse” and is now using said phrase liberally.

    While I am tempted to ask Daisy if she is “comfortably satisfied” at the next appropriate intimate moment, I have a feeling I know what her answer would be.

  7. By the way, there’s more of Mr ‘I can’t spake’ here: http://youtu.be/mfuGRHXqQvw

    Watch out for ‘Stevie Wonder would have seen that!” and “Last time Casteleford had a penalty, Gail Platt were on her first husband.”

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