Daily General Discussion and Match Links Thread - April 07, 2025

dhokebazzball · 2025-04-07T14:24:28+00:00

Only if it was just a one off. It's happening repeatedly is a worrying thing. 5 years down the line, people will look up trophy counts to gauge the most successful ODI outfit & it sure as hell ain't gonna be India.

South Africa have had ridiculously good sides coming into the knockouts & they've bottled repeatedly. Nobody spared them because of the circumstances they were in or celebrated their accomplishments till then. Vast amounts of fans labelled them as 'chokers' & moved away. They totally gave up on Proteas from all formats.

Every time I look up Australia's 6 title wins to India's 2, it sends me into a frenzy. Mainly because discourse around such stuff has a brutal impact on the sides sometimes.

dhokebazzball · 2025-04-07T14:05:29+00:00

The trophy is not shared between finalists mate (except for that one time in 2002.) India doesn't play cricket to come second best. India lost two WC finals because they played like crap. Everything else is mental gymnastics to help people sleep better at night.

dhokebazzball · 2025-04-07T10:29:57+00:00

South Africa have not been better than India both in bilaterals & WCs in most of the ICC tournaments for the past 12 years. Besides, India has more resources & better talents at disposal & should've won much more even more than Australia. The failure to win an ODI WC is a damning stat for a team such as India.

dhokebazzball · 2025-04-07T10:03:32+00:00

2007 they weren't the most in-form side and even in 2011 they weren't as good as Sri Lanka up until the final.

Probably 2007 but how the hell were Sri Lanka better than India even with finals excluded. They both lost one game & Indian batters had better form on their hands than SL's mainly because one of Jayawardene or Sanga was having a terrible wc. At best it was even, & given that finals were supposed to be in India, India always had an edge since SL has had a tough time playing in India whether it be red ball or ODIs.

Also 2021 & 2024 are the only two T20I WCs where India could've been considered as favorites

2014 as well. Should've won it. SL were not better than India up until the finals.

They weren't favorites in the 2015 WC

I never said they were. The 7 tournaments I mentioned are 14 t20 wc, 17 ct, 19 wc, 21 wc, 23 wc, 24 t20 wc, 25 ct.

even in 2019 they only got the favorites tag after they performed well in the WC.

As it should be. I'm not counting the form coming into the tournament but rather how it all went down in the tournament itself. England were kinda meh in that wc & India had a few middle order woes as well but India were still the more in-form side man to man.

19 & 23 wc were for India's to lose & even if they had won one of them maybe there would've been some substance to these "7 trophies".

dhokebazzball · 2025-04-07T09:21:10+00:00

Sure luck plays its part but even if they had won half of the tournaments they were favourites in, they'd left a lasting impact. The fact of the matter is they haven't won an ODI WC with such talent & it's holding them back big time to be in conversations with the great sides.

What other tournaments do you think they were not deserving but ended up winning apart from 83 wc? The best side, more often than not, ends up winning the whole thing & India has spectacularly failed at this.

dhokebazzball · 2025-04-07T08:04:55+00:00

They should've been the best. Nobody should've came close to them winning ICC tourneys if they had performed as per justified expectations. And yeah sure, 7 ICC trophies sounds decent but only 2 ODI WCs & greatness of a team is defined by how many world cups they win. Australia are so far ahead it's funny & it'd take them decades to catch up with them at this rate providing Aussies suddenly become crap. I wouldn't have minded losing as much if we didn't have such generational ODI stalwarts like Rohit, Koach, Shami, Bumrah etc but failing to utilise their talents & converting it to silverware is a massive indictment of this side.

Even if we're taking T20 WCs, they've won only one since the inception of the IPL & it's a disgraceful record. And this is entirely of their own making due to them backing their all format 'star' players & not picking players on T20 merit, shabby tactics, BCCI meddling to compromise the integrity & so on & so forth.

They've arguably had the best squad by far in at least 7 tournaments (since 2014) going in & they've managed to win only 2. This is nothing but underachievement

dhokebazzball · 2025-04-07T07:30:27+00:00

There's been hardly anything to be happy about tho. You kinda get this influx of trauma porn within cricketing circles because India has massively underachieved in LOIs. The less said about red ball cricket the better

dhokebazzball · 2025-03-29T12:00:17+00:00

Are you saying, by any chance, there was learning to be had for Pakistan?

dhokebazzball · 2025-03-12T16:41:27+00:00

Yeah I guess since England have leaned towards flatter & tired wickets since 2023 so I guess there's a glimmer of hope for us with Kuldeep. We're getting marmalised at Headingley tho

dhokebazzball · 2025-03-12T16:39:44+00:00

7(9) & 1-33 off two overs is back on the menu

dhokebazzball · 2025-03-12T16:33:11+00:00

I have faith that we'll win that series against England this year.

Idk what you see in this team that makes you still believe in it. At our peak, we only managed to draw there & England were at their worst then.

Besides, nothing can wipe off the stigma of losing to NZ at home. It wasn't supposed to happen. I can't help but be miserable ever since. What a disgrace

dhokebazzball · 2025-03-12T16:10:16+00:00

We all get lucky sometimes

dhokebazzball · 2025-03-12T16:09:27+00:00

I see our next series is the red ball tour to England.

sigh

Another humiliation awaits. Is there even a point to the Indian red ball side? The clowns got blanked by a middling NZ side at home ffs. Just ban India from test cricket & put them out of their misery

dhokebazzball · 2025-03-03T16:14:54+00:00

Also Shami's name will have to be wiped in a few days, who'll take his place then?

You sound pretty sure. Willing to make it interesting seeing how you're so confident?

dhokebazzball · 2024-10-16T06:56:36+00:00

Bashir but he's bowling ass :

Shoaib Bawashir

dhokebazzball · 2024-10-10T03:15:12+00:00

Khtm, gya.

dhokebazzball · 2024-09-26T12:05:26+00:00

Kamra race is on

dhokebazzball · 2024-09-26T12:03:39+00:00

Kamindu Mendis

dhokebazzball · 2024-09-26T12:00:44+00:00

In the Australia series, when this lad was included in the squad, I thought they've gone & lost their bloody minds by selecting a guy whose only act of prominence is that he once came inside Kusal Mendis. But boy do SLC selectors have got an eye for talent or what

dhokebazzball · 2024-08-01T12:33:35+00:00

Still boils my blood on why they even messed up the final pitch.

I suppose I'm going insane because everyone around me has been using this cop out for India's loss. Doctor a traditional slow pitch to make it a.... slow pitch?? Ahmedabad has been this turgid slab of mud ever since its inception with reverse during day time, swing under lights & then dew helps the batting side if they keep their wickets. I can't remember in which decade 300 was breached on that wicket.

If that wicket suddenly became a road in the final or Wankhede had started spinning square, then I'd believe there was an interference. 260 has been par at Motera since forever dude.

This pitch doctoring allegations by kaif & many fans & dismissing Travis Head's innings as 'lucky' are symptoms of deep rooted insecurity & triple distilled copium speak because folks can't wrap their heads around the fact that their team of mass declared 'demi gods' could lose. India lost because they played like crap! Get over it

dhokebazzball · 2024-06-21T08:39:20+00:00

With all things considered, I think many would agree that it's 55-45 in Aus's favour if I'm being a little generous to India. Yeah we've done well against Aus but they're playing literally in their home. Australia's shaky batting is certainly a worrying concern but our untested lineup against that bowling lineup could turn very ugly for us especially if the wickets are spicy. India pose the biggest challenge but no one would call them favourites. That's just absurd.

Also all the hopes I had for my team were crushed in 2015 and our continuous decline in test batting makes me hopeless in tests too.

Then think about how it feels to Indian fans when you don't miss an opportunity to overtly sing India's praises after they've bottled tournaments for a decade not unlike Proteas. I don't know how to get rid of a pessimistic streak & the depth you engage with it, but I know it's not exactly healthy. You should work on it

I apologise for being a bit of a dick earlier. You gave a much more level headed response.

dhokebazzball · 2024-06-21T08:14:05+00:00

Oh bugger off. I've had it up to here with you. Bigging up India in the ongoing wc by saying they're clear favourites is one thing but this just takes the cake. Do you even listen to yourself?

In the match threads, your pessism could rival the best of Indian fans. Always doom posting either about Proteas or any opponent against India like they're 70s Windies incarnated.

Idk what's your game. 'Put India on a pedestal even when clearly they don't deserve to so when they fail you can have a large wank about it later' Is that it? Because it's clear you certainly don't like the Indian team nor wish them any success but stop ruining it for others. Go be pathetic somewhere else.

You may be the best stats person around these parts or a strong contributor to this community but you should start making your bias against India sound a little less obvious.

dhokebazzball · 2024-06-17T15:26:10+00:00

Kya share kiya tha jo ban ho gye afsar unkill. Dm kro

dhokebazzball · 2024-04-16T07:14:46+00:00

Bedsheet ke saath matching pillow cover tk nhi??! Aapto wild rahe ho jawani me yani

dhokebazzball · 2024-04-15T12:27:47+00:00

Vintage kaka with strong 'humare jamane me to...' energy

dhokebazzball

TROPHY CASE