The debate was what was best for the team really, as he's an amazing finisher too. But yeah, no debate anymore.Buttler
Ridiculous that it's still debated whether he should open for England
BTW anyone know how RR have been able to afford so many marquee players without breaching salary cap?
They prioritised getting big name players in their first XI which is why their biggest weakness is the lack of depth. In fact their weakness is already apparent in the first XI where they only really bat to 5 and then it goes a bit downhill. They should be playing Neesham ahead of Parag. It has a negative impact which I think we are seeing today where Buttler has to play more conservatively than he would do in an England shirt knowing he doesn't have great depth lower order.
Fair enough, cheers. Very informativeThey prioritised getting big name players in their first XI which is why their biggest weakness is the lack of depth. In fact their weakness is already apparent in the first XI where they only really bat to 5 and then it goes a bit downhill. They should be playing Neesham ahead of Parag. It has a negative impact which I think we are seeing today where Buttler has to play more conservatively than he would do in an England shirt knowing he doesn't have great depth lower order.
DK already seems like one of the most inspired buys of the season. Fits like a glove.I have been very surprised with RCB in the last two matches. Our usual form would dictate that we would collapse as soon as our star batsmen (Gayle, Kohli, ABD) failed to perform. While our top order collapsed in the last two matches, other players have stepped up and won us the game. And we finally have a capable Indian finisher in DK.
The bowling also looks decent. Far cry from the glaring weakness that it was a couple of years ago. And we still have Maxwell and Hazelwood yet to come in. A lot of positives, and the team looks the most balanced RCB team in a long time. Cautious optimistic this season.
India's finisher in the 2019 wc should have been DK and not Dhoni.Wanted RR to win because of Buttler, but genuinely chuffed for DK, he was a great pundit last summer at Sky and hope he comes back at some point. Finishers like him though are a rarity right now.
Imagine being a Punjab supporter in addition to United. At 13 needed of 3, fecking Odean didn’t have to throw the ball for a run out. Ends up conceding a run off overthrow and consecutive 6s to end. What a fecking shitshow.
Punjab look really good though. Great to watch this season
How good was Gill's innings the other day? He is a beautiful player to watch. Some of his timing is sensational.
Watching Pollard the other night was painful and to think he was one of the first players to be picked in the hundred draft.MI really messed up the auctions didn't they, focused too much on retaining a core that they literally don't have a single bowler who can support Bumrah.
Spent too much on retentions and then Kishan, add to that paid 8cr for Archer who is not even going to play. The batting still looks good but Thampi, Unadkat, Sams, Mills, Merideth, Murugan Ashwin, Markande is probably the worst bowling lineup of the 10 teams.
They're going to have to try Allen
Rohit, Kishan, Brevis, Surya, Tilak, Pollard, Allen, Markande, Mills, Bumrah, Thampi
Moving to next season, MI really need to move past Rohit and Pollard.
Get someone like Stokes to replace Pollard and have SKY step up to become the captain.
Watching Pollard the other night was painful and to think he was one of the first players to be picked in the hundred draft.
At least big Dre Russel is still proving to be a handy player with the bat.
CSK looking terrible this year also.
Also, the move to retire Ashwin was really smart.
Def. It's going to become part and parcel of the game. I'm surprised no-one did it before - just assumed it was against the rules.I expected a bit more chat about that in here. It feels like a real evolution in the game that we’ll start seeing a lot more of going forward.
It's not a surprise ashwin is the start to this trend as well. The guy is a cricketing genius. Can see him taking the coaching role, although like DK I wouldn't mind him seeing as an analyst.Def. It's going to become part and parcel of the game. I'm surprised no-one did it before - just assumed it was against the rules.
It'll actually create opportunities for more defensive/traditional players too, particularly on more bowler-friendly wickets. If you know you can throw in your finisher any time you want, you can use traditional players to lay a platform first.
5 games in and still no win for MI, they had a chance today, but just couldn't get over the line.
Rohit has been bad, just the team have had some back luck and some things not go their way, yesterday was disappointing though, that was theirs to lose.Wonder if there is any regret in picking Rohit over Hardik right now...
Anyway weird seeing Ashwin and Buttler bat together, even weirder in the powerplay.
You're right, this was the time to take a decision about either Pollard or Rohit or both. They decided to keep their core and you can't really criticize that as Rohit has just become Indian captain in all 3 formats.Wonder if there is any regret in picking Rohit over Hardik right now...
Anyway weird seeing Ashwin and Buttler bat together, even weirder in the powerplay.
Been the only good thing about this MI sideThis Brevis kid is something else. He’s 18 and he bats with the same presence as Pietersen at his peak.
Let's hope Smith doesn't do the same.Shahruk is shit. Starving Livingstone of the strike and he's 25/26 himself