Players are dropping like flies at this edition of the Champions Trophy. New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder became the latest to join the casualty list when he injured a groin muscle and pulled out of the remainder of the competition. On Monday, the ICC confirmed that Aaron Redmond could be drafted in as a replacement.

Redmond has not played an ODI yet but will be available for New Zealand’s final league match against England on Tuesday.

Ryder is the second Kiwi to be sidelined after Jacob Oram, whose replacement, James Franklin, along with Ryder played a key role in New Zealand’s 38-run win in Group B league match over Sri Lanka at the Wanderers on Monday. Interestingly, Franklin was playing county cricket in England for Gloucestershire.

Incidentally, Ryder was also fined 15 per cent of his match fees by match referee Javagal Srinath after the player pleaded guilty to contravening Level 1.2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Team Officials which relates to "abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings". The incident took place when Ryder was out having scored 74. The player walked off the pitch and as he was approaching the dressing room, he struck and broke a chair with his bat.

More activity was in store for the ICC officials with the Lankans and the Englishmen hit with fines for slow over rates in their respective matches at the Wanderers and the SuperSport Park.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, under fire for India’s disappointing loss to Pakistan in their opening match of the tournament, has had to field a barrage of questions over the team’s composition, especially his fast bowling attack. A persistent questioner suggested ahead of Saturday’s match that the IPL should have been the criteria, or at least those doing well there should have been here. Those questions returned with a vengeance after the 52-run defeat.

Asked why the likes of Sudeep Tyagi and Siddharth Trivedi had not been considered, Mahi said, "That is tough question to answer since at times we do make the mistake of taking the IPL performance in mind when selecting an ODI team.

"I think the IPL is a good format where we can spot talent, but I don’t think it is enough to take the player into the international side. We can keep an eye on them we can try them in A teams and domestic competitions. For one, fitness demands are different in different formats, in the IPL you just bowl 4 overs and field for 20 overs but in 50 overs cricket, endurance becomes vital.

"Besides the 50 overs is more challenging for bowlers as one has to bowl differently in the mid overs as in the slog overs."

The questions however are not going to go away if India turn in another indifferent bowling performance here.

— Rahul Banerji