England in India - Oct to Jan 2012/13

[SaiSrini]

Pujara!!!! WHAT A SUPERB FIND!!! Still could be too early days (since he has to prove himself overseas) but he has all the makings of you know......yeah!! People said he batted on an easy pitch at Ahmedabad. Well, he has batted even better on this pitch which is providing enough help for the bowlers, especially spinners. And very very well supported by Ashwin. I told that the tail starts after Ashwin and I was right.. Dhoni's innings today was a decent cameo innings from a tail ender. Wonder when Dhoni will pull the plug on test cricket. He is just a misfit for tests.

And Tendulkar has to take the call ASAP! He said he will re-assess in November. With Pujara now batting really well, and with the likes of Kohli and Yuvraj getting back in the test side smoothly, Tendulkar can pass the baton ASAP. And Gambhir has to be dropped soon... He is turning out to be a pretty big failure.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Pujara

Where do India keep finding these batsmen from? Kohli in the space of a year has become one of the world's most prized wickets, and Pujara's outshined Kohli, Sehwag, KP, Tendulkar, Cook etc already in the series.

 

[Owzat]

Just please axe Stuart Broad already. Can't recall a delivery he crossed the 85 mph barrier!

He has been picked based on what he can do, since day one. He's been more trouble than he's worth, when he's not in form he is next to useless. Was it Botham he was having a spat with in the past few days? Botham was pointing at Broad's away record I think, well here are his stats

Broad (away)

Total : 465 runs @ 16.03 & 64 wkts @ 38.25
In India* : 29 runs @ 9.67 & 2 wkts @ 115.50
In Sri Lanka : 35 runs @ 17.50 & 3 wkts @ 66.33

*excludes current Test

After the series in UAE where the bowlers did quite well, Broad included, he averaged 52.00 in Sri Lanka, managed to demolish West Indies like most decent sides do, but ended with 11 wkts @ 39.73 against South Africa. He's yet to take an Indian wicket this series, 0/60 to go with 0/97 while Bresnan 0/73 was dropped. Bresnan even beat Broad 39-28 on runs scored, but Bresnan isn't part of the regulars/"in crowd". If it is batting preference, Broad blows hot and cold.

Bottom line though is it may well be a question of whether England can survive the Indian spinners long enough to post a competitive total. Given their recent track record(s) I'd suggest most of the top order should be playing for their places, not that England seem likely to ever drop one of their preciouses

 

[sifter132]

Although i supported 3 quicks playing over Panesar - it sort of highlights why on occasions overseas, England miss having a true quick bowling all-rounder like Flintoff/Botham/Greig who could allow the team to have 3 genuine quicks & two spinners. A third seamer like Meaker could have been equally useful as Panesar today.

Am I missing something?? I'd have LOVED to see Meaker bowl 34 overs and take 4 wickets when Broad and Anderson did squat all after the 1st over. Maybe you mean Meaker for Swann

 

[Aalay]

A third seamer like Meaker could have been equally useful as Panesar today.

I don't know how you came up with this weird thought. You expected Meaker to do as well as Panesar where Anderson and Broad didn't do anything?

 

[War]

A good seamer traditionally gets similar assistance to a good spinner @ Mumbai. Broad was bowling crap and wasted the conditions, while Anderson was solid. So essentially England only had one seamer & two good spinners bowling yesterday, instead of two strong seam bowlers backing up the spin duo.

Therefore if England could have had an inform third seamer in a five man attack like they had in Mumbai 2006 - i certainly would have expected that third seamer
to be a serious wicket-taking threat on day 1 and for the remainder of this test.

 

[SaiSrini]

Pujara

Where do India keep finding these batsmen from? Kohli in the space of a year has become one of the world's most prized wickets, and Pujara's outshined Kohli, Sehwag, KP, Tendulkar, Cook etc already in the series.

Nice to hear an opposition fan praise an upcoming player from India. Hope Pujara lives up to the promise overseas too. It would be awesome if we find the "next Dravid" very quick after his retirement. Pujara can't be Dravid until he proves overseas.

Planning to watch Day 2 tonight. After a long time, probably an all-nighter for me. This test promises to be lip smacking!

 

[aditya123]

I was there at the Wankhede yesterday and it was one superb day of test cricket. Had action all way through and I plan to go on other days as well. Harbhajan being picked doesn`t make me want to go today when India will be mostly bowling Its been a good wicket and you could see that there was bounce and carry for the pacers as well. Anderson was okay but Broad was bowling tripe. He would have got the same treatment had it been a Perth or Headingley wicket.

On another note, Ashwin does not seem like a tailender at all. He could easily be groomed into the allrounder`s slot and allow India to play 5 bowlers overseas. Is not just the runs but also the assured manner in which he gets them. Some of the strokes had shades of VVS to them. I want India to get bowled out around 300 and that would set it up for a very interesting test match.

Noone`s talking about the pitch here so I assume the curator`s got it right. This is one of the reasons why they must restrict test match cricket to grounds with Test culture. Ahmedabad, Mohali et al. mostly cater to ODI audiences and the wickets there are slow and flat. I don`t think they should get any test match cricket at all. Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi, Kanpur, Chennai should be slotted as test match venues and they should be the only places that get test match cricket. BCCI could maybe allot more ODIs/T20s to the other venues but test cricket to only these venues. Its venues like Ahmedabad that are spoling test cricket`s reputation in India. Its very simple but the BCCI would`nt think logically as always. They would just like to ensure that they get votes from each state association and that would come first for them, not the quality of test cricket in India.

As for the crowds, There was a mad rush outside the ground yesterday at the counter. The Barmy Army are here and I spoke to a few of them, they reckon around 1000 of them are here and around 5000 of them will be going to the Eden Gardens test. The Army tried to get their chanting going but the wild lung power of the Indian supporters just killed any chances of a chant. Heartening to see soo much interest around test cricket. There might have been around 20k people in the ground yesterday while about 30k tickets have already been sold out. Expect far bigger crowds on other days when India bat again and as the weekend is upon us. I have always maintained that Test cricket in the major venues in India is as healthy as in England and Australia.

 

[Gurjot95]

Atrocious decision to end the innings from Dar.

327 should be enough if we get same turn from pitch. Spinners will play an important role.

 

[aditya123]

This 3 spinner thing could backfire on India here. Ashwina nd Zak have looked sharp so far. Ojha has been anything but threatening. Having said that, one wicket and we could see 3 or 4. This might turn out to be a really entertaining test match.

 

[SaiSrini]

Have a feeling that Compton can be had any minute, the way he is batting... Cook is rock solid, and it would need quite a bit to move him out.

Time for MS to think about Harbhajan in place of Ojha. They are unsettling Ojha today by stepping out to him often, and yet he immediately changes trajectory once he is hit unlike Ashwin who keeps at the toss up.

 

[Owzat]

I'd throw Bairstow in first down, it's not as if he'd be facing anything other than spin from the off and he'd not have the pressure of England being several wickets down with possibly little on the board.

Compton and Cook may hold the key, big raspberry to those who said "who else would come in?" when discussing the UAE series back when, well Compton has come in and done ok so sticking with the tried and trusted isn't a proven way of playing spin. Compton may not have got the best of starts 1st innings 1st Test, but he has a chance of surpassing the total runs Bell and Pietersen have scored in the UAE series AND this in just three knocks. Fortune favours the brave, if you're going to lose anyway might as well try something different than stick with the old banger that breaks down every 2-3 miles.

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So to compare efforts in UAE and India combined :

Compton* - 3 inns, 73 runs @ 36.50
Bell - 8 inns, 73 runs @ 9.13
Pietersen - 8 inns, 86 runs @ 10.75

*when Compton was 27no.

Compton has equalled Bell's feeble return in FIVE less innings, Pietersen is next in his sights.

 

[Haarithan]

Haha I was saying Trott to me was the worst player of spin bowling in the sub-continent among the current playing XI. Turns out I was right. Morgan in place of Trott for the next test, please.

 

[Owzat]

Haha I was saying Trott to me was the worst player of spin bowling in the sub-continent among the current playing XI. Turns out I was right. Morgan in place of Trott for the next test, please.

I'd back Trott if he was in form, a grinder of runs a la White in Pakistan back when we won there. If England are going to insist on picking out of sorts players who can't buy runs against spin then at least change the order a bit. England are so inflexible it is unbelievable, ironically they bend over backwards to accommodate Cook, Trott, KP and Bell every match when only one of them is deserving of said treatment.

After a decent start we've now lost any initiative by losing two quick wickets, I expect a (mini) collapse after lunch and us facing 500+ batting last

 

[macintosh]

Compton has been very impressive considering the fact that its his first series and that too in completely different conditions than he is used to playing in.
He is giving solid starts and showing a lot of determination, expecting a big knock from him in the coming matches.