England in India - Oct to Jan 2012/13

[Haarithan]

Anything over a lead of 50 runs is gonna make me nervous tbh...

Meanwhile.....

"It's official... Indian players can't play spin..... #lol"

- Michael Vaughan on twitter

 

[Gurjot95]

I wonder how it feels to be pessimistic when the opposition is at 31/7.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Hard to see any changes to be made to this Indian side.

Before this innings, Gambhir would have been prime candidate to be dropped. But you can't drop him after this performance.

Sehwag is very hit and miss, you know this when selecting him. His 100 set the tone for us in the first game, but his failures in this match did hurt us. It's what you get when you pick him.

MSD hasn't scored runs in Tests for ages. Not including this game, over the last 2 years he has averaged 31.8 in 35 innings with 1 century (144 against the West Indies) and 7 fifties. An interesting point with this is that bulk of those runs have come in the first innings - 467 out of 986, at an average of 46.7. This includes the 144 and 2 fifties. In the other 3 innings, he averages less than 25.
Take out the 144, and his overall average in this period is 28.
If he wasn't the captain, he would be prime candidate to be dropped.
His keeping hasn't been great, he's not scoring a lot of runs, and his captaincy is starting to look tired. MSD looks tired. He could use a break. But you can't drop him in the middle of a series.

Sachin is notoriously bad for going missing when big runs are needed of him. This series has been a poor one for him too. But he's never going to be dropped.

Kohli and Ashwin both have had poor series. And they both are vital players. And they are young. They represent India's future.

Yuvraj, after a half century in the first innings of the first test, has failed twice, and both in pressure situations. However, he had a good build up to this series, and it would be harsh to drop someone after just one bad match. But given his poor track record in Test matches, and the presence of talents such as Rahane on the bench, he shouldn't get a very long leash.

The only possible candidates to be dropped before the next test is Harbhajan (who did nothing to justify his selection in the first place).

It's a peculiar situation to be in for India. But a loss would be a wake up call. The only players in the side that have shown any consistency are Pujara and Ojha. The rest play one good innings or bowl one good spell, and then disappear. Even Zak has been essentially a non-presence over the first 2 matches. Test matches are not won that way. You got to keep scoring runs, and keep bowling well.

One could easily argue that, currently. MSD, Sehwag, Yuvraj and Gambhir don't merit a spot in the side as being amongst the best 11 players in India for Test Cricket. Add to that the fact that Ashwin and Kohli aren't performing, and there are no fast bowlers worth selecting that haven't been selected, and you've got quite a problem.

It didn't help that none of the batsmen, Gambhir aside, showed any appetite for the fight in a pressure situation. Sachin's dismissal was especially disappointing. Makes you value a Laxman more than ever.

 

[Epic]

The things I wake up to see... Oh man, really do hope it's the pitch and not our batsmen being total arse.

 

[Aalay]

What the fearsome tweak happened yesterday? I thought our bowlers were suppose to dominate on this turning pitch but it has backfired for us. And here when we were thinking about 4-0, England will beat us in 4 days to level the series. Ashwin and Harbhajan were bowling complete ----.

 

[Paki007]

If they could extend the lead to 100 somehow,I think England will definitely feel the pressure.If Gambhir could play with the tail effectively,they might get there.At the moment it is likely to end as England's Win.

 

[angryangy]

Sehwag is very hit and miss, you know this when selecting him. His 100 set the tone for us in the first game, but his failures in this match did hurt us. It's what you get when you pick him.

It's what you get with any batsman. You can't rely on them to score 100 or even 50. We like to romanticise things and suggest that they have a special power that they can just turn on, but the reality is that it's hard. Almost any batsman can expect to get out for 30 or less most of the time. They might produce some innings back to back if they're going particularly well, but the form of someone like Pujara is just that, good form that does not last. Nobody picks a team expecting so much as a 50 every game from a batsman. It's actually Sehwag who is one of the scarily consistent ones; he has an exceptional ability to get runs in the first or second innings at home. Even then, half the time he does not.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

It's what you get with any batsman. You can't rely on them to score 100 or even 50. We like to romanticise things and suggest that they have a special power that they can just turn on, but the reality is that it's hard. Almost any batsman can expect to get out for 30 or less most of the time. They might produce some innings back to back if they're going particularly well, but the form of someone like Pujara is just that, good form that does not last. Nobody picks a team expecting so much as a 50 every game from a batsman. It's actually Sehwag who is one of the scarily consistent ones; he has an exceptional ability to get runs in the first or second innings at home. Even then, half the time he does not.

You can pick batsmen to rely on them to consistently produce a start, or to see off the new ball. You can't with Sehwag. He's hit or miss. He doesn't do average, he goes big or goes home.

 

[sami ullah khan]

I never thought these days will come. Indians pacers outperformed English fastmen in the first test and this test England Spinners have looked a lot more threatening than Indian spinners. This would have been ridiculous to think ten years ago.

 

[Paki007]

10 Years? Actually i didn't expect it just before the series

 

[Fenil]

Message must have gone to Mahendra: Think before you demand (pitch type).

 

[Aalay]

If they could extend the lead to 100 somehow,I think England will definitely feel the pressure.If Gambhir could play with the tail effectively,they might get there.At the moment it is likely to end as England's Win.

Seeing how Ashwin and Harbhajan bowled in the first inning, I seriously don't think India have any chance to win this. However, I loved Gambhir's inning and I hope he can do better in the rest of the series.

 

[Paki007]

Yeah may be but i think Ashwin is a better bowler than he has been in this match.He can assist Ojha on the 4th day pitch.But seriously very very hard for India to make game out of it

 

[Fenil]

I don't see India getting a 100 run lead but if somehow they get anything over that, it can still be a good target considering how bad the Wankhede pitch has been in the past. Even the mighty Aussies bundled out on 93 in 2004 on this very track. India played 1 seamer and 3 spinners in that game too. I know its too much for the logic but at least Indian team would have something to get motivated from.

 

[Lee1981]

Big shout to Monty, well done my lad, see what happens when you select someone for his bowling and not judge the bowler on his limited batting

Quite clearly you want bowlers to take wickets anything else is a bonus.

Based on this, Broad needs the axe as quite clearly his batting is as over hyped as his bowling.