England in India

[cricket_lover]

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Laxman and Kaif both dropped! But fantastic decision! I think Munaf and Irfan are enough to exploit any swing and seam that the pitch might offer on the first two days.. India should hand Piyush Chawla his debut test match. Piyush Chawla is a very promising spinner and an extremely handy batsman lower down the order. Since India are going with only 5 batsman, India should prefer the lower order Chawla to the tail end RP Singh!

Great XII announced by India! Very positive signs!

What is so "fantastic" about the decision?
Laxman/Kaif/both are still in the squad, the team will be finalized tomorrow. They might well face the axe but don't be surprised to see one of them still in the playing eleven.

I agree with the Chawla part. If they plan to go with 5 bowlers, they must as well try Chawla. But that begs the question, Pathan/Muaf/Kumble/Bhajji are not enough to clean out England? Flexibility is good but too much of it might just backfire on the Indians.

What makes you think players like Rahul Sanghvi and Sairaj Bahutule will make it into the English team?

Are they of anyuse outside the subcontinent? What good are they on wickets that dont turn?

Thats where your other abilities that I mentioned above come into action. The fact that Monty Panesar has such a good record on English pitches shows that he is just the man England needed.

Most of us haven't seen Rahul and Bahutule play that much. So what talk about them?
Remember, when there are no opportunities, talent is useless.

There is enough talent in India, for spinners or pace bowlers or anyone. Every player (for that matter every person) is just like a water droplet, at the top of a mountain. It has so much potential energy. When it falls down, energy is lost, very less is used to do work. Same goes with these players. When you do not utilize the talent/skill the players have, to the fullest extent, there is no point in playing. And you can only utilized their talent when you give them opportunities.

By no means can i judge them. Its just a sorry fate of Indian cricket, where talent finds its place in garbage cans.

 

[barmyarmy]

What is so "fantastic" about the decision?
Laxman/Kaif/both are still in the squad, the team will be finalized tomorrow. They might well face the axe but don't be surprised to see one of them still in the playing eleven.

They're not in the XII so neither will be playing presumeably. I'm not suprised India have opted for the dusty pitch and I reckon I'd still play Plunkett over Udal.

 

[SaiSrini]

What is so "fantastic" about the decision?
Laxman/Kaif/both are still in the squad, the team will be finalized tomorrow. They might well face the axe but don't be surprised to see one of them still in the playing eleven.

I agree with the Chawla part. If they plan to go with 5 bowlers, they must as well try Chawla. But that begs the question, Pathan/Muaf/Kumble/Bhajji are not enough to clean out England? Flexibility is good but too much of it might just backfire on the Indians.



Most of us haven't seen Rahul and Bahutule play that much. So what talk about them?
Remember, when there are no opportunities, talent is useless.

There is enough talent in India, for spinners or pace bowlers or anyone. Every player (for that matter every person) is just like a water droplet, at the top of a mountain. It has so much potential energy. When it falls down, energy is lost, very less is used to do work. Same goes with these players. When you do not utilize the talent/skill the players have, to the fullest extent, there is no point in playing. And you can only utilized their talent when you give them opportunities.

By no means can i judge them. Its just a sorry fate of Indian cricket, where talent finds its place in garbage cans.

Seems like you have seen the announcement of the final XII by india? both laxman and kaif do not figure in it... neither does sreesanth.

Playing with 5 bowlers on any Indian wicket is a positive decision! That means the team is looking for means of getting 20 wickets. We know that Pathan, Kumble and Bhajji alone cannot take 20 wickets in a game on any pitch. They need a pitch to their liking, they need the day to be good for them, etc. On their day, they are match winners. But they are not match winners everyday!

In my opinion, its a great decision to drop out both kaif and laxman. unless some one from the team is injured or not fit to take the field, both of them will sit out..

 

[newzolt]

I think Piyush Chawla needs some time before we can expect him to deliver at the international level.Remember he is still an under 19 player.Let him gain experience with the squad.He should play some more domestic cricket before entering the big league or else he might go the way of Parthiv Patel who was selected at a very early age and we all know what's the story thereafter.As once you are dropped from the national squad its very difficult to make a comeback.

 

[cricket_lover]

Seems like you have seen the announcement of the final XII by india? both laxman and kaif do not figure in it... neither does sreesanth.

Playing with 5 bowlers on any Indian wicket is a positive decision! That means the team is looking for means of getting 20 wickets. We know that Pathan, Kumble and Bhajji alone cannot take 20 wickets in a game on any pitch. They need a pitch to their liking, they need the day to be good for them, etc. On their day, they are match winners. But they are not match winners everyday!

In my opinion, its a great decision to drop out both kaif and laxman. unless some one from the team is injured or not fit to take the field, both of them will sit out..

I haven't seen the final XII by India. All cricinfo says is, Laxman and Kaif may well "face the axe"!
Dravid was quite positive with the idea of playing 5 bowlers, but it will only be decided before the match, at the toss.

Australia play with 4 bowlers, most teams play with four bowlers, and also have the luxury of an allrounder.
You will need two pacemen, two spinners and a medium/spin. India has only one paceman, Munaf Patel. Considering Pathan as an all-rounder, like Flintoff, India is definitely short by one more fast-bowler.
Playing three spinners is something tradtional about India, i've got no problems (it really doesn't matter what i think), but in the future, you cannot expect to field three spinners on foreign conditions.

This is something the selection has not considered for the "future". Playing three spinners is a temporary solution. We will need a consistent battery of pacebowlers and spinners, something that India has not produced so far in their cricketing history.

 

[alfa_beta]

Cricket_Lover,
It's official and Laxman, Kaif & Sreesanth have been left out of final 12 - the news is even displayed on BBC.

Regarding pace battery & spin... with folks like RP Singh, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, along with likes of Pathan, Zaheer, Nehra, Balaji, india never had so many options and with likes of Piyush Chawla coming through, even spin department looks fine. I think India is in a decent position and I wouldn't be pessimistic about the future.

 

[SaiSrini]

http://cricket.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1443519.cms

It says the 12 has been finalised. Lets see if RP Singh or Piyush get selected! I think India could have done well had they retained VRV over RP (even though RP has put in good performances!). RP will struggle on docile pitches and we already have Pathan who most of the time, struggles on docile pitches offering little or no help!

Cricket_Lover,
It's official and Laxman, Kaif & Sreesanth have been left out of final 12 - the news is even displayed on BBC.

Regarding pace battery & spin... with folks like RP Singh, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, along with likes of Pathan, Zaheer, Nehra, Balaji, india never had so many options and with likes of Piyush Chawla coming through, even spin department looks fine. I think India is in a decent position and I wouldn't be pessimistic about the future.

And we have our potential fastest bowler "Abid Nabi" coming up (he is travelling with the team now for experience!). So our bowling department has promise. Now they have to be exposed to seperate the men from the boys!

I haven't seen the final XII by India. All cricinfo says is, Laxman and Kaif may well "face the axe"!
Dravid was quite positive with the idea of playing 5 bowlers, but it will only be decided before the match, at the toss.

Australia play with 4 bowlers, most teams play with four bowlers, and also have the luxury of an allrounder.
You will need two pacemen, two spinners and a medium/spin. India has only one paceman, Munaf Patel. Considering Pathan as an all-rounder, like Flintoff, India is definitely short by one more fast-bowler.
Playing three spinners is something tradtional about India, i've got no problems (it really doesn't matter what i think), but in the future, you cannot expect to field three spinners on foreign conditions.

This is something the selection has not considered for the "future". Playing three spinners is a temporary solution. We will need a consistent battery of pacebowlers and spinners, something that India has not produced so far in their cricketing history.

Sreesanth performed well at Nagpur and he is a fast bowler. Munaf is a fast bowlers who will be tested at Mohali. We have two already. Pathan is an all rounder. Kumble and Harbhajan are proven performers. Chawla is waiting in the wings for his chance to glory. So we have a good combination of fast bowlers and spinners. Murali Kartik is still there and might come if we want to look beyond Kumble! There is some left arm spinner by name "Nadeem" or so, He played the U-19 world cup along with Chawla. He is being bracketed as a spinner with good promise too!

 

[Sureshot]

Big game tomorrow (today for some), the argument on Read is interesting, but the noob (sorry forgotten name) Reads batting has improved and is a much better choice than Jones.

Let's say that over a career a difference in averages would be about 5 imo, do those 5 runs justify dropping about a catch an innings maybe 2?

 

[sohum]

Let's say that over a career a difference in averages would be about 5 imo, do those 5 runs justify dropping about a catch an innings maybe 2?

I think that is the key idea that England should consider when determining their match keeper.

I do hope India win the toss and bat tonight, because our weakened batting line-up could crumble under the pressure of a lot of runs. However, playing 5 bowlers will definitely help keep the runs down. I think Piyush Chawla will be blooded in, if only to counter Monty Panesar! But this guy has been making raves in international junior competitions, the most recent being the World Cup. Even Irfan was brought into the team after a successful outing in the U19 world cup, and we haven't turned out too wrong with him.

 

[varunvgiri]

I haven't seen the final XII by India. All cricinfo says is, Laxman and Kaif may well "face the axe"!
Dravid was quite positive with the idea of playing 5 bowlers, but it will only be decided before the match, at the toss.

Australia play with 4 bowlers, most teams play with four bowlers, and also have the luxury of an allrounder.
You will need two pacemen, two spinners and a medium/spin. India has only one paceman, Munaf Patel. Considering Pathan as an all-rounder, like Flintoff, India is definitely short by one more fast-bowler.
Playing three spinners is something tradtional about India, i've got no problems (it really doesn't matter what i think), but in the future, you cannot expect to field three spinners on foreign conditions.

This is something the selection has not considered for the "future". Playing three spinners is a temporary solution. We will need a consistent battery of pacebowlers and spinners, something that India has not produced so far in their cricketing history.

Why should three spinners be played?? Play both RP and Piyush Chawla and drop Harbhajan. The team management is already leaving out a proven performer(Laxman) for poor form. The same is applicable to Harbhajan.

But it is highly unlikely as the team management would be reluctant to play two leg spinners. But that would be the way to go considering the pitch. Pathan may not get much of an assistance i this pitch. So playing another pacer will relieve him of some of the workload. On a dusty pitch Pathan is playing more as the allrounder that a strike force. Also, the Mohali pitch gives bounce, and we all know that RP uses bounce vvery well. So the pitch may suite him.

 

[cricket_lover]

http://cricket.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1443519.cms

It says the 12 has been finalised. Lets see if RP Singh or Piyush get selected! I think India could have done well had they retained VRV over RP (even though RP has put in good performances!). RP will struggle on docile pitches and we already have Pathan who most of the time, struggles on docile pitches offering little or no help!

QUOTE]

We do not know if RPS will struggle on docile pitches, atleast he is not supposed to. Same goes with Pathan or anyother pace bowler, ofcourse there are pitches that are so flat that bowling becomes useless.

Yea, may be they could have retained VRV and went into the match with two pace bowling attack, and two spinners and a medium bowler.

The pitch is very similar to the one played against NZ. So we can expect a run-feast, and hope that spinners can do the job. Like we've seen in the first test, especially from Hoggard and Sreesanth, if you maintain a tight line, and have patience, you are prone to get some rewards.

Couple more hours for the match, though i'm busy with projects/exams

 

[SaiSrini]

15 minutes rain delay... toss to take place at 10:15am local time....

 

[aussie1st]

I take its not very over cast because the English have decided to bat first.

 

[Kratz]

India team:
W Jaffer, V Sehwag, *R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh,
+MS Dhoni, IK Pathan, A Kumble, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh,
MM Patel.

 

[SaiSrini]

Wow... I am happy. Two potentially big debuts today for Munaf and Piyush Chawla. Great to see Chawla in the side and its going to boost his confidence a lot.

The team can now bat till 11 guys! Munaf has scored half century in domestic cricket. ONly weak link is Harbhajan and he too is no much with the bat! And the wicket is not going to be a hard bouncy one. So it will definitely be good for batting. I expect India to do well here. The wicket has bounce certainly and Munaf might just exploit it here!