England in India

[alfa_beta]

Wow!!! Let me get this straight - India wins because they get lucky and England wins coz they play better and deserve to??? Maybe India have won their last 16 matches, out of 21, because they were "lucky" :

No wonder English team and fans are not liked... maybe it's due to people like you. By the way, ever heard the saying "Luck favors the brave"???

Even after yesterday's performance I would stand by my words.

It wasnt as if India won the match on thier merit instead England lost it. Even Bangladesh wouldnt have lost it after that partnership between Flintoff and Pieterson.

Of all the wickets that the "great" Harbhajan took none (except for Jones maybe) was deserved.It was just that both India and Harbhajan got lucky.

Now I seem to pity with Ganguly,if he cant play on the basis of performance,fitness and attitude then surely Sehwag cant as well.Even after continous failures he still maintains he is in form and just an innings away from form of late.Unfittest of all in the Indian team now what is he doing in the team even after 34 innings without a century and no worthwile performance in over an year.

Next match India should go in with 5 bowlers maybe even two offspinners.

Hope Dravid learns from the Delhi match .

I know dude... when India were batting and Gambhir got out against the run of play - after hitting a 6 and a 4, and Yuvraj played on to the stumps, that was bad luck for India. But as per Eng fans, like Ronnie, Eng "deserved" the wickets and were not lucky. But when Harbhajan made Eng lineup look like novices, it's "luck"

Amazing standards of hypocrisy set by some Eng fans

And one more thing was that, until Flintoff and Pietersen carted the Indian bowlers, the pitch didnt look that tough for batting. They were batting as if it was a flat wicket. So I would credit the Indian bowlers along with our captain for the victory!

 

[hondeyho]

I don't really think it's being hypocritical, it's naturally how an England fan would want to feel if their team had lost - try and put India down and call them lucky.

Indian fans will probably do the same if England level the series in the next game.

 

[BigCrickNan]

I don't think Plunkett should play in the next game... we could of had India for about 180 but he bowled a lot of bad balls to Dhoni and Bhaji. Hoggard in for him !

 

[hondeyho]

Plunkett for me has been a real dissapointment after what looked to be a promising start in Pakistan. He needs to have a good county season to convince the selectors to play him again.

Plunkett for me has been a bit like Ian Bell in the Ashes - useless

 

[BigCrickNan]

Plunkett needs another CC season for sure, and maybe back-up for the Ashes. But we need our best bowlers now as we are 1-0 down.

 

[alfa_beta]

This is exactly what being hypocritical is all about - having one yardstick for your opponents and another one for your team.

I didn't hear many indian fans come here and say England were lucky to win the 3rd test and draw the series coz Dravid decided to field, Tendulkar & Sehwag got injured, or that Indian batsmen threw their wickets away.

I don't really think it's being hypocritical, it's naturally how an England fan would want to feel if their team had lost - try and put India down and call them lucky.

Indian fans will probably do the same if England level the series in the next game.

I would get Hoggard for Blackwell as Blackwell doesn't look like a bowler who can take wickets. He got away the last time round coz India had lost half their side before he came on to bowl. But I shudder to think what will happen to him in the series when he comes in to bowl once India has a decent start.

I don't think Plunkett should play in the next game... we could of had India for about 180 but he bowled a lot of bad balls to Dhoni and Bhaji. Hoggard in for him !

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Nice to see the turbanator back. And our tail is getting even deeper. If only our top order could pay attention...
Gambhir reminds me of Imran Farhat. Except Farhat falls to the pull, Gambhir falls to the slash outside off.

 

[alfa_beta]

Yup, if indian top order gets back in form, it will be a very tough side to beat. As for Gambhir, he doesn't inspire confidence in me. He gets out in 20s and 30s far too often for my liking. Maybe, Chappell should have a stern word with him and tell him in no uncertain terms that as a top order batsman, he is expected to get big totals and not 20's and 30's; failing which, he will be dropped.

 

[puddleduck]

Plunkett needs another CC season for sure

Without doubt. He is still very inexperienced and they must make sure not to "pull a Jimmy" on him. Promising start but then spends a whole season carrying drinks.

He needs a good solid season of bowling, getting a chance to bowl on different wickets in different situations.

Certainly has talent and a bagful of promise, but talks of him being another allrounder are a little premature, his batting looks distinctly ordinary against quality spin, and his bowling is a little varied in terms of length.

As long as he keeps some consistent cricket under his belt over the next year or two, he should develop nicely.

@ Alfa Beta. You have to remember that England did mostly the same thing in the 2nd test so in the end it was a fair result.

Also in the ODI with victory in sight, the English batsman decided that they would practice their sweeps and turned a stroll to victory into a pressure situation and then collapsed. They for all intents and purposes got themselves into the mess and once there India pounced. Do not however construe that as taking anything away from India, throughout that game they showed character and heart. They could easily have collapsed to 150-160 all out, but through Bhaji reached a defendable score. Then with England crusing they could have let their heads drop and go through the motions, but instead kept thinking and when their chances came, they made the most of them.

The luck part comes from being given that chance in the first place, but at the end of the day, Cricket is more often than not about seizing chances when you get them, and India did.

 

[cricket_lover]

India may not make much changes to their line-up...except Sreesanth who may be replaced by MP. Sehwag will be under pressure and all eyes will be on him.

 

[sohum]

Is there anyone in our team who is capable of replacing Sehwag, though? I don't think we chose another opener in our 14 or 16 or whatever it was.

 

[donkey]

India may not make much changes to their line-up...except Sreesanth who may be replaced by MP. Sehwag will be under pressure and all eyes will be on him.

Me too wanna see Munaf and VRV bowl side by side, but Sreesanth is a future prospect aswell. We cant just overlook his brilliant performance against Pakistan and England because we have Munaf now.

Is there anyone in our team who is capable of replacing Sehwag, though? I don't think we chose another opener in our 14 or 16 or whatever it was.

Ganguly perhaps, he used to open for us.

 

[cricket_lover]

Yep. Ganguly's decline started when he relinquished that role to Tendulkar/Sehwag. When he comes back (if), he may want to get back to opening or 1 down.

For now though, there's no real replacement. Also, why does Dravid come 1 down? Kaif is the best man for that job, as dravid (now) is capable of some big hits in the end. Kaif's potential is just being wasted..coming at no. 5 or 6.

 

[ronny_kingsley]

@ronny
So you are giving no credit to the Indian bowlers for taking English wickets, but are you giving credit to the English bowlers for taking the Indian wickets? If I remember correctly, apart from Dravid, all the Indian wickets were gifted away too. So what makes you say that England deserve to win the match more? India gave up their wickets, England gave up their wickets. But India made more.

No way am I saying that but England bowlers thought out some wickets like Sehwag.

Infact Indians took 2 wickets to thier credit (Pathan's wickets) and England just one of Sehwag.

But the Poms played well (scoring till pieterson's wicket) but Indians never looked like hey would score runs that easily.

Indians had to go for thier shots as they were behind the runrate and all that stuff but the Poms they just didnt need to still they created harakiri and gifted thier wickets for no apparent reason.

Wow!!! Let me get this straight - India wins because they get lucky and England wins coz they play better and deserve to??? Maybe India have won their last 16 matches, out of 21, because they were "lucky" :

No wonder English team and fans are not liked... maybe it's due to people like you. By the way, ever heard the saying "Luck favors the brave"???



I know dude... when India were batting and Gambhir got out against the run of play - after hitting a 6 and a 4, and Yuvraj played on to the stumps, that was bad luck for India. But as per Eng fans, like Ronnie, Eng "deserved" the wickets and were not lucky. But when Harbhajan made Eng lineup look like novices, it's "luck"

Amazing standards of hypocrisy set by some Eng fans

I am an out and out Indian fan if you dont know.

Indians won 16 of thier 21 matches when we had a balanced team not because of the luck favour.

Gambhir and Yuraj wickets were unlucky . Quite a joke .They were out due to thier technical discrepancies.

Again when Pieterson-Flintoff partnership was going they needed runs at 4 rpo.STill they went bersek as if to win inside 40 overs.If they would have played somewhat wisely they wouldnt have lost it .

None of them went to good balls. Everyone was out trying to hit sixes .

SOURCE : CRICINFO

Fall of wickets and how were they out :


Andrew Strauss c Dhoni b Pathan 0 (0 for 1)
Grazed edge to keeper

Owais Shah lbw b Pathan 4 (4 for 2)
Booming inswinger, struck on knee-roll

Matt Prior c Gambhir b Harbhajan 22 (57 for 3)
Top-edged sweep to backward square leg

Kevin Pietersen c Gambhir b Yuvraj 46 (117 for 4)
Hoisted full-toss to deep midwicket

Andrew Flintoff lbw b Harbhajan 41 (117 for 5)
Sweeping, struck in line

Geraint Jones b Harbhajan (120 for 6)
Yorked by flighted delivery

Ian Blackwell c Gambhir b Harbhajan 10 (137 for 7)
Swept high to deep midwicket, superbly judged catch inside rope

Paul Collingwood c Kaif b Harbhajan 8 (141 for 8)
Flicked to leg, brilliant take under the helmet

Kabir Ali lbw b Yuvraj 0 (142 for 9)
Topspinner fizzed into pads

Liam Plunkett c Dhoni b Pathan (164 for 10)
Thin steer to keeper

 

[maniac]

2nd ODI changes

India : RP Singh out FOR MUNAF/VRV
RAINA out for GANGULY ( WISHFUL THINKING) /Powar

England : anderson out for hoggard
plunkett out for monty( England needs to have a spinner in there)

I think this match is is going to be very entertaining