England in India

[ZoraxDoom]

Powar is also a very good batter:

List A: 557 runs @ 18.56. 1 fifty, highest of 80 not out.
First Class: 2494 runs @ 33.25. 14 fifties, 4 hundreds, higest of 131.

 

[cricket_lover]

But seriously, we have been in such situations before against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa. But we have fought our way out and that too with guys like Dhoni, Pathan, Yuvraj, etc. Remember, this pitch was tougher in the afternoon for batting because of the footmarks created by the Indian bowlers in the first innings and the impact that the ball made on such a dry loose pitch.

Ahh but then you had early morning swing, we had very little if any.

Umpires had a decent game, thought the Indian spinners got away with a few down past the pads though.

you had the advantage of having 4 fast bowlers, and they extracted considerable bounce. There was some movement from Kabir Ali, and sometimes from Anderson as well. There was little movement extracted by the Indians, Pathan did that few times.

Seriously, i would like to see more sportive tracks in India. This particular one offered little help to seamers, and troubled the batsmen as well.

 

[puddleduck]

Sureshot - had Kabir Ali and Anderson shown half the control Pathan and Sreesanth did they may have gotten more rewards. Unfortunately spearing your slower balls and yorkers down the leg-side for all intents and purposes null and voids them.

Do any other England fans think it a tad worrying that Blackwell, is showing more and more signs of not being international class. He really needs to score a 20-50 odd at some stage in this series. Bowling wise he has done ok, but no better than a Sehwag, or Yuvraj, both part-timers by all accounts. Better than Gambhir though

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Gambhir did impress Chappel in the nets though, just couldn't translate it into match situation.
Then again, he was bowling to KP...

Blackie is a pretty good spinner. Giles is gonna find coming back tough, with Panesar in tests and Blackie in ODIs...

 

[puddleduck]

If Giles gets fit anytime soon he will almost certainly be ahead of Panesar in the pecking order for the summer tests if he finds some form and fitness. He brings a lot of balance to the side, allowing Englands longish tail to look a lot shorter. It would also allow Panesar to work on his flight in county cricket for another year. Afterall he has only had one almost full season of cricket.

Blackies alright, but the role he is supposed to be filling, as someone whos main discipline is supposedly his batting, has currently been outshone by both Kumble and Bhaji with the bat.

He keeps it tight, but rarely does he look like getting wickets. If he's not going to look like getting wickets in India of all places, he will struggle elsewhere.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

But if Plunkett makes the test team as a bowler, its almost certain they'll take Panesar over Giles. So if Jones remains injured any longer and if Plunkett shows some form, it will be a while before Giles comes back.
Blackwell hasn't been batting well, agreeded, but there is no certainty that Giles would bat any better. And Giles doesn't spin the ball much, making him less of a threat in ODIs. Atleast Blackwell has that ability to keep it very tight and get a few to spin quite a bit.

 

[cricket_lover]

Gambhir did impress Chappel in the nets though, just couldn't translate it into match situation.
Then again, he was bowling to KP...

Blackie is a pretty good spinner. Giles is gonna find coming back tough, with Panesar in tests and Blackie in ODIs...

Gambhir played a terrible shot. He gets going and then suddenly, plays a terrible shot. Opportunities dont come often, especially in the top order, and he is not making the right use of it. With Sachin making rapid progress, Gambhir may well find himself out of the team soon.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Gambhir played a terrible shot. He gets going and then suddenly, plays a terrible shot. Opportunities dont come often, especially in the top order, and he is not making the right use of it. With Sachin making rapid progress, Gambhir may well find himself out of the team soon.

Umm...I was reffering to his bowling...

 

[cricket_lover]

Umm...I was reffering to his bowling...

oh nvm. :cool: His only over (i believe) went for 13 or so...so yea, not very impressive. His batting was not good either, and its going to hurt India in the future matches if he doesn't play with the right temperament.

 

[Sureshot]

So, do you think you would have cakewalked it had you bowled first.
You did bowl first at Delhi but we all know how you fared agains the spinners in the run chase.
I bet, had England batted second, they would have struggled to get to 200 (hypothetical ) on that slow low wicket.

No, we wouldn't have cakewalked it, we never do in ODIs unless it's vs Ford Open Prison.

If you watched the match

I've watched most days of our Live India tour ZD.

Sureshot - had Kabir Ali and Anderson shown half the control Pathan and Sreesanth did they may have gotten more rewards. Unfortunately spearing your slower balls and yorkers down the leg-side for all intents and purposes null and voids them.

Control of Sreesanth?

I hope you mean his second spell.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I've watched most days of our Live India tour ZD.

So you heard them all calling him Blackie then?

 

[SaiSrini]

So, do you think you would have cakewalked it had you bowled first.
You did bowl first at Delhi but we all know how you fared agains the spinners in the run chase.
I bet, had England batted second, they would have struggled to get to 200 (hypothetical ) on that slow low wicket.

The good thing for India now is that we are learning to win games from a variety of situations and each time a new player is winning matches for us.
In Pakistan and against Sri Lanka it was Sachin,Yuvi,Dhoni,Pathan who did the job at various times.
In this series , so far we have seen Harbhajan,Raina and Dhoni do it for us.

Great signs for Team India which shows that we do not depend on any one player for the results.


I don`t know why th Indian media are going over the top about Indian batting`s failures than the victories.
We (Batting) have just failed in 2 matches in this series and maybe only 3 in the whole season.
Remember, in Pakistan and against Sri Lanka it was our batting which won us matches.

Agree with the whole post!

But still our concern is our top order. Kaif scores a hundred in the practice match but is finding it hard to get a run here! What is happening to him?

Gambhir did impress Chappel in the nets though, just couldn't translate it into match situation.
Then again, he was bowling to KP...

Blackie is a pretty good spinner. Giles is gonna find coming back tough, with Panesar in tests and Blackie in ODIs...

To whoever it is, that over was poor.

why was he preferred ahead of suresh raina for bowling? that questions stumps me! raina has bowling experience but hasnt bowled in international cricket. he ought to be bowled and must be exposed!

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Kaif was unlucky, the ball was a short ball which didn't bounce at all. Quite unlucky, it was the pitch. One of those odd low-keeping balls. He looked very good in defense in the other balls he played.

 

[puddleduck]

Control of Sreesanth?

I hope you mean his second spell.

Quite clearly I do... he was more wayward in his first spell than Jimmy, but in comparison to Kabir he looked like McGrath Even in his first spell however his error was in dropping short, not like Kabir who was spraying them down leg-side, outside off, short and too full. He was spraying in more directions than a garden hose

@ Zorax. Plunkett is a long way away from playing in the test side regularily. Anderson is ahead of him in the pecking order if Jones is injured, and for all Plunketts promise he rarely looks threatening in test cricket at the moment.

Fair enough in the future, like 2/3 years he could well be a regular by which stage Giles would have most likely moved on anyway, but in the next year or two, if fit Giles will play ahead of Panesar. End of the day he provides a bit of everything for England. He ties up an end well, when the pitch turns he does cause problems as well, he can bat more than adequately, is adept at dealing with pressure situations and on top of all that is a quality fielder with a safe pair of hands.

Panesar at the moment only ticks one of those boxes and Fletcher prefers people to tick at least 2 or 3.

 

[cricket_lover]

Agree with the whole post!

But still our concern is our top order. Kaif scores a hundred in the practice match but is finding it hard to get a run here! What is happening to him?



To whoever it is, that over was poor.

why was he preferred ahead of suresh raina for bowling? that questions stumps me! raina has bowling experience but hasnt bowled in international cricket. he ought to be bowled and must be exposed!

nothing is wrong with Kaif. It was just a bad selection there, and the ball kept low. In the first innings, he was run-out.

I think Kaif should come up the order, no.3. There's no point in sending him at no.5. Dravid can take control at the lower order, and can shift gears.