England in India

[cricket_lover]

interesting team from India,
Agarkar and MP in the team..they're playing 5 bowlers at the expense of Gambhir! We'll see how it goes.

England without Pieterson! huge blow indeed.

 

[s2sschan]

Sehwag CLEAN BOWLED AGAIN!!!
Man! Seems like this guy just can't do anything when the ball moves.

 

[cricket_lover]

Pressure, that does everything, you'll just have to dance to the tune unless you are a brave heart. Sehwag looked abit confident but that was a reckless stance from him, this one nipped back in and went through.

Dravid and Pathan consolidating here, a score of anything above 250 will be tough!

 

[SaiSrini]

A total of 225 or over itself is going to very challenging for the team batting second. The wicket is another disappointing one! Why do these guys prepare such boring wickets? Batting is certainly easier in the first part of the day and India taking advantage of it better than how England did at Faridabad.

Yuvraj and Pathan turning it on! Using the Powerplays brilliantly. I think India can score 250+ here. That can certainly be a winning total here at Goa.

Interesting move there to bring Agarkar for Gambhir! I agree with it! Seeing how Munaf does today must be exciting!

Sehwag CLEAN BOWLED AGAIN!!!
Man! Seems like this guy just can't do anything when the ball moves.

Sehwag has been getting out like that too often these days. Wont the ball move more in the West Indies?

God Save India's top order with Sehwag in it!

And on Ganguly, Srinath said it well

His exclusion might go for reasons beyond cricket"

Edit : Oh no! Pathan plays a poor shot! What was the need for that? Yuvraj effortlessly gets fours at the other end. Pathan should have been more cautious!

 

[siddharth2002]

Well Pathan is gone, he looked too eager to score quickly and I thought a good partnership was developing!!

 

[cricket_lover]

Kaif and Raina need to stay theere, until atleast 40th over.

 

[SaiSrini]

Mohammed Kaif, TAKE A BOW!!!!

Thats another blob this series!! Good job buddy! You might be making Ganguly look in supreme touch!

There goes our Indian top order again!

My current favorite player Suresh Raina comes in! Hope he stays in there with Yuvraj. This is a tough time again and again our batsmen have got in and got out! They have given England some mental hope to fight it out in the middle!

 

[cricket_lover]

Yes, Kaif AND Sehwag. If India wants them out of the team...it should be both of them, though i would feel a bit pity for Kaif. Just three innings shouldn't judge you, unlike Sehwag.

Raina and Yuvi playing it nicely. If they can get to 200 by 42nd over, then we're set for a good total.

 

[SaiSrini]

Yes, Kaif AND Sehwag. If India wants them out of the team...it should be both of them, though i would feel a bit pity for Kaif. Just three innings shouldn't judge you, unlike Sehwag.

Raina and Yuvi playing it nicely. If they can get to 200 by 42nd over, then we're set for a good total.

only 3 innings for kaif?

he has scored just 17 runs from the last 8 innings at an average of 8.23 or so in 2006 against pakistan and england!

he was a flop in pakistan, so far he is a mega flop here! well i doubt sehwag would be under too much pressure today. they dont want to drop both openers sehwag and gambhir. i feel gambhir might be feeling terribly tensed today till the selection news comes out. kaif must also be itching to see his fate.

dropping kaif doesnt mean his career is over. he is a veteran in ODI's. why cant he be rested to get his rhythm and touch back?

 

[puddleduck]

As always Geraint Jones decides to give an opposition batsman a life :

I'm prepared to put my house on the fact that he yet again will not make up for it with the bat... batsman/keeper.... yeah and I'm a 3 legged dog with a 90 mph bouncer.

I do not understand why Prior, who to be fair is probably a slightly worse keeper than Jones, is playing as well as Jones whilst we continue to leave out either an extra spinner or batsman... I reckon England are well on course for an absolute mauling in this game. Something around the 100 run mark is my guess.

 

[cricket_lover]

only 3 innings for kaif?

he has scored just 17 runs from the last 8 innings at an average of 8.23 or so in 2006 against pakistan and england!

he was a flop in pakistan, so far he is a mega flop here! well i doubt sehwag would be under too much pressure today. they dont want to drop both openers sehwag and gambhir. i feel gambhir might be feeling terribly tensed today till the selection news comes out. kaif must also be itching to see his fate.

dropping kaif doesnt mean his career is over. he is a veteran in ODI's. why cant he be rested to get his rhythm and touch back?

So you think getting him out will regain his touch? They did, in pakistan and no! he did not regain touch in ODI's. He needs time in the crease, any batsmen, be it Sehwag or Kaif.

Sehwag has been a mega flop for well over a year now, yet he continues to play, Kaif scored wonderfully well in 2005 with an avg. of 48 or so! Hie is not terribly out of form, he just is lacking that application.

I still don't get this right, Kaif needs to be at the top order. Its like putting Gavaskar at no.6, asking him to whack the bowlers at the end. Now the last three innings are fine...considering Kaif came early than expected but still, you want to use the right person at the right spot.

187/4 in 39 overs. 250 is the least they should be aiming at, right now.

 

[SaiSrini]

well, is this wicket proving the early reports wrong? these two guys are really playing it with amazing ease! but the big thing is, the wicket is turning miles. a really part time spinner like solanki is getting to turn the ball a mile off the wicket.. the wicket is exploding at many times and its definitely tough against the spinners

Oh! Smashing SIX from Yuvraj! Oh! What a gem of a batsman he is! Absolutely breathtaking!

I would say going by how these two are batting, 270 or 280 might be a possibility! Yuvraj is batting superbly and Dhoni and Harbhajan to come, not to forget the potential power hitter, Powar and our very own Agarkar who has batted well in the slog overs before!!

Edit : Oh man! Both batsmen are into the 4th gear! Exciting stuff! India are scoring 8-9 runs almost every over!

 

[puddleduck]

As I said Sai, India to get a good total, and then their spin attack will take over and England will collapse without Pietersen and playing what is essentially a pretty poor batting lineup

 

[SaiSrini]

What an over!!! WOW WOW WOW!!!

22 runs!! Two 6's and Two 4's!!! Yuvraj is over 80 now. Is 300 a possibility now? I think YES! Horrible captaincy from Flintoff retaining Sajid Mahmood who is struggling to complete a full over!

Another four, Yuvraj on fire here at Goa!!!! This is scintillating batting! This is what we wanted to see! Being treated here to the fullest!

 

[sohum]

Brilliant 20+ run over from Yuvraj. I think it is a bit unfair to judge Kaif as being out of form. I didn't see dismissal, but it may have been the first where he was actually thought out. It's kind of unlucky for him that he has not managed to get off the mark, since his luck has run out (pun intended?) right at the start of his innings.

Raina and Yuvraj are creaming the English bowling. What I can't understand is why Anderson, who had good figures of about 7 overs for 24, is not being bowled his full quota. He had three overs left, and surely one would expect Flintoff to bowl him for 46, 48, 50. But still no signs of that.