England in India

[puddleduck]

Freddie's gone. Solanki has got a once in a life time opportunity to become a fixture in this team.

Except he is, never was, and never will be anywhere near good enough

 

[Eddie]

Excellent knock by Collingwood (93), giving some respectability to the score

 

[sharathu7]

Another Great win for India :happy

Stars of the Game

Yuvraj-103(76)

Pathan-10-0-51-4

Raina-61(67)

Collingwood-93(84)

Flintoff-9-0-56-3

 

[sohum]

Sohummisra, you are forgetting my mammoth post from earlier in the thread explaining why England really aren't playing this series with winning it as their main aim.

They are still trying to find their 5th bowler, so that meant giving Mahmood and Plunkett a bowl in the last 10 to see how they handled the pressure situation. They know what Jimmy and Freddie can do, so instead of doing what might serve best at the moment, they did what answers most questions regarding the world cup.

It is why they have continued to play 2 keepers, and still refused to play the 2nd spinner.

No one's forgotten your post--it is just that no one agrees with England's policy (who is continuing to bring it up, for example myself). England cannot continue to concentrate their cricket playing around two events (the Ashes and the World Cup). Before the test series, I read one of the English fans writing that it didn't really matter what happened in this series, as it was all just preparation for next year's Ashes. That is absurd thinking, and it is what causes England to get into trouble most of the time.

Secondly, I think England are making a huge mistake by telling all their junior and upcoming players the following: "You can do whatever the hell you please, but we have already selected our team for the World Cup." Giving up an ODI series to find a fifth bowler is hardly a fair trade-off. I think it is unfair--even unsportsmanlike--to not play the best XI you can field. And you are treating all the cricketers who have finally got lucky to be on the squad due to injuries like ****.

And finally, interesting stereotype that everyone in the subcontinent considers ODI cricket superior to test cricket, when most of the mature Indian fans on this forum consider the latter to be a greater form of cricket. England, like India, have struggled in alien conditions. And if they want to beat Australia, they certainly need to improve their attitude from "we're missing half our team, we might as well experiment" to "we're missing half our team, but let's see if we can give this hyped-up team a run for their money".

 

[Skater]

It's fair to say that this tour has been a bit of a mess. Nagpur test match was great to see, the teams there were like two dogs who had been on a lead for so long and had just been released to each other. There I felt that England could match India.
At Mohali the conditions were poor. England threw it all away, and crumbled under the Indians' constant challenging in my opinion.
The third test was even until the last morning. Shaun Udal, who I have never rated, did it for us with some magical bowling.
The one-day international series is too long in my opinion. Seven matches?! Three one-day internationals and four tests is the ideal tour if you ask me. Anyway, we clearly should have won the first match but India outplayed us in the second and third. Three matches gone, and FOUR to go!!!
Now we just need to get this series over with, get the players back home, recharge the batteries, and be ready for Sri Lanka on Thursday May 11.

 

[gaurav_indian]

Indian team announced for the rest 4 ODI's only one change,Gambhir out Robin Utthappa in.

 

[icyman]

Utthappa would be a delight.I have seen him in action.He his a real hard hitter of the ball and can hit it a long way.

 

[Sureshot]

No one's forgotten your post--it is just that no one agrees with England's policy (who is continuing to bring it up, for example myself). England cannot continue to concentrate their cricket playing around two events (the Ashes and the World Cup). Before the test series, I read one of the English fans writing that it didn't really matter what happened in this series, as it was all just preparation for next year's Ashes. That is absurd thinking, and it is what causes England to get into trouble most of the time.

Secondly, I think England are making a huge mistake by telling all their junior and upcoming players the following: "You can do whatever the hell you please, but we have already selected our team for the World Cup." Giving up an ODI series to find a fifth bowler is hardly a fair trade-off. I think it is unfair--even unsportsmanlike--to not play the best XI you can field. And you are treating all the cricketers who have finally got lucky to be on the squad due to injuries like ****.

And finally, interesting stereotype that everyone in the subcontinent considers ODI cricket superior to test cricket, when most of the mature Indian fans on this forum consider the latter to be a greater form of cricket. England, like India, have struggled in alien conditions. And if they want to beat Australia, they certainly need to improve their attitude from "we're missing half our team, we might as well experiment" to "we're missing half our team, but let's see if we can give this hyped-up team a run for their money".

Treating the newcomers like ****?

Coming from an Indian of which death threats to the players happens, is very hypocritical.

ODIs suck, Tests will always be the priority.

 

[harishankar]

This is a great series for India. We are reinforcing our ODI strength by fielding a lot of youngsters, particularly in the bowling department.

The only concern is the brittle top order. In spite of Yuvraj's century today, Sehwag remains a worry. And Dravid is expected to do too much in every game. Kaif's woeful batting form is another cause for concern.

The positives for India - performance of Raina with the bat and Ramesh Powar and the seamers... Agarkar looked focussed in this game. Looks like he wants a place in the Indian team badly.

 

[sharathu7]

Yes uthappa is an hard hitter.it will delight to see him in batting

 

[ZoraxDoom]

But if England are experimenting, and just do well in the World Cup and Ashes, so that means they don't care if they end up lying last in the Test and ODI tables and become regarded by all teams as whipping boys unless you are Australia or per 4 years??
Geez, great policy guys. Meanwhile, the rest of us like idiots try and strive to come on top of the table and make players work hard to earn a spot in the team and just experiment in dead rubbers...

 

[Sureshot]

Bottom of the test table?

Doubt that will ever happen unless they introduced a 3 tier test system.
Remember as well we are missing, Tres, KP, Harmison, Jones and as he would've played in this one imo Hoggy.

coming from an Indian of which death threats to the players happens, is very hypocritical.

Btw, Sohummisra, that wasn't implicating you.


---------

Oh and whoever gave me the bad rep with the comment, 'just sour grapes' has it wrong.

I never expected us to win, And I don't care for ODIs.

 

[puddleduck]

They care about test cricket and work hard at their games in test cricket. It is only the Odi arena where they experiment. In fact they often use the Odi arena to give a possible test prospect a game or two in the international arena and gain an idea on their temperment before playing a test match. Bottom line is if you are missing 7 out of 11 possible first team players what else is their to do but experiment?

It is not even like you have much of a core of the team or a couple of experienced players to guide them through. It is experimenting, but they have been forced to do so. They do not have any choice in the matter.

Indian fans may not like the fact that England are missing key players, but it is simply fact. Nothing however that India can do about that, and they still have to beat what is in front of them, something they have done with style.

As much as you dislike the stereotype Sohum, and fair enough there are going to be a fair amount of fans in India that like test cricket, you merely have to look at how packed the grounds are for the Odi series to see that the percentage of odi cricket fans in India far outweighs the test cricket fans. I am not saying their is anything wrong with it, it is just a different culture to many of the sides outside the sub-continent and where tests are the most important for teams like England and Australia, the one dayers take precedence in places like India and Pakistan.

Again Zorax, just because they are experimenting does mean they do not think they can be competitive, had all the players given a try turned out to be superstars then noone would say anything, but they are not, and as such England have struggled.

I think the fact that England have moved to 2nd in the test rankings in the last 2 years is more than proof that they are a side that have improved steadily in the test arena. In Odi however they have been pretty poor and no amount of experimenting has altered that. On their day they can beat anyone, as they showed against the Aussies, however more often than not they collapse under pressure.

Oh and since they are running out of time before the World Cup, what is wrong with trying to find out who the 5th bowler will be before it gets too late? India is a great place to find out their temperment in conditions heat wise that will resemble the carribean. Once that fifth bowler is sorted, and the rest of the players have returned for the summer, England will be able to play as close to their full-strenth side as possible for the remaining Odi series.

 

[BigCrickNan]

Treating the newcomers like ****?

Coming from an Indian of which death threats to the players happens, is very hypocritical.

ODIs suck, Tests will always be the priority.

That's the problem though, Tests are getting lesser and ODI's increasing. 4 tests and 5 odi's would be good, but 3 and 7 is just stupid.

 

[SaiSrini]

Excellent win for India! Though I wasnt happy that they gave Collingwood 93 runs... Should have finished it early. The wicket was better than Faridabad and Delhi. It produced 250+ scores (the second one, almost!).

3-0 up! 1 more win to seal the series! Will we do it at Kochi itself? Thats how we have been doing these days! We sealed it 4-0 against Sri Lanka. We sealed it 3-1 against Pakistan after losing the first one! India is starting to maul other nations in the ODI's. It would be a dream if we can replicate this form in the test matches. If that happens, we can dream of being the best in the world sooner than later!

I am very happy with the selection of Uthapa. I got the feeling Kaif will be saved because of today's display and the fact that Raina is consistent, Yuvraj is also consistent (I mean he looked dangerous at faridabad before he tried to get cute!), Dravid is ever reliable, Pathan bats superbly whenever he comes to No.3, etc. So Kaif can keep working in the rest of the four matches for his form. I feel now India need to work on Kaif and Sehwag and let them play the rest of the games to have them get back to form. Here is my team for the next game

V.Sehwag
R.Utthapa
Md. Kaif
Y.Singh
R.Dravid
S.Raina
MS Dhoni
I Pathan
R Powar
H Singh
M Patel

Would be a great team! Watching Sehwag and Utthapa together will be a delight. Both hard hitters!

They care about test cricket and work hard at their games in test cricket. It is only the Odi arena where they experiment. In fact they often use the Odi arena to give a possible test prospect a game or two in the international arena and gain an idea on their temperment before playing a test match. Bottom line is if you are missing 7 out of 11 possible first team players what else is their to do but experiment?

It is not even like you have much of a core of the team or a couple of experienced players to guide them through. It is experimenting, but they have been forced to do so. They do not have any choice in the matter.

Indian fans may not like the fact that England are missing key players, but it is simply fact. Nothing however that India can do about that, and they still have to beat what is in front of them, something they have done with style.

As much as you dislike the stereotype Sohum, and fair enough there are going to be a fair amount of fans in India that like test cricket, you merely have to look at how packed the grounds are for the Odi series to see that the percentage of odi cricket fans in India far outweighs the test cricket fans. I am not saying their is anything wrong with it, it is just a different culture to many of the sides outside the sub-continent and where tests are the most important for teams like England and Australia, the one dayers take precedence in places like India and Pakistan.

Again Zorax, just because they are experimenting does mean they do not think they can be competitive, had all the players given a try turned out to be superstars then noone would say anything, but they are not, and as such England have struggled.

I think the fact that England have moved to 2nd in the test rankings in the last 2 years is more than proof that they are a side that have improved steadily in the test arena. In Odi however they have been pretty poor and no amount of experimenting has altered that. On their day they can beat anyone, as they showed against the Aussies, however more often than not they collapse under pressure.

Oh and since they are running out of time before the World Cup, what is wrong with trying to find out who the 5th bowler will be before it gets too late? India is a great place to find out their temperment in conditions heat wise that will resemble the carribean. Once that fifth bowler is sorted, and the rest of the players have returned for the summer, England will be able to play as close to their full-strenth side as possible for the remaining Odi series.

ODI cricket is the more entertaining form of cricket anywhere? Do you seriously say in England and Australia, more people come to watch test cricket than ODI's? Yeah ok since the Ashes is highly popular, may be. But take the rest of the nations. ODI cricket is preferred to watch because its over in a single day. The action is in fast forward mode. Sixes, fours, etc are delightful to watch for the eye. But that doesnt make ODI cricket less important!