India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[sohum]

getting a wicket will always put a break on the scoring rate even if the bowler goes for 8-10 runs. The decisions that i had suggested wuld have been taken by any good skipper , as it was quite clear nothing was happening for india.

That is a statement Arun Lal would have been proud of. Also, I think you are again incorrectly assuming that the decisions you suggest were the right ones. I of course cannot prove it, but you are using your gut instinct just as Dravid used his. He was the one playing there, knowing the conditions, etc. In fact, if anything, I would go with his gut instinct instead of yours.

I am not assuming anything , it is a fact . Nobody knows what would have happened if dravid had taken those decisions and now we will never know but atleast dravid would have explored all the possibilities of success .When you do not take some decisions(even though it was possible for you to take that decision) and leave some stones unturned then it is something you have to think about.

Well obviously when you make a choice, you are neglecting other ones. How do you know that exploring another path wouldn't result in a 20 run over? The bottom-line is you don't. So my point is Dravid isn't the biggest reason we lost the first ODI--it was there easily better bowling. And also as the last two games showed, the conditions suited them better.

And about rohit . That is not thinking on your feet.It is something routine any captain does .An unknow quantity for oppostion ?maybe he will surprise them , let's see .That is the routine thinking .It is not a git feeling . it would be nice if you refrain from making personal comments .:

Really? I don't think it is exactly routine to throw the ball to a debutant with 2 overs to go and the match being tight. Maybe in the middle overs--but at a crucial juncture like that? I didn't agree with that decision from Dravid. But that still doesn't mean that your claim that Dravid "doesn't think on his feet" and goes "by the book" is correct. In fact, giving it to Tendulkar would be going by the book. History has shown that Tendulkar gets the crucial wickets, even though he is a little expensive. I wish Dravid had gone a little more by the book.

And about the personal comments. If you think that we lost the match primarily because of Dravid's captaincy and not because the conditions suited their better bowlers, then I will just have to read your posts with a pinch of salt to account for the bias you have against the man.

And finally, do you give Dravid credit for tossing Yuvraj the ball in the 2nd and 3rd ODIs? He bowled pretty well. Or is Dravid's performance as captain only restricted to the sub-zero ratings?

 

[zub2005]

getting a bit heated there. india won, they played well in the 3rd odi and now shoukld hopefully go in to the england series wit a lot more confidence.; they play suusex on saturday, should be good to see how they play out of the one day form of the game

 

[SaiSrini]

Buoyed Indian team reaches London
http://cricket.indiatimes.com/Buoyed_Indian_team_reaches_London/articleshow/2173739.cms

This is going to be a defining tour for the whole team. If they can win the series here (tests and ODI's), we can surely make out that they have fully redeemed themselves. Also, this is going to be the last tour to England for many of the senior players and they will be hungry to finish it off on a high!

But England under Micheal Vaughan are going to be really tough opposition. Last time when we drew the series with them in England, they were not as strong as they are now! And we havent improved from what we were in 2002.

 

[sohum]

I think there are problems for both teams. India would hope that the English batsmen carry their low-confidence from the Windies ODI series into the test matches.

Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble and Ganguly are probably on their last tour of England, and they would ideally want to make it perfect. But I know it never works like that.

 

[Will_NA]

I think there are problems for both teams. India would hope that the English batsmen carry their low-confidence from the Windies ODI series into the test matches.

Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble and Ganguly are probably on their last tour of England, and they would ideally want to make it perfect. But I know it never works like that.

It doesn't work like that. Why would we have low confidence. It isn't even 1-1

We know we are a stronger Test Team so this won't faze up too much. Plus, the inclusion of Flintoff will be a big boost mentally and cricket-wise

 

[sohum]

It doesn't work like that. Why would we have low confidence. It isn't even 1-1

We know we are a stronger Test Team so this won't faze up too much. Plus, the inclusion of Flintoff will be a big boost mentally and cricket-wise

True, also we are coming off an ODI series and it may time to adjust. I still think there is some effect, however small, of not playing well in an ODI series and then going into a test series. And it's not yet 1-1 technically but at 170/7 I don't see Mascarenhas and the tail pulling them out of trouble.

Your test team is definitely stronger than your ODI team but I think (or hope) the conditions will be far more well-suited for batting and given that both teams have strong batting line-ups, it should be a grueling series. Also, one would expect Panesar to have less of an effect, and he had quite an effect in the West Indies series.

 

[Will_NA]

We've played pretty well!

Give us some credit. We won the 1st game convincingly and there is a game left!

Hopefully, we will produce seaming tracks with little spin. We can't make you feel at home

 

[manee]

The test series will be very intriguing. England are still a force in tests and at home are one of the best. Their batting in English conditions is the best. India must rely on their famed spin playing ability against Monty who is England's main bowler still. Hopefully Sidebottom will not pose too much of a threat as India have combatted Chaminda Vaas without too much trouble and many would have practised in nets against Pathan, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and Nehra. Steep bounce seems to be India's main concern and this is a massive problem since both Harmison and Flintoff can generate this. The main way in my opinion to face this sort of bowling is to have a plan beforehand whether to hook it or duck it, since this will reduce fends to the close fielders.

Manee the India fan says an India series win, but I feel that England pose too much of a threat in the batting AND bowling department in test matches and that India have inexperienced bowlers who must prove themselves. I have faith in India scoring 400s in the series, but then I also believe England could probably amass 500 on the same pitch.

 

[sohum]

We've played pretty well!

Give us some credit. We won the 1st game convincingly and there is a game left!

Hopefully, we will produce seaming tracks with little spin. We can't make you feel at home

By most accounts it seems that the batsmen didn't look at home. But I can't say because Star Cricket is an elusive prey for me.

Seaming tracks are about the only thing that can save our little band of "pace bowlers". In fact, if you produce batting pitches, you'll more likely score more runs than us given that Stephen Harmison bowls them short.

Manee the India fan says an India series win, but I feel that England pose too much of a threat in the batting AND bowling department in test matches and that India have inexperienced bowlers who must prove themselves. I have faith in India scoring 400s in the series, but then I also believe England could probably amass 500 on the same pitch.

A series win would be a bonus especially given that it's such a short series. I'm looking for some promising performances and some (happy) tearful farewells.

 

[Will_NA]

We have to win the toss and bat first as that is what we do best and we don't want to face Kumble on the last day.

 

[sohum]

Anyone know if Piyush and the other "ODI specialists" have already been sent back? I, for one, would like Chawla around the tour just so that he can observe Kumble.

 

[Cricketman]

Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble and Ganguly are probably on their last tour of England, and they would ideally want to make it perfect. But I know it never works like that.

I don't think the triplets are going to be on there last run. They all seem confident to play till, or close to, 2011.
Kumble, yes, perhaps.

 

[sohum]

I don't think the triplets are going to be on there last run. They all seem confident to play till, or close to, 2011.
Kumble, yes, perhaps.

Triplets?

Dunno. When would the next tour of England be scheduled anyway? It seems the last one was about 5 years back. I think we'll eventually see a few guys put in good performances in the ODI's and force their way in.

 

[SaiSrini]

A series win would be a bonus especially given that it's such a short series. I'm looking for some promising performances and some (happy) tearful farewells.

Tearful farewells? Why? I dont think this would be their last international tour. Would be their last to England. Even Kumble, he probably wont retire until we face Australia!

I don't think the triplets are going to be on there last run. They all seem confident to play till, or close to, 2011.
Kumble, yes, perhaps.

Thats a joke! Dravid has said that this is his last tour to England and wants to finish on a high. The next tour to England is in July 2011 as per ICC's Future tours and events. Even if they decide to play till World Cup 2011, the World Cup 2011 is in Feb-March 2011

 

[BigCrickNan]

Tearful farewells? Why? I dont think this would be their last international tour. Would be their last to England. Even Kumble, he probably wont retire until we face Australia!

He meant last tour of England. I agree with him - Dravid and Ganguly have good memories of England way back since 1996.