India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[sohum]

Well, i always say, i have no trust in Indian bowlers We should have had Harbhajan as the only spinner in playing XI in ODIs. Pyiush needs to learn more varieties.

I really don't see why you're taking a dig at Piyush. He dismissed KP with his second ball right through bat and pad and into the stumps. He bowled well on an absolutely perfect batting pitch where just pitching the ball half a foot too short or too full would get it murdered. The fast outfield didn't help matters either. There is no point in sending Piyush back to learn more variations if he cannot settle down with his current set of deliveries in the international games. I'm sure he is working on a lot more deliveries but they are just not ready for international cricket. He has already shown that he is good enough to dismantle opposition in the Under-19's, the 'A' tournaments and even the Ranji. The next step up is international cricket and if we keep chopping and changing our gameplan regarding him, I think it could hit him hard mentally.

You imagine Flintoff taking quick singles and twos.

Well if he cannot run between the wickets then his position in the team should be seriously questioned.

 

[legspinner@fred]

He can, and has done, but again, in that situation he wouldn't play like that.
That was Ian Bells job.
If they were both nudging the ball a bit, where would the runs come from, Bell must of said to Flintoff 'You attack, i'll stay here'.

 

[BigCrickNan]

...because Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Dhoni shudder at the prospect of facing spinners? And Yuvraj's old-fashioned slog-sweep against the slow left arm orthodox would have been very much on? I think England actually limited damage by not playing Panesar. It's not as easy as saying Indian spinners were successful hence Panesar would have been successful.

I don't know. But with a pitch accepting spin i'd expect him to go at less than 8.11.

 

[Adarsh]

I don't know. But with a pitch accepting spin i'd expect him to go at less than 8.11.

The England team could have hardly predicted he'd be that expensive.

 

[angryangy]

He can, and has done, but again, in that situation he wouldn't play like that.
That was Ian Bells job.
If they were both nudging the ball a bit, where would the runs come from, Bell must of said to Flintoff 'You attack, i'll stay here'.

Therein may lie one of their problems. Australian batsmen make a habit of attacking with quick singles. Boundaries are important, but most of the shots in any decent innings ought to be ones and twos. When you think about it, it's pretty easy to subside off ones and twos. Three singles and a two per over - plus inevitable sundries, that's a good run rate, for minimal risk. Add in the punishment of the odd bad balls and it's a very good run rate.

To get into the mainstream of conversation, this is, I suggest, conclusive proof that we'll see Monty back next match.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,,22307321-23212,00.html

In my opinion, if a spinner, his captain, or his selectors show fear, then they will all lose. A good spinner must be prepared to bowl risk deliveries, his captain must be prepared for this and so must the blokes picking the team. It is, of course, just plain silly to pick an ODI side without slow bowlers for the reason of over rates, but if you're not absolutely confident in your best three right-arm fast medium pace bowlers, what is the fourth one going to bring to the party? Unless you expect something special in the pitch, I just don't understand it. On a batsman's pitch, variety is key.

 

[sohum]

He can, and has done, but again, in that situation he wouldn't play like that.
That was Ian Bells job.
If they were both nudging the ball a bit, where would the runs come from, Bell must of said to Flintoff 'You attack, i'll stay here'.

He faced exactly 7 balls. No one is expected to come in and smacking every ball especially when there are 40% of the overs in the innings still remaining. 20 overs may not seem like very much because of Twenty20 cricket, but it is still just a little less than half the match. Flintoff should have spent a couple of overs playing himself in and understanding all the variations Powar brings to the table and then I'm sure he would be able to take him out of the ground. It was not an intelligent shot from Flintoff whatsoever, especially since had faced less than an over. It was good thinking from Powar to flight it up and tempt Flintoff because he knew that the latter would not be able to help himself.

I don't know. But with a pitch accepting spin i'd expect him to go at less than 8.11.

I would personally like to see Panesar play. But the main reason for that is I want to see how Sachin would play him when it came to ODI's. We saw him sit back and take the passive role in the tests but I'm sure he would go after Panesar in the ODI's.

 

[manee]

I hope Tendulkar plays a few more big innings in the series because watching him bat was brilliant, a total masterclass. The total opposite to Ganguly who seems to be grinding out runs even when he is scoring at a good rate like yesterday.

 

[legspinner@fred]

He faced exactly 7 balls. No one is expected to come in and smacking every ball especially when there are 40% of the overs in the innings still remaining. 20 overs may not seem like very much because of Twenty20 cricket, but it is still just a little less than half the match. Flintoff should have spent a couple of overs playing himself in and understanding all the variations Powar brings to the table and then I'm sure he would be able to take him out of the ground. It was not an intelligent shot from Flintoff whatsoever, especially since had faced less than an over. It was good thinking from Powar to flight it up and tempt Flintoff because he knew that the latter would not be able to help himself.

His batting career revolves around attacking from ball one, he hit his first ball for 4, it's paid off for a while, i'm happy if he continues.
It wasn't the right ball to attack but that was a mistake, and Flintoff will have to learn how to start against spinners.

 

[Simbazz]

LS@F, Flintoff already knows how to play the spinners, or are you forgetting those 6's off Warne in 2005?

The reason he isnt batting to standard at the moment, is its been a while, c'mon, he needs a couple of innings to get his head in. AND, the first ball was a little too wide, and even Panesar could have slapped it away, so that wasnt much.

 

[legspinner@fred]

Ah yeah but had he gone for the drive and nicked it behind people would of said that it was a stupid shot, people always do, one of my pet hates that.

Freddie knows how to play spin, but starting against spin when your out of form (Which Flintoff is) is difficult for him.

 

[harishankar]

I saw the highlights on ESPN today and the Indian fielding effort was shoddy to say the least. There are still worries in the bowling and fielding department, but Piyush Chawla has done well for himself with those wickets. Munaf was ok, but I think he's still not hitting the pace he's capable of. Agarkar should be out of the team for the next match. RP keeps bowling the odd boundary ball and doesn't seem capable of maintaining the pressure in tight situations.

Once again, it will be a tight ODI contest, but if India cannot improve on the fielding I still think England can win this series. The positive side is the batting but we cannot expect to keep winning tosses and batting England out of the game like we did in Bristol.

 

[Adarsh]

LS@F, Flintoff already knows how to play the spinners, or are you forgetting those 6's off Warne in 2005?

Just because he's smacked sixes against Warne 2 years ago in one particular series doesn't mean he knows how to play the spinners. Numerous times I've seen him clueless against good spin bowling.

 

[legspinner@fred]

He knows how to play it, it's just starting up.
He has his slog sweep that goes for 9 once he's in.

 

[BigCrickNan]

KP struggles when spinners first come on...look at his dismissal yesterday. Doesn't make him unable to play spin...

 

[Adarsh]

KP struggles when spinners first come on...look at his dismissal yesterday. Doesn't make him unable to play spin...

Who said he was ? We're talking about Flintoff. Even when he's settled down. He often doesn't choose the right balls to hit and gets caught in the deep very very often.