India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[harishankar]

I wouldn't drop Chawla or Powar. Both have bowled well at England in the middle overs. We need to drop either RP or Munaf, but I would go with dropping RP Singh in favour of Uthappa as an extra batsman for the next match.

However, I doubt if that will happen.

 

[manee]

I wouldn't drop Chawla or Powar. Both have bowled well at England in the middle overs. We need to drop either RP or Munaf, but I would go with dropping RP Singh in favour of Uthappa as an extra batsman for the next match.

However, I doubt if that will happen.

No, no no! Do not drop RP, he has done well with the ball, while Munaf has not and has picked up lucky wickets. Munaf doesn't seem fit either and his fielding is really becoming a let down now.

I would drop Munaf in favour of Uthappa and use Ganguly as the third seamer, Cook is his bunny

 

[.Mob]

Damn, I'm suprised that this many people want Uthappa in there after his failure at the WC, but as a Malayali I would love for him to be there. :P

Did anyone see his six against Scotland, he charged down the ground to a bouncer and whacked it.

 

[legspinner@fred]

None of the Scotland bowlers are above 75 MPH, it was like a soft fluffy short ball instead of a bouncer.

 

[harishankar]

No, no no! Do not drop RP, he has done well with the ball, while Munaf has not and has picked up lucky wickets. Munaf doesn't seem fit either and his fielding is really becoming a let down now.

I would drop Munaf in favour of Uthappa and use Ganguly as the third seamer, Cook is his bunny

That seems ok with me. Either Munaf or RP should go though.

The only way I see India winning this series from here is by playing with 7 batsmen and trying to out-bat England. Fielding is definitely not going to drastically improve in a few games and bowling will still be a worry even with 5 bowlers, so why not strengthen the batting to make up the runs we lose on the field?

 

[.Mob]

None of the Scotland bowlers are above 75 MPH, it was like a soft fluffy short ball instead of a bouncer.

That is true but he was down before the ball was even released, you need quick reactions to hit a ball after stepping down so early.

 

[manee]

None of the Scotland bowlers are above 75 MPH, it was like a soft fluffy short ball instead of a bouncer.

Uthappa has hit runs against quick bowlers. Just check his debut against Anderson, Mahmood, Plunkett and Kabir Ali, none of whom are slow, all of whom consistantly touch over 85mph.

 

[.Mob]

Errrr....what exactly are you trying to say?

That Uthappa's a good batsman?

I've seen highlights of him playing excellent shots but I've not seen enough from him live (except WC and Scotland match).

 

[manee]

Errrr....what exactly are you trying to say?

That Uthappa's a good batsman?

I've seen highlights of him playing excellent shots but I've not seen enough from him live (except WC and Scotland match).

Whoops. Quoted the wrong post. Meant to quote the '75mph' one.

 

[.Mob]

Hehe, I thought so.

Poor List A average and economy backed up by poor ODI average and economy.

By the way if that is the proper reason they haven't chosen him, choosing him for 20/20 squad is pretty stupid, his records are pretty poor in that as well.

 

[manee]

By the way if that is the proper reason they haven't chosen him, choosing him for 20/20 squad is pretty stupid, his records are pretty poor in that as well.

That is what I assume is the reason. He has never been good at One Day cricket, was given oppotunities but turned out to be too inconsistant.

 

[.Mob]

I thought he was good for Kerala and India A?

Anyway, I wonder if they are regretting not picking him ahead of Agarkar now. We need someone to lead with the attack with pace and aggression and Agarkar has none of that now.

Essential for an OBW.

Ah well, what's been done is done.

 

[Leggie]

uthappa is a bit like sehwag, he needs to play with controlled aggression. an example of this is against sri lanka in their last WC match, he tried to smack a good lentgh ball on a good line out of the ground with vaas bowling and got caught and bowled, you have to play every ball on its merit, i dont think he has learnt that yet

yes i agree, india should drop munaf for uthappa, gambhir can only perform against the minnows, ive not once seen him perform against the big guns

but this would cause a problem if either RP or zaheer would be getting smacked all over the park in the powerplays, you cant exactly put gangu;y or sachin on with their medium pace, because theyd also get slaughtered, maybe chawla or powar because the gamble payed off in the last match...

 

[.Mob]

This would be severe but I think India need to start sooner or later practising life without Tendu, Dravid and Ganguly.

I'm sure atleast two of them would have retired from International cricket in the next two years. i'm guessing Ganguly first as well, his body just seems to be tiring.

 

[sohum]

The only person I can think of is Agarkar. India either need to drop one of the spinners and hope Agarkar can find some form, or else accept that they cannot afford to lose early wickets and rely on such a long tail.

Agarkar is only marginally, if at all, better at batting than Powar.

Is the fielding in Indian domestic cricket this bad also? Because if it is then there's your problem.

Somehow I feel that domestic players don't really find it appealing to dive around on what is essentially hard soil covered with a little bit of grass. Most domestic cricketers will not get to play on a proper field till they break into the state side (or not even then, sometimes) so players don't really learn the basics of fielding until much later.

The only problem with dropping a pacer is we're going to find it difficult to finish off the powerplays. Spinners will not be at an advantage when bowling during a powerplay when just clearing the infield would be enough to fetch a boundary. That's the only reason I think that India is going with 5 bowlers: Zaheer, Powar and Chawla pick themselves and the others are required to fill up the powerplays.