India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[evertonfan]

Yes he was. That doesn't stop them going back to him though. They can always revert a decision, particularly when the decision was made under old management.

 

[Leggie]

I think should be the batting line up for india tomorrow:

1) Sourav Ganguly
2) Sachin Tendulkar
3) Robin Uthappa
4) Rahul Dravid
5) Yuvraj Singh
6) Dinesh Karthik
5) Mahendra Singh Dhoni
8) Ramesh Powar
9) Piyush Chawla
10) Zaheer Khan
11) Rudra Pratap Singh

I think Ganguly may be able to come on if the seamers are expensive in the powerplay overs (which they probably will be : ) and maybe even Tendulkar, also Yuvraj showed he can bowl in the mid 20/30 overs.

 

[manee]

Good team, but I would have Uthappa opening and Ganguly at three.

 

[Leggie]

Good team, but I would have Uthappa opening and Ganguly at three.

not for me becuase ganguly takes too long to settle....

 

[Sureshot]

I'm not confused by that as his excuse. Most fast bowlers have the best throwing arms in their teams whereas Munaf has probably the worst throwing arm in our team.

I love Munaf's throw, it's hilarious. Has he always had that 'throw'?

 

[evertonfan]

I haven't seen it yet. It can't be as weak as Monty's surely?

Most fast bowlers do have good arms though. Anderson has a great throw. Come on, you didn't expect me to use a different fast bowler as an example did you?

 

[Sureshot]

He has an underarm 'throw', I use the term throw very loosely. I've not seen a weaker arm than Munaf's in international cricket.

 

[Will_NA]

I haven't seen it yet. It can't be as weak as Monty's surely?

Most fast bowlers do have good arms though. Anderson has a great throw. Come on, you didn't expect me to use a different fast bowler as an example did you?

Monty has a decent throw. It's by no means the weakest around

 

[sohum]

Technique of fielding cannot be taught at the international level. If a player has a fielding problem so bad, he should go back and work at it in the domestic level.

Unfortunately hard as that reality is, I don't think great fielding sides learn the craft at the highest level. The quality of the national side is highly dependent on the culture of cricket played at the domestic level and the change has to happen at the lower levels to filter through effectively at the national stage.

Yes, but we cannot just ignore the fact that these players have not been brought up in a culture of fielding and ask them to go practice their stuff domestically, can we? These players are selected for their skills in batting and bowling and even though they should have learned how to field earlier, we cannot continue to ignore the problem internationally.

And the change you are talking about will take more than a few years to filter through to the national team. Unfortunately we cannot stop playing cricket for 2-3 years just because our fielding is not up to scratch. Hence a fielding coach is a perfect stop-gap arrangement.

I love Munaf's throw, it's hilarious. Has he always had that 'throw'?

I think the cameras in India make it a point to keep it off him when he.... err.... returns the ball to the general vicinity of the in-field, just for the sake of the audience's viewing pleasure.

I haven't seen it yet. It can't be as weak as Monty's surely?

Monty is accurate and at least his throws reach the destination and he doesn't look like an absolute oaf when he is throwing the ball. Munaf is imbalanced and sort of tosses the ball in underarm. The good thing is that the fielders in the in-field have to be concentrating--not because the ball may go over for overthrows but because it may smack them on its way to the wicketkeeper or bowler's end.

 

[Adarsh]

I think Corey Colleymore had a similar throw to Munaf Patel. Thing is, I can't see where else he should field, if not at the boundary. I shudder to think he'll field in the slip quardon or the covers. If he's at mid off or mid on, the batsmen will target him and pinch easy singles. Same if he's at mid wicket. Must be a hard job being Dravid right now.

 

[harishankar]

Yes, but we cannot just ignore the fact that these players have not been brought up in a culture of fielding and ask them to go practice their stuff domestically, can we? These players are selected for their skills in batting and bowling and even though they should have learned how to field earlier, we cannot continue to ignore the problem internationally.

Well, that still doesn't convince me that a fielding coach will do the trick. The process of a good fielding side should start at the domestic level and not at the international level.

I can understand that India are desperate to improve their fielding, but I don't see any coach in the world making a dramatic improvement in a single series or even in a period of 6 months. It takes time and hard work.

A fielding coach might help only during off-season when the players can go back and actually practise skills.

The question is do India really have an off-season? And how can they hope to practise fielding in international matches? I don't see net sessions helping much here.

 

[Adarsh]

So, what do you want them to do in the short term ?

 

[Leggie]

i hope agarkar doesnt play tomorrow....

 

[RoboRocks]

i hope agarkar doesnt play tomorrow....

I doubt he will since he looked unaffective.

There are still doubts on Flintoff's fitness so I'm sure Pietersen will be most likely to get the vice captaincy but we'll have to see if Colly's fit first.

 

[Leggie]

I doubt he will since he looked unaffective.

There are still doubts on Flintoff's fitness so I'm sure Pietersen will be most likely to get the vice captaincy but we'll have to see if Colly's fit first.

Unaffective?

i read on cricinfo that india might play an extra batsmen tomorrow because old trafford is one of the quickest pitches in england, i hope they do...