India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[Animator!]

I think our attack without Harmison will lack someone of pace that will geuinely scare the Indians. It's been clear over the years that certain players from India, don't tend to fancy the short, fast ball and we could miss Harmison providing that.

 

[playkid12]

Anil Kumble is going to be crucial in this series. Sreesanth and Zaheer are good bowlers but England have played and handled far better ones so the spinner becomes very important.

I actually think Zaheer will be more important than Kumble this series.

 

[manee]

Dhoni and Karthik both definately. Karthik has done fantastic at international level opening the batting (quite extraordinary considering his poor record in the flat tracks of India, albeit down the order), and Dhoni apparently kept well.

Jaffer seems to be inconsistant and slow but churns out the odd hundred or high fifty to keep the average up. Wouldn't Sehwag do better at this role since he scores 20s where Jaffer scores ducks and 150s where Jaffer scores 100s, simply the better batsman. He also scores quicker and can contribute to taking the shine off the new ball which takes pace off the ball and removes a large amount of swing. As the Chopra/Sehwag partnership showed, defence and attack works well together and with someone although Karthik's innings today was agressive, he is mainly a quite defensive batsman.

India's bowling is, to put it nicely, shocking! Although England Lions is an extremely strong batting team, England are the much better team with such players as Kevin Pietersen and Cook compared to England Lions having Shah and Trott. Sreesanth seemed to beat the bat often but surely he should look to swing the ball in if he can beat the bat often, reverse swing anyone? Zaheer Khan lacked effectiveness and Powar did not show the large amount of ability needed to make India play two spinners in England. So, the verdict on the prospective bowling line up...

Ishant Sharma...NO, too many no balls, those which were legal were not great either.

Powar...NO, sadly, although a great utiliser of F and G, he has not shown to do anything in terms of taking wickets that Kumble cannot do and you have to be special to make a team play two spinners at Lords and he is not that special...yet.

Ranadeb Bose...maybe, such a line and length bowler may be ideal to exploit the slope at Lords and remove batsman with balls which would be played or left with comfort at another ground. On cricinfo commentary, it seemed he was getting a lot (too much sadly) swing and this would obviously help too.

RP Singh...maybe. He is regarded extremely highly by team management and for good reason, he has bounce, a fair amount of pace and a swinging yorker. With the Lords slope, he could take it away from the bat in a troubling way and if his inswing could work in tandem with this, it would be great. And his experience playing at Leicestershire just adds to the list of achievements. Here is another, a strike rate of 46.34 in Indian Domestic Cricket combared to Bose's 55.17. RP gets the nod for me.

Zaheer Khan...yes, sadly, he is still the spearhead of the attack till Munaf or Pathan come back and with a good record in England at Worcestershire, he is a must have in a squad of inexperienced bowlers.

Sreesanth...yes, he is quick, accurate and swings the ball, one of these are needed in every team, a strike bowler. England had Harmison, Australia have Lee, West Indies have Fidel Edwards and Pakistan have Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif (less pace, but great wicket taking ability.)

Kumble...was there ever a question? The work horse who can work in any conditions, his top spinner and flipper destroys top order and tailenders alike as they fall to a flurry of LBWs and bowleds and until his form starts to fade significently, he should be the first bowler on any team sheet for India.

So, bowlers for me: Zaheer, Sreesanth, RP Singh and Kumble.

 

[Sureshot]

Anderson is not a swing bowler. He does get the ball to swing but he is not a swing bowler.

His main asset is swing, without it he isn't as good a bowler. With Hoggard and Sidebottom in the team also I say Broad is the best option.

 

[evertonfan]

He does swing the ball but that isn't his main weapon. He's more of a seam bowler who will move it off the pitch in the longer format of the game.

 

[manee]

Anderson is bowling quite quick and accurately these days, that is head and shoulders above Harmison and Broad. He also swings the ball early which will be important to get Jaffer out early, if not out very early, he will make a 50 or 100.

 

[sohum]

So, bowlers for me: Zaheer, Sreesanth, RP Singh and Kumble.

That would be my four as well. I don't think we would gain from going 6-5, either, because I don't think the 5th bowler would bring all that much to the table.

Batting-wise, though, there are far more problems--problems of plenty. I don't know if Jaffer did enough to keep his spot--but I presume he'll keep it just because the selectors want to play safe. I actually think Ganguly could find his place at risk but given the fact that England will rely on Panesar to get them around once the ball is old, he may get the nod.

Karthik, Dravid, Sachin, Dhoni. I think these guys are sureties with the bat. Jaffer/Gambhir as I don't see us risking two non-standard openers. That leaves 2 spots and Laxman vs Yuvraj vs Ganguly to fight it out. I would personally go with Laxman and Yuvraj, but I think the selectors will go with Laxman and Ganguly and if that doesn't go pleasantly, bring Yuvraj in for the one who performed worse.

 

[rabeta]

I regard Anderson as more of a seam bowler now. Since he has remodeled his action he has lost some of his extravagant swing and now depends more on accuracy. You need to pick your best bowling attack, not based on how they will fit together, but their individual qualities, the former is what Fletcher did too much of. Anderson is a more all round better bowler than Broad, and is more ready for Test Match cricket as well.

 

[cricket_lover]

I think our attack without Harmison will lack someone of pace that will geuinely scare the Indians. It's been clear over the years that certain players from India, don't tend to fancy the short, fast ball and we could miss Harmison providing that.

besides Ganguly, I don't think the current Indian side has too many problems with short pitched bowling or fast pitches.

The only problem is that they are not exposed to such pitches @ home, they play about 2 or 3 tests in a year max, agaiinst quality opposition/tracks, and therefore its hard for the batsmen to adjust.

 

[SaiSrini]

To be fair, the pitch wasn't exactly catered to bowling. Add to that we were playing Ishant Sharma who I think would struggle to be a regular for his Ranji team (though I don't think Delhi, where he's from, has that many quality pace bowlers). So it was basically Zaheer, Sreesanth and Powar. Powar won't be playing in the test match. Zaheer and Sreesanth were a bit expensive, but I expect the batsmen were going after them to dent their confidence, given it was just a tour match and a batting beauty.

Not to mention we should have Kumble back in the test. So we would be looking at Zaheer, Sreesanth, Kumble and RP. I think if RP can hold up and the pitch offers something to the bowlers, we should put in a better effort than we did here.

Yes of course. RP seems in more confidence now and in better shape than the other two rookies. Kumble adds so much to the bowling. And Zaheer and Sreesanth are good bowlers and can get back their bearings soon. I still feel Irfan would have been an huge asset here in these conditons. You dont need too much pace in this part of the world. Swing at medium pace will do the trick.

So who's India's top wicketkeeper now? Looks like Karthik has actually pushed Dhoni and I think he's more important to the team now. However, I feel that Dhoni's keeping has been very good, and Karthik's fielding has been excellent. Dhoni played well today. If I was Dravid I'd pick Dhoni and Karthik in the side.

However, it'll be hard to drop Yuvraj who's been very good too. Laxman - decent batsman, but he's a poor fielder and I'm not sure about his fitness. I think he's past it.

I think Yuvraj should sit out seeing that Dhoni is a match winner with the bat and has similar amount of runs from the warm ups. We got to play Laxman who did well in that knock of 95. So Yuvraj has to sit out (unless Dravid and the people behind the selection have different ideas).

 

[playkid12]

I think Yuvraj should sit out seeing that Dhoni is a match winner with the bat and has similar amount of runs from the warm ups. We got to play Laxman who did well in that knock of 95. So Yuvraj has to sit out (unless Dravid and the people behind the selection have different ideas).

I personally think that Jaffer should be dropped. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy a lot. And it's unfortunate, but if you put Jaffer vs Yuvraj, I'd pick Yuvraj any day of the week. Move Tendulkar up, making him open with Karthik. Then you have the strong middle order of Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Laxman, and Dhoni. Finally, the four bowlers are RP Singh, Zaheer, Kumble, and Sreesanth.

To me, that looks like a VERY strong batting line-up and pretty decent bowling too.

Chances are, it wont happen. They'll probably pick Jaffer over Yuvi.

 

[aditya123]

Laxman - decent batsman, but he's a poor fielder and I'm not sure about his fitness. I think he's past it.

Laxman, a decent batsman ? I think he is a damn good player .
He has always been made scapegoat in the Indian side and is constantly under pressure to secure his spot in the side because even if the whole lineup fails , it is VVS who will most likely be dropped.

VVS can be picked ahead of Ganguly in tests anyday , in my opinion.
Ganguly has won/saved very few tests in his entire career, compared to VVS.

If there is someone who can bat with the tail, it has to be VVS .
The news channels like to paint every series that India plays as Laxman`s `comeback` series !

 

[sohum]

I still feel Irfan would have been an huge asset here in these conditons. You dont need too much pace in this part of the world. Swing at medium pace will do the trick.

No point ruing over what could have been, I feel. I think we should stop mentioning that a Sehwag or an Irfan would have been useful because regardless of whether they would have been, we've got a team and we've got to see what they can do. No point in speculating on what has no chance of happening, imo.

I personally think that Jaffer should be dropped. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy a lot. And it's unfortunate, but if you put Jaffer vs Yuvraj, I'd pick Yuvraj any day of the week.

It's never been Jaffer versus Yuvraj. It's been Jaffer versus Gambhir and Yuvraj versus Laxman/Ganguly.

Move Tendulkar up, making him open with Karthik. Then you have the strong middle order of Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Laxman, and Dhoni. Finally, the four bowlers are RP Singh, Zaheer, Kumble, and Sreesanth.

Absolutely not! This is not ODI cricket. Tendulkar has opened the batting once in 130+ test matches and it is clear it is something he doesn't like to do, or he would have been asked to do it earlier. Tendulkar's position is number 4 and quite frankly if he moves anywhere apart from that, I would be very disappointed. If you're going to pick Yuvraj over Jaffer, you'd better make Yuvi open.

Chances are, it wont happen. They'll probably pick Jaffer over Yuvi.

I'm sure the selectors have enough intelligence in them not to try and make Sachin open. As I said, dropping Jaffer would end up in a farcical situation where we open with two non-standard openers. Almost the most basic tenet of test cricket is opening is extremely important. We would be completely violating that by having two non-specialists open. I think if we want to get rid of Jaffer, it's going to have to be at the benefit of Gambhir.

Laxman, a decent batsman ? I think he is a damn good player .
He has always been made scapegoat in the Indian side and is constantly under pressure to secure his spot in the side because even if the whole lineup fails , it is VVS who will most likely be dropped.

VVS can be picked ahead of Ganguly in tests anyday , in my opinion.
Ganguly has won/saved very few tests in his entire career, compared to VVS.

If there is someone who can bat with the tail, it has to be VVS .
The news channels like to paint every series that India plays as Laxman`s `comeback` series !

Agree. I think if it's going to be Laxman versus Ganguly ever, Laxman should take it really, really easily.

 

[Skater]

From the outside looking in, I think this would be an ideal team for Lord's Test for you guys.

1. Dinesh Karthik
2. Wasim Jaffer
3. Rahul Dravid (captain)
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Sourav Ganguly
6. Yuvraj Singh
7. Mahendara Dhoni (wicketkeeper)
8. Zaheer Khan
9. Anil Kumble
10. Sree Sreesanth
11. Rudra Singh

One thing I noticed, boy you are short of bowlers. I didnt exactly want to pick RP Singh but he was the only left with any substance!

Karthik: impressed against the Lions
Jaffer: was a nightmare at times for England in 2006
Dravid: the wall. could be a bugger to get out, like Chanderpaul
Tendulkar: let's hope he doesn't get up to 40 test centuries
Ganguly; doing a decent job since coming back
Yuvraj: extra batsman, useful at Lord's
Dhoni: your improving wicketkeeper
Zaheer: forget this no.3 crap, put him at 8 where his batting and bowling talents can flourish!
Kumble: Monty proved in May that spin works at Lord's
Sreesanth: lively bowler. one of the seamers that could cause problems
RP Singh: extra bowler. you need it.

 

[Will_NA]

Looks a good line-up. Openers that compliment eachother. An innings-builder in Jaffer and an attacking batsman in Karthik.

Don't get a much stronger middle-order than that in World Cricket.

Experience in Khan and guile and class in Kumble and 2 genuinely quick bowlers in RP and Sreesanth.

Maybe Laxman could feature in that line-up as he has a very good technique to combat English conditions.