India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[manee]

England have a knack of winning the toss, batting first and whacking 500. It's a way to not lose tests.

India are not West Indies (no smart arse comments please), its not so easy to whack out 500 against international level bowlers in English conditions every time.

 

[Gunner786]

India are not West Indies (no smart arse comments please), its not so easy to whack out 500 against international level bowlers in English conditions every time.

just what i was about to post

 

[BigCrickNan]

Well we seem to do if often enough at home consistantly. Over the past few years there has been very few moments were our batting hasn't done it's job, whether we need to score 200 or 600. We will have to see...

 

[Gunner786]

mahmood is having a double hernia operation and will be ruled out for upto 6 weeks
i would play him against india definetly as he did quite well against them in india
he was englands best pacer in that odi series

stats may say his average was 41 but the indians werent as comfortable playing him as they were the other pacers

 

[Will_NA]

India are not West Indies (no smart arse comments please), its not so easy to whack out 500 against international level bowlers in English conditions every time.

Well, we did it against Pakistan and Australia not too long ago

 

[manee]

Against Pakistan, the key ingrediant was that Pakistan had Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul opening the bowling with no Shoaib Akhtar or Asif. It was a poor bowling attack.

Can you clarify what you mean by 'and Australia not too long ago'.

 

[gary0808]

I believe that this will be a tough series for both teams. Our batting overall is slightly better than India's with more quality batsmem comparing to mediocre players like Jaffer,Karthik and Dhoni(Test). The bowling might be slightly India's but if Hoggard,Harmison and Pansear get going we have the ability to knock the Indian's over
Prediction England 2-1 India.

 

[sohum]

Our batting overall is slightly better than India's with more quality batsmem comparing to mediocre players like Jaffer,Karthik and Dhoni(Test).

Jaffer scores more of his runs away than at home. He is far from a mediocre batsman being one of the top performers in the domestic first class competition for many years, now. He also scored a triple-ton last season. I think if we give him time to get acclimatized to the test arena, he will make lots of people eat their words. As for our middle order, how mediocre Karthik and Dhoni must be if they kept a fit Laxman out of the XI!

I would like to see Gambhir come back to the test squad with the following XI:

Jaffer, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Karthik + 4 bowlers. I think 6 batsmen would be a little iffy. Also, there's scope for dropping Ganguly and bringing in a Dhoni or a Yuvraj.

 

[gary0808]

Jaffer scores more of his runs away than at home. He is far from a mediocre batsman being one of the top performers in the domestic first class competition for many years, now. He also scored a triple-ton last season. I think if we give him time to get acclimatized to the test arena, he will make lots of people eat their words.

I'm sorry but at International level. Jaffer has never struck me as a batsman at the same level as a Pietresen, Dravid,Tendulkar, Strauss or Bell. He has done ok and nothing more.

 

[manee]

He averages 35 in 35 innings, that's fine. The key to him being successful is getting past about 20. After a turbulant start, he really converts into big scores. 4 100s and 6 50s in 35 innings is very good.

The series in which he has done poorly were:
-South Africa in India, 1999/00
-India in England, 2001/02

Since then, he averaged 41 (England in India), 53 (India in West Indies), 30 (India in South Africa) and 69 in the tour of Bangladesh. Seems fine to me.

After that tour of England (yes I know it was to England and that is significent), he has averaged 45.

Whether he can play well in English conditions remains to be seen.

In the First Test of the tour to England a few years back, he got bowled by Hoggard on 1 but scored 53 off 79 in the second innings. In the Second Test, bowled by Hoggard on 0 in the first innings and lbw to Flintoff on 5 in the second. He was then dropped.

Now, the fact he got bowled and LBW shows he does not enjoy English swinging conditions. I am adament that Sehwag travels with the Indian test team in case Jaffer is 'found out' so to speak in England or Karthik has a bad run of form.

 

[evertonfan]

India are not West Indies (no smart arse comments please), its not so easy to whack out 500 against international level bowlers in English conditions every time.

2002 - We did it against India and Lanka
2003 - We did it against Zimbabwe and South Africa
2004 - We did it against New Zealand and West Indies
2005 - We did it against Bangladesh and almost Australia (477 being the highest score along with 444 and 407)
2006 - We did it against Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Face it; If England bat first at home, we normally rack 'em up big. We are a fairly consistent batting unit.

 

[sohum]

I'm sorry but at International level. Jaffer has never struck me as a batsman at the same level as a Pietresen, Dravid,Tendulkar, Strauss or Bell. He has done ok and nothing more.

How many batsmen are at the same level of Pietersen, Dravid and Tendulkar? You can probably count them on your fingers (and maybe a couple of toes). There is no point in Jaffer aspiring to be the greatest batsman in the world. Besides, his role is different. I would prefer Jaffer not to be someone like Pietersen, Dravid or Tendulkar, who I don't see opening the batting in test cricket. As for Bell and Strauss, both do not have spectacular averages in their "away" tours, for example, Asia (although Bell did have a great tour of Pakistan). However, I don't see the England team dropping them for tours to Asia.

If we don't base our selections on first class performance, I don't see what the point is to use them for any basis during team selections for international tours. You might as well draw names out of a hat. Jaffer may be past his prime because he was ignored for so many years, but to throw him away when he shows signs of promise would be infinitely more stupid than him not being picked for so long.

 

[manee]

2002 - We did it against India and Lanka
2003 - We did it against Zimbabwe and South Africa
2004 - We did it against New Zealand and West Indies
2005 - We did it against Bangladesh and almost Australia (477 being the highest score along with 444 and 407)
2006 - We did it against Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Face it; If England bat first at home, we normally rack 'em up big. We are a fairly consistent batting unit.

Well against unarguable proof, I am still skeptical it can happen against India, unless of course, Kevin Pietersen fires.

 

[sohum]

2002 - We did it against India...

I just looked up that series and not a bad performance from India to pull out a 1-1 result in 4 tests.

I would be more concerned about our batting than our bowling. You need 20 wickets to win a test match and what interests me is if England's bowling is strong enough to knock us over twice on a wicket that isn't swinging all over the place.

 

[Will_NA]

Against Pakistan, the key ingrediant was that Pakistan had Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul opening the bowling with no Shoaib Akhtar or Asif. It was a poor bowling attack.

Can you clarify what you mean by 'and Australia not too long ago'.

2005