India in England Jun-Sept 2014

[SaiSrini]

If India has to have any chance of doing well at the world cup in 6 months, Dhoni has to retire as the test captain immediately. He would still make the team as the first choice wicketkeeper. Especially after his gritty performances with the bat in England.

Because, if there is another disastrous tour of Australia inflicted upon him before the World Cup then even the "coolest" of the captains would feel jittery. And given Dhoni's value in the ODI setup, the last thing we need is a low on confidence MSD.

I would agree with this. Dhoni has to get away from test captaincy RIGHT NOW. Focus all his energies on India's title defence for the 2015 World Cup. A new test captain should take over the reins for the Australia tour. Personally, I would give it to Pujara who was a far lesser failure than Virat Kohli on this disastrous tour. Also with Kohli expected to be part of the World Cup squad and Pujara not anywhere close on being in the scheme of things for the ODI side, it makes sense to keep Kohli away from the test captaincy until he sorts his head out. But even if they give it to Kohli, it wont be a bad idea because with higher responsibilities, some players can take it as inspiration to get out of the rut. And Kohli is not going to counter too much swing in Australia and he is not flustered by pace/bounce.

Dhoni must concentrate on the World Cup. He can continue as the wicketkeeper/batsman in tests for sometime (due to his decent run with the bat in this series).[DOUBLEPOST=1408375077][/DOUBLEPOST]

there is no such thing as a low confidence msd.

Just like there no such thing like a highly confident MSD. Whatever happens, the guy doesn't react. But that's turning out to be a negative when things go wrong.

 

[asprin]

But even if they give it to Kohli, it wont be a bad idea because with higher responsibilities, some players can take it as inspiration to get out of the rut

That didn't seem to be the case with IPL. So I doubt it would make any difference in Tests too. Though IPL and Tests cannot be compared with the same scale, I feel it won't do him any good.

 

[PokerAce]

Whoa I am told the Judge Arnab Goswami did a special show on whether Dhoni should be sacked !! If that doesn't scare the lights out of MSD, I don't know what will

 

[PokerAce]

World in Sport | India Cricket Loves a Crisis

One of the most sane pieces I have read on the 'crisis' of over seas poor results. Strongly recommend to all, especially Indian fans.

 

[War]

My ticket for day one at Old Trafford was £58. I thought that was quite reasonable - some Premier League football clubs charge more than that to watch 90 minutes of domestic football. I paid £58 to watch 8 hours of international cricket.

£65 is a bit excessive for an ODI but then Edgbaston hasn't had a Test this year so they must be keen to make as much money as they can out of this game.

Trust me my friend cricket prices in England are too high compared to what it used to be. The 1st test i ever went to @ OT in 97, my dad didn't pay more than £30 & i was under 12 so i don't think he payed more than £10 for me. I have been to test in caribbean (Jamaica & Trinidad) on past ENG tours & if they had to pay the UK equivalent of £58 it would be ridiculous.

Such a price makes it impossible to go for 5 days of a test match when its your area. For me i hate watching cricket on TV, if the test is in my city (Manchester or London) Cricket prices started going up after 2001 Ashes, when the ECB started making counties millions to host tests, thus the making back money on us fans. Been pissing me off for more than 10 years now..

 

[grkrama]

Just like there no such thing like a highly confident MSD. Whatever happens, the guy doesn't react. But that's turning out to be a negative when things go wrong.

not even in his nightmares MS would have expected the batting to wreck as it did, he has done all the right things over the three years from 2011 replaced seniors, got the young team winning in home and other limited over contests, got them exposed to foreign conditions and had them hold their own, so coming here to england batting was the least worry, but whatever happened after lords was just tragedy something fell apart, now not much can be done but to back the talent we got and take it on from there.
sure playing gambhir was a a very bad move but a desperate one after not having a solid opening partnership for long.
tactically you cant force much with this bowling attack, only improvements i can see is yadav and mishra /ojha in, ashwin has to be the allrounder, bhuvi can bat a bit too. Im sure this will happen in coming tests.

taking him of captaincy right now would be a bad move after world cup is the right itme for transition, there is still a lot for youngsters to learn from MS on captaincy good things he has bought ot the team, a kohli after drinking in all that experience and becoming captain will be a much saner and positive head on shoulders as he will take the good stuff and also bring in his own aggression.Reactions doesn't always have to be words and expression on face, some times the best reactions are actual actions.

 

[namin96]

Glenn McGrath said India will get bullied in australia. I think the article is still available online. He's absolutely right. Now for all of you people who think India won't have trouble in australia after how they performed in South Africa, let me make something clear - the Indian team is extremely unpredictable and the two bowling attacks will be really different with the Australian one being a world class attack. Be prepared to take hits in the rib cage from Johnson. Also I like Gavaskar's comments, he simply said if you don't like playing for your country then quit. I absolutely agree with that and I said this before but a lot of optimistic kohli fans disagreed with me when I said kohli has found another source of interest which is greater than representing his country. You all can guess what I'm referencing that other interest to, and Pujara just seems irresponsible and careless. Only dhoni knows his responsibilities on this team along with kumar. Duncan Fletcher is an absolute a*s*ole, the BCCI logic is pretty simple - screw India as long as we are making money. Shrewd idiots part of the BCCI. I don't understand why Fletcher keeps getting repeated chances, looks like he's clearly the best coach out there.

 

[War]

World in Sport | India Cricket Loves a Crisis

One of the most sane pieces I have read on the 'crisis' of over seas poor results. Strongly recommend to all, especially Indian fans.

Ye can't fault this analysis. Only thing i'd slightly question is why does he say: "when the Ganguly generation took its first independent steps on the ’98-99 tours to NZ and then Aus whitewash.

The famous 4, plus Azharrudin debut major overseas tours was like 96/97 when they went to ENG, S Africa & Windies - but i get his point with the comparison with the new generation making their first steps overseas without the famous 4 around.

 

[Satan666]

Glenn McGrath said India will get bullied in australia. I think the article is still available online. He's absolutely right. Now for all of you people who think India won't have trouble in australia after how they performed in South Africa, let me make something clear - the Indian team is extremely unpredictable and the two bowling attacks will be really different with the Australian one being a world class attack. Be prepared to take hits in the rib cage from Johnson. Also I like Gavaskar's comments, he simply said if you don't like playing for your country then quit. I absolutely agree with that and I said this before but a lot of optimistic kohli fans disagreed with me when I said kohli has found another source of interest which is greater than representing his country. You all can guess what I'm referencing that other interest to, and Pujara just seems irresponsible and careless. Only dhoni knows his responsibilities on this team along with kumar. Duncan Fletcher is an absolute a*s*ole, the BCCI logic is pretty simple - screw India as long as we are making money. Shrewd idiots part of the BCCI. I don't understand why Fletcher keeps getting repeated chances, looks like he's clearly the best coach out there.

Youre right I rate Steyn but have always hold Mitchell Johnson is a better fast bowler, he instills fair in any batsman and is fast, Steyn has slowed down over the years. Johnson has always been my favorite fast bowler after Shane Bond of course in recent years. Seeing him ripping through this Indian batting lineup seems an injustice to him and he is at his devastatingly best these days! Will enjoy the barrage of balls to the heads though, cant wait!

 

[grkrama]

Also I like Gavaskar's comments, he simply said if you don't like playing for your country then quit.

gavaskar may have been a great player, but he will change his comments at the flip of a coin, so im not taking him seriusly.

optimistic kohli fans disagreed with me when I said kohli has found another source of interest which is greater than representing his country. You all can guess what I'm referencing that other interest to,

again personal life is again personal, lets just talk in terms of performance not what you assume is going inside one's head. Would you like the name of your beloved getting dragged to mud by paparazzi just because you didnt perform well at your job.[no offence intended just a hypo question]

kohli has unperformed abysmally end of matter, now we can chuck him out after his first real failure or back him to get back to form, not tell him who to date.

Only dhoni knows his responsibilities on this team along with kumar

everyone in the team knows their responsibilty but the only ones who had been able to do that successfully are dhoni and bhuvi, have to laud bhuvi for keeping at it despite loosing stamina.

Now for all of you people who think India won't have trouble in australia after how they performed in South Africa, let me make something clear - the Indian team is extremely unpredictable and the two bowling attacks will be really different with the Australian one being a world class attack.

which is one thing i like always about our team especially in fab five era, we are never consistent people but you know there are times like that adelaide , kolkatta moments that define the indian team, i will give these youngsters the chance to live upto it, either can happen we may get blown by mitch or take him to cleaners.

 

[stefan]

Youre right I rate Steyn but have always hold Mitchell Johnson is a better fast bowler, he instills fair in any batsman and is fast, Steyn has slowed down over the years. Johnson has always been my favorite fast bowler after Shane Bond of course in recent years. Seeing him ripping through this Indian batting lineup seems an injustice to him and he is at his devastatingly best these days! Will enjoy the barrage of balls to the heads though, cant wait!

Stats never lie. Johnson is great bowler but Steyn is simply better, an all time great.

As for speed, Steyn bowls within himself when the conditions aren't conductive to bowling at top speed and reverts to his other skills. He is perfectly capable of bowling 150kph spells when the need arises/he chooses to.

Steyn 383 wickets @ 22.56 strikerate 41.7
Mitchel Johnson 264 wickets @27.42 strikerate 50.1

 

[grkrama]

johnson has potential always but he has to maintain that consistency over a period of time before he can come anywhere near steyn.

 

[grkrama]

Top move by bcci, ravi shastri appointed as director cricket for odi's, now the boys would do anything to get him of their backs

his tips would
" you have to take it down the wire" "flash hard n flash harder" "Im just what the doctor ordered for you guys"

on a serious not all the support staff barring fletcher have been "given a break"

while former India allrounder Sanjay Bangar and former India fast bowler B Arun have been named assistant coaches. R Sridhar, the former Hyderabad left-arm spinner, will join the support team as the fielding coach for the one day series.

"The team is with Ravi Shastri," the board's secretary Sanjay Patel told ESPNcricinfo. "Now it is his baby. He will handle everything."

India Cricket News: Ravi Shastri named director of cricket for England ODIs | ESPN Cricinfo

India in England 2014 : Corrective measure to boost spirits - BCCI secretary | Cricket News | England v India - Investec Test Series | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Satan666]

Stats never lie. Johnson is great bowler but Steyn is simply better, an all time great.

As for speed, Steyn bowls within himself when the conditions aren't conductive to bowling at top speed and reverts to his other skills. He is perfectly capable of bowling 150kph spells when the need arises/he chooses to.

Steyn 383 wickets @ 22.56 strikerate 41.7
Mitchel Johnson 264 wickets @27.42 strikerate 50.1

Lets put it this way lad, at their best Johnson is simply better. Stats do tell a tale but not the whole story, Steyn has been consistent certainly while Johnson has had some bad periods. Steyn is surely capable of bowling at 150kph consistent but he aint doing it these days, his average speed is 140kph or less while Johnson hits the deck above 145kph. Now this is just my view,lets wait see how the Indians handle him.

 

[PokerAce]

Ye can't fault this analysis. Only thing i'd slightly question is why does he say: "when the Ganguly generation took its first independent steps on the ’98-99 tours to NZ and then Aus whitewash.

The famous 4, plus Azharrudin debut major overseas tours was like 96/97 when they went to ENG, S Africa & Windies - but i get his point with the comparison with the new generation making their first steps overseas without the famous 4 around.

Actually Ganguly and Dravid were very new there, and whatever they did was definitely in the bonus runs category. The onus was still on the seniors to deliver. The tours that start the comparison, are where the famous four, were the ones who were expected to deliver, and thus had responsibility to shoulder.