I've seen him live, and he can go some when he needs to. People who have only watched him play for England think he's the new Trott. He's just played that role in tests, and did it very well.
I said to you before that I thought India would crush us. We just aren't very good at 50 over cricket. I have no idea why they don;t just do 50 over in county cricket. It makes no sense! We struggle with pacing. I'd have BUtler up at 4 so he doesn't come in under pressure.
I think it would do Ali good to be knocked around a bit. It would encourage him to improve.
Sorry for my lack of knowledge, but is there an equivelent to the P40 in India? If so, do you think Koli should go back, get some runs, and come back again?
Yes its off how ppl get stereotyped as Test only. I remember Dravid for so long was brandished as test only, but later went on to have a great run in the one day side too. Actually at a time he used to come in at 5 and played the role of a finisher !!
Ballance and Root should really be playing everything cricket. There is no reason to start stereotyping them. Also I think Eng are still very much in the series, India have a habit of collapsing overseas and that collapse almost came in the first ODI, only Raina then played a super knock. I think India were 4 down in 30 overs or so. ANother wicket then and things would have been very different.
As for Kohli I think he will come good in the series. He had a 70 in the warm up match vs middlesex. Also the shot he got out to is not an out of form batsman's dismissal. A good shot from the middle off the bat, unfortunately went straight to the fielder. Out of form Batsman, usually go out to edges, or miscues or skiers. Rarely to firm shots off the meat of the bat. So hopefully in the next match that same shot goes in the gap.
With regard to P40 alternatives in India, actually I am too sure of the P40 format myself. I know its a 40 over tournament, but which teams participate in it I am not sure. In India domestic cricket there are just too many 50 over tournaments. There is the Hazare Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Challenger Trophy and Corporate Trophy. All of them have the 50 over format and not 40 over format. Hazare Trophy and Deodhar Trophy are the two biggest ODI trophies in India. In Hazare trophy the teams that play in Ranji Trophy are the ones that take part, only here the format is 50 over. In Deodhar trophy the Ranji teams are distributed over 5 zones, East, West, North, South, Central, and from each Zone the best players are selected and then these Zones play against each other. Its, something like All Star matches in NBA where teams are distributed in Eastern and Western Conferences, only on a much lesser scale.
However the solution is hardly to play in these tournaments where honestly the standard is far too low when compared to Int'l cricket, although I am sure as a last resort he would have to do this too if things keep going like this.
