India in Pakistan

[usy]

Rana Naved is Pakistans Wicket taker guy. hez a Key point.

 

[ZexyZahid]

About two days from now. But it's too bad that the Test match finishes during the week and not in the weekend, when I could have (more) time to follow it.

And for me Afridi is a key player too.

 

[ronny_kingsley]

India
India's key is their batting, but as was seen in the practice game against Pakistan A, their bowlers might struggle this time around. A lot depends on Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, but I dont think the wickets will help the spinners as much as in India.

India's two key players are Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. I think for any opposition, if you manage to get these two out, then you can safely say that you've done 40% of the job. However there are other players who on their day can cause problems as well. Virender Sehwag, though highly unpredictable is capable of scoring big knocks. The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer have talent, but dont pose as much of a threat as the previous three players I mentioned before.

The dark horse in the Indian batting lineup is Saurav Ganguly. He however needs to first find a place in the starting lineup. This could be a make or break series for him, and I for one believe he can play a crucial and decisive role if given the oppurtunity. He does need a bit of luck also.

Mahendra Dhoni will hit his sixes, but thats pretty much it. Irfan Pathan might get another surprise 50 or 100 in one of the innings, and improve his tag of an allrounder even more.

But the bowling is a worry. Irfan Pathan is being hailed as India's newest allrounder, and has done a good job so far. But I think over the past few years while his batting has picked up tremendously, his bowling has been disappointing. He has been very inconsistent with the ball, and very rarely does he perform well with both ball and bat in the same match. I havent seen much of India's newcomers RP Singh, etc. and I do not rate Ajit Agarkar very highly as a bowler, though on his day he can bag 4-5 wickets. Unfortunately one good match is followed by 3-4 bad ones.

The bowling hence depends purely on the spinners, Harbhajan and Kumble. But if you check out on the last series in Pakistan, I think it was one certain Shoaib Akhtar who was the highest wicket-taker. And despite the fact that England's batsmen struggle against spin, I thought they had a really rough time facing Akhtar and Naved.

Hence I dont think the wickets will suit the spinners as much as they do in India.

Pakistan
Pakistan too have a strong batting lineup with the likes of Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohd. Yousuf and Inzamam all in very good form after the series against England. I would pick Mohd. Yousuf, Salman Butt and Inzamam as the three key batsmen for the home side. Kamran Akmal is the dark horse, and believe me this lad can score runs!

Pakistan have the clear edge in bowling. Shoaib Akhtar is in the form of his life, and bowled brilliantly against England. Watch out for him. Mohammad Sami has been fairly silent, but he too is a fine performer. For India's sake I hope he remains silent in this series as well. Danish Kaneria, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik represent Pakistan's spin department, but I dont think they'll trouble the Indian batsmen much as the latter are the best players of spin bowling in the world.

In Abdul Razzaq they have an excellent allrounder, and I consider him as another key player in the Pakistan side, and one who could make the difference. Definately the best genuine allrounder from both sides combined.

Key Players for India:
Tendulkar
Dravid
Kumble
Harbhajan

Key Players for Pakistan
Inzamam
Mohd. Yousuf
Salman Butt
Shoaib Akhtar
Abdul Razzaq

My Predicition for the test series:
2-1 or 2-0 win for Pakistan (assuming bad light does not stop play)

Mate if India's bowling cant match upto Pakistan's then even the Pakistani batting isnt in the same league as the Indian.

English lolypops served dont proove a thing about Pakistan's batting.

1)Shaun Udal and Ashley Giles ,they wouldnt even make Mumbai's Ranji team forget India.

2)English seamers who need tailor made pitches for them to perform .

Pakistan have just Inzamam in thier arsenal who would bother the Indians.

 

[usy]

i think you didnt see Eng V Pakistan . did you see Shoaib Bowling against England ??

 

[nightprowler10]

Pakistan have just Inzamam in thier arsenal who would bother the Indians.

Yes, it was Inzamam who was the highest run scorer and the highest wicket taker last time we played Indians. :

On the English pacers, I don't know if you watched the test series, but I thought they bowled very well, especially Harmison. They were all rubbish in the ODI series except maybe Anderson in the last match.

 

[usy]

yep , dont say rubbish about other teams , look at yours first!!

 

[muhammad_inzi]

i think you didnt see Eng V Pakistan . did you see Shoaib Bowling against England ??

yeah i saw it he bowled very well specially the slow one i hope he keep up the same work.

 

[nightprowler10]

yeah i saw it he bowled very well specially the slow one i hope he keep up the same work.

I just hope he doesn't over use the slower ball like Saqlain did with the doosra.

 

[m_vaughan]

Mate if India's bowling cant match upto Pakistan's then even the Pakistani batting isnt in the same league as the Indian.

English lolypops served dont proove a thing about Pakistan's batting.

1)Shaun Udal and Ashley Giles ,they wouldnt even make Mumbai's Ranji team forget India.

2)English seamers who need tailor made pitches for them to perform .

Pakistan have just Inzamam in thier arsenal who would bother the Indians.

Well those "lolypops" beat the World Champions not so long ago.

 

[SaiSrini]

Well those "lolypops" beat the World Champions not so long ago.

But where? In their own backyard and in conditions which they know better than anyone else? (I expect a counter argument where you might say most of India's victories came in designer pitches in familiar conditions in the sub continent! But thats not the case here. Its about estimating the Pakistani talent).

Australia in recent times, have never looked the team that looked invincible not so long ago! Even in the recent victory over South Africa, they havent looked invincible and look like a team that can be beaten! This slump started from before the Ashes (during that ODI matches where they were beaten by England and they received a shocker from Bangladesh!).

Anyways, coming back to India-Pakistan, India definitely knows abt Pakistan better than possibly any other team (other than Pakistan themselves!). And I agree with what Sunil Gavaskar says. The green wickets in Pakistan might be a joke! They will not be as hard as say South Africa or Australia! So I feel it will not be a disadvantage at all for the Indian players and they can look forward to be a fair and good contest!

 

[ZoraxDoom]

The pitch was flatter than a pancake

I have to argue against the useage of this phrase. Its not accurate. I mean, have you ever bowled on a pancake? Its a nightmare! As flat as tarmac is appropriate.

 

[Pace-Ace]

No one can call the result of this series it'll be too close. It doesn't matter whether india play ganguly or yuvraj or if green pitches suit pakistan.

 

[Pak_cricketer]

Mate if India's bowling cant match upto Pakistan's then even the Pakistani batting isnt in the same league as the Indian.

English lolypops served dont proove a thing about Pakistan's batting.

1)Shaun Udal and Ashley Giles ,they wouldnt even make Mumbai's Ranji team forget India.

2)English seamers who need tailor made pitches for them to perform .

Pakistan have just Inzamam in thier arsenal who would bother the Indians.

Are you dumb or are you stupid? : Seriously! All I've seen from you is iggronance!

 

[UsmanCHADDA]

India's pace attack is not comparable to Pakistan's. That is a fact. Anyway, about England being called lollypops. You might wanna refrain from coming to this forum when England busts you up left, right and centre! You are talking as if you saw the whole series. And I can assure you that your so called "fast" bowlers are no better than England's pacers. Infact they are worse.

BTW, this post was directed at ronny_kingsley.

 

[Pak_cricketer]

India's pace attack is not comparable to Pakistan's. That is a fact. Anyway, about England being called lollypops. You might wanna refrain from coming to this forum when England busts you up left, right and centre! You are talking as if you saw the whole series. And I can assure you that your so called "fast" bowlers are no better than England's pacers. Infact they are worse.

well said! I thought Harmisson was great in the series!