India tour of England 2018

[Bhumi]

Hardik most likely to back in Indian team than Nair.
Hardik allrounder so he is most likely to bounce back in indian team in India for better balance attack.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

There is no room for "what if" in sport. India had their moments but the scorecards say 4-1 and India weren't as good as they should have been. This is two overseas disappointments in a row now.
Harsha Bhogle via Twitter.

No better way to sum up the series. India had their moments but failed to capitalize on those on the other hand England did well to clinch that momentum and deserve to win the series as the scoreline says at the end 4-1.

 

[zimrahil]

Not true.he was selected because he hits most 4/6 during net practice.

Do you attend net sessions to know this ?

 

[Velocity]

Very good series to watch if you neutral cricket fan. Apart from Lord's, all the matches were very competitive and fun to watch. Of course it's disappointing an an Indian fan to lose yet another test series overseas which we felt like we should have won. It kind of feels like South Africa series all over again. Even in that series, bowlers were outstanding, Virat was the standout batsmen and others batsmen failed which means we ended up on the losing side.

I will start with the openers. Dhawan is not a test match player and any cricket fan will know this by now. Selectors and team management must move on from Dhawan just like they did with Rohit. This thing of making him Sehwag 2.0 is jut not working and I think it's time to give someone like Prithvi Shaw a chance. We can still keep Dhawan for limited overs where he has actually done well. However, I don't want to see him in Indian test team anymore because he is just going to struggle as soon as we travel overseas. I really hope selectors don't give him a chance for that WI series other he will make a couple of hundred there and book his spot for Australia tour. Of course then to go on and repeat the same thing again. Even though KL Rahul did score a fine century today, he has been very disappointing on this tour. It did look like he was found out by those in coming deliveries. I have previously stated this as well that I do see him as an all format player. I think he can be a regular opener for India if he can become a little more consistent.

Going on to the middle order, Pujara is the rock of this Indian batting line-up. However, he too needs to be much more consistent that what he has been. That inning that he played in Southampton test match was Pujara at his best. If India wants to win a test series overseas, Pujara needs to play more innings like that at a consistent level. The team management and captain must give him security of his place in the team so that he doesn't feel any pressure from at least inside the dressing room. He is a proper test match player that we have and we must protect him in order to get the best out of him. The same can be applied to Rahane as well. Even though I felt that Rahane has been very poor in this series. Rahane is a confidence player and he must be down on confidence when he got dropped in South Africa only to come back and contribute to India's win in the last match of that series. What I saw in this series from him was a shadow of the batsman that we saw in that 2014 England series. He got out at crucial stages playing false shots time and time again. Both Pujara and Rahane are very integral part of this Indian test team and they should be given confidence by the team management and the captain that they will be there throughout a series. However, in response both Pujara and Rahane needs to perform to maintain the confidence that the captain has shown in them. I don't think I need to say much about Virat Kohli because he has been the only shining light in our batting on this tour.

Number 6 is very awkward spot right now. Even though I do believe Hardik is the x-facotr player that we need at this spot, he hasn't helped his case much throughout this series. When he is on song, he has the ability to win a game on his own like he did in that Trent Bridge match. However, those performances are few and far in between and consistency is not there as of yet. On some days, he looks outstanding and on the others, he hardly looks like an International cricketer. Hanuma Vihari did alright in his first match but I do think we will need that 5th bowling option when we travel to Australia. Vihari's spin bowling might not be very helpful on those wickets and Hardik right now seems to be the only other option to me.

Pant has I think bought himself some more time with the outstanding century that he scored today. Yes he has had tough time keeping but I feel he did his best for someone who is on their first tour of England as a keeper without any prior experiance. I do feel that he is someone who can be persisted with as he has age on his side and with experience, he will only get better. He is also one of those players who is an all-format player.

For the spinner's spot, I think Ashwin started this tour very well but since he got that hip injury in the 3rd test, it started to go wayward for him. I don't think he was 100% when he was picked for 4th test match but India still decided to go with him. Jadeja did alright in this test match but I would still go for Ashwin as the primary spinner come the Australia tour.

I can't the fast bowlers one bit as they all have been absolutely brilliant throughout the series. The only criticism they might get is that they have lacked that final blow and have allowed the tail enders to score a lot of runs. They need to learn how to close the innings once they have their opponent down for 90 for 6 or 100 for 7. In this series, we saw that the lower order of England scored some crucial runs which resulted in England winning 2 tests which we should have won. However, this is clearly the best fast bowling unit that we have had in our history and as a fan, we can just hope that they continue this performance when we travel to Australia.

My team for 1st WI test would be:

Shaw
Rahul
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Jadeja
Ashwin
Shami/
Ishant/Bhuvi
Bumrah

Reserve: Vihari, Pandya, Ishant/Bhuvi, Mayank

India might play Pandya because the Aussie's might prepare tracks similar to last summer with a few dead and flat tracks which broke up and turn was a big part in days four and five. But after so many test matches and management giving him security he has failed to do anything significant and more importantly hasn't shown consistency. He had his brilliant moments when he rescued India in SA when he scored 93 to reduce a lead. He took a five fer in England, but didn't do anything in the next match. Of course he'd be an X Factor, but his performances do not suggest it's the smartest idea to bat him at 6.

I think India should look at what the Aussie's have done. They only had a 4 man bowling attack and played 6 batsmen in the Ashes. It worked for them whenever the top four went cheaply and they had that one genuine batsman (Shaun Marsh) at 6 which played well with whoever was at the other end and Australia got runs. In the last 8 overseas tests, India looked like they only needed four bowlers to get those 20 wickets where Pandya mainly took a single wicket or went wicket less, barring that five fer. The Indian pace attack, unlike before only needs three quality fast bowlers and one spinner to get 20 wickets. I believe six genuine batsmen are needed for Australia especially becuase India are facing Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins alongside a very successful spinner in Nathan Lyon.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Just pure class. Pure class from two champions!

 

[Rehan_24]

I think this series was the best chance for India to unprove the notion that Indian team only performs good in their home conditions as far as test matches are concerned. Really a huge disappointment. I expected a lot better this time in England. Now I can relate James Anderson concern when India keep on piling runs in flat tracks.

 

[Aalay]

I think this series was the best chance for India to unprove the notion that Indian team only performs good in their home conditions as far as test matches are concerned. Really a huge disappointment. I expected a lot better this time in England. Now I can relate James Anderson concern when India keep on piling runs in flat tracks.

I love how this guy shows up after every Indian series abroad and without watching a single match makes a conclusion like this. If you have watched even a single match apart form Lord's, you would not have made a post like this. Not only you, if you follow this thread, you can see every Indian fan was disappointed with the way the seris went. However, we were more disappointed by poor selection and captaincy at times rather than the actual performance of the team. Performance wise, this was probably the best series India has had in last 3 England tours. Of course, the scoreline won't prove that at all but that's why there is so much so talk about not paying importance to the scoreline because apart form Lord's it was, it wa probably one of the most competitive series I have seen in a long time.

 

[Bhumi]

Stats round-up

** Most wickets by pacers in Tests:
564 JAMES ANDERSON
563 Glenn McGrath
519 Courtney Walsh
434 Kapil Dev
433 Stuart Broad
431 Richard Hadlee

** India losing four Tests in a series:
0-4 in Aus, 1947/48
0-5 in Eng, 1959
0-5 in WI, 1961/62
0-4 in Aus, 1967/68
0-4 in Aus 1991/92
0-4 in Eng, 2011
0-4 in Aus, 2011/12
1-4 in Eng, 2018

** Man of the Match in last Test:
Ian Redpath
Greg Chappell
Sarfraz Nawaz
Sunil Gavaskar
Murray Goodwin
Jason Gillespie
Shane Bond
Alastair Cook

 

[Bhumi]

I think this series was the best chance for India to unprove the notion that Indian team only performs good in their home conditions as far as test matches are concerned. Really a huge disappointment. I expected a lot better this time in England. Now I can relate James Anderson concern when India keep on piling runs in flat tracks.

India need to talk with Aus cricket board for more practice matches during each test in between- in next tour in Australia.

I strongly belived practice matches before test was not present for last rsa and in eng was prime reasons for Indian series defeats.

BCCI should re-arranges schedule :for example Only after 5 days up-on Conclusion of Asia cup, test series vs WI starts

 

[Rehan_24]

I love how this guy shows up after every Indian series abroad and without watching a single match makes a conclusion like this. If you have watched even a single match apart form Lord's, you would not have made a post like this. Not only you, if you follow this thread, you can see every Indian fan was disappointed with the way the seris went. However, we were more disappointed by poor selection and captaincy at times rather than the actual performance of the team. Performance wise, this was probably the best series India has had in last 3 England tours. Of course, the scoreline won't prove that at all but that's why there is so much so talk about not paying importance to the scoreline because apart form Lord's it was, it wa probably one of the most competitive series I have seen in a long time.

One can agree with your points regarding team India performance but the bottom line remains same that is India fell short and lost one of the golden chance to have an overseas win. Personally as a cricket fan, I believe that England was an easier opponent compared to Australia and South Africa on their home grounds.

You may perceive whatever you want but I will solely opine as a cricket fan and viewer that India should had won this series.

 

[zimrahil]

One can agree with your points regarding team India performance but the bottom line remains same that is India fell short and lost one of the golden chance to have an overseas win. Personally as a cricket fan, I believe that England was an easier opponent compared to Australia and South Africa on their home grounds.

You may perceive whatever you want but I will solely opine as a cricket fan and viewer that India should had won this series.

Not often you hear someone say that after a 4-1 defeat

 

[asprin]

On this day, Yuvraj's six sixes off Broad.

Just remembering some positive stuff to offset the feelings of this disappointing series.

 

[asprin]

India's tail vs England's tail (some more postmortem )

* denotes Declared/DNB innings


India's tail scored 582 runs in 9 innings (not counting Declared innings)
England's tail scored 702 runs in 7 innings (not counting Declared/DNB innings)

| India | England
Avg runs (last 4 wickets)|64.66|100.28

 

[zimrahil]

India's tail vs England's tail (some more postmortem )

* denotes Declared/DNB innings
View attachment 215523

India's tail scored 582 runs in 9 innings (not counting Declared innings)
England's tail scored 702 runs in 7 innings (not counting Declared/DNB innings)

| India | England
Avg runs (last 4 wickets)|64.66|100.28

With the amount of all rounders in England’s team currently it doesn’t come as a complete surprise
But yeah was the ultimate difference between the sides

 

[Morphed]

Well atleast in England series our top order scored more runs than their lower order.In Aus,our top order scored less than Australian Lower order