Great job by our front line bowlers

[Fontaine]

In all the brutality and carnage that was Yuvraj Singh's performance, I think it would be good not to loose sight of the great start Zaheer/Munaf made in the series: Zaheer performed his usual heroics with the new ball by getting a little bit of movement when he got the ball to just slide towards middle and leg trying to get the LBW, and his other stock delivery which angles across the batsmen tempting them on the drive. In particular he mixed up both deliveries in every over to keep the batsmen guessing. His off stump line was good as well. Munaf continued his improvement from the Sri Lanka series by bowling an excellent wicket to wicket line at pace (140kph) and consistently delivering the ball on the channel just outside offstump. When he did deviate from that line it was on a couple of good deliveries angled across to tempt the batsmen into a drive and that's how he got Prior out. It's the same problem England have had for months. Some of their bastmen don't know where their offstump is and struggle to drive the ball early. I don't know if this was spotted by Venky or someone else but it worked to perfection today. It was tight restrictive bowling on the offstump line that built up the pressure and occasionally asked the batsmen to drive on the angled deliveries. Really, very good bowling following a simple plan with a lot of accuracy. It's the best kind of attack against an England top order that starts of very slowly in Bell/Prior/Shah and it shows a real maturity in the bowling approach of what's the best plan for the right moment. I'd love to know who came up with the bowling plan, but really, they deserve a TON of credit. I hope RP Singh/Irfan Pathan are taking notes!

[Shane]

I hope we are in a position to add Ishant into the mix !!!

[Fontaine]

I hope we are in a position to add Ishant into the mix !!!

Well the good thing is that if the England team were under any illusions, they aren't any more. They realize just what our batting order is capable of and it's going to put tremendous pressure on their batsmen even if they choose to bat first. They'll know they need to score at a run a ball now to be able to compete with India and it's going to break a lot of their mediocre batsmen like Shah, Bopara, Prior, Collingwood, Bell.

[cochise]

Expected Zaheer to do well...but was pleasantly surprised with Munaf's work. He is shaping up nicely. RP looks seriously underdone though...not impressed.

[Dravid]

i hope they keep resting ishant

[Fontaine]

Expected Zaheer to do well...but was pleasantly surprised with Munaf's work. He is shaping up nicely. RP looks seriously underdone though...not impressed.

I wouldn't expect much from RP. He's one of those bowlers that at his medium pace needs swing to be most effective. Where in England/Australia he's a decent number 3 in the subcontinent he doesn't have the pace, or the control/accuracy over his variation to do the job. It's not as if he's bowling poorly, he's bowling the same way as he's done previously like the KitKat/Asia cup but without that swing on offer even guys like Anderson who's got much more raw pace look awful. Unfortunately with Sreesanth monkeying around on dance shows, Irfan still struggling, and Ishant out we really don't have much of a choice. I'm more furious with Sreesanth though, because with his pace he would be have been a good selection when we go with three seamers but the way this guy is handling his career it's pretty clear he cares far more for the showbiz limelight than playing for Indian colors. Hopefully Ishant can come back for the third ODI onwards and he can really come in with his nagging consistency and ability to seam the ball. That would be great.

[Laaloo]

I wouldn't expect much from RP. He's one of those bowlers that at his medium pace needs swing to be most effective. Where in England/Australia he's a decent number 3 in the subcontinent he doesn't have the pace, or the control/accuracy over his variation to do the job. It's not as if he's bowling poorly, he's bowling the same way as he's done previously like the KitKat/Asia cup but without that swing on offer even guys like Anderson who's got much more raw pace look awful. Unfortunately with Sreesanth monkeying around on dance shows, Irfan still struggling, and Ishant out we really don't have much of a choice. I'm more furious with Sreesanth though, because with his pace he would be have been a good selection when we go with three seamers but the way this guy is handling his career it's pretty clear he cares far more for the showbiz limelight than playing for Indian colors. Hopefully Ishant can come back for the third ODI onwards and he can really come in with his nagging consistency and ability to seam the ball. That would be great.

Rp Singh used to regularly clock between 140s and 145s. What was his speed during this game?

[Fontaine]

Rp Singh used to regularly clock between 140s and 145s. What was his speed during this game?

When was this? I never saw him bowl that fast before. Maybe on the England/Australia tour with fast bouncy pitches.

[Sachinism]

RP was pretty pacey before, maybe he is just down on confidence at the moment

[Dinx - the Jinx]

There was a chat on Dial C for Criccket yday on Neo about "Who will be missed most - Sachin or Ishant?". Looks like neither were missed in this match. Great sign for Indian Cricket. I think we should go with just 2 fast bowlers and 2 spinners in the remaining matches. When Ishant is back, we can think of using ZK, Ishant and Munaf. Lets not use RP a lot and shatter his confidence on these pitches.

[vroomfondel]

When was this? I never saw him bowl that fast before. Maybe on the England/Australia tour with fast bouncy pitches.

Yes India/England 2007 he was clocking 145+. I think the speed gun measures from near the hand so it should have nothing to do with the pitch. i think.

[Predator_05]

He was clocking 138-142 in the ODIs against SL in '05.

[Laaloo]

In that t20 match against aus at home (In India) in 2007, he bowled gilly with a 145.9kph. Stupid youtube mofos deleted that vid

[Predator_05]

In that t20 match against aus at home (In India) in 2007' date=' he bowled gilly with a 145.9kph. Stupid youtube mofos deleted that vid[/quote'] I absolutely love that video [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPKps9NvMO4]YouTube - twenty20 - Gilchrist 4,4,4 Wickets ( India vs Australia)[/ame]

[Ram]

When was this? I never saw him bowl that fast before. Maybe on the England/Australia tour with fast bouncy pitches.

RPS was in the 140s for most of the T20 world cup. Even during the test series against Aus, he was up there in terms of his speeds.

[cowboysfan]

There was a chat on Dial C for Criccket yday on Neo about "Who will be missed most - Sachin or Ishant?". Looks like neither were missed in this match. Great sign for Indian Cricket. I think we should go with just 2 fast bowlers and 2 spinners in the remaining matches. When Ishant is back' date=' we can think of using ZK, Ishant and Munaf. Lets not use RP a lot and shatter his confidence on these pitches.[/quote'] most of the wickets will be belters like the one in rajkot -so going in with 2 spinners makes no sense especially with our part timers who can do a good job.unless its a real spinner friendly wicket we should stick with 3 seamers.

[flamy]

I think Munaf is a very good replacement for Sreesanth (who can say bye-bye to his direct entry into national team now, he should grind it out in the domestics to be picked again). I like his McGrathesque approach :D

[Laaloo]

Btw, what was munafs speed yesterday?

[Ram]

Btw' date=' what was munafs speed yesterday?[/quote'] 134 - 138 kmph.

[fineleg]

I think Munaf is a very good replacement for Sreesanth (who can say bye-bye to his direct entry into national team now' date=' he should grind it out in the domestics to be picked again). I like his McGrathesque approach :D[/quote'] Sreesanth is such a wasted talent. The guy has his priorities all mixed up. Partying and dancing seems to be the important items! He could have been a very good Test match bowler for us.