India do not value their no.1 ranking, England prove they are the real deal : Hussain

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More... On a special day at Lord's England prove they are the real deal By NASSER HUSSAIN 26th July 2011 How great was that for Test cricket? From the moment I arrived to see crowds round the block trying to get into Lord’s I knew this was going to be a special day. This was hardly one of those Tests against Sri Lanka earlier this summer played in front of half-empty stadiums. This was the real deal. This was the sort of occasion England relish and one that they were ready for. They took centre stage and lived up to the occasion. I am so pleased that England won because they set the perfect template on how you should prepare for and then perform in a very important game of Test cricket. India were exactly the opposite. They just turned up with totally inadequate preparation and expected everything to be alright on the night. Do they not value their status as the best Test team in the world? They did not seem to here. Everything that England have done this summer has been geared towards making sure their players are as ready as possible for this Test series, including Andrew Strauss playing at Taunton and Stuart Broad playing for Notts. In contrast, India expected their top strike bowler in Zaheer Khan and their premier batsman in Sachin Tendulkar to rock up without playing a Test since January and just have a bit of a hit and giggle against Somerset before the big one. They did not help themselves. That’s the best I have seen Stuart Broad bowl. If I was Andy Flower now I would sit Broad down and say: ‘Right, that’s exactly the way you should do it. Yes, you can try to rough up the tail-enders, but you got the top order out with intelligent, skilful bowling. Stay just like that.’ Then I would sit Kevin Pietersen down and say: ‘That first century in your double hundred is exactly how you need to bat. That’s the way to build an innings. No ego. No giving it away. Make sure you do the same in the second Test at Trent Bridge.’ England are a machine now. There are no weak links. Broad, Pietersen, Jimmy Anderson or Matt Prior could all have been the man of the match in this Test. The award went to Pietersen but England were brimming with quality. They had to work really hard for their wickets on the final day but they were ready for that because they have worked so hard to get where they are in the game, on the brink of becoming the best team in that game. They never shy away from a battle. There is no let up for opponents. A lot of people still ask why these players do not play more county cricket but this is why. They have built themselves up to this peak for this match and they will be mentally and physically exhausted now, but they must do it all again on Friday. These are England players now, not county ones. They train and play for England and must only play county cricket when it is in their and England’s interests for them to do so. India simply were not ready for them in this game. India have real issues. Zaheer is injured, quite probably because his body was not right for this game, and it is difficult to see how he can play in the second Test. After that match India just have a two-day game at Northants to get ready for the third Test, when they will again have little opportunity to get themselves right for the second half of the series. What’s going on with them? Billy Bowden got a couple of decisions wrong towards the end but they were not costly, and it must be said that both Bowden and Asad Rauf made some brilliant decisions too. For us to have a halfway house, mish-mash of a decision review system in this series has been driven by India and frankly it’s confusing and pathetic. Either we have the full system or we don’t use it at all. Let’s not say we can have HotSpot because India like it but we can’t have Hawk-Eye because they don’t. I just wonder if the pressure and emotion of having to make a call on an lbw against Tendulkar just got to Bowden a little bit, maybe sub-consciously. I like the DRS because it takes all of that away. What we have at the moment is no good to anyone. Still, that does not take anything away from this superb victory for England. They deserved it. They are a mighty impressive team.

[deepak_sach]

Pretty self-appraisal and whining Asser Hussain.

[Trichromatic]

Nasser is right with some of the points he mentioned about India. But to be fair, I don't think Indian team was ever desperate for no 1 ranking or something like that. They tried to give their best on the field. Rank 1 is just a by-product of the efforts made by India. However I don't agree with everything what he said.

[Guest Gunner]

I think Nasser was quite right. England were prepared and India weren't, it was obvious for everyone to see.

[pinkfreud]

Yeah, I read that. Gotta love how those buggers gloat prematurely when there's still 3 matches to go. He does raise some good points about India's complacency and attitude in the body of the article though. Towards the end, however, it's the same old vitriolic bullsh*t that is typical Nasser. Suggesting the umpire was 'pressured' to favour Sachin? Of course, he conveniently overlooks the reprieves England got as well. He's a spiteful little tw** who's always had a lot against Sachin and despises everything that's Indian when it comes to cricket. Even Satan would rot in the foulness of his bile.

[deepak_sach]

Even Satan would rot in the foulness of his bile.

:diablo:<------Satan.

[EnterTheVoid]

Man, what a whiny little **** Hussain has become. The No. 1 team are never allowed to lose a test match are they?

[deepak_sach]

The English team is full of Bloaters, to the extent calling Cook the official ball polisher. well who cares if he polishes the cricket ball or not. And bell is the permanent slip fielder. Considering that Raina who is not even the best batsman in the side scored 73,it will only be a matter of time before others click, As for Cook,the holy flaw in his technique will be badly exposed in this series.......... This is what seperates great batsman from imposters like cook,trott.

[Hell Raiser]

He is right about one thing that India wasn't ready. Only players who performed consistently in West Indies came out good. Dravid, Laxman, Raina, Ishant, Praveen. Even Harbhajan was consistent. Consistent with his crap bowling.

[Yoda-esque]

Of course hes right.We wren't prepared and he is taking this opportunity to rub it in to the Indians.

[TheWall]

If some one is born just to whine one cant help it...

[deepak_sach]

He is right about one thing that India wasn't ready. Only players who performed consistently in West Indies came out good. Dravid, Laxman, Raina, Ishant, Praveen. Even Harbhajan was consistent. Consistent with his crap bowling.

You forgot Mukund. BTW what did he have to say about england prep. for the wc.They would have been no less pathetic.But India conc. on the world cup,similarly England conc.on tests..

[Hell Raiser]

Even if India had won this match or India win this series, they are not going to appreciate Indian performance as these idiots will find something else to whinge and cry about. So there is no need to value what they think or write.

[asterix]

It's their day, their time..They've waiting for this opportunity for long..For them this series is important. For Indians it's one of the important series and not the most important. We can only hope our Rockstars atleast take rest of the series seriously.. Too much of Test ranking talk. If they manage to dislodge India from the top ranking, I'll see how long they'll be able to sustain it..It'll be fun. Indians have been on the top for 21 months now.. Let's see how England goes about it..Everybody will get chance to rub it in..This is an ongoing process..

[Chandan]

This is not about WC. This is about preparing for a test series against a good and tough opposition. For India it was tougher that England as it is an away series for them and many of the players are on their first trip to England. Hence they had needed a longer period of acclimatisation and preferably one more practice game. But I'm most disappointed with Zaheer Khan. What on earth has he been doing since last 7 weeks? Bowled just 13 overs in a match and pulled hamstring? That was shockingly unprofessional preparation. If he was not fully prepared he could have puuled out from the 1st test. Why did he let the team down with that terrible fitness level? It is really quite clear that India do not value their hard earned number one ranking and are throwing it away. It will be quite deserving if a team gets it which is desperate to be number one, which will value it lot more and will try everything to preserve it.

[Guest Gunner]

This is not about WC. This is about preparing for a test series against a good and tough opposition. For India it was tougher that England as it is an away series for them and many of the players are on their first trip to England. Hence they had needed a longer period of acclimatisation and preferably one more practice game. But I'm most disappointed with Zaheer Khan. What on earth has he been doing since last 7 weeks? Bowled just 13 overs in a match and pulled hamstring? That was shockingly unprofessional preparation. If he was not fully prepared he could have puuled out from the 1st test. Why did he let the team down with that terrible fitness level? It is really quite clear that India do not value their hard earned number one ranking and are throwing it away. It will be quite deserving if a team gets it which is desperate to be number one, which will value it lot more and will try everything to preserve it.

That team is England right now.

[punjabiplaya]

hussain was 100% right, hes not talking crap hes not talking bile....he right...listen to what hes saying and lets use it as a motivation,i have noticed even when someone whose not indian says or criticises anything about indian crciket even when its constructive that person becomes the biggest ass*hole ever!! When we do that then we look like ass*holes! he is entitled to an opinion as is everyone dont bash him cos hes right? if anyone needs bashing its our own players and the board!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rajmarie]

Hussain is 100% right...when he mentioned that India came to this series under prepared & also brought half fit players. But what is with Eng media...specially their commentators & their view of DRS. Always bringing it...Its like when BCCI instruct their commentators to talk abt this or that...& they follow...it appears that ECB have told them to talk abt DRS every 1 hr.

[ganeshran]

Hussain is usually a bitter whinger, but he is right this time around. We need to take the coming matches more seriously

[Cricketics]

Winning one test match doesn't make you a real deal. That is also at home. The adopted desi Englishman and poor former English captain comes with these outragious statements once in a while. Let's not give too much attention to him.