What India must do to fight back against England at Trent Bridge: Dileep Premachandran

[Jersey #10]

dravid has in the past and he would again. he wouldnt refuse anything' date=' its dravid ffs.[/quote'] I believe all batsmen have preferred spots in the team especially seniors like Dravid, Lax and SRT. They would love to have their sports sorted out and let the youngsters make up a batting line up around them. You are talking as if you know Dravid in real life! do you?

[Cricket Tragic]

why do people want Yuvi ahead of Mukund ?

Because he can hit sixes. :yay:

[zep1706]

It may sound ridiculous but I will play Yuvi and ask him to open, who knows if he can last for some time he can give the team a Sehwag like momentum, plus he can bowl, I will give Bhajji an another chance-- 1. Gauti 2. Yuvi 3. RD 4. SRT 5. VVS 6. Raina 7 MSD 8. Bhajji 9. PK 10. Ishant 11. Sree

[Jadoo]

As much as I like Yuvraj there is no way he will survive the new ball at TB against the English attack. I would stick with Mukund to open with Gauti and bring in Prabhu Deva wannabe for Bhajji.

[Cricket Tragic]

As much as I like Yuvraj there is no way he will survive the new ball at TB against the English attack. I would stick with Mukund to open with Gauti and bring in Prabhu Deva wannabe for Bhajji.

You mean Benny Lava? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdyC1BrQd6g]‪Benny Lava...(WITH LYRICS) Halarious‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

[One&only]

Sachin should open till Sehwag comes back Gautim Sachin Dravid Lakshman Raina Yuvraj Dhoni Mishra Ishant Praveen Sreesanth I'd put Yuvraj in because he can trouble KP and seems to be in good batting form

[ravsdh]

Sachin should open till Sehwag comes back Gautim Sachin Dravid Lakshman Raina Yuvraj Dhoni Mishra Ishant Praveen Sreesanth I'd put Yuvraj in because he can trouble KP and seems to be in good batting form

*falls off chair laughing*

[ravsdh]

I believe all batsmen have preferred spots in the team especially seniors like Dravid' date=' Lax and SRT. They would love to have their sports sorted out and let the youngsters make up a batting line up around them. You are talking as if you know Dravid in real life! do you?[/quote'] dravid, when skipper, was interviewed by harsha bhogle and asked about it. this was before the tour of pakistan in 2005/6 where him and veeru nearly broke the 413 opening partnership record by pankaj roy and vinoo mankad against pak at lahore. he said he was more than happy to open. i doubt that for one test, this has suddenly become an issue

[rajmarie]

If Mukund is unfortunately replaced by Yuvraj...& Yuvraj should occupy is batting position also. I dont want that his inclusion disturb the batting order. Although my team will be: Gauti, Mukund, Dravid, Sachin, VVS, Raina, Dhoni, Mishra, Sreesanth, Praveen Ishant. Zak was not 100% in the 1st test & look what happened..he broke down resulting in our bowling being 1 short. Let Zak rest..or lets just say..finally so some workout in 7 weeks & get his fitness back for 3rd Test. No Harbhajan. Mishra cant do worst then Bhajji. Atleast Mishra will have a better body language then Bhajji who IMO dont give a **** abt Team

[yoda]

Practically speaking, I can't see anymore than a single change - Munna Bhai in for Zak. Fatsanth is so fecking out of shape, I can't believe the guy passed any kind of physical. Would have been much better to have included RPS instead.

[panesarv]

I stopped reading after "Mukund out, Yuvraj in"

[Cricket Tragic]

Practically speaking, I can't see anymore than a single change - Munna Bhai in for Zak. Fatsanth is so fecking out of shape, I can't believe the guy passed any kind of physical. Would have been much better to have included RPS instead.

Munna has played 1 test in the last 2 years. Massive risk to play him given his history of injuries. I expect Sree to come in for Zak.

[Fontaine]

I would love to drop Bhajji but seriously, Mishra was destroyed in a warm up match. Has zero experience playing in England and was downright awful against the Windies. Mukund Gauti RD SRT VVS Raina MSD Sree Ishant Praveen Bhajji With Sree/Ishant/PK we've got wicket taking options. THAT'S what we need. Munaf is not a strike bowler. Give Sree a giant kick up the ass and tell that fat donkey to pitch the ball up around off stump and let his natural outswing do the rest. Get Bhajji to stop moaning about lack of spin and use his flight along with variations of speed to out fox the batsmen. It's such a simple lesson and the first thing good spinners learn but this idiot has forgotten all about his bowling. And finally, someone explain to Dhoni that he doesn't need to thrash the ball around. Get your eye in, settle down, and keep rotating the strike. I believe we'll be a lot more competitive in this test match. And injury to Zaheer and Bowden getting a mind job and referring a simple KP catch cost us an additional 150 runs. And memo to all our pacers. PITCH THE GODDAMN BALL UP! There's always time later when the ball gets old to try different things but in the first 20 overs just shutup, and pitch it up. EVERY single one of the England top order got out when our bowlers pitched it up from Stauss, Cook, Bell, Trott etc.

[Cricket Tragic]

I would love to drop Bhajji but seriously, Mishra was destroyed in a warm up match. Has zero experience playing in England and was downright awful against the Windies. Mukund Gauti RD SRT VVS Raina MSD Sree Ishant Praveen Bhajji With Sree/Ishant/PK we've got wicket taking options. THAT'S what we need. Munaf is not a strike bowler. Give Sree a giant kick up the ass and tell that fat donkey to pitch the ball up around off stump and let his natural outswing do the rest. Get Bhajji to stop moaning about lack of spin and use his flight along with variations of speed to out fox the batsmen. It's such a simple lesson and the first thing good spinners learn but this idiot has forgotten all about his bowling. And finally, someone explain to Dhoni that he doesn't need to thrash the ball around. Get your eye in, settle down, and keep rotating the strike. I believe we'll be a lot more competitive in this test match. And injury to Zaheer and Bowden getting a mind job and referring a simple KP catch cost us an additional 150 runs. And memo to all our pacers. PITCH THE GODDAMN BALL UP! There's always time later when the ball gets old to try different things but in the first 20 overs just shutup, and pitch it up. EVERY single one of the England top order got out when our bowlers pitched it up from Stauss, Cook, Bell, Trott etc.

++++++

[IKnowU]

Replace Yuvraj and Sree for Zak and Darts and we should be good :bigboss:

[GrassHoppers]

Dravid Ghambir SRT VVS Raina The Ultimate UV the slasher Dhoni PK Mishra Sreesanth Ishanth Nuff said, we have Trent Bridge in the bag

[Sooda]

What India must do to fight back against England at Trent Bridge: Dileep Premachandran http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/jul/26/india-england-trent-bridge Opt for Sreesanth – and cross your fingers Of all the things that went wrong for India over five days at Lord's, none is likely to impact on the outcome of the series as much as Zaheer Khan's hamstring strain. We can debate until the cows come home as to whether he was overcooked (non-stop cricket from December to May) or undercooked (nothing since the beginning of June), but once he limped off, Zaheer took India's plans A, B and C with him. Much is written about the class and ability of the middle order, but it is no coincidence that India's charge up the Test rankings has coincided with Zaheer maturing as a pace bowler of the highest class. On the field, he is not just India's best performer, he is also mentor to the other pacemen who have nothing like his experience or nous. Without him at Trent Bridge, India must hope that Sreesanth gets out of the right side of the bed. Greg Chappell, the former coach, jokingly used to ask him whether he was going to be "Good Sree or bad Sree". India cannot afford the distracted, erratic version at Trent Bridge. When he's good, as he has been in patches in South Africa, or on a dead pitch in Kanpur against Sri Lanka, he can be exceptional. Set the right fields for Harbhajan to step up Figures of one for 218 from 56 overs were an accurate reflection of how he bowled at Lord's. In the buildup to Trent Bridge he will get a pasting from former pros back home and there will be regular and unflattering comparisons with Graeme Swann. But Harbhajan is a scrapper, and an integral part of India's improvement as a Test side. In 15 overseas Tests spanning the past three years he has taken 61 wickets, playing a pivotal role in victories at Hamilton and Durban. That Durban game followed on from a Centurion Test where a Zaheer-less attack had been smashed out of sight, and it said much about the resilience of bowler and team alike. That said, Harbhajan cannot get into stock-bowler mode at the first sign of batsmen taking him on. When he is at his best, as during the drawn Test in Cape Town last January, he gets lovely drift and sharp turn combined with appreciable bounce. Attacking fields would help, as would not bowling round the wicket at the outside of the pads. He has more than 400 wickets. It is time to show people how he got them. Bring back Yuvraj to open the batting Virender Sehwag's continued absence leaves India not only without an unmatched scoring option, but also a useful bowling one. To get back into the series, they need to reassess the batting order and whether it might make more sense to pick the best six batsmen. Abhinav Mukund showed promising signs at Lord's, but Yuvraj Singh is sitting on the sidelines. England know all about his limited‑overs prowess, but he also has some previous in the Test arena, having made an unbeaten 85 as India chased down 387 in Chennai. His left-arm spin may be the butt of a few jokes, but it was a vital containing and wicket-taking option for Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the World Cup. Asking Rahul Dravid to open and fitting Yuvraj into the middle order is fraught with risk. Dravid averages 20 runs fewer as opener and remains, as he showed at Lord's, the middle-order glue. Why not send Yuvraj in at the top and ask him to do a Sehwag? He can certainly strike the ball as cleanly and as far. -err perhaps because he will be totally undone by the pace and swing of Englands new ball bowlers Get a move on How long can you carry on with a bad habit before it comes back to bite you? Dhoni has been warned about slow over-rates before, as recently as Barbados last month. One more tardy match and he will be banned. At Lord's the over‑rate from both sides was dismal, but only one captain is on a warning. The loss of Zaheer upset the bowling plan, but it is not as though Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan or Suresh Raina come in off Michael Holding-like run-ups. And if you are in trouble with the rate, taking several minutes to take the pads off and hand over to Dravid hardly helps. Most observers were bemused when Ishant Sharma was not called on right after lunch on day four after his wicket-taking burst in the first session. Ishant said later that he needed a break, but the bizarre choice of Raina suggested one eye on the over-rate. Matches have been lost like this before. Just just ask Ricky Ponting. India were six down and struggling at Nagpur in 2008. But with a ban a real prospect, Ponting pulled back and bowled part‑time rubbish. Dhoni and Harbhajan added 108 and India won by 172. Sound familiar? Change the approach to Test cricket Not exactly something India can rectify in the 48 hours until the next Test but absorbing the lessons of Lord's would help. They missed Virender Sehwag and the situation says a fair bit about the Indian board's approach to Test cricket. It isn't as though this tour was penciled in to the calendar last month. It's been on the itinerary for a year, and as soon as England crushed Australia in the Ashes and India drew in South Africa, this has been looked ahead to as an unofficial world Test championship clash. Sehwag should have been operated on as soon as the World Cup was over. Instead, he played more than a month of IPL, and by the time he went under the knife, it was almost certain that he'd struggle to be fit in time for this tour. The Indian board deserves credit for adding Tests into a pretty empty calendar last year, but the need is for proper planning and not ramshackle last-minute additions. England have played 69 home Tests in the last decade, to India's 47. The itinerary for an English summer is decided months in advance. India don't even have a defined home season or traditional Test, like Lord's in July or Boxing Day. As for an off-season, that's become the stuff of cricketers' fantasies. ----------- Not sure about Yuv opening, the rest makes sense though. Zak out for the next test for sure which is just cr@P

[Fontaine]

I would love to drop Bhajji but seriously, Mishra was destroyed in a warm up match. Has zero experience playing in England and was downright awful against the Windies. Mukund Gauti RD SRT VVS Raina MSD Sree Ishant Praveen Bhajji With Sree/Ishant/PK we've got wicket taking options. THAT'S what we need. Munaf is not a strike bowler. Give Sree a giant kick up the ass and tell that fat donkey to pitch the ball up around off stump and let his natural outswing do the rest. Get Bhajji to stop moaning about lack of spin and use his flight along with variations of speed to out fox the batsmen. It's such a simple lesson and the first thing good spinners learn but this idiot has forgotten all about his bowling. And finally, someone explain to Dhoni that he doesn't need to thrash the ball around. Get your eye in, settle down, and keep rotating the strike. I believe we'll be a lot more competitive in this test match. And injury to Zaheer and Bowden getting a mind job and referring a simple KP catch cost us an additional 150 runs. And memo to all our pacers. PITCH THE GODDAMN BALL UP! There's always time later when the ball gets old to try different things but in the first 20 overs just shutup, and pitch it up. EVERY single one of the England top order got out when our bowlers pitched it up from Stauss, Cook, Bell, Trott etc.

I changed my mind. Go with four pace bowlers. Bring in Bhajji for Munaf who can do a far better job of being an economical bowler. Raina can bowl some overs of part time spin.

[Sooda]

No two of our four pacers are not so similar anyway so it is not like the attack is going to be one dimensional.

[ravsdh]

No two of our four pacers are not so similar anyway so it is not like the attack is going to be one dimensional.

to be honest, if we win at TB this would be greater than any of our overseas victories because we would have been up against the best attack in world cricket without our main strike weapon and under massive pressure. weather is good in nottingham today and for the rest of the week so probably best to bat first given the chance. this is probably the biggest test of MSD's captaincy to date. sree, if ever there was a need to cut out the play-acting bakwaas and just bowl your heart out........