indiaregulator Posted October 6, 2012 Posted October 6, 2012 Unfortunately Kohli aside I don't think India's batting will put up big totals against England. Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir in horrible form. Pujara being relatively inexperienced, Rahane also and Rohit Sharma being positively ****. That leaves Dhoni whos technique leaves much to be desired and Virat Kohli. As for bowling well, we'll have to see if Broad and Anderson can reproduce their UAE figures. If they do, as well as the gun that is called Steven Finn then India have a real problem on their hands. Plus you have Swann who is always a threat on turners. Cook > Sehwag Cook is one of the worlds best batsman and will go on to do great things. Sehwag has done great things but it looks like his days are numbering, simply put he's been a bit cack of late. Compton vs Rahane. Nobody knows. Neither have played a test match, both have been impressive in first class cricket. Compton is a bit of a late bloomer, much like Jonathan Trott whilst Rahane is still young and has done well in ODI cricket. Trott > Pujara It's not really fair on Pujara, given Trott is one of the best no.3's out there. probably the 2nd best in the world behind Hashim Amla. Pujara however has made a very good start to his test career. KP > Out of form Sachin. KP on form will simply blow anyone away, regardless of who you are. Whether it be Glenn Mcgrath on seaming wickets, Muralitharan on rank turners, Dale Steyn on swinging pitches or Shane Warne. He will kill you when he's on song. Sachin is the best batsman of the modern era. Unfortunately he's getting on a bit and his form in the past 2 years has been nothing short of horrendous. Bell < Kohli Bell is a very good player of spin but Kohli is special. He will be one of the best batsman in the world in a few years if not already. When the pressure is off, Bell is the reincarnation of Donald Bradman. When the pressure is strong, he should change his nationality to South African. In fact, given this England side, it surprises me that out of everyone he's one of the few who isn't a saffer. Bairstow = Rohit Sharma. Bairstow somehow managed to play Steyn + Philander really well but can't seem to play somebody like Rampaul. I don't know. Rohit Sharma is probably the best player in the world if the scorecard wasn't recorded and there was nobody watching. Shame thats not going to be the case. Prior > Dhoni As good as Dhoni has been for the past year, Prior is by far and away the best test wicketkeeper batsman and number 7 in the world. How many times have England been 120-5 and then Prior comes in and whacks a run a ball century? He's one of my favourite players. Bowling wise: Swann = Ashwin. Here's an interesting one. Swann's offbreaks delivery is in my opinion the best in the world. His flight, accuracy, turn and bounce is better than anyone's since Murali. However his bowling is one dimensional. He can only bowl that plus the occasional one which speeds up and goes straight on. Ashwin can bowl the Carrom ball which makes him deadly, though his offbreaks are not as good. Also Ashwin is bowling on pitches he is familiar with whilst for some reason Swann doesn't perform aswell on turners as he does in England when the ball doesn't turn, which is somewhat remarkable. Swann as a conventional spinner is the best in the world but due to the lack of a Doosra he falls behind Ajmal as an overall spinner. Anderson > Zaheer Khan. Anderson has bowled almost godlike for the past two years and his stats are identical to Steyn's over the past two years. Zaheer was also bowling very well but his age and body has seemingly caught up with him. Zaheer hasn't bowled well for almost a year and a half now. Broad > Umesh. Broad has also, barring the SA series, been godlike over the past year or so. Averaged 27 in Sri Lanka, 21 in UAE, 16 against India. That's very impresssive given the flat nature of the UAE and Sri Lankan pitches. Umesh had a good start and has very good pace but is a bit of a loose cannon. Does have the tendency to take wickets when bowling crap though. Finn > errr Kumar/Aaron? Finn is going to be one of the best bowlers in the world if not the best in a year or so. I think he will do very well in the tour of India. Ojha > Panesar There doesn't need to be an explanation. Panesar is ****.
kubrickian Posted October 6, 2012 Posted October 6, 2012 I think the England series will be a lot tougher than many people expect. For the simple reason, England team has been playing quite a bit of cricket in sub continent and they prepare very well for overseas tours. Pietersen coming back will be a big advantage for them. Many of our batsmen are still out of form, so it could be a good series but I think India has the goods to pull off a series win.
msb1991 Posted October 6, 2012 Posted October 6, 2012 I think there is a lot of pressure on Ojha and Ashwin to capitalize on England's weakness against spin in the subcontinent. There is also a lot of pressure on the Indian batsmen to capitalize on English spinners' relative weakness in the subcontinent. I have faith that both the batsmen and bowlers will like up to this challenge in this series.
Sandeep99 Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 There are a lot of people hoping/believing Rahane/Rohit should be included in Tests... but it's not going to happen mates.. The nephew boy with his mediocrity will score atleast 30-40 in a couple of innings and cement his place in the side and Gambhir is going to have atleast 3 more chances! All of us could be fooled if Murali '268' Vijay and Subramaniam 'Uncle' Badrinath are drafted into the playing XI
Gunner Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 Raina shouldn't be near the test team. He should be replaced with Rahane. Also, what happened to Amit Mishra? He's the only legspinner in the country who turns the ball big (unlike Chawla & Rahul Sharma) and the English suck against Leg Spin. So if India decide to go with 3 spinners, he should be the third spinner. Also, I hope Umesh plays ahead of unlucky Sharma.
Lord Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 Raina shouldn't be near the test team. He should be replaced with Rahane. Also, what happened to Amit Mishra? He's the only legspinner in the country who turns the ball big (unlike Chawla & Rahul Sharma) and the English suck against Leg Spin. So if India decide to go with 3 spinners, he should be the third spinner. Also, I hope Umesh plays ahead of unlucky Sharma. yeah we saw that in English tour:cantstop:
saneindian Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 Raina shouldn't be near the test team. He should be replaced with Rahane. Also, what happened to Amit Mishra? He's the only legspinner in the country who turns the ball big (unlike Chawla & Rahul Sharma) and the English suck against Leg Spin. So if India decide to go with 3 spinners, he should be the third spinner. Also, I hope Umesh plays ahead of unlucky Sharma. Look like Romesh Powar these days with a huge tummy and a double chin. Has totally lost the fizz he had in his bowling.
Number Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 Time to drop Gambhir from test team. And Raina of course.
msb1991 Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 Raina shouldn't be near the test team. He should be replaced with Rahane. Also, what happened to Amit Mishra? He's the only legspinner in the country who turns the ball big (unlike Chawla & Rahul Sharma) and the English suck against Leg Spin. So if India decide to go with 3 spinners, he should be the third spinner. Also, I hope Umesh plays ahead of unlucky Sharma. Mishra has 9 wickets at 64.00 against England, they are not incapable of playing him.
Lord Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 ^ He will do well on Indian surfaces. how r u sure?
Crookbond Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 Mishra has 9 wickets at 64.00 against England' date=' they are not incapable of playing him.[/quote'] Sometimes I think people pay too much weightage on strategy. Irrespective of the opposition's weakness you still have to pick your best team. No point in picking a player with the premise of that the opposition struggles. That is a fallacy because the opposition struggles ONLY when your player does well.
msb1991 Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 Sometimes I think people pay too much weightage on strategy. Irrespective of the opposition's weakness you still have to pick your best team. No point in picking a player with the premise of that the opposition struggles. That is a fallacy because the opposition struggles ONLY when your player does well. Agree, totally. I'm finding myself agreeing with you on most things, tbh. I think 'strategy' only comes into the equation when you have several players with otherwise equal claims to the team.
Gunner Posted October 7, 2012 Posted October 7, 2012 how r u sure? Because he's the only decent legspinner at our disposal who turns the ball, as opposed to Chawla and Sharma. And the well known English weakness against Leg Spin. Who would you have as the third spinner if we go in with three of them?
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