SLICKR392 Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 England in England is no joke- even the current Saffie/Aussie side will struggle to beat (but will beat) England in England. I think we are going to lose 3-0 or 3-1. The only way we win a test in England is if our bowling attack is something like: Ashwin/Jadeja-Yadav-Shami-Bhuvi/Pandey/Ishant/Zaheer But Yadav-Shami are a must. The current Saffers pummeled England in their own backyard & one wouldn't know how the English Ashes summer could have turned out to be had Johnson played that series. Agreed its no easy task and I'm quite sure our players are aware and up for it. We 'could & should' have swept the NZ Test series had our fielders held on to their catches. Such a shame that! Ultimately it depends on how sensible Dhoni will be while selecting his bowling attack. Should be Bhuvi/Pandey, Shami & Yadav,IMO. Link to comment
Mahaa Raavana Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Best wishes to minnows from your friendly neighbours :two_thumbs_up: Like the wise old Sanga says,"Do the basics right and play to your potential " While the whitewash is inevitable, hope India will be able to take all test matches to the fifth day and give a good fight.. Chuk de India :icflove: Link to comment
SLICKR392 Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 Ultimately, our goal IMO should not be to field the best XI to win the series. because we need to face reality and realize we are not ready yet to beat England in England. Give them some credit, they are professionals too and would come at us hard. They just crashed horribly on their quest for 'one of the top 2 teams in tests' and would be trying to prove a point by beating the crap out of us. So, our focus should be to field competetive teams while maximizing our exposure & experience to the new test team. Its hard to believe that just two-three years after, when the least experienced middle order bat had 90-odd tests under his belt, our most experienced member of the middle order would have less than 30. To win 5 or 4 test series in England/Australia with this kind of rawness would be both unrealistic and too much expectations on our budding team. We should realize that with the last two series vs NZ and RSA included, by the time we finish the Aussie tour, we'd have played 13 tests overseas, in non-Asian conditions. This is the prime time to farm experience. We need to ensure that whatever happens in terms of results, we emerge from the Australia tour as a test side who have: a) atleast a clear #1 opening pair b) atleast two worldclass middle order batsmen c) atleast 1 pace spearhead for the next 4-5 years d) atleast 1 clear-cut spinner who we'd invest in till a great spin option emerges. Without these 4 criterias being satisfied by approximately this time next year, for our test side, we will have no realistic hope of competing with RSA/AUS/ENG over the next 3-5 years. As it stands right now, we are closest to achieving criteria b), thanks to Pujara and Kohli (though make no mistake, they have not fully satisfied the criteria yet. If both Kohli and Pujara end up averaging less than 45 in the next two series on the trot, we are in a whole world of hurt). criteria a) should pan out if we manage the situation well. We have Vijay-Dhawan as our default combo but if either of them falters significantly, we can find an effective combo by trying our other opening options in Rahane or recycle the likes of Sehwag-Gambhir if the proper circumstances arise or heck, even take the extreme step of blooding chand. But i think that criteria a) should be a 50-50 bet at worst in working out. criteria c)- a pace spearhead- does seem wishful thinking at this point but if we are prepared to take some bold decisions and back our players, we should get atleast a decent pace spearhead option out of Shami, Yadav, Pankaj, Pandey, Bhuvi or rather unlikely but possibly: Ishant. criteria d) is the most depressing one as an Indian fan, its our traditional strength and not for a stretch in the mid-late 1980s did we go through a rather astonishing phase of having no real spin talent. Both Ashwin and Jadeja may yet turn out to be worldclass but I don't think they will turn out in the 'great' category. However, both present hypothetical batting benefits and that increases their value until a real spinner emerges and blows apart the opposition in FC cricket Kumble-Doshi style. Good points, but these are something we could only hope for and it requires ample time to make it happen. The openers were always going to be a worry but there isn't a need to hit the panic button yet. Chand is promising but its high time he focusses on the game & his batting, rather than promoting his book and posing for a magazine cover. Shami is our sure shot spear head, as of now. If Yadav gets a game, he could eventually lead a new and young attack as well. And I completely agree with you about Aaron. Pace alone is not going to fetch him wickets against these world class Test batsmen, would only hurt his confidence if he goes unprepared. We can't hope that he would do well because he has pace and suffer the consequences later. Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper. Like someone stated on the forum earlier about going with Aaron on a flat deck since he's got pace, has most probably missed the tonking he received from the Bangladeshi batsman, mind you he was clocking high 140s consistently. Should be around the side in the LOIs and eventually be included in the Test XI when ready. Meanwhile, we need to find a decent seam all rounder along with a decent spinner for overseas. R.Dhawan is all that I'm aware of from domestic along with a rusty Irfan. Rkt might know a few. Link to comment
Cricket_Hacker Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Best wishes to minnows from your friendly neighbours :two_thumbs_up: Like the wise old Sanga says,"Do the basics right and play to your potential " While the whitewash is inevitable, hope India will be able to take all test matches to the fifth day and give a good fight.. Chuk de India :icflove: unfortunately we dont have senanayake :(( by the way,best of luck to T20 Champions too!You will be touring England for a short series before us Link to comment
Sachin=GOD Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Add a poll about England's victory margin in Test series. Link to comment
Cricket_Hacker Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 i am postitive that we won't give in to our recently acquired "choking" habit and win a test and draw a couple Link to comment
Sidhoni Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Add a poll about England's victory margin in Test series. Thankfully we won t have to deal with a whitewash with a certain someone not being there. Link to comment
kaptaan Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Best wishes to minnows from your friendly neighbours :two_thumbs_up: Like the wise old Sanga says,"Do the basics right and play to your potential " While the whitewash is inevitable, hope India will be able to take all test matches to the fifth day and give a good fight.. Chuk de India :icflove: Best Wishes to you too.They don't have bad light issues there :giggle: :giggle: Link to comment
Sachin=GOD Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Thankfully we won t have to deal with a whitewash with a certain someone not being there. you mean M$D will be sacked as Test Captain by then? Link to comment
BlueBee Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Best wishes to minnows from your friendly neighbours :two_thumbs_up: Like the wise old Sanga says,"Do the basics right and play to your potential " While the whitewash is inevitable, hope India will be able to take all test matches to the fifth day and give a good fight.. Chuk de India :icflove: :fishing: Link to comment
Gunner Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 England in England is no joke- even the current Saffie/Aussie side will struggle to beat (but will beat) England in England. I think we are going to lose 3-0 or 3-1. The only way we win a test in England is if our bowling attack is something like: Ashwin/Jadeja-Yadav-Shami-Bhuvi/Pandey/Ishant/Zaheer But Yadav-Shami are a must. +1 Last time we had Praveen Kumar for spearhead, and Dhoni-Raina as support bowlers. Link to comment
G_B_ Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I think people are being too pessimistic. Yes england start of as favorites. You have to keep a few factors in mind (A) They will be playing close to 7 tests in 3 months. Thats potentially 35 days of test cricket in 90 days. English bowlers are going to be hit by injuries. Especially somebody like broad. The english test schedule has been poor. I dont think England have the depth (B) They have no coach as of now. You need time to plan. © IF the weather is dry then the pitches will spin. By all advanced estimates the weather in England indicates that there will be spin. India can even play two spinners. (D) Its a new England team. They will take time to gell. (E) One of the tests is at the rose bowl. ITs been a flatbed. Hampshire currently have a so so team and use those pitches to churn out draws. For me though the weather in July is going to be the key. County championship games are also going to be in full flow so there will be wear and tear on the pitch. Spinners like Warne and Murali have always got wickets on English pitches. While nobody is expecting Ashwin or Sir to get that sort of purchase I think they will be handy. Link to comment
Pagalpanti Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 We have forgotten how to win over-seas. We have the team to beat anyone away tbh, but it will depend if they turn up as individuals or as a team We came close to thrashing SA in 1st test but instead we almost conceded a defeat. NZ in NZ again we came close twice, could've been 2-0 for India but ended up being 1-0 for NZ. Link to comment
Austin 3:!6 Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I'll be watching Kohli's performance with great interest during this series. He is all set to raise his status to the best in the world ' date=' but if he failed, we'll be quick to and would love to rate him as another FTB. from India. My gut feelings, he will make > 400 runs with at least 2 centuries.[/quote'] Guys do not over hype Kohli...let him play Link to comment
Midfielder Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Major component is a very important opening partnership, which may not yield runs but should last one session. The last success enjoyed was when Akash Chopra was a pretty stubborn opening partner. Link to comment
Bleed-Blue Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Guys do not over hype Kohli...let him play :agree: Link to comment
Bleed-Blue Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 The series will easier than 3 years ago due to England being worse off and india being better than they were three years ago Link to comment
Austin 3:!6 Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 All tickets for Lords test are Sold out...feck :(( Link to comment
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