India Tour of England, June-Sept 2014

[Lord]

because Aaron needs to do more to earn a test spot. Pure and simple. Yes, he can bowl fast. But fast and gun-barrel straight in England without much bounce will get you 20-1-90-1 kinda figures. Zaheer/Ishant for 3rd seamer is a safer bet than Aaron. Mind you, I'd prefer Bhuvi as third seamer. I'd like to see Bhuvi-Yadav-Shami all three 'open' the bowling by being rotated so they each get atleast 5 of the first 20 overs (and all three getting the first 20). Or something like that. But down the pecking order, must be Zaheer and Ishant, in that order. Zaheer coz, well, if he can get the ball to swing in England, he will be effective- even at his slow speed. But Bhuvi is a safer bet, definitely so for the opening & new ball overs, so he has to come after Bhuvi. Ishant is next. The guy is not a worldclass player but lets face reality: he has enough experience and skills to be in the mix for the third seamer in tests option. And to be honest, he deserves a chance. He did bowl pretty well in NZ and it would be totally unprofessional to drop a player immediately after he has a good series. Plus, Ishant is a 'lesser analog' of Yadav, one could argue (both are hit the deck hard bowlers who rely on bounce. Ishant more so, Yadav less so and do well when they keep the ball on offstump or outside off line). Next in the pecking order should be Pankaj Singh- especially if he is picked in and does well in the A tour. he is type 'Ishant/Yadav' bowler who allegedly is decently fast and hits the deck hard. Or Pandey, who is similar and perhaps can do similar things.

++ agree with everything

[Sidhoni]

you mean M$D will be sacked as Test Captain by then?

Sachin says Dhoni is the best captain he has to played under. Obey and follow your god please.

[BlueBee]

Sachin says Dhoni is the best captain he has to played under. Obey and follow your god please.

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[carnish]

I want 3 centuries each from Kohli and Pujara ... 2 each from Vijay, Rahane and Dhawan ... and atleast one each from Rohit and MSD ... I am sure if we get these 14 hundreds in 5 tests then India will be able to win atleast 1 test. This 14 hundreds is pretty doable considering we will have 10 innings to bat and if the batch of Duke balls used this year are not from 2010 again, then we will have a very good chance. Need to play Ishant, Shami and Yadav as our main bowlers and Mishra ji or Ojha as our spinner. Pandey and Ashwin can be the backup bowlers.

[Cricket_Hacker]

I want 3 centuries each from Kohli and Pujara ... 2 each from Vijay' date=' Rahane and Dhawan ... and atleast one each from Rohit and MSD ... I am sure if we get these 14 hundreds in 5 tests then India will be able to win atleast 1 test. This 14 hundreds is pretty doable considering we will have 10 innings to bat and if the [b']batch of Duke balls used this year are not from 2010 again, then we will have a very good chance. Need to play Ishant, Shami and Yadav as our main bowlers and Mishra ji or Ojha as our spinner. Pandey and Ashwin can be the backup bowlers.

What was wrong with them?

[carnish]

What was wrong with them?

The 2011 balls used in the series against Sri Lanka didn't swing much so the Pommies resorted to "Sanga" type tactics and asked the manufacturers to bring in balls manufactured in 2010 which had swinged comparatively much more in the last season for the India series.

[adi B]

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.

true.knowing dhoni,he will play both pishant and zak.everything boils down to which pacers he'll select.batsmen are fine but in such a long series,batting is bound to fail 2-3 times which will be enough for england to grasp those moments and win 2-3 test matches

[The Realist]

true.knowing dhoni' date='he will play both pishant and zak.everything boils down to which pacers he'll select.batsmen are fine but in such a long series,batting is bound to fail 2-3 times which will be enough for england to grasp those moments and win 2-3 test matches[/quote'] :agree: Sharma on last Eng 2011 tour: 4 matches 11 wickets 640 runs 58 average 95 strike rate

[undisputed chap]

:agree: Sharma on last Eng 2011 tour: 4 matches 11 wickets 640 runs 58 average 95 strike rate

But this is legendary sharma we are talking about. He doesn't care about plans or goals, winning or losing, getting pumelled by tailenders. He doesn't plan to get wickets as it puts pressure on himself. He just goes out there & gets whacked.

[zep1706]

Looking forward to it but 5 tests is overkill

Only if it's an one sided series, but if it's a competitive then 5 tests are great. Although lately most we haven't had a really competitive long test series.

[zep1706]

I wish we had a new captain for the test series. :((

[singhprakash72]

I believe between the two sides " who plays the worst" will decide the winner. India with its pathetic bowling options will struggle to take 20 wkts as usual and will need to rely on English batsmen to screw up. Batting will be hopefully better than 2011 tour and that seems to be only positive thing for India.

[shankyindiacric]

Who would be our backup opener? Surely need a backup opener here. 5 test series, not just 2 Tests unlike SA or NZ.

[shankyindiacric]

Yes, with the proper tinkering, we are real close to winning a test or two-or, even if I am pleasantly wrong in my wildest dreams, three tests in the ENG-AUS tour. But you are kidding yourself if you think we are going to win either of the next two series. Ain't gonna happen unless we feed them some questionable curry or bad saurkraaut.

I don't think we'll win a Test in Aus let alone the series but England? A line up of Cook, Robson, Bell, Root, Ballance, Stokes, Prior, Bresnan, Broad, Anderson, Kerrigan is very beatable. Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, heck even Vijay would walk into this English side. As would Shami and any of our spinners. We just need to pick the right players. Get rid of Zak for starters.

[sillymidoff]

i think india might win a test this series. the batting is better than last time with dead weights like sachin dropped and in kumar and shami india have found 2 reasonable pace bowlers.

[Cricket_Hacker]

i think india might win a test this series. the batting is better than last time with dead weights like sachin dropped and in kumar and shami india have found 2 reasonable pace bowlers.

i doubt kumar will play,with shami,ishant and zak(atleast for first 2 tests) confirmed.

[The Realist]

i doubt kumar will play' date='with shami,[b']ishant and zak(atleast for first 2 tests) confirmed.

:facepalm:

[I6MTW]

India has a chance to win t20 series.

[FischerTal]

:facepalm:

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[keith]

We couldn't beat New Zealand :cantstop: We managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory there. You expect us to beat England in England? :omg: The only thing different from the 2011 tour will be that we will manage a couple of draws and the margin of the losses wont be as huge

England couldn't beat NZ in NZ, and would have lost the series 2-0 were it not for rain and a bail not coming off. Over the past couple of years, Trent Boult and Tim Southee have been just as good, if not better than James Anderson and Stuard Broad. With the loss of Graeme Swann, the attacks are fairly equal. Similarly, Ross Taylor has been the equal of Ian Bell in the England batting lineup, and now that England have lost Pietersen and Trott, the sides are pretty even. If India select their promising young pace bowlers and play a proper test spinner, this will be a very close series. Also, I think the tour of NZ was very good for the development of some of the batsmen. Dhawan in particular went from looking like a flat track bully to really railing in his technique and looking a proper test opener. If they get runs from the likes of Pujara, who went missing a wee bit, it's a very strong lineup.