Have India missed the boat? - CROWE

[vvvslaxman]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/766263.html Have India missed the boat? Where's the sense? Ashwin has missed three Tests he ought to have played in © BCCI And so the moment was lost. In the instant when Ishant Sharma was ruled out in Southampton, Ravi Ashwin had to be reinstated. In what could haunt MS Dhoni for the rest of this series, he instead chose another rookie, Pankaj Singh. In that moment he totally went against the book. Extraordinary really, especially when you consider the state of the pitch over the five days - dry underneath, perfect for spin later. Ashwin's experience needed to replace Ishant Sharma's, let alone his proven wicket-taking skill. I fell over when I heard a debutant was in, and a sarcastic tweet followed. No, this is not a take from the book of hindsight, this has been a consistent theme throughout. In the book of winning Tests, you must always pick your four best-quality bowlers. At Lord's, India got away with selecting only three, and magnificently, Ajinkya Rahane, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant made up for repeated selection shortcomings. From day one of this series, the exclusion of Ashwin has been absolutely mind-blowing. If the inclusion of Stuart Binny was fraught, then the more I think of it the fixation with Ravi Jadeja has been the worst of all. Not only is Jadeja a loose cannon with the bat, he is the complete opposite with the ball: defensive, negative, lacking in skill. Throw in his altercation with James Anderson and the catch he dropped off Alastair Cook. That straightforward drop could well be the turning point of this series, of Cook's career, and it should spell the end of the bits-and-pieces one-day cricketer that Jadeja ultimately is. There is no doubt his 68 at Lord's took the match away from England but if we are honest, it was a lucky, often flukey, display. In a nutshell, he lacks Test match temperament. I have already waxed lyrical about Ashwin previously. As I said then, and I will repeat, India will rue his exclusion more than any other mistake they have made on this tour. And while Dhoni's stubborn defence of his choice is a given, the team that can play by the book will take out this close battle. With what has happened this week involving the Indian captain, following a lot of good work at Lord's, it is clear he has, strangely, started reading from the wrong script. Surprisingly, Virat Kohli has struggled to post anything significant. He is close, simply because he is that good, but England have had him nicely in their sights with their mode of attack, and his inexperience on those shores has shown. Man, will future England bowlers pay for this pain he has endured. Cheteshwar Pujara too has faltered, and this is not a surprise given it is impossible to maintain the glorious start he had. Once he clears the second-year blues and goes back to playing straighter, he will be the wall whose shoes he has been chosen to fill. India had their chance to move this series forward with England on their knees, and Dhoni, Kohli and Pujara missed the boat in Southampton. Peter Moores should take a bow for his cool assessment between Tests in regard to his senior players. His call to shed the responsibility tag and go out and express oneself as if it's a first Test was smart, and shows how a coach can make a difference at the appropriate time. Duncan Fletcher will need to have similar words to his men en route to Manchester. Enough of India. They had their chance to move this series forward with England on their knees, and Dhoni, Kohli and Pujara have missed the boat. England can thank Gary Ballance for his steadfast calm. While Cook played nervously on day one, Ballance provided the backbone that Cook and Bell could use to finally break their bleak spell. The Zimbabwean is a good 'un. Mentally clear, organised and hungry, he could not have come into such form or position at a better time - in the nick of time, with England's senior top order either burnt out or cooked. Ballance was the one who provided the superglue for a team on the brink of collapse. On the subject of collapse, it is alarming to see this Anderson-Jadeja spat having escalated to the point it did, but thankfully it has been thrown out for a lack of evidence and a lot of classroom hearsay. It's pathetic on many levels. Firstly, Anderson has been guilty of this crass sledging-type behaviour before and needs to pull his head in fast. If Cook and Moores can't see that then they will lose him long term; surely any more incidents will result in removal one way or the other. Clearly Anderson needs help in this area. Secondly, Dhoni has taken it too far in the way in which he decided to bag the match referee, David Boon, over the Jadeja ruling. Is Dhoni too, like Anderson, becoming a law unto himself? Talk about living in glass houses. The game at present, with so much of the stench of match-fixing hovering in the air, does not need this kind of behaviour. Anderson and Dhoni need a holiday, which they won't get thanks to this mad scheduling. They are not serving the game as they should, given their long standing. Let the skills you are privileged to display tell the story, inspiring many, not the commentary that follows. Plenty of time for yapping when the body can speak no more. This series could well come down to these two bodies, as you might expect. Anderson may have survived the silly inquest, and therefore England are in a strong position, with the shift of momentum now obvious on and off the field. Or it might yet come down to whether Dhoni has the notion to ask Ashwin to drop the crime novel he is devouring and get out there and win a Test match again. Before the last chapter is read.

[Temujin Khaghan]

Ashwin - aiyooo Dhoni what man this stupidity? :giggle:

[JaiRamesh2]

The Zimbabwean is a good 'un. Mentally clear, organised and hungry

Balance is Zimbabwean?!:cantstop: didn't know that till I read this article. Seriously, England need stop combing the commonwealth for players

[game_changerr]

Balance is Zimbabwean?!:cantstop: didn't know that till I read this article.

yep,,,their other opener robson is from australia,,,,he played from austr in u19 wx

[JaiRamesh2]

yep' date=',,their other opener robson is from australia,,,,he played from austr in u19 wx[/quote'] Wtf!! Who is English? :cantstop:

[sscomp32]

Wtf!! Who is English? :cantstop:

2 more imports :giggle:. Stokes from NZ and Jordan from Barbados. :giggle: Check this:

[nevada]

2 more imports :giggle:. Stokes from NZ and Jordan from Barbados. :giggle: Check this:

Damn, didn't know Stokes was from NZ!

[FischerTal]

boat, airplane, train, missed everything

[Cricket_Hacker]

Better go gome early and prepare for ODI series and CLT20

[AmreekanDesi]

Why is there the misconception that Dhoni is some all powerful figure in Indian cricket. Its a team decision to pick the players and includes the coach and the selectors. Dhoni is just one of the ppl who has a say and does not have veto power or anything of that sort

[FreakazoiD]

Why is there the misconception that Dhoni is some all powerful figure in Indian cricket. Its a team decision to pick the players and includes the coach and the selectors. Dhoni is just one of the ppl who has a say and does not have veto power or anything of that sort

Rahul Dravid when asked on TV who selects the playing XI, said that the selectors pick the 18, the playing XI is picked by Dhoni with some input from Duncan Fletcher. Selectors have no say when it comes to who will play on the day. When Sachin and Dravid were around, Dhoni probably asked for their input given their seniority and experience, but now its a one man show pretty much.

[maniac]

Don't think Duncan has a lot of input in the X1.....the first 2 tests with the inclusion of Binny looked more like a Duncan selection with his known liking for loading his teams with Allrounder but Dhoni didn't seem too thrilled with that idea

[Stuge]

Why is there the misconception that Dhoni is some all powerful figure in Indian cricket. Its a team decision to pick the players and includes the coach and the selectors. Dhoni is just one of the ppl who has a say and does not have veto power or anything of that sort

In away tests, its Captain who selects the playing XI ,and in home tests, its the selectors who does this .

[undisputed chap]

Jadeja is already making 30odd runs & saving a dozen in the field also so not sure if ashwin could have contributed more. Plus we already know his bowling overseas is a joke really. Ash was walloped even in one of the tour games. So not sure why everyone here is turning him into a martyr of dhoni's tactics. He is simply not good enough now move on.

[vvvslaxman]

Jadeja is already making 30odd runs & saving a dozen in the field also so not sure if ashwin could have contributed more. Plus we already know his bowling overseas is a joke really. Ash was walloped even in one of the tour games. So not sure why everyone here is turning him into a martyr of dhoni's tactics. He is simply not good enough now move on.

Ishant was averaging in 50s prior to SA tour in all these countries. Rohit Sharma also failed overseas. They keep getting chances why not Ashwin? Besides the point is against England lefties Ashwin is more a viable option . You could have a seamer and Ashwin in place of jaddu and Rohit.

[Lord]

Ishant was averaging in 50s prior to SA tour in all these countries. Rohit Sharma also failed overseas. They keep getting chances why not Ashwin? Besides the point is against England lefties Ashwin is more a viable option . You could have a seamer and Ashwin in place of jaddu and Rohit.

I'm not too much sure about that.Even Warne said that you want the ball to spin in to the batsmen and that he enjoyed bowling more to lefties as it brings LBW,bowled and bat pad into play whereas for away going,only catch is a realistic dismissal way. Even in this series Moeen Ali has done well vs our right handers that said Ashwin should play just for the balance imo

[CG]

I'm not too much sure about that.Even Warne said that you want the ball to spin in to the batsmen and that he enjoyed bowling more to lefties as it brings LBW,bowled and bat pad into play whereas for away going,only catch is a realistic dismissal way. Even in this series Moeen Ali has done well vs our right handers that said Ashwin should play just for the balance imo

NO lefthanders struggle against off spinners its a given.Ball turning away and one which holds the line creates huge problem.

[Lord]

NO lefthanders struggle against off spinners its a given.Ball turning away and one which holds the line creates huge problem.

I'm talking of stock ball which turns away.most of the time batsman can leave it if its outside off.It only troubles when it turns from off stump.Ideally you want the batsman to play as much as possible which is possible if ball comes in.Even if leggie/left armer's delivery holds its line,the batsman would be unsure and play at it unless its too wide

[sensible-indian]

I'm talking of stock ball which turns away.most of the time batsman can leave it if its outside off.It only troubles when it turns from off stump.Ideally you want the batsman to play as much as possible which is possible if ball comes in.Even if leggie/left armer's delivery holds its line' date='the batsman would be unsure and play at it unless its too wide[/quote'] Its not just the ball turning away. If that was all Ashwin had, he would have never been successful against Lefties. The reason he is dangerous against lefties is that some of his balls go straight with the line while some turn (he knows how to control that when playing lefties). So he is attacking both edges of the bat and brings slips, lbw, bowled into the picture. This was the same reason why Moeen Ali was successful against us. He attacked both the edges of the bat (as Moores pointed out). His drift and turn (coupled with our complacency) created problems for us. You can Jaddu could do the same but he just couldn't do it well. Plus we people have almost forgotten what true spin is all about. True spin is not about the turn one gets from the pitch. Its about flight, drift and dip. What happens before the ball pitches is equally if not more important than what happens afterwards. That is one area where Jaddu is pretty average (even worse than Ashwin). Ashwin does well against lefties but not so much against righties (which he has to work on). Considering England had lefties and new faces, I feel leaving him out was a crime. Plus even if he doesn't pick up a bucket load of wickets, him and Jaddu could atleast keep the pacers fresh.

[sensible-indian]

The rough is England is more dangerous than India because its a rough on a hard pitch that allows a ball to turn sharply. Anyone who varies his pace, flight and uses the rough can be a handful. I saw some of Mooli's balls take off after landing on the rough (even Rohit's too). If Ashwin bowls well, he would be very lethal.