England's Questionable Tactics this series

[YCCC]

9 hours ago, sandeep said:

^ good to read your thoughts.  

Sure, no need for anyone to be sacked.  But I just feel that things have gone England's way as much as they can on this tour - They have won 2 out of 3 tosses but are managing to lose 2 out of 3 games in one-sided fashion.  I just feel they could have done a lot better given the personnel they have and the luck they've had.  

 

Think about this game - won the toss, India's keeper and 1st choice opener is injured and they had to make do with a weak keeper and use him as a make-shift opener to boot.  On top of this, the middle-order spectacularly combusts with Pujara, Rahane and Nair gone in the space of 3 overs - Massive opening for England - one they could have, and should have made use of, with the personnel they have at their disposal in the match.  But failed to.  Sure Ashwin and Jadeja played well, but England enabled them to.  And over the course of multiple sessions.  Its a massive failure in tactics from an experienced side that plays boat-loads of test matches.  

 

I'm just a bit surprised that the team is allowed to hide such clear mis-steps behind low expectations by serious fans.  

Perhaps if England lose the next two games, especially if they win the toss again, I might be a little disgruntled, but at the moment the only thing I'm unhappy about is the way we batted in the first innings of this match. Cook is a poor captain when he has to think, but there really is no one else, sad state of affairs I know. Perhaps my fears that giving Root the captaincy will affect his batting will be unfounded, only time will tell. He could be another Vaughan.

 

[CoverDrive]

I don't care lets just win this match and the series in the next first

[f.b.m]

The most bizarre 'tactic' so far is how they've handled Hameed's injury.

[mishra]

Playing a extra but useless spinner in every game

[Cricketics]

Cook seemed like did not want Batty in the team but perhaps was forced to play because of coach's pressure. He did not use him on time or got him way too late and at times it felt as if Batty wasn't even playing in this game.

[mishra]

^

Quote

The last time Batty played a Test match, cricket in England was on terrestrial television and since that game against Bangladesh in Durham in early summer 2005

Wont blame anyone but Cook. Cook selected him only to realize how toothless his bowling has become. Cook has a habbit of making such favours. For very long he has been selecting Ali over Rashid as "spinner" when allmost everyone in world know that Ali bhai is NOT a international quality spinner.

[Vijy]

11 hours ago, mishra said:

^

Wont blame anyone but Cook. Cook selected him only to realize how toothless his bowling has become. Cook has a habbit of making such favours. For very long he has been selecting Ali over Rashid as "spinner" when allmost everyone in world know that Ali bhai is NOT a international quality spinner.

Cook has a lot of power in the selection

[sandeep]

And England bungle it again - 2 spinners on the most spin-friendly track on tour after playing 3 everywhere else.  Either they are trying to protect Stokes by keeping his bowling load low, or it just doesn't make any sense.  

 

They have been extremely lucky to win the toss here at Mumbai - if India had batted first, I don't they we would have needed to bat twice.  

 

Imagine if they still had another batsman yet to come in at this point with 280 on the board - Its very similar to Mohali - If India manage to keep England under 350, they will have a good chance to come back in the game and create a winning opportunity.  An extra batsman here could have just shut the door on India - 450+ on this track leaves only 2 possibilities - England win or an unlikely draw.  

 

 

[Vijy]

11 minutes ago, sandeep said:

And England bungle it again - 2 spinners on the most spin-friendly track on tour after playing 3 everywhere else.  Either they are trying to protect Stokes by keeping his bowling load low, or it just doesn't make any sense.  

 

They have been extremely lucky to win the toss here at Mumbai - if India had batted first, I don't they we would have needed to bat twice.  

 

Imagine if they still had another batsman yet to come in at this point with 280 on the board - Its very similar to Mohali - If India manage to keep England under 350, they will have a good chance to come back in the game and create a winning opportunity.  An extra batsman here could have just shut the door on India - 450+ on this track leaves only 2 possibilities - England win or an unlikely draw.  

 

 

Draw is very unlikely. Eng win is quite likely.

[sandeep]

Horrible team selection exposing England yet again.  That missing batsman is going to be the difference in a hard-fought 2nd innings I feel.  

 

And Cook's tactics today were consistently reactive and poor, once again.  I hope VK is paying attention and learning what not to do as captain.

[Vijy]

1 minute ago, sandeep said:

Horrible team selection exposing England yet again.  That missing batsman is going to be the difference in a hard-fought 2nd innings I feel.  

 

And Cook's tactics today were consistently reactive and poor, once again.  I hope VK is paying attention and learning what not to do as captain.

Missing batsman, missing spinner, missing brains - all these could potentially hurt Eng. Ind need the other bowlers to contribute, as there was overreliance on Ashwin and Jadeja in the first innings.

[sandeep]

10 minutes ago, Vijy said:

Missing batsman, missing spinner, missing brains - all these could potentially hurt Eng. Ind need the other bowlers to contribute, as there was overreliance on Ashwin and Jadeja in the first innings.

This was not an easy track for spinners to just walk in and pick up wickets, especially on D1 and D2.  Ash and Jaddu were brilliant - we don't realize how good they are - we are starting to take their excellence for granted a bit.  

[Vijy]

6 minutes ago, sandeep said:

This was not an easy track for spinners to just walk in and pick up wickets, especially on D1 and D2.  Ash and Jaddu were brilliant - we don't realize how good they are - we are starting to take their excellence for granted a bit.  

They should have more assistance in the 2nd innings. I'm hoping that Jadeja can through the lineup at least once in the series - hasn't happened thus far.

[sandeep]

Just now, Vijy said:

They should have more assistance in the 2nd innings. I'm hoping that Jadeja can through the lineup at least once in the series - hasn't happened thus far.

Yeah, lets hope that happens.  Its impressive that we are winning this series and have a shot at 4-0 inspite of losing 3 tosses, Ash/Jaddu not really having that kind of dominant spell, and the batting lineup not really clicking all together.  The team has shown awesome resilience to overcome England's batting depth and some unhelpful scenarios (toss, non-turning tracks, dropped catches etc).  To be fair, England has been competitive and really pushed India too.  Its made for some high-quality test cricket!    

[Vijy]

7 minutes ago, sandeep said:

Yeah, lets hope that happens.  Its impressive that we are winning this series and have a shot at 4-0 inspite of losing 3 tosses, Ash/Jaddu not really having that kind of dominant spell, and the batting lineup not really clicking all together.  The team has shown awesome resilience to overcome England's batting depth and some unhelpful scenarios (toss, non-turning tracks, dropped catches etc).  To be fair, England has been competitive and really pushed India too.  Its made for some high-quality test cricket!    

Been the only series so far that hasn't been one-sided.. perhaps because we haven't witnessed the kind of rampage that Ash and Jaddu inflicted on Oz, SA and NZ on home pitches.

[fineleg]

When we tour England next, - is it 5 Tests in the series or 4-Test series?

[SUMO]

most competitive series we can get in home at the moment
otherwise pak could have challenged us more 

[sandeep]

6 minutes ago, SUMO said:

most competitive series we can get in home at the moment
otherwise pak could have challenged us more 

I don't think so - Pak would definitely punch above their weight against India, they always do.  But they lack the batting depth that England has had - and to be honest, a bit in batting quality also.   I think India may finally be moving past that stage, where they played to the level of their opponent, instead of bossing them.  Under Virat, the latter is more likely - lot more focused and intent on pressing home any advantage.  

[SUMO]

5 minutes ago, sandeep said:

I don't think so - Pak would definitely punch above their weight against India, they always do.  But they lack the batting depth that England has had - and to be honest, a bit in batting quality also.   I think India may finally be moving past that stage, where they played to the level of their opponent, instead of bossing them.  Under Virat, the latter is more likely - lot more focused and intent on pressing home any advantage.  

I want 3 test series with them especially after misbah younis retire
love to crush them 3-0 and head to head record even stevens

[Vijy]

8 minutes ago, sandeep said:

I don't think so - Pak would definitely punch above their weight against India, they always do.  But they lack the batting depth that England has had - and to be honest, a bit in batting quality also.   I think India may finally be moving past that stage, where they played to the level of their opponent, instead of bossing them.  Under Virat, the latter is more likely - lot more focused and intent on pressing home any advantage.  

On UAE-like tracks, Pak has sufficient batting talent. I don't know how they have done on raging turners, since they never prepare them. And on other non-SC pitches, most of their batsmen have failed.