***Official*** England in India

[Daemon]

Rahane's not going to open, and Gambhir just scored a 60 and 40 in the last game.

 

[Woodster]

A superb Test win for England, so difficult to turn a series around out in India but after losing that first Test we have been fantastic to now get our noses in front!

Losing a few second innings wickets was not in the plan, to give India moments of joy they probably haven't deserved in this Test having been thoroughly outplayed, but it may have done us a favour too in giving Ian Bell some time out there and he looked in excellent touch. Pleased Compton was there at the end again. At least Cook, Trott and KP all have recent runs in the bag.

And so India have opted for a number of changes ahead of the Nagpur Test, although they have still have 15 players to choose from! Reading some of the comments on here I wasn't sure whether it was Jadeja that had been selected or Garfield Sobers at the peak of his powers! Well he's certainly in decent form anyway.

Another Test so soon after this one may have done for Zaheer. He looks so unfit and if he's 34 I'd be amazed, he looks older than Duncan Fletcher! He doesn't fit the modern day quick bowler look, the athletic physique with an ability to field well and bowl 3-4 spells a day with the same threat. Despite all this I was still surprised he'd been left out though.

 

[Spikey]

Rahane's not going to open, and Gambhir just scored a 60 and 40 in the last game.

hasn't scored a ton for two years ffs. give someone else a go. and rahane will play where we tell him to play.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

bowling coach must be feeling a little awkward now that Zaheer is dropped

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Only watched Awana in IPL. He has pace but not enough seam movement to trouble batsmen though certainly would play him above Dinda. Good to see Jadeja earning his place in the squad.

 

[smash84]

bowling coach must be feeling a little awkward now that Zaheer is dropped

haha.....yeah.....I so want to question the bowling coach just now

 

[Spark]

Tough times to be an Indian fan:

Indian cricket’s hell at Eden | ________________

This Indian Test side has been doling out some horse manure over the last year and a half but there was something about the Kolkata Test that got me to snap. There is no rational explanation for this. Maybe (Ashwin apart) it was the meekness in a crucial Test, a listlessness in a giant arena, a comprehensive surrender in a deciding home match, a lack of fight from some vaunted names, a casualness exhibited by the younger bunch … I don’t know. And I’m reaching a stage when I don’t care.

What I do know is that these days are repeating themselves with alarming regularity. With the series on the line, and a Test at a critical junction, the balloon deflates. Poof. Remember the third day at Nottingham last year? Down 1-0, leading by 67 in the second and boom, concede more than 400 with a horror show on the field. All over. Or think back to the first day at Perth earlier this year. Down 2-0, bat first, collapse for 161 and watch a Warner-led brutalization that ends at 149 for no loss. Done and dusted.

When the **** hits the fan, this team is shriveling. Now don’t throw me stats from the home series against West Indies and New Zealand. I know you get my point. When it’s time to smell the cordite, knuckle down and fight from the trenches, this team is acting all blase. When the opposition is closing in for the kill, this team is ready to surrender.

I am sorry but this is not the team that even remotely resembles the side that Ganguly built (one that stood up in the Headingley gloom and Adelaide sun); this is not the team that Dravid nurtured, not a side that has batsmen who stand in the face of opposition fire and take body-blows (Nottingham ’07), not a team audacious enough to counter-attack on a spicy pitch (Jo’burg ’06). Neither is this the side that Dhoni guided in a purple phase. No, no and no.

 

[Daemon]

Everything just went horribly wrong after the World Cup win didn't it?

Before that Sehwag was having a great run in the subcontinent, Gambhir had a brilliant '08 and a good series in SA after, Dravid was the only one not scoring runs against top quality opposition, Sachin had been scoring piles and piles of runs between 07 up to and including the SA series, Laxman had an unstoppable run of form from 08 till the SA series as well.

Our batting was seriously firing besides no.6, and that's how we reached number one.

After the World Cup, out of those 5 batsmen, just Dravid and Laxman toured the WIndies, and it came back to bite us on the arse in England. Everyone bar Dravid and Praveen were terrible, Zaheer was obviously not match fit and didn't last a day in the series. Gambhir got injured, Sehwag got Injured, Praveen got injured, Ishant and Sreesanth was proven to be horribly over rated, Harbhajan bowled flat rubbish, RP Singh was called up without enough match practice or form and got hammered, Amit Mishra was given an opportunity in the last match and was completely ripped apart by Kevin Pieterson. It was just so, so bad.

Amidst all that we obviously had the BCCI being absolute knobs about DRS, Srinivasan's comments about beating England at home. and the 'Revenge' ODI series. Embarrassing.'

We then somehow managed to tie a test at home against the Windies after conceding 590 in the first innings. ffs. If it wasn't for the complete ineptitude of the Windies batsmen against spin we'd have probably made the series run closer than it should have as well.

Then came Aus, and fmd was it a disaster. We got ourselves to decent starts so many times but once the opposition fought back we just surrendered helplessly.

NZ was promising, I'll admit, which was why not many of us worried about England.

Beat England in the first test comprehensively and things were looking great, but the minute England showed some fight, we managed to surrender yet again. It's just horrible to watch and tbh at this point I don't even want to watch us dominate. I want to watch us fight back from a losing position, to wrestle back a session after losing a few quick wickets, to break a long standing partnership and hit back with some quality bowling and intensity on the field. Just some sort of character and not this meek bull**** mentality we've been seeing for the last two years.

 

[smash84]

Beat England in the first test comprehensively and things were looking great, but the minute England showed some fight, we managed to surrender yet again. It's just horrible to watch and tbh at this point I don't even want to watch us dominate. I want to watch us fight back from a losing position, to wrestle back a session after losing a few quick wickets, to break a long standing partnership and hit back with some quality bowling and intensity on the field. Just some sort of character and not this meek bull**** mentality we've been seeing for the last two years.

But you did see it for one session during the first session of the 4th day of the last test

 

[Daemon]

i'm kidding, of course i'd rather see us dominate

 

[smash84]

 

[Cabinet96]

I wonder if Jadeja as a bowling all rounder is a posibilty?

6. Rehane
7. Jadeja
8. Aswhin
9. Dhoni

They probably won't do it, and it would be a bit risky, but it's not as if India are full of loads of options for that 4th bowling spot.


It is quite hard to quite understand where it's gone so wrong for India. Less than two years ago they were really fighting in South Africa. Guys like Gambhir fought in the second innings in Centurion and in Cape Town, Dhoni contributed at times and the bowlers stopped guys like Amla and de Villiers from having good series, at least after Centurion.

I don't really think dropping Zaheer is a good move. Sure he's not bowling as well as he was a couple of years ago, but are the other bowlers in the squad really bowling that much better than him?

 

[NasserFan207]

I wonder if Jadeja as a bowling all rounder is a posibilty?

6. Rehane
7. Jadeja
8. Aswhin
9. Dhoni

They probably won't do it, and it would be a bit risky, but it's not as if India are full of loads of options for that 4th bowling spot.


It is quite hard to quite understand where it's gone so wrong for India. Less than two years ago they were really fighting in South Africa. Guys like Gambhir fought in the second innings in Centurion and in Cape Town, Dhoni contributed at times and the bowlers stopped guys like Amla and de Villiers from having good series, at least after Centurion.

I don't really think dropping Zaheer is a good move. Sure he's not bowling as well as he was a couple of years ago, but are the other bowlers in the squad really bowling that much better than him?

Its easy to understand where things have gone wrong. Their best batsmen have all either retired or gone over the hill. Gambhir and Dhoni were never that great, and the rest were inexperienced. And their bowling always relied on Zaheer Khan, who is now too old and unfit to be of any use. And Harbhajan has honestly been pretty rubbish for years now.

 

[Cabinet96]

I struggle to believe Tendulkar suddenly lost it 5 months after hitting a glorious 150 in Cape Town. Ditto a few others.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I think a lot of the problems stem back to winning the World Cup on home soil, nothing left for many to achieve and they have played an awful lot of cricket since then. An old side which lacks desire spells problems.

 

[cnerd123]

Definitely a huge lack of desire in this side. Needs some fresh faces.

 

[Xuhaib]

I struggle to believe Tendulkar suddenly lost it 5 months after hitting a glorious 150 in Cape Town. Ditto a few others.

cricketers can loose their form any moment and its much tougher to regain it if you are 38-39. Part of it is physical but a large part of it is mental stress which is put on you by every Tom, Dick and Harry calling you finished or over the hill

 

[TT Boy]

And Ponting came into the South African test series with how many shield runs?

 

[neutralguy]

I think a lot of the problems stem back to winning the World Cup on home soil, nothing left for many to achieve and they have played an awful lot of cricket since then. A world cup winning side with some old players which lacks desire spells problems.

This is the real reason and edited.

 

[Arachnodouche]

And Ponting came into the South African test series with how many shield runs?

Says more about the quality of Shield cricket (and Indian first class cricket) today.