*Official* India Tour of England 2018

[smash84]

Yeah, at best India will be competitive and draw the series. I can't see them winning this.

 

[OverratedSanity]

This is going to be a long 5 match series where India will find themselves in strong positions on a number of occasions..possibly win the series so your gambhiring in this thread will go down as legendary in CricketWeb history books

ok

 

[R!TTER]

From an English perspective, Rahul is a much less threatening prospect than Pujara. I don't personally see how Rahul has done enough right in the longer format to dislodge a bloke who averages 50. Albeit his away record and performance in the county championship hasn't been great, he needs to be backed for this series. With injuries unsettling the side, although more generally with the bowlers, I can't see drastic changes like this happening before the series begins.

Rahul has all the shots that Pujara doesn't, he also has a fairly air tight defense, better than Pujara IMO. The difference, however's that Pujara is someone who can stay at the crease for a long time. The problem for India is that he doesn't score too many runs while occupying the crease, especially away from home.

No way India are winning this.

Stick to stick cricket, man

 

[Howe_zat]

Pujara has played like concentrated arse for Yorks this season.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Rahul should be in the team over Dhawan anyway. He's not competing with Pujara, or atleast shouldn't be.

Pujara should get a game or two to prove himself but if he continues to stink, then a replacement should be considered. Problem is, I don't think there's anyone better/

 

[Prince EWS]

Rahul should be in the team over Dhawan anyway. He's not competing with Pujara, or atleast shouldn't be.

Pujara should get a game or two to prove himself but if he continues to stink, then a replacement should be considered. Problem is, I don't think there's anyone better/

Eh it's a five Test series. If he's going that bad after three Tests then I'd back Dhawan or Rohit ahead of him -- as much he's loved on CW, the newbies are right that his away performances have been kind of trash, even if a little bit better than the raw stats indicated (and certainly better than Rohit).

 

[cnerd123]

Rahul should be in the team over Dhawan anyway. He's not competing with Pujara, or atleast shouldn't be.

Pujara should get a game or two to prove himself but if he continues to stink, then a replacement should be considered. Problem is, I don't think there's anyone better/

I'd start with Dhawan/Vijay/Pujara, and bring in Rahul to replace whichever of those 3 aren't clicking

If they all suck then gg

 

[Xuhaib]

Don't know why India fans are so pessimistic here. England is not in a good shape barring Anderson and Broad their bowling is mediocre, can Broad and Anderson last 5 test series at this age? English batting has also been shaky af they desperately need Root to score 100's which he has not done in tests for a while. The batting of Stokes, Barstow and Butler in the middle order will be key for England to post competitive scores as their top top order is rubbish.

I would have had India as favorites if Bumrah and Bhuvi were available for all 5 tests at this stage its too close to call most probably a 2-2 I reckon.

 

[cnerd123]

Eh it's a five Test series. If he's going that bad after three two then I'd back Dhawan or Rohit ahead of him -- as much he's loved on CW, the newbies are right that his away performances have been kind of trash, even if a little bit better than the raw stats indicated (and certainly better than Rohit).

The thing is, if one of Dhawan/Vijay fails too, we're screwed. Because if Rahul has to move up to open, we can't go back to Pujara at 3. Ff we deem Pujara's form to be so bad that he can't play in the starting XI, then it makes no sense to draft him in off the bench after a couple of games. His form wouldn't have improved. We'll have to persist with a misfiring opener, or have to try Rohit or someone at 3.

I'd rather have all 3 of them get a Test or two to show if they can raise their game and get some runs here, and we take the most conclusive failure of the three and rest them, and let Rahul and the other 2 finish off the series. And if all 3 of them come off, then fantastic.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Don't know why India fans are so pessimistic here. England is not in a good shape barring Anderson and Broad their bowling is mediocre, can Broad and Anderson last 5 test series at this age? English batting has also been shaky af they desperately need Root to score 100's which he has not done in tests for a while. The batting of Stokes, Barstow and Butler in the middle order will be key for England to post competitive scores as their top top order is rubbish.

I would have had India as favorites if Bumrah and Bhuvi were available for all 5 tests at this stage its too close to call most probably a 2-2 I reckon.

It's just gambhiring mate. Everyone knows India have a very good to chance to win or draw this series. The Indian Test side is the strongest it has been in years, arguably stronger than the 2009-10 side with a stronger, fitter seam attack.

 

[Borges]

Don't know why India fans are so pessimistic here.

I'm not all that pessimistic; even without Bhuvi. I think England would take the series, but I don't expect it to be a completely one-sided affair.

I'd play Rahul over Dhawan, unless they prepare very flat wickets.

 

[cnerd123]

Vijay and Pujara have been the backbone of this test side and aren't scoring runs
Rahane is coming off a lean season too
Dhawan is in form, but that's ODI form, lets see if he translates it to Tests
We're going to have Karthik or Pant behind the wicket instead of the usually reliable Saha. We don't know how that will play out
Our best seamer for the conditions is injured
Ashwin hasn't proven effective overseas, Kuldeep might produce some magic but wasn't that effective in the last 2 ODIs
Pandya is probably a fraud

Basically the only thing our Test side has going for it is Kohli with Ishant/Umesh being serviceable seamers. Oh, and Lokesh Rahul is magic but we might not see him till the 2nd or 3rd Test.

Engand have Cook coming off a massive 180 against India A, Root is in great form, Butler is hitting it well, Moeen is bowling well (and if he doesn't play, Bess is serviceable), and they have Broad and Anderson They're in much better shape going into this series than we are.

 

[Prince EWS]

The thing is, if one of Dhawan/Vijay fails too, we're screwed. Because if Rahul has to move up to open, we can't go back to Pujara at 3. Ff we deem Pujara's form to be so bad that he can't play in the starting XI, then it makes no sense to draft him in off the bench after a couple of games. His form wouldn't have improved. We'll have to persist with a misfiring opener, or have to try Rohit or someone at 3.

That's why I said after three Tests (well, I said "three two", but yeah). Pujara should get first crack but if he sucked for half the series I'd definitely drop him; I don't think he's got a mortgage on that spot. By the time his replacement was deemed to have failed the series would be over.

 

[R!TTER]

It's just gambhiring mate. Everyone knows India have a very good to chance to win or draw this series. The Indian Test side is the strongest it has been in years, arguably stronger than the 2009-10 side with a stronger, fitter seam attack.

Wait what You do realize that team won the 2007 test series in Eng, nearly won in Aus 2008 (minus Bucknor) & could've won in SA as well, except for a classic Kallis rearguard. This team is good but doesn't have half the batting lineup that team had at it's peak

 

[OverratedSanity]

I'm getting more than a little tired of justified pessimism being conflated with Gambhiring on CW tbh.

Eh it's a five Test series. If he's going that bad after three Tests then I'd back Dhawan or Rohit ahead of him -- as much he's loved on CW, the newbies are right that his away performances have been kind of trash, even if a little bit better than the raw stats indicated (and certainly better than Rohit).

That was pretty much what I meant. But the change will be made with a "we might as well do this to try something but it probably wont improve a thing" mindset rather than "this change should work". The backup options are rubbish.

 

[Prince EWS]

I'm getting more than a little tired of justified pessimism being conflated with Gambhiring on CW tbh.

I'm an anti-Gambhiring activist, and I reckon you Gambhir a lot. Your pre-series analysis is mostly fine though; it's the mid-game bull**** that's annoying.

 

[cnerd123]

The mid game bull**** is just something you lot will have to put up with, sorry.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I'm an anti-Gambhiring activist, and I reckon you Gambhir a lot. Your pre-series analysis is mostly fine though; it's the mid-game bull**** that's annoying.

Don't deny it at all. I wear my gambhiring badge with pride. The hate fuels me. But I'm clearly not doing it right now and I think it should be obvious. Seriously if you think losing Bhuvi and Saha to injury and Pujara being in the single worst run of form in his career is not enough justification to be pessimistic then you're a moron.

Still maintain you should make Gambhiring infractable. It would solve everything.

 

[Prince EWS]

Don't deny it at all. I wear my gambhiring badge with pride. The hate fuels me. But I'm clearly not doing it right now and I think it should be obvious. Seriously if you think losing Bhuvi and Saha to injury and Pujara being in the single worst run of form in his career is enough justification to be pessimistic then you're a moron.

Still maintain you should make Gambhiring infractable. It would solve everything.

I've been tempted to just interpret it as trolling a few times, especially when it's clearly just done to piss people off. The banning of honestbharani probably halted the need for such an interpretation, but if it comes at all it'll probably be this very thread that sets me off.

 

[Prince EWS]

The mid game bull**** is just something you lot will have to put up with, sorry.

***** has been banned for one month for an accumulation of infraction points relating to:

• Lack of respect for, insulting, or harassment of other members
• Trolling or baiting