Group A - India, England, Australia, West Indies

[sideshowtim]

You shouldn't have too much trouble with the West "Let's get skittled for 80" Indies, especially when you're at home.

 

[godofcricket]

You shouldn't have too much trouble with the West "Let's get skittled for 80" Indies, especially when you're at home.

well hopefully we will have a good game to watch.......but the problem with windies is the unpredictibility, specially when gayle goes in the first few overs, they get themselves into a failing postion. West Indies haveily depend upon a blistering start from gayle, from there on the likes of sarwan and lara will take over, but unless that happens the chances of windies losing is 70 to 80% IMO.

 

[Tomm NCCC]

Take positives from todays game, because really, thats all we can do at times like these

 

[SJS]

Powar should play 9/10 games for India in ODIs, his loop is fantastic.

ITYS
(I told you so)



Seriously. He is superb. As a pure off spinner he has few equals. He just doesnt have the doosra.

He has the most tantalising loop in his trajectory and this is a classical off spinner. Reminds me so much of Prasanna except that Prasanna spun the ball much more and also bowled a lovely away floater with the same grip.

 

[Turbinator]

ITYS
(I told you so)



Seriously. He is superb. As a pure off spinner he has few equals. He just doesnt have the doosra.

He has the most tantalising loop in his trajectory and this is a classical off spinner. Reminds me so much of Prasanna except that Prasanna spun the ball much more and also bowled a lovely away floater with the same grip.

Hey what a coincidence, the commentators were saying the exact same thing today.

 

[SJS]

Hey what a coincidence, the commentators were saying the exact same thing today.

I said it last month and many people here jumped on me for that. wanrt me to locate the posts ??

 

[SJS]

THAT was 16th September 2006. Thats exactly one month from today.

Maybe the commentators on Champions Trophy visit CW more often than we realise

 

[SJS]

Okay guys,
Here is my take on the state of team India in the context of the Champions Trophy opener at Jaipur. Glad to get feedback and answer anything as long as it doesnt get personal

 

[social]

Okay guys,
Here is my take on the state of team India in the context of the Champions Trophy opener at Jaipur. Glad to get feedback and answer anything as long as it doesnt get personal

To be fair, given the current batting line-up, uneven state of the pitch, the quality of England's quicks (tall and pacy is not what you'd choose to face on that wicket) and the pressure on the Indian team, a win was a good result.

They bowled and fielded well and did enough with the bat.

Like u, I'd prefer Dravid at 3 - he, along with Tendy, is by far India's best batsman and more importantly, needs to spend as much time at the crease as possible. He adds solidarity to the top of the order and his batting should only give confidence to an increasingly shaking looking middle-order. Unfortunately, better judges than you or I seem to think otherwise.

England's batting was appalling.

I tuned in at 23-3 and was treated to a succession of players charging aimlessly down the pitch and eventually giving their wickets away. I know the bowling was good and the wicket difficult, but a score of 175 would've been difficult to chase and readily obtained with more application.

These guys obviously never saw Bevan play or have failed to watch Hussey, etc lately. In similar situations, they simply knock the ball around for singles, hit the odd four and, most importantly, BAT OUT THE OVERS.

One word sums up England's approach - dumb

 

[Turbinator]

THAT was 16th September 2006. Thats exactly one month from today.

Maybe the commentators on Champions Trophy visit CW more often than we realise

 

[Johnners]

Okay guys,
Here is my take on the state of team India in the context of the Champions Trophy opener at Jaipur. Glad to get feedback and answer anything as long as it doesnt get personal

Brilliant!!!!!

Have to ask though... what actually has happened to Laxman? I know he was dropped due to poor form a while ago, has this continued in First Class cricket? Or he is purely and simply out of favour??

I would've thought India would've played him in the group stages at least because he's an Australian specialist Seriously though, India's batting would look a whole lot better with him in it imo. Dravid should definetly go up to bat at 3, followed by Yuvraj, Laxman, Raina, Dhoni, & Pathan?

 

[tooextracool]

To be fair, given the current batting line-up, uneven state of the pitch, the quality of England's quicks (tall and pacy is not what you'd choose to face on that wicket) and the pressure on the Indian team, a win was a good result.

They bowled and fielded well and did enough with the bat.

Like u, I'd prefer Dravid at 3 - he, along with Tendy, is by far India's best batsman and more importantly, needs to spend as much time at the crease as possible. He adds solidarity to the top of the order and his batting should only give confidence to an increasingly shaking looking middle-order. Unfortunately, better judges than you or I seem to think otherwise.

England's batting was appalling.

I tuned in at 23-3 and was treated to a succession of players charging aimlessly down the pitch and eventually giving their wickets away. I know the bowling was good and the wicket difficult, but a score of 175 would've been difficult to chase and readily obtained with more application.

These guys obviously never saw Bevan play or have failed to watch Hussey, etc lately. In similar situations, they simply knock the ball around for singles, hit the odd four and, most importantly, BAT OUT THE OVERS.

One word sums up England's approach - dumb

the dancing down the track was obviously part of a plan. IMO it was a sound one against the pace bowlers. None of the Indian bowlers were express, it removed lbw out of the equation and it caused the Indian bowlers(well to some extent) to change their length. Pietersen and Collingwood(to a lesser extent) employed it quite intelligently, coming down the track and moving across his stumps and was basically whooping everything that was off stump onto the leg side and also causing the bowlers to bowl wider outside off stump. Then when they bowled it wide, they would stay back and hammer it on the off side. If you remember of course Pietersen was out staying back on his crease and playing a rather stupid shot in the end(undoing all his hard work of getting in), while Collingwood was out to the spinners. The plan only failed Strauss, which was down to intelligent bowling by Pathan, and Strauss really should have checked his shot.
Read batted like a complete moron and you have to wonder why on earth he was trying to hit a 6 with the score 107/6 and with a fielder at long on. England definetly batted poorly, but they also got the worser of the conditions, because the ball was swinging all over the place when they batted. India on the other hand batted just as badly, but they got away with it because the conditions had eased down and it was only really the uneven bounce of the pitch that they had to deal with.

 

[tooextracool]

You shouldn't have too much trouble with the West "Let's get skittled for 80" Indies, especially when you're at home.

depends on the conditions IMO. put them in conditions with the ball swinging and most of their batsman wont survive more than 10 deliveries while their bowlers arent good enough to exploit those sorts of conditions. Put them on a flat track and they have the players to bat them to victory.

 

[tooextracool]

That's what happens when you're a complete buffoon who hits to the ball to a boundary fielder. Also do England have the worst wicketkeeper/batsman remaining in this competition? Read has offered practically nothing since his first Test back in ODIs and Tests.

and he has played a whole 1 inning after his 1st test since return and scored 33. Wow drop him from tests immediately. As far as ODIs are concerned hes batted in a whole 5 on his return(Geraint failed for about a million),and hes already done more than Geraint did in his entire career with his 30 and 21* against Pakistan.

 

[tooextracool]

Hmm...well India should've done it alot easier than that. Don't mean to burst any Indian fans bubble but when the other team sets 125 to win and they themselves have a very poor bowling line up, you really should be chasing that target with more than 4 wickets left in hand at the end.

Not a magnificent start to the tournament for either team.

Yea id agree with that. All the England pace bowlers bowled absolute garbage. To just about make it through that for 125 is pretty poor.

 

[tooextracool]

*COUGH* India sucks *COUGH*

I think no matter how poorly you rate India, it is still quite an achievement to come out with a drawn series in India with a second string side. I mean teams like SA have come to India with a fully fit side and gotten thrashed.

 

[tooextracool]

Big rap for Dairylicious, 2/5 off 4. Cricket is a funny game, Harmison averages 17 for the match, Mahmood who bowled pretty well goes wicketless.

Mahmood bowled tripe and got away with it. Incase anyone didnt already know, Fletcher is an idiot, because our best fit ODI bowler was putting his feet up in the dressing room.

 

[social]

the dancing down the track was obviously part of a plan. IMO it was a sound one against the pace bowlers. None of the Indian bowlers were express, it removed lbw out of the equation and it caused the Indian bowlers(well to some extent) to change their length. Pietersen and Collingwood(to a lesser extent) employed it quite intelligently, coming down the track and moving across his stumps and was basically whooping everything that was off stump onto the leg side and also causing the bowlers to bowl wider outside off stump. Then when they bowled it wide, they would stay back and hammer it on the off side. If you remember of course Pietersen was out staying back on his crease and playing a rather stupid shot in the end(undoing all his hard work of getting in), while Collingwood was out to the spinners. The plan only failed Strauss, which was down to intelligent bowling by Pathan, and Strauss really should have checked his shot.
Read batted like a complete moron and you have to wonder why on earth he was trying to hit a 6 with the score 107/6 and with a fielder at long on. England definetly batted poorly, but they also got the worser of the conditions, because the ball was swinging all over the place when they batted. India on the other hand batted just as badly, but they got away with it because the conditions had eased down and it was only really the uneven bounce of the pitch that they had to deal with.

It's ok to do it every now and again to unsettle the bowlers but eventually even the least competent bowler will get used to it and come up with an alternate strategy.

Eng played with the air of a team that was thinking 300 or bust.

As I said, IMO 175 would've been tough to chase but they didnt give themselves a chance.

 

[tooextracool]

Harmy's not exactly straining for the top notes, is he? I've seen nowt quicker than 84mph. If he was bending his back it would at least excuse the waywardness a bit.

I'd like to see Lewis back in the side opening with Anderson to be honest. And id like to see Harmison operate first change where he did an excellent job against Australia in 2005 and IMO bowled better today when he came back into the attack after his first spell.
On a side note what do people think about James Anderson's new bowling action?
Heres a picture of his old action: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/image/227544.html
vs his new one:http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/image/260202.html

Looks more like a Shane Bond type action but i fear that hes less side on and might not be able to produce the outswinger like he used to. He certainly bowled a lot today like the Anderson pre 2004 which was very wayward.

 

[tooextracool]

It's ok to do it every now and again to unsettle the bowlers but eventually even the least competent bowler will get used to it and come up with an alternate strategy.

Eng played with the air of a team that was thinking 300 or bust.

As I said, IMO 175 would've been tough to chase but they didnt give themselves a chance.

Most of them did, but i dont think the plan of coming down the track was flawed, especially when it was used by Pietersen and Collingwood both of whom used it effectively without doing so too often. At the end of the day though you are right, a lot of them played stupid strokes and got themselves out, but i though the Indian bowlers, especially Powar, bowled extremely well and that cannot be taken away from them.