*Official* India Tour of England 2018

[Borges]

He does not have enough first class matches under his belt. If they see a lot of promise in him, and if he is to be thrown into the deep end right away, do it first against the West Indies (they have a decent pace attack) on batsman friendly wickets at home, and see how it goes from there.

 

[Zinzan]

Well done England, but massively disappointed in India. Had given them a genuine shot of winning the series, since I didn't think England were much better than average. I'm still not sure they are.

Jeez India blew some moments though. Not helped by those middle/lower order collapses, Ashwin's relative toothlessness; & worst of all, an inability to dismiss Curran. That's gotta to be up there with Harbhajan's batting vs. NZ in 2010 for the sheer annoyance factor.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Well done England, but massively disappointed in India. Had given them a genuine shot of winning the series, since I didn't think England were much better than average. I'm still not sure they are.

Jeez India blew some moments though. Not helped by those middle/lower order collapses, Ashwin's relative toothlessness; & worst of all, an inability to dismiss Curran. That's gotta to be up there with Harbhajan's batting vs. NZ in 2010 for the sheer annoyance factor.

Just goes to show that India is clearly not the runaway #1 in the world, but despite the 4-1 loss, probably still the best team overall at the moment. India have competed in England and South Africa (Australia next...). The same can't be said for the other teams who were all blown away big time in India.

 

[the big bambino]

The Aus India series will be the world championship of Gambiring. I’ll start off saying India can’t miss with Smith and Warner out.

 

[cnerd123]

I think Shaw will be picked for Australia in place of Vijay and will be reserve opener to Dhawan and Lokesh

 

[Adders]

Start your own thread ****s.

 

[wpdavid]

It's odd to think that all the talk before the series that the heatwave would create pitches that would suit India's spinner(s) far more than the quicks. That all seems a long time ago now.
Both sides must be wondering how England managed to win four games given the state of their top order.

Maybe the men of the series should be the groundsmen responsible for the wickets. Cricket is so much more interesting when sides aren't racking up 500+ scores.

 

[Starfighter]

England's winning is proof that the only thing that matters is that runs are scored, it does't matter where in the batting order. As for their fielding, what did the final drop count end up being?

 

[wpdavid]

England's winning is proof that the only thing that matters is that runs are scored, it does't matter where in the batting order. As for their fielding, what did the final drop count end up being?

I'd guess the drop count ended up not as bad as we feared after the first couple of tests. I know Jennings missed a few throughout the series, but I don't remember as many going down in the later tests as at Edgbaston. Admittedly I didn't watch it live though. Perhaps it helped that Root decided to man up and field in the slips.

As for the batting order, this series has only made the situation even more complicated with Woakes' hundred and Curran's match winning scores at Edgbaston and Southampton. Now we have six players who shouldn't be batting in the top 5 but can make serious contributions from 6 to 8.

 

[Agricultural]

England's winning is proof that the only thing that matters is that runs are scored, it does't matter where in the batting order. As for their fielding, what did the final drop count end up being?

He who scores the most runs wins. That's what cricket is. The bowlers must be capable of bowling the opponent out for fewer runs.

 

[Agricultural]

I'd guess the drop count ended up not as bad as we feared after the first couple of tests. I know Jennings missed a few throughout the series, but I don't remember as many going down in the later tests as at Edgbaston. Admittedly I didn't watch it live though. Perhaps it helped that Root decided to man up and field in the slips.

As for the batting order, this series has only made the situation even more complicated with Woakes' hundred and Curran's match winning scores at Edgbaston and Southampton. Now we have six players who shouldn't be batting in the top 5 but can make serious contributions from 6 to 8.

England shouldn't be afraid to leave Broad out to accommodate Curran, Stokes, Ali and Woakes at home. Broad is a weak fielder and a weak batter. He had the worst bowling average apart from Rashid. He stopped Curran or Woakes grabbing the new cherry. England can be less traditional with the balance of their side to improve it. There was no need for Jennings either.

1. Cook
2. Burns
3. Ali
4. Root
5. Bairstow/Pope/Hildreth/Buttler/Stokes
6. Stokes/Buttler
7. Buttler (wk) / Bairstow (wk)
8. Curran
9. Woakes
10. Rashid
11. Anderson

In hindsight this would have been England's best side to play the series with. I held back from being ruthless on Bairstow. I cannot fathom why England would think Broad is bringing more to the side than a player like Curran or Woakes at home. I therefore believe they don't. I believe it's just about keeping some sub-groups happy as England are very cliquey.

 

[Spark]

People ITT seriously underrating how difficult it is to win against England in England in the last ten years

 

[harsh.ag]

Team of the series:

Alastair Cook
KL Rahul
Cheteshwar Pujara
Virat Kohli
Joe Root
Moeen Ali
Ben Stokes
Jos Buttler +
Chris Woakes
Sam Curran
Jasprit Bumrah
James Anderson

Hard to leave out Ishant, but can't have so many bowlers (6 already) and this team required deep batting to shore up its batsmen's failures.

 

[Prince EWS]

I'd guess the drop count ended up not as bad as we feared after the first couple of tests. I know Jennings missed a few throughout the series, but I don't remember as many going down in the later tests as at Edgbaston. Admittedly I didn't watch it live though. Perhaps it helped that Root decided to man up and field in the slips.

As for the batting order, this series has only made the situation even more complicated with Woakes' hundred and Curran's match winning scores at Edgbaston and Southampton. Now we have six players who shouldn't be batting in the top 5 but can make serious contributions from 6 to 8.

To me it's really rammed home something I've thought for a like while -- that Stokes should focus on his batting.

To be clear, I don't mean "focus on his batting" as a euphemism for "should give up bowling". Of course he should still bowl, and his bowling should still be taken into account when balancing the side.. but given so many other allrounders exist in the setup and so few other batsmen, it's really in the best interest of the side that he devotes as much time as possible to becoming the best batsman he can right now.

 

[Prince EWS]

Team of the series:

Alastair Cook
KL Rahul
Cheteshwar Pujara
Virat Kohli
Joe Root
Moeen Ali
Ben Stokes
Jos Buttler +
Chris Woakes
Sam Curran
Jasprit Bumrah
James Anderson

Hard to leave out Ishant, but can't have so many bowlers (6 already) and this team required deep batting to shore up its batsmen's failures.

It's quite funny that Stokes and Moeen get spots at 5 and 6, each averaging less than 30 with the bat. I don't think you're wrong to do that; it's just funny. Rahul actually averaged less than 30 as well but at least he tonned up.

 

[harsh.ag]

Just realized that team has 12 players!

Out goes Pujara.

Alastair Cook
KL Rahul
Joe Root
Virat Kohli
Moeen Ali
Ben Stokes
Jos Buttler +
Chris Woakes
Sam Curran
Jasprit Bumrah
James Anderson

 

[harsh.ag]

It's quite funny that Stokes and Moeen get spots at 5 and 6, each averaging less than 30 with the bat. I don't think you're wrong to do that; it's just funny. Rahul actually averaged less than 30 as well but at least he tonned up.

Bangin' shortage of actual batsmen to be sure. Maybe have Moeen at 3 and Root at 5 since that's what Root seems to prefer.

 

[Prince EWS]

Just realized that team has 12 players!

Out goes Pujara.

Alastair Cook
KL Rahul
Joe Root
Virat Kohli
Moeen Ali
Ben Stokes
Jos Buttler +
Chris Woakes
Sam Curran
Jasprit Bumrah
James Anderson

Bangin' shortage of actual batsmen to be sure. Maybe have Moeen at 3 and Root at 5 since that's what Root seems to prefer.

I'd just cut Stokes instead. He bowled pretty well but not better than any of the actual bowlers, and Moeen out-allroundered him. Making a ton in the top order should really be an instant qualification for the team, haha.

 

[Shri]

Rahul
Cook
Pujara
Kohli
Root
Buttler
Curran
Ali
Ishant
Anderson
Bumrah

 

[FBU]

England's winning is proof that the only thing that matters is that runs are scored, it does't matter where in the batting order. As for their fielding, what did the final drop count end up being?

1st Test

Kohli dropped on 21 by Malan off Anderson
Kohli dropped on 51 by Malan off Stokes - makes 149 (total 128 runs)
Pandya dropped on 0 by Cook off Stokes - makes 22 runs
Vijay dropped on 2 by Malan off Anderson - makes 6 runs

2nd Test

Rahane dropped on 5 by Root off Broad - makes 18 runs
Kohli dropped on 23 by Buttler off Woakes - out next ball
Pandya on 11 (Buttler reacts late and misses a catch of Woakes) - out next ball
Ashwin on 10 Rashid loses the ball in flight off Woakes - makes 29

3rd Test

Rahane on 57 dropped by Anderson off Woakes - makes 81
Pandya on 14 dropped by Jennings of Broad - makes 18
Ashwin on 14 dropped by Pope off Anderson - makes 14
Dhawan on 33 dropped by Cook off Woakes - makes 44
Pujara on 40 dropped by Buttler off Anderson - makes 72
Kohli on 93 dropped by Jennings off Anderson - makes 103

4th Test

Rahane on 5 dropped by Root off Stokes - makes 11
Kohli on 58 dropped by Cook off Ali - out next ball
Ashwin on 25 dropped by Anderson off Curran - out next ball

5th Test

Pujara on 11 dropped by Cook off Ali - makes 37
Bumrah on 0 dropped by Jennings off Rashid - makes 0
Jadeja on 3 dropped by Bairstow off Anderson - makes 13