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***Official*** India in England

Turbinator

Turbinator

Cricketer Of The Year
adharcric said:
Laxman is just as good as Tendulkar in the slips and he's very good at silly point. Outfielding is not such a big deal in test cricket.
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Fair enough, but Tendulkar will still be more useful in the upcoming matches than Laxman, especially if we go in with only 4 bowlers. And if anyone is gonna be dropped, it'll most likely be Laxman.
 
Turbinator

Turbinator

Cricketer Of The Year
Man I hate this avatar, every time I post, I think it's SS' post and wonder where mine went.

It's for 2 week Richard. I dunno, probably something similar except saying "I love the India's FAST bowlers".
 
silentstriker

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Unlike Turbinator's vitriolic and quite unfair hatred of the Indian pace attack, they bowled OK, and I think batting is our real weakness.

Looking through the last couple games at Trent Bridge, it seems spin tends to play its part, especially in the end. Maybe we need to pick two spinners? But then which fast bowler would you drop in their favor? They all bowled well, at least in patches, and it would be quite unfair to drop RP Singh...so I think the same lineup has to go.
 
Turbinator

Turbinator

Cricketer Of The Year
adharcric said:
That's not the point. Anyways, you did very well with the rain dance today so I'll let you go now.
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Haha, man Laxman is as useless as they get, the ONLY Indian player I dislike somewhat. Well not really dislike just not like as much as the others.
 
silentstriker

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
cricinfo said:
Let's dispense with the numbers first. In Test matches since that series Sachin Tendulkar averages 45.67, Sourav Ganguly 36.24 and VVS Laxman 33.70. But even these numbers hide the reality for none them has failed to cash in on weak opponents. Three of Tendulkar's last four hundreds - including a career-best 248 - have come against Bangladesh, Ganguly has scored hundreds against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, his only centuries since a stirring 144 against Australia at Brisbane in 2002, and Laxman has got a hundred against Zimbabwe. Remove these runs and the story is dire. Tendulkar's average dips to 31.19, Ganguly's to 29.40 and Laxman's to 32.19.

Increasingly it looks likely that this is what India's once-glittering middle order is capable of providing in demanding conditions: battling 30s and the odd half-century. That's what Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly provided at Lord's and that's what they did against Australia, Pakistan and South Africa in 2004-05, and against South Africa earlier this year. More than 20 Tests in the space of three years is a long enough sample period to present a pattern and, despite what the rest of this series might bring, it's about time to bury the myth about India's middle order.

India's batting in recent years has been about two men. One of them isn't here. Despite his failure in South Africa Virender Sehwag averages 46.89 in Tests since May 2004 and, incredibly, his average goes a couple of points higher if you remove his Tests against Zimbabwe.

The other is Rahul Dravid, who averages nearly 50 without his runs against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. India missed a big innings from him in South Africa. It was the first time since 1999 that he'd gone through a series without a half-century and it perhaps cost India the series. In both innings at Lord's he was dismissed without getting in, which is not something that can be said about Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly.
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Interesting three paragraphs. Turbinator, really, it wasn't the pace attack that was the biggest culprit.
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
silentstriker said:
Looking through the last couple games at Trent Bridge, it seems spin tends to play its part, especially in the end. Maybe we need to pick two spinners? But then which fast bowler would you drop in their favor? They all bowled well, at least in patches, and it would be quite unfair to drop RP Singh...so I think the same lineup has to go.
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Dunno about that, TBH. Certainly was spin-friendly last season (2006) but not really before that. Certainly wasn't in 2005, was (as you touch on) for the second part of the game in 2004, was a horror-uneven pitch in 2003 (about the worst Test pitch I've ever seen, and this is from someone who likes to see something in it for the bowlers), was stupidly flat in 2002 against India, was really good (seaming but even) in 2001, was very flat in 2000... probably no point going back to 1998.

The fact that it offered something to spin in 2006 and 2004 doesn't really give any indication of how it'll play this year, really. No Test ground's squre has conformed a predictable year-on-year pattern in recent times (ie, the last decade at least).
 
silentstriker

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Richard said:
Dunno about that, TBH. Certainly was spin-friendly last season (2006) but not really before that. Certainly wasn't in 2005, was (as you touch on) for the second part of the game in 2004, was a horror-uneven pitch in 2003 (about the worst Test pitch I've ever seen, and this is from someone who likes to see something in it for the bowlers), was stupidly flat in 2002 against India, was really good (seaming but even) in 2001, was very flat in 2000... probably no point going back to 1998.

The fact that it offered something to spin in 2006 and 2004 doesn't really give any indication of how it'll play this year, really. No Test ground's squre has conformed a predictable year-on-year pattern in recent times (ie, the last decade at least).
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Ah I see. So three pacers and a spinner the reasonable option then?
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
silentstriker said:
Ah I see. So three pacers and a spinner the reasonable option then?
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Quite simply, unless you plan to drop S, I can't see how anything else makes any sense. RP bowled better at Lord's than I ever dreamed he could bowl, TBH.

The ball swung, properly, for more than 1 bowler in the same side, in this just-concluded game for the first time in 7 years. It really is that simple. Finally, it seems, England has become somewhere that a good swing-bowler can prosper again (let's hope it is more than just a flashback).

Nonetheless, like anywhere, get on a flat track with a rough outfield that makes it hard to keep the ball well shined-up and under a hot sun (admittedly that part's extremely unlikely) and it's hard for the bowlers. However, if the outfield is nice and lush, the pitch isn't overly abrasive and the atmosphere is damp (probably a formality) I can see RP and Zaheer doing the buz again at Trent Bridge. Picking Powar would be pointless.
 
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