***Official*** India in England

[gettingbetter]

Flintoff, IMO, is done. At least as a long term consistent player for England. Just as much as Simon Jones is. And probably Harmison.

Though Hoggard will still probably be around and will do well for a while.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

How hard is it to get thtough to people's heads, that Flintoff will never be the player he was for those 2-3 years again. As SS said, he might not even be a consistent fixture.

The constant, if we had x we would of won is a cop out like anything I've heard. There are so many variables to include. If Flintoff played, he may of bowled better, but would Dimi of been able to hit those 6s?

Its futile to argue such, but at the end of the day, Flintoff is close to be done.

 

[SJS]

Tendulkar contemplating retiring from ODI game .. after playing against AUs and Pakistan at home.
good for india i guess but still is sad news thou

Good for India ? hmmmm

 

[honestbharani]

The Collingwood dismissal is baffling. Why did Peter Hartley not call for the 3rd umpire in the first case, it was close enough in full motion to warrant another look at it. The fact is, the right decision was reached, he was run out, however, does this mean that for every close decision there is, the umpires are going to wait and watch the big screen ? And if there is no big screen ? Colly was rightly bemused by what happened, it should not have happened.

and yet he wasn't so bemused when KP was given out and then sent back in by his players themselves.... THAT shouldn't have happened too. Can't have it both ways, tbh.

 

[jeevan]

Ganguly in 2007

Has scored a 50 in every other ODI innings. (11/22 so far,
3/6 in this series) crossing 1000 runs for calendar year at average of 53.

Tendulkar has also been quite good-to brilliant at times, but Ganguly's been
the really consistent one. That'll teach all the critics of the dad's army (self included
at times).

 

[pup11]

I think there was noway this series had to go down to the last game (though i am not complaining), England are playing with a really mediocre bowling attack and i believe India should have wrapped up this series a long time ago, but they have kept underachieving throughout this series due to unimaginative tactics, poor team combination, patchy bowling and above all some very dire fielding.

 

[Dubilog]

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

How hard is it to get thtough to people's heads, that Flintoff will never be the player he was for those 2-3 years again. As SS said, he might not even be a consistent fixture.

The constant, if we had x we would of won is a cop out like anything I've heard. There are so many variables to include. If Flintoff played, he may of bowled better, but would Dimi of been able to hit those 6s?

Its futile to argue such, but at the end of the day, Flintoff is close to be done.

Agreed that it was THIS team that lost to India so the argument of 'If we had this one etc we'd have won is daft', but why are you so passionate about the decline of Freddy? True, it looks bleak at the moment but there is NO way that you can say with absolute security that he will never come back to his best!!!

Or is it just the wishes of an Australian...?

 

[gettingbetter]

Dubilog, I appreciate the reply.

I'm not all that passionate about the Freddy's decline (although it may appear like that in this thread and in the all-rounder thread), but I really despise it when people hype up someone when they have never really attained such a level.

I know that Freddie had a few good years - which I noted in the all-rounder thread, but in my opinion, he is not all that special.

I know I shouldn't say that he won't come back to his best, but I will. Those highs he sustained 2003-2005 (mainly in the longer format) are heights he will never ever attain again. I can't name all that many cricketers who have come back from such chronic injuries to be better than they have been. Compound to that, those performance he put in in the aformentioned years labelled him as an all-rounder (another thing that intensifies me about this situation is that Freddy fans are willing to label Kallis as a batsman who can bowl, but label Freddy as an all-rounder ).

Overall, I don't think he can come back to what he once was, solely as a bowler? Thats an even harder question, but I am confident in saying that he will never be a good batsmen again.

Is this the wishes of an Australian?

I don't support the Australian team, I think they are a bunch of tools. I'm of Indian background, nor do i support them, I am a cricket fan (don't want to sound sentimentel or anything). I like viewing cricket as a tyeam sport compromised of individuals their separate thing - sounds like most sports? As a cricket fan, you understand. Although back in the day, if you asked me who i support, the4 answer would of been South Africa (circa 1999).

 

[GIMH]

Not been in this thread much really. Just feel like commenting on how much I'm enjoying this ODI series....I thought 7 would be drag...I wish it was 9, maybe even 11

 

[PhoenixFire]

Yeah, if we would have had kapil dev then we would have won the fourth ODI, where he would have been able to break the 8th wicket partnership.
Heck we would have won , all the one dayers as he is 1000 times better than agarkar. So no ifs and but's buddy and no lame excuses.

Ha, it wasn't a lame excuse, it is the truth. I don't make escuses for my side losing, and I'm not being sour about it.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I think there was noway this series had to go down to the last game (though i am not complaining), England are playing with a really mediocre bowling attack and i believe India should have wrapped up this series a long time ago, but they have kept underachieving throughout this series due to unimaginative tactics, poor team combination, patchy bowling and above all some very dire fielding.

They seem to have been 'underachieving' for a long time now. Basically in this series, they haven't been good enough to win, and neither have England in all honesty. 2 evenly matched sides when they get it right, as well as when they get it wrong.

 

[silentstriker]

Ha, it wasn't a lame excuse, it is the truth.

Is it? Would Flintoff's bowling have made up for the 50 runs off 39 balls that were scored by his replacement? I am not convinced at all. Or if he came up against Mascaranas, who biffed 36 off only 15 balls and took 2 for 55? Certainly not in that case.

 

[Dissector]

Like most here I am not a fan of the 7 match ODI series but this has certainly been an interesting contest. I remember thinking after game 5 that the series had everything except a nail-biting finish and game 6 certainly delivered there.

The contrast between the two sides is fascinating. England is a classic ODI outfit with great fielders, good running between wickets and lost of useful bits-and-pieces players.

India is more like a test side: with quality spinners and classy stroke players like Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid making up for their ineptitude at the ODI basics.

 

[R_D]

Good for India ? hmmmm

sorry i didn't say it.
Sachin is unlikely to be around for next world cup so it be interest of team for him and Ganguly to retire so its gives Utappa, Gambhir or someone other younger batsman a chance to secure his spot in the ODI team.
It be better of for India to start planning rather than 1 year before the world cup... its the main event in ODI so not much point Sachin and Ganguly playing too many more ODI's as they aren't going to be of any use come the next world cup.
Not sure if Dravid's going to be around either so wouldn't mind all 3 of Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid started concentrating more on test cricket.
Don't want all of them to go at same time, it be might be good if Sachin went after Pakistan seires and Ganguly after few more series and eventually Dravid as well.

 

[Dissector]

So is this Sachin retirement news confirmed? I find it hard to believe he would let go of the dream of lifting the World Cup at Wankhede before retiring. His performances in recent ODI's has been top class and I don't see why he couldn't maintain that level for another four years.

 

[silentstriker]

So is this Sachin retirement news confirmed? I find it hard to believe he would let go of the dream of lifting the World Cup at Wankhede before retiring. His performances in recent ODI's has been top class and I don't see why he couldn't stay maintain that level for another four years.

No

 

[Dissector]

Yeah. Just after writing my post I dropped by at Crincinfo and saw the same article. Good for Sachin.

 

[Woodster]

and yet he wasn't so bemused when KP was given out and then sent back in by his players themselves.... THAT shouldn't have happened too. Can't have it both ways, tbh.

I agree that should not have happened either, but I don't think the KP incident was anything to do with Collingwood though to be honest.

 

[R_D]

So is this Sachin retirement news confirmed? I find it hard to believe he would let go of the dream of lifting the World Cup at Wankhede before retiring. His performances in recent ODI's has been top class and I don't see why he couldn't stay maintain that level for another four years.

Sachin is 33 now.. you reckon he'd still be going good 4 years down the track.. he'd be around 37. That be awesome but i somehow doubt that.... ODI and test cricket means he's going to constantly suffer from niggling injuries. I wish India would stop playing so many ODI's.
I'd love to see Sachin play the last world cup in India.

Might start saving up for the trip to world cup in India

 

[SpaceMonkey]

He cant even make 100 now without his body failing him. I really feel he'll have to give up ODIs sooner rather than later if he wants to prolong his Test career.

 

[PhoenixFire]

He cant even make 100 now without his body failing him. I really feel he'll have to give up ODIs sooner rather than later if he wants to prolong his Test career.

Well if he gets 90 every time he bats, I doubt there'll be many Indian fans complaining

He is batting as well as I've ever seen him bat (which isn't very much), so unless he is feeling really bad or something, I see no reason for him to retire. Cramp happens to the youngest players, not just Sachin and the over 35 lot.