***Official England in India***

[steds]

Oh my.

Freddie time.

 

[biased indian]

for a sec i thoguht collingwood was out for 99

Flintoff to get out soon.....will help india a lot

 

[superkingdave]

Yeah need to up the run rate now...India could be nice and take the new ball

Well played Straussy

 

[Arjun]

Angus Fraser was asked on radio about Dravid, and he said, if Strauss, dropped from the team once, could return to form and score so heavily, there's no reason why Dravid can't. He's a great player, and many players would love to have a record like his.

Now is the time for a big century to return to form. There's no reason why that can't happen.

 

[steds]

If I were Dhoni, Mishra would be straight on for Sharma. Flintoff can be jumpy against spin.

 

[Martin1]

Angus Fraser was asked on radio about Dravid, and he said, if Strauss, dropped from the team once, could return to form and score so heavily, there's no reason why Dravid can't. He's a great player, and many players would love to have a record like his.

Now is the time for a big century to return to form. There's no reason why that can't happen.

This game is set up for someone like Dravid. Not sure some of the other players have that level of patience.

 

[Arjun]

The Indian bowlers' struggles on flat pitches is becoming a matter of concern. We hear commentators say such things as Harbhajan needs to bowl fuller and make the batsman drive or Ishant needs to pitch it higher up and close to the stumps. They've done that as well, but when wickets are so few and far between, they seem to lose it completely. It's happened regularly, even with the best four bowlers in the team. We know what the bowlers are doing wrong, and I'm sure they know too, but on the pitch, which offers zero assistance, there's not much they can do. At least five overs per bowler are wasted, wicketless overs.

What would you do then? While it's rather convenient (and now, necessary) to play a fifth bowler (specialist or all-rounder) on such pitches, you don't often have that option. In that case, would you have someone like Sehwag or Yuvraj bowling 25 to 30 overs an innings? They offer (in a way) a fresh perspective and rest the weary arms of the main bowlers. Then again, they're rubbish with the ball, and calling them on to bowl may affect their batting, as has been observed at times with both of them. Options are open, but the bowlers need to be rescued before they end up bowling so badly they may be dropped.

 

[Arjun]

This game is set up for someone like Dravid. Not sure some of the other players have that level of patience.

Looking at this lineup

1. Sehwag doesn't consider any total as large. He appeared confident this morning that India could have won in 2004 against Australia, and he believed India can win this one no matter how big the target.
2. Gambhir is a bit of a scrapper. We don't expect him to bat out an entire innings, though he seems a very smart batsman.
3. Dravid is in dreadful form, but he's the one batsman you'd back nine times out of ten to pull this off.
4. Tendulkar is in decent form, and you'd back him nine and a half times out of ten to pull this off. You can't count out experience and his achievements.
5. Laxman doesn't bat too seriously, but somehow can get it done. We've seen him pull it off a few times before, and he's surely the man for a crisis.
6. Yuvraj is miscast here. Should 't have been in the XI.
7. Dhoni is a very smart, and responsible, lower-order batsman, and he's got what you need in a top six batsman.

Five and a half times out of seven, we'd back the Indians to pull it off. This is, anyway, a flat pitch, so there's no reason why they can't.

 

[TheRedButton]

Excellent bowling from Ishant there. Out-thought, out-cricketed.

 

[Arjun]

Go Ishant!!!

He's MVP for India now.

 

[Goughy]

WTF was Flintoff doing there. Bat was 2 feet away from the body

 

[steds]

Oh Fred. Why do you have to force Matt Dire upon us?

 

[social]

Five and a half times out of seven, we'd back the Indians to pull it off. This is, anyway, a flat pitch, so there's no reason why they can't.

On this pitch against these bowlers, I'd back the Indian lineup to chase down this total 0 times out of 7

Sehwag - poor second innings record
Gambhir - unproven
Dravid - dreadful form
Tendy - great player but limited history of matchwinning innings
Laxman - inconsistent
Yuvi - history says he's not up to it
Dhoni - talented tailender

 

[biased indian]

On this pitch against these bowlers, I'd back the Indian lineup to chase down this total 0 times out of 7

Sehwag - poor second innings record
Gambhir - unproven
Dravid - dreadful form
Tendy - great player but limited history of matchwinning innings
Laxman - inconsistent
Yuvi - history says he's not up to it
Dhoni - talented tailender

i would only give india 2 out of 7...thst at the most

but some of your reasons are ...like dhoni...off late he has been a good test batsmen..means sensible

 

[NZTailender]

Love Collers so much *insert sideshowtim esque comment here*

 

[Goughy]

Love Collers so much

Jinx

 

[NZTailender]

Jinx

Haha, indeed.

 

[NZTailender]

Jinx

Haha, indeed.

...love Prior so much, reckon he's the best WK-Bat going around. Guaranteed a half century today at least.

 

[NZTailender]

Can't see the match but is Zaheer bowling as good as his figures suggest? 22 overs conceding 27 is terrific.

 

[social]

i would only give india 2 out of 7...thst at the most

but some of your reasons are ...like dhoni...off late he has been a good test batsmen..means sensible

2 out of 7??????

You do realise that India will potentially be chasing a WORLD RECORD?

India's chances are less than 1% and declining with every run