Are England The Real Deal?

[Outswinger@Pace]

The arrogance of the Indian fans thinking their one man attack will destroy England is hilarious.

Agreed. No side would utterly destroy the other. As I said before, there isn't too much between two very fine (albeit not great) teams and England have the home advantage.

Ghambir and Sehwag will both struggle,

How can you be so sure? Gambhir is a good enough player of movement and his doggedness is appreciable against short-pitched stuff. Against the odds, he managed to thwart Steyn (easily 1.5 times more potent than any other paceman in the planet) and Morkel on their home turf rather well.

Tendulkar and Dravid will both score heavily, Laxman will be average like on previous tours.

Not too sure that Dravid will score heavily. A great player well past his best. Laxman could be the one who ends up playing yet another match-winning knock (ala Durban or Mohali) but I would be surprised if he scores consistently in the series.

Tendulkar is scoring runs like a man possessed ATM and he looks to be the biggest thorn in the flesh from an English perspective.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

i'd rate morkel over tremlett and every other english fast bowler except anderson.

Tremlett hasn't played as much as Morne, but that shouldn't be a reason to rate him lower. Morkel, as I said before, is a bit of a one-trick pony. Tremlett can also move it off the seam and unlike what we've seen from Morkel, isn't given to leaking runs (thereby losing control).

and andy for all his class and recent exploits is a touch below steyn.

Well below Steyn. No argument from me there. There are two fine bowlers in the world right now (Zaheer, Jimmy) and then there is Dale Steyn. The two leagues are different.

and agreed swanneh is light years better than harris, but not as good enough to do a walk through this indian batting.

Except Saqlain at his peak, I've never really seen ANY spinner walking through an Indian batting line-up in recent times. It's more a question of which spinner would complement his fast-bowling mates better!

and yes, if we manage to retain the trophy for the 16th year running, it'll be our greatest achievement since we managed to secure our first drawn series in SA.

A lot of questions have been asked about India's no. 1 position and rightly so. A win in this series could signify the start of a new era where India could be seen as a genuinely good side - home and away! If I were MSD, I'd be hungry as hell for a series win in this one.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Care to point those arrogant Indian fans out?

Not saying there are many, but gvenkat is one.

 

[Pup Clarke]

What's all this 'Steyn is way ahead of Anderson'. Obviously when looking at their careers Steyn's record is much better, but the last couple of years there's not been that much to chose between them imho.

 

[Dasa]

Not saying there are many, but gvenkat is one.

An rejuvanated Indian side with Tendulkar, Sewag and Gambhir coming back and the bowlers if they select the right combo will beat England in England and this is during the latter part of the summer where India have historically done well. I will say 2-1 for India or a 1-1 result. It's highly unlikely India will lose this series.

Haha, predicting a won or possibly drawn series is being arrogant now?

 

[keeper]

Agreed. No side would utterly destroy the other. As I said before, there isn't too much between two very fine (albeit not great) teams and England have the home advantage.



How can you be so sure? Gambhir is a good enough player of movement and his doggedness is appreciable against short-pitched stuff. Against the odds, he managed to thwart Steyn (easily 1.5 times more potent than any other paceman in the planet) and Morkel on their home turf rather well.



Not too sure that Dravid will score heavily. A great player well past his best. Laxman could be the one who ends up playing yet another match-winning knock (ala Durban or Mohali) but I would be surprised if he scores consistently in the series.

Tendulkar is scoring runs like a man possessed ATM and he looks to be the biggest thorn in the flesh from an English perspective.

Yeah, I reckon Gambhir will do well in England. He has the compactness and street fighting style for it. If (and it's a big If) England can get on top of India's elder statesmen then I think Gambhir could be the last man standing.

 

[Howe_zat]

Haha, predicting a won or possibly drawn series is being arrogant now?

No, but justifying it by erronously rubbishing everything England have achieved lately, and assuming India won't be beaten just, well just because, is.

 

[Daemon]

Steyn is ****ing ***y

My prediction: (completely based on hunches)

Draw 1-1 (Lose the first game, win the second, escape a defeat in the third because of rain )
Sachin to average 70+
Zaheer to average 30 with the ball
Sree to average 3^n where n is the number of times he gets slapped by harbhajan
Ishant 40
Harbhajan 25
Swann will win MOTS
Dravid will retire
Our new no.6 will score one 50 on the whole tour
Anderson will rape
Broad will be raped
Cook and Strauss to be the best batsmen for England.

 

[Austerlitz]

What's all this 'Steyn is way ahead of Anderson'. Obviously when looking at their careers Steyn's record is much better, but the last couple of years there's not been that much to chose between them imho.

Riiight!Hell of a difference swinging it at 130-135 and at 150 man.Plus steyn's got a killer yorker and a great bouncer too.

 

[Howe_zat]

Steyn is ****ing ***y

My prediction: (completely based on hunches)

Draw 1-1 (Lose the first game, win the second, escape a defeat in the third because of rain )
Sachin to average 70+
Zaheer to average 30 with the ball
Sree to average 3^n where n is the number of times he gets slapped by harbhajan
Ishant 40
Harbhajan 25
Swann will win MOTS
Dravid will retire
Our new no.6 will score one 50 on the whole tour
Anderson will rape
Broad will be raped
Cook and Strauss to be the best batsmen for England.

I assume you mean runs.

 

[Xuhaib]

Steyn operates at 135's in tests only when he is striving for reverse will he go 145, I am always impressed how he manages his test match bowling.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

...

Anderson will rape
Broad will be raped
...

That doesn't do a lot of good for the team morale!

 

[Bun]

Anderson will rape
Broad will be raped

:

 

[Daemon]

Never know what goes on in the dressing rooms with Broad around

 

[Bun]

Steyn operates at 135's in tests only when he is striving for reverse will he go 145, I am always impressed how he manages his test match bowling.

such an intelligent bowler. he doesn't go for all broke from ball one, instead conserves his energy and steps on the accel when needed.

 

[GotSpin]

What's all this 'Steyn is way ahead of Anderson'. Obviously when looking at their careers Steyn's record is much better, but the last couple of years there's not been that much to chose between them imho.

IMO Steyn is far better than either Anderson or Zaheer

 

[Cevno]

No, but justifying it by erronously rubbishing everything England have achieved lately, and assuming India won't be beaten just, well just because, is.

He was just responding to GF and some others arrogant claims made on the assumption it seems that this England team is the best thing since sliced bread .

To say that England are not as good as they think,and India not as bad is not arrogant.

Lol @ accusing Indian fans of being arrogant when not one has said anything more than it will be a close series.

 

[Cevno]

Steyn is ****ing ***y

My prediction: (completely based on hunches)

Draw 1-1 (Lose the first game, win the second, escape a defeat in the third because of rain )
Sachin to average 70+
Zaheer to average 30 with the ball
Sree to average 3^n where n is the number of times he gets slapped by harbhajan
Ishant 40
Harbhajan 25
Swann will win MOTS
Dravid will retire
Our new no.6 will score one 50 on the whole tour
Anderson will rape
Broad will be raped
Cook and Strauss to be the best batsmen for England.

Harbhajan will average more than 25 in England. Mid 30's.

But Zaheer will average in the low 20's atleast. He averaged 20 point something the last tour and he is a better bowler now.

 

[weldone]

IMO Steyn is far better than either Anderson or Zaheer

Definitely. No comparison between Steyn and any other current bowler, please. I think the ICC bowlers' rankings are about right:

1 899 D.W. Steyn
2 806 G.P. Swann
3 781 J.M. Anderson
4 751 M. Morkel
5 748 Zaheer Khan

 

[Howe_zat]

He was just responding to GF and some others arrogant claims made on the assumption it seems that this England team is the best thing since sliced bread .

To say that England are not as good as they think,and India not as bad is not arrogant.

Lol @ accusing Indian fans of being arrogant when not one has said anything more than it will be a close series.

Perhaps it would have been fairer to accuse Ganesh of simply talking bollocks then.