What conditions would you want for your team?

[Uppercut]

I'd want swinging conditions. Even if Jimmy were better than Zaheer at those (which he is not), I'd back Indian batsmen over English batsmen.

What India don't want is a lot of very bouncy wickets. Obviously the worst would be flat wickets as I want an exciting series and not a 1-0 with a bunch of draws but outside of that, I would be ok with either swing or spin. I would be fine actually with an old style Perth pitch too personally as someone who loves fast bowling but the Indian players would find that the most difficult to navigate especially if both tremlett and Finn also play.

I don't think India's batsmen are notably better against swing than England's, if at all. Playing swing bowling is one of England's strengths and one of India's weaknesses, but that's balanced out to an extent by the fact that India's batting is better in general. It's a bit of a shootout if there's a lot of cloud cover about. Could be some crucial tosses, and a lot could hinge on when the rain comes, just like last time.

India just want slow wickets imo. The slower and lower the better. India can just bat indefinitely when the ball doesn't bounce. England can't.

 

[Jarquis]

I'd want swinging conditions. Even if Jimmy were better than Zaheer at those (which he is not), I'd back Indian batsmen over English batsmen.

lol. Love how you can out with such crap so assuredly.

 

[Cevno]

I don't think India's batsmen are notably better against swing than England's, if at all. Playing swing bowling is one of England's strengths and one of India's weaknesses, but that's balanced out to an extent by the fact that India's batting is better in general. It's a bit of a shootout if there's a lot of cloud cover about. Could be some crucial tosses, and a lot could hinge on when the rain comes, just like last time.

Swing bowling?
Not really. I think you are confusing Indian batsman with Australian ones or something.
Indian bowler and batsman in general have been good with dealing with swing in past history too ,and have struggled more generally against Seam and extra bounce than swing.

India just want slow wickets imo. The slower and lower the better. India can just bat indefinitely when the ball doesn't bounce. England can't.

India would pretty well take swinging wickets too.
It gives Indian swing bowlers a advantage to reduce the gap and the batsman to come to the fore.
India beat SA on the 2 most swinging/Seaming tracks with Sreesanth on the last 2 tours and broke Australia's winning run with Irfan Pathan MOTM when it swung.
Even on the last tour to England Swing helped RP singh to do well.

 

[Cruxdude]

Don't think the conditions are going to matter that much. We should win it regardless of the surface.

 

[vcs]

Don't think the conditions are going to matter that much. We should win it regardless of the surface.

Great avatar, Cruxdude.

 

[Teja.]

Indian batsmen are pretty strong against swing and movement, IMO. It's bounce that is a problem. Sehwag is one who might have problems with outward movement for balls outside off as he has a tendency to flay at the ball even early on. Gambhir will survive despite playing a few needless dangerous-looking shots for 1. Dravid would have had no problems at all in his peak but I don't really know now, Hope he gets back in form completely.

Tendulkar is Tendulkar. Laxman specifically thrives in hard conditions. Can't expect Raina/Kohli/Pujara to score that much. If Badri gets in by some miracle, I think he'll do very well. Dhoni is a pretty random batsman, He has the tendency to play a solid knock in tough conditions but can also throw his wicket away. We also have a very good tail.

Don't think we have that many problems against movement, however exaggerated tbh, Only when there's steep bounce, we might be troubled. That's why I reckon Tremlett would be a greater threat than Anderson.

 

[Cruxdude]

Great avatar, Cruxdude.

Thank ya

 

[Bun]

The problem for the Indian TEST team is not bounce itself, but seaming wickets with good bounce.

problem for any team in the world such wickets, imho.

 

[centurymaker]

problem for any team in the world such wickets, imho.

Thats because batsmen play on the front-front in our times so they dont really have time to adjust to seam movement, especially off balls that are pitched up.

 

[four_or_six]

I don't think the conditions matter too much, as long as the pitches aren't dead. What we've been great at doing is the relevant bowler standing up when the conditions are in his favour. We will have great swinging conditions at some point in the series, Jimmy has to make them pay. Likewise Swann when there's a chance to instigate a day four/five collapse.

 

[Uppercut]

Indian batsmen are pretty strong against swing and movement, IMO. It's bounce that is a problem. Sehwag is one who might have problems with outward movement for balls outside off as he has a tendency to flay at the ball even early on. Gambhir will survive despite playing a few needless dangerous-looking shots for 1. Dravid would have had no problems at all in his peak but I don't really know now, Hope he gets back in form completely.

Tendulkar is Tendulkar. Laxman specifically thrives in hard conditions. Can't expect Raina/Kohli/Pujara to score that much. If Badri gets in by some miracle, I think he'll do very well. Dhoni is a pretty random batsman, He has the tendency to play a solid knock in tough conditions but can also throw his wicket away. We also have a very good tail.

Don't think we have that many problems against movement, however exaggerated tbh, Only when there's steep bounce, we might be troubled. That's why I reckon Tremlett would be a greater threat than Anderson.

It's debatable the extent to which they're vulnerable to it. I'd have said Dhoni will struggle after some of his dismissals in SA, and while I might not call it a weakness, if I was to choose one style of bowling to attack Laxman with it would probably be swing.

But the point is that it certainly isn't an area of strength. For England, it is.

 

[centurymaker]

It's debatable the extent to which they're vulnerable to it. I'd have said Dhoni will struggle after some of his dismissals in SA, and while I might not call it a weakness, if I was to choose one style of bowling to attack Laxman with it would probably be swing.

But the point is that it certainly isn't an area of strength. For England, it is.

England batsmen play swing better, is that what you're saying?
Good joke bro

 

[Teja.]

Likewise Swann when there's a chance to instigate a day four/five collapse.

'sif

 

[vcs]

England batsmen who are good against swing : Cook, Trott, Bell, arguably Prior
England batsmen not that good against swing (maybe due to current form or technique) : Strauss, Pietersen, Morgan

Indian batsmen who are good against swing : Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman
Indian batsmen not that good against swing : Sehwag, Gambhir, No. 6, Dhoni

I think we could do ratings out of 10 for all the batsmen individually against swing/seam, bounce and spin respectively. Too geeky?

 

[Uppercut]

England batsmen who are good against swing : Cook, Trott, Bell, arguably Prior
England batsmen not that good against swing (maybe due to current form or technique) : Strauss, Pietersen, Morgan

Indian batsmen who are good against swing : Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman
Indian batsmen not that good against swing : Sehwag, Gambhir, No. 6, Dhoni

I think we could do ratings out of 10 for all the batsmen individually against swing/seam, bounce and spin respectively. Too geeky?

The lower order can score runs too. Players like Swann, Broad, Anderson and Bresnan are more than capable of knocking together a few runs when the ball is swinging- it's all they've faced in their careers. That's part and parcel of home advantage, illustrated somewhat painfully to Australia in the '09 Ashes.

But bear in mind that I don't think England are better at batting against swing than India- that's not what I said. It's just an area of strength for England and an area of weakness for India, and for the purposes of this series it brings the two lineups closer together.

 

[vcs]

Indeed, lower order runs will be very valuable and both teams have had wagging tails in the last couple of years or so.

 

[Cevno]

And Indian tailenders have generally done well in England too. Anil Kumble and Ajit Agarkar to confrim.

 

[Uppercut]

They weren't tail enders, though.

Harbhajan should definitely slog a few because he's just been awesome with the bat lately but anything from below 8 is a massive bonus for India.

 

[Cevno]

They weren't tail enders, though.

Harbhajan should definitely slog a few because he's just been awesome with the bat lately but anything from below 8 is a massive bonus for India.

Kumble was pretty much a tailender at that time ,and Agarkar wasn't much better than say a Praveen Kumar.

Except for Broad who may not play even,England's tail is not much better than India specially if you take into account Harbhajan being likely to play.

Zaheer played 2 crucial crucial supporting knocks in SA in tougher conditions than they are likely to have in England with Laxman, Ishant played that crucial role with Laxman again in that Mohali test and has played some little knocks before too.
Harbhajan has 2 test centuries again batting mostly with Laxman and Praveen is a pretty decent bat for a tailender.
Mishra if he plays can pretty much hold his own too as he showed in the recent test against West Indies on a low scoring surface. Only really Sreesanth has done nothing.

 

[GIMH]

Broad will play, I'm sure of that

Anderson bats at 11 and is no bunny, we definitely have the stronger tail IMO