*Official* First Test at Lord's

[Burgey]

who says india would've got out for less than 300 in both innings if there hadn't been scoreboard pressure?
this test would've been tight had zaheer not pulled his hamstring

Who says if he was there in the second innings he would have bowled as well as Sharma? Or Sharma would have bowled as well as he did?

The point is you don't know. No one does.

What we do know, is India's bowling is by-and-large a one man band. He's injured. That's their problem, no one else's.


Edit: I should say, I'm well versed in the "if, buts and maybes" game - I've played it myself a lot over the years when there have been losses. But at the end of the day, it will drive you spare.

 

[honestbharani]

Well played England.. Did what they had to do.. Obviously, questions would have been asked if they could not beat a 10 man team and that too when 2 more were injured going into the last inning.. Well, one injured and one sick.. Broad looked a much better bowler than he has ever done in my time of watching him (which is not a lot, admittedly)... KP showed why he is so crucial for England and their plans to be world #1.. And Anderson stuck back in the last dig even though I am not really fully convinced about him yet..


But again in a funny way, I kinda feel good about us ****ing up the first test of a series. It means we are staying true to form and that generally augurs well for the rest of the tests coming up. And I have not read the posts on this thread, but judging by the jingoism of some of the facebook posts of our members here, it is gonna be an interesting time around the end of the series.

 

[kingpin]

We need a bowling allrounder tBH!!!GTFO Harbi!!u r total tool now a days!!

 

[Spark]

One thing that interested me that other people have noted on is how easily England seemed to get under Harbhajan's skin. Not really seen that a lot.

 

[centurymaker]

Who says if he was there in the second innings he would have bowled as well as Sharma? Or Sharma would have bowled as well as he did?

The point is you don't know. No one does.

What we do know, is India's bowling is by-and-large a one man band. He's injured. That's their problem, no one else's.


Edit: I should say, I'm well versed in the "if, buts and maybes" game - I've played it myself a lot over the years when there have been losses. But at the end of the day, it will drive you spare.

This was part of my first post-
"but thats how it is. if you lose players to injury, then hard luck!! "

 

[GIMH]

As an England fan I sympathise greatly with India losing a bowler during the match. Happened to us recently after all.

Anyone remember how we coped?

Oh and I suggest people who wanna casually use words like jingoism invest in a dictionary

 

[Xuhaib]

Zaheer's injury hampered India but Zaheer or no Zaheer they also happened to bowl in the best conditions on the first day so it kinda even out where they really missed Zaheer was in the 2nd innings when Sharma had England tottering however I still feel even 300 would have been enough.

 

[silentstriker]

While we all realize the pointlessness of speculating, I think it's pretty safe to say that losing a player of such quality, on balance, generally hurts you a lot more than it helps, especially considering the drop off - maybe they still would have lost - we'll never know - if Zaheer had been fully fit all five days. But I'd put my money that it would at least have been closer (nothing is a guarantee but the odds would be in favor of that).

No one is saying that England don't deserve to win, or that they wouldn't deserve the #1 spot if they win by a two test margin. Different teams are capable of coping better or worse with different losses. I imagine loss of Swann would hurt England the most (in terms of bowling), whereas Zaheer is that person for India. However, even with that England is better equipped to lose any one bowler than India is because aside from Swann, the drop off from #1 to the backup isn't as steep as it is for India. That's a strength England has.

Obviously, as a fan, I would love to see Sehwag, Zaheer, etc all fully fit and I think we'd have a cracker of a series but I don't think anyone is using it as somehow saying that it doesn't 'really' mean India didn't deserve to lose, etc. Injuries are part of the game. India drew epically in 2004 in Australia because their bowlers were hurt, and England likely wouldn't have won in 2005 if McGrath hadn't gotten hurt but that's part of the game - Australia couldn't cope without their bowlers, but that didn't make any of those victories and losses less legitimate.

England won by 200 runs despite batting on the first day. Well done and fair play to them. I think every Indian fan has congratulated England on their victory so I'm not really sure why there's been such a hatred on Indian fans lately (hating the Indian team I can understand, people love to hate sportstars or teams for any number of reasons - and in fact I think it's part of what makes sports so awesome).

 

[GIMH]

There's only hatred against certain people. Some, like yourself, have congratulated England. Others have come here calling all England fans jingoistic. Others have disappeared altogether.

 

[GIMH]

One thing that interested me that other people have noted on is how easily England seemed to get under Harbhajan's skin. Not really seen that a lot.

Yeah. When Tremlett mouthed off at him, it was crazy to see Harby chuntering back at him, given the situation. Really brainless display for him.

 

[Xuhaib]

hard to sympathize with India for Zaheer's injury given his conditioning I know he's on the wrong side of 30 but this does not look like a fast bowler's body.

 

[benchmark00]

Yeah. When Tremlett mouthed off at him, it was crazy to see Harby chuntering back at him, given the situation. Really brainless display for him.

Everyone knows Singh is usually at his best when engaged in banter/sledging.

 

[Burgey]

This was part of my first post-
"but thats how it is. if you lose players to injury, then hard luck!! "

Yeah, just don't do the "if only", for your own good mate. Trust me, it stings too much!

 

[smash84]

hard to sympathize with India for Zaheer's injury given his conditioning I know he's on the wrong side of 30 but this does not look like a fast bowler's body.

awta.

As I always point out that Zaheer of late has been going down the Akhtar-Bond way. He does tend to become a liability these days. He seems to be unfit more often than not.

Was really happy to see Dravid score runs though. Looked really solid out there until he played a not so great shot in the 2nd innings

 

[John Blaze]

Nice win by England. Thoroughly outplayed us with both bat and ball. I just hope we can comeback in the second test (how is Trent Bridge? I think it's normally a bowler's pitch with a lotta swing?) and hope that fit as a ****ing American, Zaheer Khan gets back into the team by Friday, which is highly doubtful. Sharma's bowling in the 2nd innings was a plus, as was Praveen's in the first. But Ishant needs to be more consistent and Praveen needs to make the batsmen play more. Harbhajan - well he's truly a ****, both with the bat and ball in this match. Very proud of Raina, I knew he would come good and he did so against the best attack in the world with his back to the wall, very impressive. Sachin played ****. Mukund did decent in the first innings, but Sehwag's comeback will be welcomed. Dravid played great in the first innings, VVS felt generous and gifted his wicket twice... All in all, hope India improve for the second match against a currently superior English team.

 

[Spark]

Yeah. When Tremlett mouthed off at him, it was crazy to see Harby chuntering back at him, given the situation. Really brainless display for him.

He just looked shot, though. Like he couldn't really give a toss any more, which is so weird. It's not like he was engaging in sledging throughout the match or anything. It was just this tacit acceptance that England had it over him. It's also worth noting that England seemed to be doing their utmost to piss him off with their shot selection at times, though. Prior especially.

 

[GIMH]

Everyone knows Singh is usually at his best when engaged in banter/sledging.

Look maybe I'm reading too much into it but he looked positively irked by whatever Tremlett said and his shot selection was beyond bizarre. Just didn't look all there.

 

[hang on]

Look maybe I'm reading too much into it but he looked positively irked by whatever Tremlett said and his shot selection was beyond bizarre. Just didn't look all there.

tremlett must have asked him why he was coming in so low down in the order for a pure batsman.

 

[wpdavid]

It was great to see our bowlers hunting as a pack once more - probably for the first time this summer. Maybe those early wickets got Jimmy's confidence up & running again. Who knows. But he was the best he's been since the Ashes. Obviously Broad's performance was a huge plus. Let's hope it represents a genuine step up rather than another occasional like the Oval and Durban in 2009.

A word of warning. This was the 6th time since 1979 that India have lost the first test over here. On the other five, that was the only test that they lost in the series, so there's a fair bit of previous in terms of improving after a poor start. Bring on Trent Bridge though.

 

[John Blaze]

It was great to see our bowlers hunting as a pack once more - probably for the first time this summer. Maybe those early wickets got Jimmy's confidence up & running again. Who knows. But he was the best he's been since the Ashes. Obviously Broad's performance was a huge plus. Let's hope it represents a genuine step up rather than another occasional like the Oval and Durban in 2009.

A word of warning. This was the 6th time since 1979 that India have lost the first test over here. On the other five, that was the only test that they lost in the series, so there's a fair bit of previous in terms of improving after a poor start. Bring on Trent Bridge though.

Yes let's hope he doesn't revert to type, that would be awful