England tour of India in 2008

Can't wait for this tour..especially as England-India contests seem to be quite keenly discussed on crickeetweb. Anyone fancy England getting revenge for last year's defeat and winning in India for the first time since 1984 ?

Pity that the series is only 2 tests though...ENgland will have to hit the ground running as there is not much time to adapt.

England are in with a chance certainly....one of the big beefs I have had with India this decade inspite of their considerable improvement away from hiome is the fact that they have not won series particularly at home that they should have.

India drew 0-0 to New Zealand in 2003 and squandered 1-0 leads to Pakistan and England in 2005, 2006.
All three were extremely disappointing results ....England had a weak side in 2006 and India really should have beaten them. England played well in Mumbai but India were absolutely horrid in that game and made a huge tactical error first up sending England in.
Ditto with being unable to beat a weakened Pakistan side in 2005.

So I think its India who have the more to prove out of the two teams....pressure's on them.
England will note that South Africa won convincingly in Ahmedadabd where Steyn got considerable assistance. THe second test will be played at Brabourne which hasn't hosted a test since 1973 but has always been renowned as a batting paradise.

So the outcome of that first test at Ahmedabad could be crucial.
I personally think (having watched quite a bit of England of late) that anything less than a series win for India should be construed as a massive disappointement for them.

Two tests is a farce.

Kaiser said:

England are in with a chance certainly....one of the big beefs I have had with India this decade inspite of their considerable improvement away from hiome is the fact that they have not won series particularly at home that they should have.

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A lot of it has to do with the pitches though. We don't see the rank turners we used to in the 90s.

Two tests is a farce.

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I couldn't agree more - three tests is bad enough but two and it borders on a lottery

Didn't we have a previous thread about this?

You were thinking of this one, I expect.

Not happy about the two Tests (though that's down to the BCCI as far as I can tell), or with having to tour India and West Indies in the same winter with a big 2009 ahead, but that's the way the game is now.

I'm not one to defend the BCCI unless necessary, but I'm pretty sure the BCCI didn't ask for 2 tests this time. I remember a thread with discussion/argument regarding this.

It's linked to in the post above yours.

Yeah that was a bit stupid by me.

Point stands though. England wanted to be home before Christmas, because they didn't want to be in India for it. Hence there's only 2 tests.

OK, I'd been under the impression that India wanted 7 ODIs, and so a Test was lost to make room. Will have to be a shortened tour anyway because of the Champions Trophy.

Basically, there's 3 inconveniences that mean we have just two Tests:
1, the Champions Trophy's close proximity.
2, the BCCI's wish for seven ODIs.
3, the England players' wish to be home for the Xmas period.

If just one of these was not present, we could probably have a three-Test series. And so much better would that be.

Trying to remember the last time before Zimbabwe in 2000 that England played a serious Test team in a two-match series. And yes, they played one-off Tests a few times, but they were even more of a joke than two-match Test series'.

Last one I can think of is Pakistan 2001 - the game we might not have lost if Shep had picked up those no-balls.

Don't forget, we'd almost certainly have won it long before then if Nick Knight and others could catch.

stumpski said:

You were thinking of this one, I expect.

Not happy about the two Tests (though that's down to the BCCI as far as I can tell), or with having to tour India and West Indies in the same winter with a big 2009 ahead, but that's the way the game is now.

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Why not?

That sort of stuff is pretty exciting and to see how England go.

Yeah but what's best for the fans short-term isn't neccessarily best for the players, nor by continuation best for the fans in the long-term.

I truly do not think that the outrage of two Test between India and England is large enough, tbh. This is a joke of all jokes as India and England can easily go for 3, 4 or 5 evenly matched Test matches and it is ididotic scheduling like this which leads people to think (perhaps wrongly) that Test cricket is under threat.