honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
My take on the day's play.
First of all, I didn't watch most of it, because of work.
So I am basing most of what I am saying from what I saw on highlights.
I was one of the number of Indians here who felt England will do well in this series. I still don't see them winning the series, or even winning this test but they have certainly displayed amazing grit and determination, as I expected. Freddie as the captain and all the injury crisis has really inspired the team and given them more motivation. I dare say that they wouldn't have done THIS well even if they had a full strength squad over here. Hoggard bowled brilliantly, I was told that the ball moved a bit more in the morning due to overnight rains or something. But I was also told that it was nothing that was unnegotiable. I suppose it was the persistance and accuracy of Hoggard more than anything else that got him the wickets. He is a great bloke from what I have seen and he deserves all the success he gets. But, at the risk of being the devil's advocate, I don't see him doing too much more in this series. I think he will get the odd wicket or two, but I don't think he will continue to be a REAL threat to the Indians.
Panesar already looks like he has more options as a bowler than Giles did. Giles had one game plan. Granted it worked reasonably well, but with Panesar, a whole plethora of opportunities exist to get batters out. And Aussies, esp. Ponting, kinda struggle(Relatively) against good left arm spinners. Panesar, esp. if he improves his batting and fielding, would be a wonderful addition to this squad. Jones' absence was definitely felt, but given his injury layoff record, I think England should consider it a bonus if he is available for them for a test or so. And honestly, there is no guarantee that his pace and stuff are still the same, post injury.
I think Vaughan being out of the side was a blessing in disguise as there was no way either Bell or Collingwood could be dropped and one of them would have had to be dropped had he been here. Tresco is someone who could have done well here, but then again, Cook did well too. I think England didn't miss a thing as far as batting is concerned. In fact, I am inclined to think they actually GAINED from those injuries and flying back home stuff. Flintoff looks like a good leader of men. His tactical acumen is still a question mark and his bowling changes weren't the best. But he seems to get his men to rally around him and that is extremely important.
Coming to India, ever since the 2004 tour to Pak, the INdian batters, except Sehwag and Dhoni, have played very very defensively. I don't know why it is that, because it was our positive batting that helped us grow as a test side from 2001-2004. And another thing I have noticed is that the Indians are very very reluctant to use their feet these days. Only youngsters like Yuvraj, Dhoni, Kaif, Pathan, Gambhir are doing it. The big boys are very very happy to just stay back and knock the ball around and punish the half volleys and long hops. This is simply not gonna cut it because once you stop coming down the track atleast once in a while, you become predictable as a batter. And spinners like that. It was one of the main things that made INdians the best players of spin in the world. Without doing that, India are just about the same as the rest of the world, in fact, the Pakistanis are actually ahead in that aspect, IMHO.
But having said all that, collapses do happen, esp. when teams bowl as well as England did today, esp. Hoggard. It was refreshing to see the INdian lower order stage a recovery for once, turning the tables on England. Obviously, the match can go either way. Everyone was of the opinion that whoever does well on the third day will win the match. While England started well, India have almost pulled even now, IMHO. And this makes this test a real exciting one. Anyone can still win and the reason I said England will probably NOT win this test is because it was just a gut feeling, nothing else.
First of all, I didn't watch most of it, because of work.
So I am basing most of what I am saying from what I saw on highlights. I was one of the number of Indians here who felt England will do well in this series. I still don't see them winning the series, or even winning this test but they have certainly displayed amazing grit and determination, as I expected. Freddie as the captain and all the injury crisis has really inspired the team and given them more motivation. I dare say that they wouldn't have done THIS well even if they had a full strength squad over here. Hoggard bowled brilliantly, I was told that the ball moved a bit more in the morning due to overnight rains or something. But I was also told that it was nothing that was unnegotiable. I suppose it was the persistance and accuracy of Hoggard more than anything else that got him the wickets. He is a great bloke from what I have seen and he deserves all the success he gets. But, at the risk of being the devil's advocate, I don't see him doing too much more in this series. I think he will get the odd wicket or two, but I don't think he will continue to be a REAL threat to the Indians.
Panesar already looks like he has more options as a bowler than Giles did. Giles had one game plan. Granted it worked reasonably well, but with Panesar, a whole plethora of opportunities exist to get batters out. And Aussies, esp. Ponting, kinda struggle(Relatively) against good left arm spinners. Panesar, esp. if he improves his batting and fielding, would be a wonderful addition to this squad. Jones' absence was definitely felt, but given his injury layoff record, I think England should consider it a bonus if he is available for them for a test or so. And honestly, there is no guarantee that his pace and stuff are still the same, post injury.
I think Vaughan being out of the side was a blessing in disguise as there was no way either Bell or Collingwood could be dropped and one of them would have had to be dropped had he been here. Tresco is someone who could have done well here, but then again, Cook did well too. I think England didn't miss a thing as far as batting is concerned. In fact, I am inclined to think they actually GAINED from those injuries and flying back home stuff. Flintoff looks like a good leader of men. His tactical acumen is still a question mark and his bowling changes weren't the best. But he seems to get his men to rally around him and that is extremely important.
Coming to India, ever since the 2004 tour to Pak, the INdian batters, except Sehwag and Dhoni, have played very very defensively. I don't know why it is that, because it was our positive batting that helped us grow as a test side from 2001-2004. And another thing I have noticed is that the Indians are very very reluctant to use their feet these days. Only youngsters like Yuvraj, Dhoni, Kaif, Pathan, Gambhir are doing it. The big boys are very very happy to just stay back and knock the ball around and punish the half volleys and long hops. This is simply not gonna cut it because once you stop coming down the track atleast once in a while, you become predictable as a batter. And spinners like that. It was one of the main things that made INdians the best players of spin in the world. Without doing that, India are just about the same as the rest of the world, in fact, the Pakistanis are actually ahead in that aspect, IMHO.
But having said all that, collapses do happen, esp. when teams bowl as well as England did today, esp. Hoggard. It was refreshing to see the INdian lower order stage a recovery for once, turning the tables on England. Obviously, the match can go either way. Everyone was of the opinion that whoever does well on the third day will win the match. While England started well, India have almost pulled even now, IMHO. And this makes this test a real exciting one. Anyone can still win and the reason I said England will probably NOT win this test is because it was just a gut feeling, nothing else.
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