***Official*** England in India

[BoyBrumby]

You just had to listen to Hoggard after the game, where he commented on the good performances of Harmison, Flintoff and Monty with the ball, with no admission or remark regarding Blackwell and Flintoff obviously doesn't fancy him.

Hopefully Plunkett can get over his injury because I wouldn't like to see James Anderson or Udal get a game.

Dunno myself. Obviously Plunkett is a better bet to score a few runs down the order than Anderson, but reverse swing played a fairly big part in the first test & Jimmy seems more adept at it than Plunkers.

Probably end up with Udal, mind!

 

[Pratters]

He also didn't play anywhere near as much, especially ODIs

Knowing that he is the oldest international player having made his debut in 1989 and India playing so many one dayers, you bring up this. What logic will you give to discount Steve Waugh then? 1984 or 1985 till 2003. And he did play a lot more tests and despite retiring from one dayers earlier, wouldn't a S.Waugh be a contradiction to your perceived logic since tests are 5 days.

No, because I have always had the same viewpoint - Lara and Inzamam are older, but haven't been playing as long - and that is a point I have been making for a long time now (in excess of 12 months) - so what am I dismissing there?

You are dismissing age. Just because you have said the same earlier doesn't make it logical.

 

[TT Boy]

My Team for the next test :-

Sehwag
Jaffer
Dravid
Yuvraj
Kaif
Dhoni
Kumble
Pathan
Munaf
Santh
Harbhajan.

Batting looks a little weak but hey bowling looks stronger.

Kumble in front of Pathan? If I was the Indian selectors I would drop Sreesanth, H Singh and Laxman for V Singh, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla respectively. England's performance of recent time against legbreak bowlers isn't to pretty and Chawla's googly is supposedly very good. Munaf Patel performed well against England and he can hold a bat, Sreesanth seems far to raw for me.

11
Jaffer
Sehwag
Dravid
Sachin
Singh
Kaif
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Patel
Chawla

Pretty strong team and if India but first, there will easily pile on 500 plus at Mohali.

 

[TT Boy]

Dunno myself. Obviously Plunkett is a better bet to score a few runs down the order than Anderson, but reverse swing played a fairly big part in the first test & Jimmy seems more adept at it than Plunkers.

Probably end up with Udal, mind!

Mohali isn't know to offer to much reverse, just a bit of swing for the first few overs then it usually flats out nicely.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Kumble in front of Pathan? If I was the Indian selectors I would drop Sreesanth, H Singh and Laxman for V Singh, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla respectively. England's performance of recent time against legbreak bowlers isn't to pretty and Chawla's googly is supposedly very good. Munaf Patel performed well against England and he can hold a bat, Sreesanth seems far to raw for me.

11
Jaffer
Sehwag
Dravid
Sachin
Singh
Kaif
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Patel
Chawla

Pretty strong team and if India but first, there will easily pile on 500 plus at Mohali.

Drop Sreesanth? Give the guy a run in the team. If Sreesanth was considered a better option than VRV, RP Singh or Munaf Patel, why shouldn't he be in the team now?

Piyush Chawla and Yuvraj Singh in, Harbhajan and Laxman out - get Harbhajan in particular playing in the Deodhat/ Ranji OD, give him some wickets and confidence. Rest can stay as they are

 

[Scaly piscine]

Kumble in front of Pathan? If I was the Indian selectors I would drop Sreesanth, H Singh and Laxman for V Singh, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla respectively. England's performance of recent time against legbreak bowlers isn't to pretty and Chawla's googly is supposedly very good. Munaf Patel performed well against England and he can hold a bat, Sreesanth seems far to raw for me.

11
Jaffer
Sehwag
Dravid
Sachin
Singh
Kaif
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Patel
Chawla

Pretty strong team and if India but first, there will easily pile on 500 plus at Mohali.

You've not learnt anything over the past 5 days have you?

 

[Pothas]

Great performance from England with most players doing a good job. Im not concerned about Bells performance and i back him to get runs in the second test. Blackwell as we knew before the match isnt up to test match standard and Udal will do a better job. The only other concern is Jones who it has become clear should be dropped in favour of read for the summer.

 

[open365]

The only other concern is Jones who it has become clear should be dropped in favour of read for the summer.

Unfortunately that's never going to happen,as long as Jones makes a half decent score at least once every decade Fletcher thinks he's undispensable.

 

[Pothas]

Unfortunately that's never going to happen,as long as Jones makes a half decent score at least once every decade Fletcher thinks he's undispensable.

yes i would agree with that. Fletcher seems to have a blind spot over Jones. loyalty to players is a good thing but he did not show that loyalty to Read. He has to admit that Jones will never be a Gilchrist and give Read another go.

 

[superkingdave]

well Chris Read just rescued England A with a ton in the caribbean, but he can't bat...

 

[adharcric]

Indian Squad (Mohali)

V Sehwag, W Jaffer, R Dravid, S Tendulkar, Y Singh, VVS Laxman, M Kaif, MS Dhoni, I Pathan, Sreesanth, RP Singh, M Patel, A Kumble, H Singh, P Chawla

Perfect squad I'd say, Raina and VRV are both clear future prospects so it won't hurt them.

V Sehwag, W Jaffer, R Dravid, S Tendulkar, Y Singh, MS Dhoni, I Pathan, P Chawla, A Kumble, M Patel, Sreesanth

Batting till 10, 3-pronged pace attack, surprise weapon with talent in Chawla, put Sehwag in slips and that's one less old drab in the outfield.

 

[TT Boy]

You've not learnt anything over the past 5 days have you?

What's that then?, is it that the Indians could have got 200 odd runs today for the loss of one wicket if there wanted and that batting first at Mohali is going to be hard because the pitch is flat as a pancake.

England IMO played at there skin, the Indians didn’t and I think Mohali will be a different story. But hey man England’s performance has got you going but for me I still fancy the Indians, if we couldn’t win this game I can’t see us winning the next. The mentality of pulling together against all the adversity only runs for so long, realisation will soon hit.

 

[Sanz]

V Sehwag, W Jaffer, R Dravid, S Tendulkar, Y Singh, MS Dhoni, I Pathan, P Chawla, A Kumble, M Patel, Sreesanth

So you will drop Kaif ?

 

[Nishant]

So you will drop Kaif ? [/QUO

1 less bowler perhaps? make it 4 and allow kaif to stay. drop laxman

 

[Sanz]

1 less bowler perhaps? make it 4 and allow kaif to stay. drop laxman

How about make it 3 bowlers and include all of Laxman, Sachin, Kaif and Yuvraj.

 

[Jono]

So you will drop Kaif ?

Its not really that odd. I've wanted Kaif in the test team for a long time now, but despite his brilliant knock I guarantee that every English fan deep down, and all the English camp, would rather be bowling to Kaif than Sachin.

Yuvraj will walk back into the team, so its either Laxman or Kaif to go. My money is on Laxman, but if I were to put a gun to my head I'd say give him the rest of the test series to get it right. Hence my team would be:

Sehwag
Jaffer
Dravid
Sachin
Laxman
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Harbhajan
Sree Santh

However I can totally understand calls for Kaif to be kept in (as I keep pointing out I've been his biggest supporter for years now, through his poor periods as well as his good ones) and/or Harbhajan to be left out for Patel. England handled spin well on this track, but I'd still prefer that they go in with 2 spin bowlers. Will be a tough decision to make by Thursday.

 

[Sanz]

Jono - I think with your team India can kiss this Test series GOODBYE.

 

[Sanz]

Its not really that odd. I've wanted Kaif in the test team for a long time now, but despite his brilliant knock I guarantee that every English fan deep down, and all the English camp, would rather be bowling to Kaif than Sachin.

I dont think so.

 

[Jono]

Jono - I think with your team India can kiss this Test series GOODBYE.

I disagree, we'll see Thursday (obviously only if my team is selected).

 

[adharcric]

So you will drop Kaif ?

Yes, I would drop Kaif. The English selectors would drop Cook when Trescothick returned, right? One good innings shows that he has the ability, but there isn't space for him. India needs five bowlers and they need the spinners to fire. Perhaps this should be Harbhajan's final chance at Mohali, his home ground (sort of). If he can't turn the match here, it's time to send Harbhajan back to Deodhar/Duleep to regain form and bring Chawla into the ranks. Leave out both Kaif and Laxman.