***Official*** England in India

[marc71178]

Whether England will really face a hostile reception is a question to be answered, but this Board XI definitely looks stronger than the full-strength Indian side.

No it doesn't.

 

[Arjun]

No it doesn't.

Hang on, I said full-strength Indian side.

 

[marc71178]

Yes, and that side looks nowhere near as good.

 

[luckyeddie]

I don't think there's any agreement been reached between BCCI and Sky and/or third parties over live coverage of any of the tour (not 100% certain on this - anyone?).

I for one will not be shelling out for 'pay per view' on top of the current wheelbarrow-load of cash I already pay.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Hang on, I said full-strength Indian side.

Any side with a batting lineup containing the class of Sehwag/Laxman/Tendulkar/Yuvraj and Harbhajan/Kumble is obviously going to be better than the Board XI team (admittedly the seamers look quite tasty, would have liked Joginder somewhere in there) This is what I can't get about the Indian side, you get hammered on a green pitch by a decent pace attack on there's knives out everywhere.

Is this the XI to face England in the second, FC warm-up game. Haven't they also got one against an 'A' team?

 

[silentstriker]

My personal choice for Indian side would be:


1. Jaffer
2. Sehwag
3. Dravid
4. Laxman
5. Tendulkar
6. Dhoni
7. Pathan
8. M. Patel
9. VRV Singh
10. Kumble
11. Harbhajan Singh


But lets look at that probable sides of England and India:


Trescothick - Gambhir..........Advantage: England
Strauss - Sehwag..........Advantage: India
Vaughan - Dravid..........Advantage: India
Bell - Laxman..........Advantage: Tie
Pietersen - Sachin..........Advantage: India
G. Jones - Dhoni..........Advantage: Tie (Dhoni with bat, Jones behind stumps)
Flintoff - Pathan..........Advantage: England
Hoggard - Khan?..........Advantage: England
Harmison - RP Singh?..........Advantage: England
S. Jones - Kumble..........Advantage: India
Panesar - H. Singh..........Advantage: India

Final Score:

India: 5
England: 4
Tie: 2




My Prediction: England come through, take advantage of Indian team's weakness with openers and cart around their pace attack, and manage to tie the series 1-1. I don't think they will win it, because well...its India...and its hard as hell to win a series. I do think England will emerge 'mentally victorious' though.

 

[silentstriker]

Sorry for the double post.

 

[adharcric]

This should be the XI:

• Jaffer
• Gambhir
• Venugopal
• Raina
• Badrinath
• Dinesh Karthik (WK)
• Munaf Patel (RMF)
• Powar (OB)
• VR Singh (RFM?)
• Mishra (LB)
• Sreesanth

With Ojha, Paul and Jadhav on the bench. Ojha is a left-arm-spinner for Hyderabad, who has been moderately successful in the last two seasons, but mostly in one or two matches. He's still got 33 wickets in 7 matches, but not someone you would expect to replace Harbhajan tomorrow.

Same XI for me. Hopefully 2 of those 3 speedsters make it to the test team to accompany Pathan, RP Singh and Zaheer. Venugopal and Raina should both be in the test squad as soon as the current crop retires (laxman, ganguly, dravid, sachin).

 

[adharcric]

Any side with a batting lineup containing the class of Sehwag/Laxman/Tendulkar/Yuvraj and Harbhajan/Kumble is obviously going to be better than the Board XI team (admittedly the seamers look quite tasty, would have liked Joginder somewhere in there) This is what I can't get about the Indian side, you get hammered on a green pitch by a decent pace attack on there's knives out everywhere.

Is this the XI to face England in the second, FC warm-up game. Haven't they also got one against an 'A' team?

Hmm yeah looking at the schedule, it does seem like there should be an A team selected soon as well. The thing is, we've selected most of our top prospects in this squad.

 

[adharcric]

Munaf Patel (RMF)[*]Powar (OB)[*]VR Singh (RFM?)[*]

Sreesanth is clearly RFM, regularly bowling in the high 130s. Munaf Patel and VR Singh are touted to be the fastest, and I'm guessing they're both at the high end of the RFM classification, although being proved wrong by additional pace wouldn't be a problem.

 

[silentstriker]

Munaf Patel bowls at around 145kph, I believe. So he is no Shoib, but better than the 125kph that Pathan seems to bowl at these days

 

[adharcric]

Munaf Patel bowls at around 145kph, I believe. So he is no Shoib, but better than the 125kph that Pathan seems to bowl at these days

Trust me, us Indian fans will take 145 kph any day, especially if we get two of a kind. It'll be so weird to see 140+ kph balls consistently coming from an Indian bowler ... like a dream come true.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Trust me, us Indian fans will take 145 kph any day, especially if we get two of a kind. It'll be so weird to see 140+ kph balls consistently coming from an Indian bowler ... like a dream come true.

If they bowl rubbish those consistent 140+ speed deliveries will still consistently disappear around the park.

 

[adharcric]

If they bowl rubbish those consistent 140+ speed deliveries will still consistently disappear around the park.

Yeah but if they bowl them well they could still consistently uproot the English batsmen's stumps. Let's wait and see how they do.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Yeah but if they bowl them well they could still consistently uproot the English batsmen's stumps. Let's wait and see how they do.

Only if they move the ball around, or they happen to bowl at Vaughan or the tailenders.

 

[UncleTheOne]

Only if they move the ball around, or they happen to bowl at Vaughan or the tailenders.

Has Vaughan always played that stupid defensive shot where he shuffles across and brings his bat down way too late? Or is it a recent problem? Happened at least 3 times in the Ashes.

 

[marc71178]

Same XI for me. Hopefully 2 of those 3 speedsters make it to the test team to accompany Pathan, RP Singh and Zaheer.

5 seamers?!

 

[silentstriker]

5 seamers?!

I think for India to take 20 wickets, we need 11 seamers. And preferably the Super Sub rule to be allowed in tests, so we can have 12 seamers.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Tie (Dhoni with bat, Jones behind stumps)

Never, ever, ever thought I'd read that.

 

[silentstriker]

Never, ever, ever thought I'd read that.

You disagree?

I mean Jones isn't exactly known for his glovework behind the stumps...but then neither is Dhoni. Plus Jones has more experience.

I wanted to give it to Dhoni, but a pool of 6 test matches just isn't enough to judge him. So the tie goes to experience.