***Official*** England in India

[TT Boy]

Anil gets the man of the match award, congrats.

 

[Neil Pickup]

What do we think for India at Mumbai then?

Sreesanth back for Chawla? Munaf-Pathan-Sreesanth could arguably be the best three-man pace attack India have fielded in years - if not ever.

 

[Jono]

I reckon that's the way to go Neil.

Anyway, end of day 2... England still only 5 wickets down... who saw a result in this match let alone India winning? Amazing, simply amazing.

Kumble's performance in the first innings got things started, but it was Pathan's quickfire 50 which turned the match India's way, and England were on the back foot ever since. Great win, I'm thoroughly delighted.

 

[TT Boy]

What do we think for India at Mumbai then?

Sreesanth back for Chawla? Munaf-Pathan-Sreesanth could arguably be the best three-man pace attack India have fielded in years - if not ever.

Sounds good, Sreesanth and Pathan to take the new ball, Munaf to come on with the older ball and attempt to extract some reverse. However if the talk is correct of a dust bowl at Mumbai then India will surely retain the same side.

 

[Jono]

Haha, I`ve got nothing to back up my bagging of Munaf. Well done son.

And that was just from looking at the scorecard If you saw the way he bowled, was amazing.

I really am surprised so many people judged him right away after his first spell in international cricket. Bit harsh lol.

 

[Salamuddin]

Flintoff will be desperate to win the toss again in Mumbai and bat first......I think England's chances of equalizing are very,very small if they bat second.

 

[wpdavid]

Well deserved victory for India, bowled very well considering there isn’t much turn or life in the pitch, are boys struggled to get in on a relatively easy paced wicket. People like Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell (regardless of his 50) and Andrew Strauss were all walking wickets for the Indian bowlers and if you can’t get make no more than 300 batting first on such a track, you deserve to lose.

Dead right, and we've been doing it all winter. Unfortunately Flintoff is saying that they lost in the 2nd innings, so it looks like the penny still hasn't dropped for the England side. No doubt we'll be told that it's OK because they're missing Tresco & Vaughan, but the reality is that a number of players have seriously underperformed again. You do wonder how long it will take Strauss, who is supposed to be an intelligent bloke, to work out that he needs to just stay there rather than try and knock the leather off the ball when he's reached 20. And if anyone can explain exactly what Geraint Jones contrinutes to the side, I'd be delighted to hear it.

India must be delighted with Patel, who looks like a real find: he's completely outperformed the England quicks, which probably says as much about them as the newcomer. And, of course, Dravid & Kumble (in India) are world class, but we knew that anyway. Good luck to them.

 

[Neil Pickup]

And that was just from looking at the scorecard If you saw the way he bowled, was amazing.

I really am surprised so many people judged him right away after his first spell in international cricket. Bit harsh lol.

His first spell *was* proper crap, though! Slow, no movement, no control... then, like I'm maintaining and will always do from now on, Greg Chappel was reading CW and picked up on my idea that he stops trying L&L and just throws himself into it 110%.

Looking at the reverse he got, I wish Jonah was here...

 

[Jono]

His first spell *was* proper crap, though! Slow, no movement, no control... then, like I'm maintaining and will always do from now on, Greg Chappel was reading CW and picked up on my idea that he stops trying L&L and just throws himself into it 110%.

Looking at the reverse he got, I wish Jonah was here...

I understand that, but even if it was crap you don't dismiss him straight away, and start mocking all those that have said Patel is a future talent who can bowl quick. You just question is he really that talented, or maybe (some logical thinking here) that he was overawed at first, and was nervous bowling after such a build up to his eventual international career as he'd been hyped for a few years before his shoulder injury, and then missed out on the first test squad, I imagine he felt he needed to perform straight away.

And then again, as is becoming fairly common on this board, some guy will come and over-praise an Indian player, and hence everyone starts jumping on that player as a knee-jerk retaliation. Happened with Pathan and the claims he can bat which were quickly dismissed (guess who turned this match with the bat?), happened with Dhoni (and now he's almost averaging 60 in ODIs) and then with Munaf Patel. I know the odd Indian poster exaggerates, but then why mock a promising talented player just because of that idiot?

On a side note, you should challenge Chappell for the coach of India, or at least demand royalties for him using your tactics

 

[Neil Pickup]

I'm a big Chappell fan tbh - lots of my coaching is based on stuff I've read in his books/website. If it's good enough for India, it's good enough for Exeter Under 12!

I'm quite happy to mock everyone equally - you just only ever seem to pick out the ones that train their sights on Indians. Very, very few of my posts are in compete seriousness (I should probably use more smilies than I do) - probably comes from me and my housemates being continually abusive towards one another and it being totally normal - and it just doesn't translate well onto the 'net.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

Munaf criticism was probably a reaction to the "boy who cried wolf" syndrome some Indian fans have whenever a new talent arrives.

 

[alternative]

an excellent bowling performance, marked by the batting in the 4th innings of the match.. finally sehwag has hit some sort of form, which will shut the mouths of people who keep arising his abilites in this indian side...

and Anil Kumble correctly judged as the MOTM.. well deserved..

 

[Dasa]

I'm a big Chappell fan tbh - lots of my coaching is based on stuff I've read in his books/website. If it's good enough for India, it's good enough for Exeter Under 12!

I'm quite happy to mock everyone equally - you just only ever seem to pick out the ones that train their sights on Indians. Very, very few of my posts are in compete seriousness (I should probably use more smilies than I do) - probably comes from me and my housemates being continually abusive towards one another and it being totally normal - and it just doesn't translate well onto the 'net.

It's not you, it's that plenty of people seem to overreact to trolls who think every Indian player is a god and go the other way and end up calling them rubbish and the like when they're clearly better than that.
You're just an easy and prominent target.

 

[Neil Pickup]

It's because I'm ginger, isn't it?

 

[Jono]

I'm a big Chappell fan tbh - lots of my coaching is based on stuff I've read in his books/website. If it's good enough for India, it's good enough for Exeter Under 12!

I'm quite happy to mock everyone equally - you just only ever seem to pick out the ones that train their sights on Indians. Very, very few of my posts are in compete seriousness (I should probably use more smilies than I do) - probably comes from me and my housemates being continually abusive towards one another and it being totally normal - and it just doesn't translate well onto the 'net.

Lol, its not just you, I meant generally. I mean I know how frustrating it must be when Dhoni scores a ton and suddenly 3 threads are made calling him the next Gilchrist, or when Pathan scores his first 50 you have people claiming he's the next Flintoff... but that doesn't take away from their performances which I think people forget very easily.

Munaf criticism was probably a reaction to the "boy who cried wolf" syndrome some Indian fans have whenever a new talent arrives.

Oh it wasn't just probably, it was. The same goes for Dhoni and Pathan in the past. As I said, its very frustrating when these posters come out and claim them as demi-Gods, but at the same time its frustrating when people (who often haven't seen them or have seen very little of them) start belittling the player because of a few idiots. They end up with egg on their face when that player actually does succeed, even if they don't become the next Gilchrist of Flintoff.

I remember the reaction to Dhoni's 183 no. Utterly superb knock, but people spent most of the time harping on how it doesn't mean he's the next Gilly blah blah just because of one poster getting too excited for his own boots.

 

[Pratters]

Oh it wasn't just probably, it was. The same goes for Dhoni and Pathan in the past. As I said, its very frustrating when these posters come out and claim them as demi-Gods, but at the same time its frustrating when people (who often haven't seen them or have seen very little of them) start belittling the player because of a few idiots. They end up with egg on their face when that player actually does succeed, even if they don't become the next Gilchrist of Flintoff.

I remember the reaction to Dhoni's 183 no. Utterly superb knock, but people spent most of the time harping on how it doesn't mean he's the next Gilly blah blah just because of one poster getting too excited for his own boots.

Very well said dude.

 

[honestbharani]

Another vote against Harby's doosra?

hmm, maybe we could vote against bowlers bowling altogether.

 

[Jono]

Anyone see the interview Nasser had with Chappell after the game?

Its pretty obvious that from here India is going to go in with 5 bowlers on most occasions. Chappell made it clear that he likes having 5 bowlers at his disposal, and mentioned that Irfan is on his way to becoming an allrounder and that he has faith in him batting at 7. From this, I'd imagine the line-up for the Mumbai game would be almost identical, with the only possible inclusion being Sreesanth in place of Chawla (would weaken the batting, but if he's going to bat at 10 anyway then it shouldn't be an issue).

Sehwag
Jaffer
Dravid
Tendulkar
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Harbhajan
Chawla/Sreesanth (If Sreesanth plays he'd bat 11)
Patel

Pretty good. It feels good when you know you have players the calibre of Laxman and Kaif waiting in the wings with the bat.

 

[honestbharani]

Not to mention Gambhir as our reserve opener and Kaarthick as the reserve wicket keeper. He scored 171 off 105 balls yesterday here in Chennai in a TNCA league match, which is as good as FC cricket in India, because most teams in the league contract Ranji players from other states to play for them. Sorta like the English county system which allows overseas pros...

 

[honestbharani]

I'm a big Chappell fan tbh - lots of my coaching is based on stuff I've read in his books/website. If it's good enough for India, it's good enough for Exeter Under 12!

I'm quite happy to mock everyone equally - you just only ever seem to pick out the ones that train their sights on Indians. Very, very few of my posts are in compete seriousness (I should probably use more smilies than I do) - probably comes from me and my housemates being continually abusive towards one another and it being totally normal - and it just doesn't translate well onto the 'net.

Neither it would translate well into the real world.


See, that is how you use smileys in posts.