***Official*** England in India

[Jono]

Good stuff from Kaif

 

[Swervy]

you saying it for a hundred years in angry and frustrated response to some trolls doesn't necessary make it a reasoned or thought-out or correct or valid one....

at no point have I been angry or frustrated!!!!

I dont just say things just for effect or anything, If I type it on here, its because I hvae thought about it and its what I beleive. I have previously shown England to have performed very close to a level of India with the bat over the last couple of years, but people choose to ignore that fact, and tend to go off reputation...

I happened to mention that Tendulkar is clearly losing his way, and showed with his figures that he has been on a downslope since at least 2002, but some people find it hard to accept..fine, no skin of my nose.

I have mentioned several times in the last few years that I think Indias ability maybe somewhat overplayed, especially on the batting front.....its my opinion...and just because you dont agree with it, doesnt make it invalid or not thought out.

 

[adharcric]

Indeed, absolutely risk-free innings at a SR of 88.

 

[aussie]

I happened to mention that Tendulkar is clearly losing his way, and showed with his figures that he has been on a downslope since at least 2002, but some people find it hard to accept..fine, no skin of my nose.

I think you are right about this fact TBH, from what i have seen of Tendulkar since mid 2002 is that he has lost the consistency of the 90's that made him the undisputed best batsman in the world but he has still been a force in one-day cricket. Dont want to get too far into this arguement but off my head this is what i remember:

2002: Tests: Starting from the tests in WI when Pedro Collins had him all sorts of trouble during the tests, he came over here & had an inconsistent test series i only remember that 186 he scored in one of the test. He was home to the WI & i remember him scoring a match-saving 170 odd in Kolkatta, but overall don't think he was that consistent.

ODI's: During the natwest series and the ODI in the caribbean he did fairly well & the CT in SRI, while he didn't play in the 7 ODI's vs WI.

2003, Tests: failed their along with most of the Indian bastmen except Sehwag
ODI, cant remember what happened but i'm guessing he didn't do much because i cant remember NZ came to India and i remember watching him score a boring 50 in Mohali & he went to Australia & failed pretty scoring that un-sachin like double in Sydney.

ODI's: Was superb in the WC, Superb during the TVS Cup.

2004, Tests: Incositent tour of Pakistan only that 194 in Multan, then he had that shoulder injury which messed him up when Australia were their, then he made his highest test score in Bangladesh

2004, ODI's: Had a decent VB series, did faily well in the ODI's in PAK, had a good Asia cup, i think he did well in the ODI's vs BAN but that irrelevant to an extent.

2005, Tests: Had a fair test series vs Pakistan, didn't do much when SA came to India, did fairly well in the test vs SRI i remember watching part of his innings in Chennai when he was hitting Mural & Vaas around.

2005, ODI's: Incosistent in the ODI i remember him scoring just a century as his only significant score, had a very good OD series vs SRI, but followed that up with a poor one vs SA.

2006, Test: Average test series vs PAK, poor vs ENG so far
2006, ODI's: Pretty good vs PAK

So we can see that he has really declined in his consistency has a batsman since 2002 in test while his ODI has still remained very good. So i dont know if he has really lost it totally but i dont think we will ever see the Sachin of before, especially the one that was so destructive vs Australia in 98 (now that was vintage Tendulkar word out).

 

[Swervy]

I think you are right about this fact TBH, from what i have seen of Tendulkar since mid 2002 is that he has lost the consistency of the 90's that made him the undisputed best batsman in the world but he has still been a force in one-day cricket. Dont want to get too far into this arguement but off my head this is what i remember:

well yeah, I am not really saying that he all of a sudden lost it in 2002, and for much of the time in the last 5 years, he could still be rated with the best, but there is no denying that his peak as a test batsman was pre-2002, and so if that is when the peak is, he quite obviously wasnt at his peak from 2002 onwards.

 

[Jono]

Indeed, absolutely risk-free innings at a SR of 88.

Great to hear, hopefully he bats 3 or 4 in the ODIs.

 

[alternative]

Wooohoo Raina actually scored his runs better than run a ball.. and good 100 to Kaif..

2 wickets lost so far, it seems like Prior is set along with Peterson, as powar gets into play..

 

[adharcric]

Match Report: England vs. RCA President's XI

The match is still in progress but I'm off to bed as soon as it's over as I've got a match in the morning, so here's a brief report on the key players for England and India.

England
V Solanki ~ frittered away an opportunity to get some runs under the belt in foreign conditions, but form shouldn't be an issue as he did well on the A tour
M Prior ~ batted with aggressive intent and capitalized on loose deliveries, but struggled a bit against the spinners and eventually holed out as he was deceived by flight
O Shah ~ caught by surprise against a short delivery and popped it up to Patel, hurt his chances for selection
K Pietersen ~ played the seamers with great fluency and wasn't too comfortable against spin but managed to rotate the srike, run-out ruined an opportunity to pick up some runs
I Bell ~ still batting, hasn't been as troubled by the spinners as usual but is yet to face Chawla, responsible batting thus far
P Collingwood ~ still batting, playing spin with composure and confidence, just hit a straight six off Powar and another big one off Gill, tight and cunning bowling
I Blackwell ~ bowled quite well, generated reasonable turn and controlled the flow of runs at a crucial juncture of the Indian innings
G Batty ~ decent bowling but nothing special, Blackwell will certainly get the nod
L Plunkett ~ didn't stray too much but didn't trouble the batsman much either
K Ali ~ gave width outside off and suffered at the hands of Raina, several failed attempts at yorkers and slower ones
J Anderson ~ kept things tight in the beginning but Raina's drives unsettled his rythm a bit, hence the poor figures
S Mahmood ~ picked up a early wicket but had to exit due to a stomach bug

India
G Gambhir ~ started off slowly and wasted an opportunity to score big with a failed flick down the leg side, will open in the 1st ODI nevertheless
S Raina ~ played some elegant drives around the ground and showed a composed straight-bat technique, has the potential to go far beyond Yuvraj Singh and more maturity will make him an excellent batsman
M Kaif ~ played a very well constructed, risk-free innings and showed critics that he can score at a brisk rate
V Rao ~ came in when Blackwell was at his best and was undone by a Collingwood off-break, won't figure in this series barring a string of injuries
A Jadeja ~ played one good drive and was brilliant in the field, he's gained a bit of weight but is still very active and fit enough at 35
P Patel ~ missed a very difficult stumping chance and rotated the strike well but seemed to lack the power to cross the fielders when acceleration was required
R Powar ~ bowled beautifully with excellent flight and turn, troubled all of the batsmen and has been unlucky not to pick up 3-4 wickets thus far
P Chawla ~ bowled with good variation and kept things tight along with Powar, both seem ready to bowl effectively in ODIs
VR Singh ~ was very accurate early on, consistently in the high 80s, now is straying and Collingwood is capitalizing well, has fielding and no-ball issues but is definitely one for the near future, might not have the guile of Munaf and Sreesanth
RP Singh ~ varied his length well to pick up the wicket of Shah but struggled to maintain a good length, very expensive

 

[luckyeddie]

Read a column in our newspaper in which Inzamam lashed out at people who were booing Sachin Tendulkar.

I think if ppl leave players alone then the star players will be under less pressure and will perform better.

I remember the day a similar thing happened to Ian Botham - the parallels were striking because like Sachin, he was revered at home almost as a god, built up in the newspapers and placed on a pedestal. More and more was expected of him when he played, and time and again he succeeded (like Flintoff at the moment).

Then they gave him the captaincy and the wheels fell off. We were destroyed by a very good West Indies side - twice - and Botham's form suffered to the extent that he barely averaged double figures with the bat. The final straw was the second test when we struggled a draw at Lord's, and Botham bagged a pair.

There was no booing at all - this was far worse. His departure in the second innings was greeted with complete and utter silence. It was the eeriest thing I had ever heard at a cricket ground - you could hear a pin drop and yet there were 20 thousand people there.

Botham resigned the captaincy immediately and the selectors gave him 'one last chance'. The result was a string of performances that summer that have never been matched (in English eyes at least) since. The pressure had been lifted, the critics departed and Botham became an immortal.

The best way to benefit Sachin would be if people expected less.

 

[adharcric]

Preferred XIs: 1st ODI at Delhi

England
A Strauss
M Prior
V Solanki or I Bell
K Pietersen
P Collingwood
A Flintoff*
G Jones+
I Blackwell
L Plunkett or K Ali
M Hoggard
J Anderson

India
G Gambhir
I Pathan (assuming and hoping Sehwag isn't fit)
R Dravid*
Y Singh
M Kaif
S Raina (assuming and hoping Sehwag isn't fit)
MS Dhoni+
R Powar
H Singh
S Sreesanth
M Patel

 

[aussie]

why would you be hoping that Sehwag wouldn't be fit?

 

[Magrat Garlick]

V Solanki or I Bell

Oh...dear.

 

[alternative]

For me the team looks good, but i would assume Sehwag does play, which causes interesting debate on who to drop.. my best bet would be to drop Powar and get the Munaf into the playing XI.

So our pace is better suited with Patel, Sreesanth and Pathan.. and as for spin option just choose Harbajan, he seemed to have returned with some confidence after the Mumbai test.. and for the 5th bowling option i would just get Raina and Yuvi to roll their arm over or even Sehwag..

So Playing XI

Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Yuvraj
Kaif
Raina
Dhoni
Pathan
Harbajan
Sreesanth
Patel

This is all taken into consideration that Sehwag stay's fit..

 

[TT Boy]

65 runs for victory, with fat boy Blackwell at the crease, should do this.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Bell takes Chawla for six!

 

[alternative]

another run out. wats happening there..

 

[adharcric]

why would you be hoping that Sehwag wouldn't be fit?

Even if Sehwag does play, he likely won't be fully fit. All in all, I think Suresh Raina can contribute more to the team right now than Virender Sehwag. Also, we will need 5 bowlers so only 5 batsmen can play ... Dravid, Yuvraj and Kaif are certainties and Gambhir will open. Raina is actually bowling rather well right now, but I still doubt we'll go in with 4 bowlers and have Raina and Yuvraj split the other 10.

 

[aussie]

Even if Sehwag does play, he likely won't be fully fit. All in all, I think Suresh Raina can contribute more to the team right now than Virender Sehwag. Also, we will need 5 bowlers so only 5 batsmen can play ... Dravid, Yuvraj and Kaif are certainties and Gambhir will open. Raina is actually bowling rather well right now, but I still doubt we'll go in with 4 bowlers and have Raina and Yuvraj split the other 10.

How is Sehwag not a certainty? He is probably second to Dravid i'd say. He is your most destructive batsman, from an England point of view i'd be pleased if Sehwag didn't play at all..

 

[adharcric]

How is Sehwag not a certainty? He is probably second to Dravid i'd say. He is your most destructive batsman, from an England point of view i'd be pleased if Sehwag didn't play at all..

At the moment, he's out of shape. If England are happy at the sight of Raina, they will get an unpleasant surprise. Yes, I'm saying it: Raina is better than Sehwag, more technically correct and almost as destructive. The important part, now, is the fielding. While Sehwag is slow and sluggish in the field, you can almost count on Raina to take at least one catch, at least one run-out and at least three diving stops in each match.

 

[adharcric]

beautiful bowling from raina