***Official*** England in India

[Daemon]

Bowled Anderson. Easily the pick of the bowlers today.

 

[Bahnz]

The inswinger. Ripper.

 

[Howe_zat]

Been a pretty typical day one, though the fact that there's been no stand out performances at all is unexpected in a series that's had a few players carrying each team. You'd say every session has been more or less even given the score, but England getting nothing with the first new ball except a stupid run out suggests India really haven't made the most out of winning the toss on this wicket. Probably England's day, but only to the extend of cancelling out the toss than being genuinely on top.

And that wicket's just about tipped it over. Advantage England.

 

[cnerd123]

"That's the wicket they would have wanted"

Commentating team clearly don't rate Dhoni highly

Who are commentating now, Nass and Atherton?

 

[Xuhaib]

Something Ajmal would get spanked in

jsut like how Monty and Swan are gettin spanked this series?

 

[Cevno]

"That's the wicket they would have wanted"

Commentating team clearly don't rate Dhoni highly

Who are commentating now, Nass and Atherton?

Pews?

 

[smash84]

Something Ajmal would get spanked in

haha.....somehow I doubt

 

[smash84]

Ashwin looks good enough with the bat to find a place in Pakistan'stop order

indeed

 

[Cevno]

indeed

 

[Daemon]

You know I was just trying to get smiley riled up, no need to bring logic into this

 

[Spark]

Well that's a strange appeal

 

[CricAddict]

Ishant should always bat higher than Zaheer..A better blocker of the ball..

 

[smash84]

You know I was just trying to get smiley riled up, no need to bring logic into this

you've riled up Xuhaib (who wasn't supposed to be posting too often these days either )

 

[ImpatientLime]

How much pressure, if any, is Swann's place under from Panesar when England go back to one spinner?

I find it odd that both Cook and Strauss have appeared to have more faith in Monty when the two have played together.

 

[biased indian]

Have feeling that this could be low scoring game where each team will struggle to score more than 350....Eden with early start most of the time your fast bowlers are also in the game

 

[SJS]

Ashwin looks good enough with the bat to find a place in Pakistan'stop order

Gavaskar and co, having worked overtime to argue Harbhajan's case even though he was clearly struggling to stay in the team as a spinner for the last few years.They latched on to his "makings of an all rounder" to strengthen his case as he was gasping for breath, For them to now admit that Ashin is the first genuine all rounder India has seen since Kapil and (to a lesser extent) Prabhakar is so obviously very tough indeed. "He could have the makings of an allrounder" Gavaskar very reluctantly uttered today. That must have tough Sunnybhai.

Ashwin does not have the makings of an all rounder - he IS an all rounder, the all rounder India has been bemoaning the lack of for over two decades. His batting, I would like to say is actually even better than his bowling and if the captain and selectors realise this and, more importantly, encourage the youngster in that direction, Ashwin will be India's first batting all rounder in a long long time.

At the cost of ruffling some feathers here let me express my opinion that Ashwin should bat higher than his captain in Test matches and he may actually move a spot higher still in time.

 

[indiaholic]

indeed

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Mirror_fb6bb0_1118015.jpg

 

[NasserFan207]

How much pressure, if any, is Swann's place under from Panesar when England go back to one spinner?

I find it odd that both Cook and Strauss have appeared to have more faith in Monty when the two have played together.

Well historically Monty has always been the better spinner in the SC. Swann has bowled better in England and elsewhere. His batting also helps him

 

[weldone]

Gavaskar and co, having worked overtime to argue Harbhajan's case even though he was clearly struggling to stay in the team as a spinner for the last few years.They latched on to his "makings of an all rounder" to strengthen his case as he was gasping for breath, For them to now admit that Ashin is the first genuine all rounder India has seen since Kapil and (to a lesser extent) Prabhakar is so obviously very tough indeed. "He could have the makings of an allrounder" Gavaskar very reluctantly uttered today. That must have tough Sunnybhai.

Ashwin does not have the makings of an all rounder - he IS an all rounder, the all rounder India has been bemoaning the lack of for over two decades. His batting, I would like to say is actually even better than his bowling and if the captain and selectors realise this and, more importantly, encourage the youngster in that direction, Ashwin will be India's first batting all rounder in a long long time.

At the cost of ruffling some feathers here let me express my opinion that Ashwin should bat higher than his captain in Test matches and he may actually move a spot higher still in time.

I agree with your post except only one minor point - I personally think that Irfan Pathan was a slightly better allrounder than Manoj Prabhakar.

 

[cnerd123]

How much pressure, if any, is Swann's place under from Panesar when England go back to one spinner?

I find it odd that both Cook and Strauss have appeared to have more faith in Monty when the two have played together.

That's what I was thinking to. There was one point where he has bowled 16 overs and Swann only 3. Gambhir and Sachin were batting, so it wasn't because there were 2 right handers.

Probably kept Panesar on just for Sachin, and trusted the quicks to nick out Gambhir, but it was interesting.