***Official*** India in England 2014

[Jassy]

Dhoni at 6 in swinging conditions is suicide, surely?

Well have Ashwin at 6 and Dhoni at 7 then if that matters. Rohit at 5 (or anywhere for that matter)- in any conditions where he can't take his left foot out and hit 65m sixes-is a total liability. Anderson will have him for breakfast, lunch and dinner and Rohit will say something stupid like ''come to India'' and probably end up getting owned there as well.

As HB said, having Ishant Sharma in a test match in England is suicide. Having him as part of a four man attack( that includes a limited overs spinner and a new ball specialist) is....I don't have a word that fits

 

[harsh.ag]

As the others have mentioned, having Umesh would have been nice. But maybe there is more to it than meets the eye. I would have loved to have one of Mishra and Ojha as the sole spinner too.

From the squad, the best bowling line up is probably Ashwin-Pandey-Shami-Pankaj.

Oh yeah, and whomever picked Binny needs to die. Now. Right this second. In the pool of their own vomit. Actually make that Binny's vomit, the same vomit which he is gonna spew whenever given a chance in England.

 

[hendrix]

best 4 man bowling attack should include Bhuvi, IMO.

 

[hendrix]

Don't understand why Ishant has turned out to be such a flop... Seemed like he had everything in his natural physique

What physique are we talking about? I met him in real life. He's ****ing skinny (and extremely mopey).

 

[Esperance]

did you ask him how he still has the ability to wake up everyday and train despite carrying the weight of millions upon millions of failures?

 

[Shri]

best 4 man bowling attack should include Bhuvi, IMO.

Yeah, Bhuvi/Shami/Yadav/Jadeja/Mishra would be ideal.

 

[Teja.]

I hope Yadav not being picked is due to injury/poor fitness and not because the selectors think Prince ****ing Ishant is a better bowler.

 

[Maximas]

Why doesn't Ohja ever get picked as a sole spinner? Does the job beautifully at home and has the tools a finger spinner needs to be successful outside the SC

 

[Singh Is King]

Indias bowling attack is where the series will be won or lost imo.

- Jadeja has made a good start to his bowling test career. Topped the ODI world bowling rankings not long ago as well. But is his bowling good enough for tests I'm not sure yet but his record suggests it will be. In his first tour he got out Michael Clarke 5 times out of 6 (Clarke is great player of spin!). Has hit 3 300s in domestic cricket in India and has done well in ODIs batting as well so is a potential star.
- Ashwin has been excellent at home, but in his few tests away from home he hasn't succeeded at all.
- Shami is our best bowler, think he will do very well here.
- Ishant Sharma the most criticised player in Indias team. Always about potential with him, hes been a joke. Had a very good tour in his last tour to NZ but overall he has been pathetic. Still I guess he does have a lot of potential lol !
- Bhuvenshawar Kumar steady swinging medium pacer, could do well in English conditions. But lack of pace suggests otherwise.
- Aaron, was 2nd fasted bowler in IPL after Mitchell Johnson and is a genuinely quick, has regularly hit 90mph over the years so I hope he is given a chance.
- The rest of the bowlers selected are uncapped but wouldn't be surprised if they play.

In regards to Kerrigan....Monty has done well against India so think it would be a mistake not to play him IF a spinner is selected.

 

[hendrix]

Why doesn't Ohja ever get picked as a sole spinner? Does the job beautifully at home and has the tools a finger spinner needs to be successful outside the SC

I agree 100%, but at this stage it's as inevitable as Ishant Sharma being selected.

Therer was never any reason for Jadeja to be in a test squad. Harsh, because I like the guy, but he doesn't add anything.

 

[CricAddict]

I agree 100%, but at this stage it's as inevitable as Ishant Sharma being selected.

Therer was never any reason for Jadeja to be in a test squad. Harsh, because I like the guy, but he doesn't add anything.

He adds batting, bowling and fielding.. Atleast more batting (>=20 runs) and fielding (>=30 runs) than Ojha..As far as bowling is concerned, I don't think anyone will be superior to other in English conditions..

 

[Maximas]

I would give Ohja a much higher chance of succeeding in English conditions than Jadeja with his left arm darts, unless the objective was for the spinner to do nothing but hold up an end while the pacers took the wickets, a tactic I can't see being overly successful.

 

[hendrix]

He adds batting, bowling and fielding.. Atleast more batting (>=20 runs) and fielding (>=30 runs) than Ojha..As far as bowling is concerned, I don't think anyone will be superior to other in English conditions..

His fielding is superb, but as a bowler and even a batsman he offers nothing outside the subcontinent in test cricket. His story is fantastic and he's a wonderful limited overs player, but unless he's playing as an allrounder he shouldn't be taking up a bowler's slot.

There are at least 3 spin bowlers in India who are significantly better than him.

 

[Salamuddin]

India are screwed because Eng will face them after warming up toying with SL.. it's going to be 2011 all over again unless Kohli and co does something special and/or Bhuvi exploits the conditions greatly.

India may struggle to get twenty wickets but I can't see England's bowlers dominating India's batsmen like they did in 2011.
A middle order of Pujara, Kohli, Rohit and Rahane is quite formidable and I do expect them to cause some pain to England's bowlers this summer.


I feel Anderson is probably just past his peak now as a bowler. Swann is not there anymore and the third seamer is still an issue for England.

 

[Salamuddin]

Yes Ishant has been a disappointment but India don't exactly have Garner, Holder and Croft as possible replacements waiting in the wings.
I mean I don't quite get this idea that Bhuvi is India's saviour in tests and far, far superior to Ishant - the guy averages 39 with the ball and we've seen in his career that once the ball stops swinging he's dead easy to play.
The cold, hard truth is Ishant is probably still one of India's better seamers and given he had a reasonable tour of NZ and that with Zaheer out, he's the only seamer with any test experience in England, it's really not the atrocious decision that people are making out.

The really bad decision for me in this squad is leaving Umesh out in favour of one of the uncapped guys (probably more Ishwar that Pankaj) or even Bhuvi. Regarding Aaron (and there's been some criticism of him on the forum), while I do think he's a bit rough around the edges, he's just had his best first class season ever and the truth is he and Umesh are the probably the best India have in terms of potential.

 

[91Jmay]

Yeah there is no way England are going to blow India away. They have a far superior batting line up to us, and our seam bowling is good (Jimmy, Broad, Stokes + one other is good in home conditions) but not great and certainly not good enough to roll India.

Will be a good series actually. Ishant is a crap player but as stated above India have a crap seam bowling attack so I can't be shocked at his inclusion (Would have taken Zak personally though).

 

[Flem274*]

Shami, Yadav, Other is a reasonable seam attack. I think Bhuvi is too along the pitch to be effective unless it's a greenie or hooping, Ishant is Ishant and Zaheer is done. Maybe put Aaron in there as a project or find a steady third seamer type. Someone who can bang it in and stay accurate, even if they aren't very quick. Shami, Yadav and your spinner are your wicket takers.

But they left Yadav at home so it's moot.

 

[Contra]

Both Shami and Yadav are attacking bowlers which is important, but they also are capable of leaking away runs fast, its important to have a balanced attack, and that is where Bhuvi can ft in.

Shammi, as good a prospect as he is, still gives away at least 1 boundary ball an over even in test cricket, which is not ideal IMO for one of your main quicks as it just releases the pressure. I also feel people are underestimating Bhuvi's bowling abilities, he bowled two brilliant spells in the series vs Aus where fast bowlers didn't have much of a role to play picking up two 3-wkt hauls. Dude has the ability to keep it tight even if the ball is not swing and seaming about. And we haven't even given him a chance yet.

 

[Flem274*]

Bhuvi wasn't especially accurate down here, but I didn't see him in Aussie so I'll give you him. You need to have some form of consistent threat though and Bhuvi doesn't. Another guy can provide more bounce and keep it tight.

 

[Contra]

Bhuvi wasn't especially accurate down here, but I didn't see him in Aussie so I'll give you him. You need to have some form of consistent threat though and Bhuvi doesn't. Another guy can provide more bounce and keep it tight.

Yeah but that was in ODIs, not sure how much you can determine across different formats, still even in that series Bhvui maintained an eco rate of less than 6, while Shammi was over 7 an over, although Shammi got more wkts, which sort of highlights my point in terms of Bhuvi being able to keep a lid on the scoring while Shammi/Yadav being the naturally attacking bowlers.

Cricket Records | Records | India in New Zealand ODI Series, 2013/14 | Most wickets | ESPN Cricinfo

And all of this is not even considering the potential damage Bhuvi can cause in case the ball does swing, as would be the case in England presumably. Anyhow, Yadav is not selected and so in that case Pankaj singh would be ideal with that extra bounce at his height.