No TV...I heard everything on radio. The pesky young radio anchor of "Dressing Room" on AIR FM 100.7 (a.k.a. FM Gold, Mumbai) sid that England have won the Test...um...toss. All too typical, as this seems a "Win the toss, win the Test" scene. All of these points are from an Indian point of view.
Sreesanth, tipped as a key player by newspapers and Ian Chappell, was in shockingly dreadful form. Several balls bowled on pads gave Cook ample scoring opportunities. He's not been bowling at top pace, making him an easy target. He's got it back in the last three overs, but the dropped catch makes it even harder. Honestly, given his pace, he should try to bowl at express pace and blast the batting out. Far too much is made of the weakness of the Indian bowling attack, when they're a bowler down and none of the batsmen are bowling enough, and the fielders are not even doing their bit.
Zaheer's form is another cause for worry. Being the most experienced bowler, he's supposed to keep things tight and use the conditions to his advantage, while his partner tries to blast the opposition out. RP Singh is a surprise package, but economy rates don't win matches- wickets do. He needs to make the batsmen play. He's only one of four bowlers, and he has to attack the batting.
Ganguly's done well as a fourth seamer, and could do just as well as a third. A commentator thought that Ganguly should have been removed after snaring Cook. That's not feasible in this match. His reduced pace adds variety, and he can use the seaming conditions that exist to take the extra wickets. He has to bowl long spells, do what Flintoff would do when he would get a match. Kumble has had a good start so far.
Likewise, while Dhoni's form behind the stumps has been a cause for concern, he can hang on a little longer, with his prospective replacement dropping catch after catch in the outfield. Dinesh Karthik has dropped six catches already. That bubble will burst any time in this series, and sooner if they have him wicketkeeping and opening.
Then come questions to experts on radio- "Why was Harbhajan left out? Why were Harbhajan and Sehwag left out?" Well, man for man, all of them are equally good or bad, so Harbhajan's inclusion wouldn't help much, unless there's support from the fifth bowler and the fielders. Sehwag, as we know, was dropped because of a sub-par series against Bangladesh, and his declining ODI form affecting his Test performance. But Yuvraj's exclusion was the most baffling. With Panesar being in form, the team playing three seamers instead of two spinners (a throwback from the good not-so-old days of three seamers and two spinners), he should have been a hot pick. In fact, looking at Laxman's performance in the last series against Australia and beyond, Yuvraj can't be far behind.
Then come some funny questions- "Why can't we pick Balaji? Why can't we find a Brett Lee?" No, not funny. Typical.
. Like that was as easy as it gets 
