***Official*** India vs England 2021 General Discussion thread

[honestbharani]

Pandya is a strange selection call. He hasn't bowled in red ball cricket since....I don't remember. His bowling is surplus to requirement in these conditions and India are rarely desperate to firm up their batting at home grounds.

Just don't see him featuring at all in this series.

Probably not required if everyone else is available, but if it comes down to Shardul vs Pandya, I am going Pandya easily.

I believe he has been selected purely as a batsman and basically they just want him around the set up with the view to get him bowling by the time we get to England (hopefully for the WTC final first).

 

[honestbharani]

And in Chennai, 3 pacers, even in the late winter, will be surplus. Kuldeep, Sundar/Axar, Ashwin plus 2 seamers is the way to go. I think I would play Siraj and Shardul, and let Ishant back from the 2nd test. But they may well play Bumrah and Ishant and the 3 spinners.

What I would play -

Rohit
Gill
Pujara/Mayank
Virat (c)
Rahane (vc)
Pant (wk)
Ashwin
Axar/Sundar
Shardul
Kuldeep
Siraj


What they will play -

Rohit
Gill
Pujara
Virat (c)
Rahane (vc)
Pant (wk)
Ashwin
Axar
Ishant
Kuldeep
Bumrah

 

[honestbharani]

Literally a different bowling attack from the last test...

And one more debut

 

[Shri]

hb let me know if you get cheap tickets for the chennai test, we'll meet up

 

[honestbharani]

I dont even know if they are allowing people there. I mean, it is outdoors and it has excellent ventilation with the gaps opening up to allow the sea breeze, but not sure if they will allow crowds. Already got a school friends meet up there planned if it goes ahead. Will let you know if it works out, will reserve a ticket for you.

 

[Shri]

hopefully i don't have to make another trip to madurai during the test

fingers crossed

 

[Arachnodouche]

Probably not required if everyone else is available, but if it comes down to Shardul vs Pandya, I am going Pandya easily.

Think you have to reward someone who actually wants to play Test cricket. Pandya's been somewhat ambivalent towards the true form hasn't he?

 

[ImpatientLime]

haha imagine thinking an inevitable, uncompetitive 5-0 thrashing is worthy of a subbie.

don't england have b2b series with india then an ashes tour? a lot of careers getting ended this year.

 

[Arachnodouche]

England will do ok. They have a couple of decent spinners which for whatever reason has become a semi-achilles heel for us at home in recent years. Looks like Root has found some form too. Expect a match-changing innings from Stokes and meaningful contributions from Archer, Curran, and Broad at some time during the series.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

haha imagine thinking an inevitable, uncompetitive 5-0 thrashing is worthy of a subbie.

Hahaha the joke is on you!



…The series is only 4 Tests.

 

[honestbharani]

Hahaha the joke is on you!



…The series is only 4 Tests.

He is probably talking about the return series where we will definitely get blanked in Ol' Blighty.

This will be an interesting change of pace here. Having spent last couple of months arrogantly proclaiming how much better we are than Australia and have their fans tell us why Australia are the greatest, this is now gonna be a contest in gambhiring, isn't it?

@cnerd123 you know what you need to do.

 

[Shri]

hopefully jimmy retires before the 5 test series

we could win if so

 

[DriveClub]

I protest against creating sub forums for only big 3 series #subforumsforeveryone

 

[Gnske]

What I would play -

Rohit
Gill
Pujara/Mayank
Virat (c)
Rahane (vc)
Pant (wk)
Ashwin
Axar/Sundar
Shardul
Kuldeep
Siraj

Surprised you have Mayank in contention for any spot let alone Puji's, he looks cooked.

 

[honestbharani]

Surprised you have Mayank in contention for any spot let alone Puji's, he looks cooked.

At home, his backlift wont be an issue and he is the most realistic option for us at that slot. I imagined the worst after see Che Pu's reaction to that ball hitting his finger. If he is fit, then obviously, Puji it is.

 

[cnerd123]

I could see India jamming Rahane at 3 to play ugly anchor and give someone like Agarwal a bit more freedom at 6.

 

[Salamuddin]

Agarwal will get runs on the subcontinent but I doubt he will get many in England or South Africa where India tour next.
India better off investing in KL Rahul as backup opener - still think he has underachieved for his talent but if Rahul fails in his next go at test cricket, look at Easwaran.

 

[Smudge49]

Honest question, if England manage to do the unthinkable and somehow beat India after the high of the Australian tour, will Kohli's captaincy be under any risk?

 

[Teja.]

Honest question, if England manage to do the unthinkable and somehow beat India after the high of the Australian tour, will Kohli's captaincy be under any risk?

Yes IMO, individually it wouldn't but the combination of that and the Australia tour would definitely kickstart the debate, at least.

England winning is not super likely though because Kohli has a historically ATG home captaincy W/L record.

 

[honestbharani]

Honest question, if England manage to do the unthinkable and somehow beat India after the high of the Australian tour, will Kohli's captaincy be under any risk?

There will be noise, sure, but his record, esp. at home is phenomenal. I dont see any actual threat to his position even in that hypothetical.