What is ahead for India in England?
The way BCCI had managed the telecasting, majority of folks in Urban India can enjoy Eng-WI test match (in crystal clear, vivid) ESPN as opposed to India's own test match Vs B'desh. With the Neosports being out of reach for most cable operators, the only alternative was to hope for DD to telecast but they never did (in fact, DD sports choose to show SL-Pak match from AbuDhabi) since DD has an aversion to the real cricket - test matches; it does not bring in the same moolah as the ODI, where you can show cricket between ads and also roll in ads to about 50% of the screen during the over.
Anyway, I got to watch Mat Prior's innings (along with Kevin Pieterson and Cook, Collingwood's 100s) and the 1st conclusion I had - India will have a tough time, when they go to England in a few weeks. India, traditionally had difficulties with the opposing lower order and Prior & co will be waiting with their bats. India is yet to figure out the opening combination (in fact, except for a brief period of Gavaskar- Chauhan and Mustaq Ali- Lala Amarnath), they are yet to figure that in 70 odd years. With the twin failures of Jaffer and the make shift Karthik, not sure about keeping that slot in greener pitches, it is back to square one. My guess, the batting will come thro' somehow - they will struggle initially but by the 2nd test or so - the English summer wickets will be easy to play and Indian batting will survive, if not excel (all they have to do is to avoid loosing the 1st test). But, the bowling will be another story - it will be an episode of gift wrappers at best - wait for Strauss..all the way to Panesar to feast on the innocuous dollies from the 3 Indian pacemen. It will one high score after another for the English bats.
Then, there is ..hold your breadth- 7 ODIs, in traditional English cricket and with some of them even D/N. Hmmm..Here too England must be waiting to revive its fortunes thanks to the hapless and clueless India.
Anyway, I got to watch Mat Prior's innings (along with Kevin Pieterson and Cook, Collingwood's 100s) and the 1st conclusion I had - India will have a tough time, when they go to England in a few weeks. India, traditionally had difficulties with the opposing lower order and Prior & co will be waiting with their bats. India is yet to figure out the opening combination (in fact, except for a brief period of Gavaskar- Chauhan and Mustaq Ali- Lala Amarnath), they are yet to figure that in 70 odd years. With the twin failures of Jaffer and the make shift Karthik, not sure about keeping that slot in greener pitches, it is back to square one. My guess, the batting will come thro' somehow - they will struggle initially but by the 2nd test or so - the English summer wickets will be easy to play and Indian batting will survive, if not excel (all they have to do is to avoid loosing the 1st test). But, the bowling will be another story - it will be an episode of gift wrappers at best - wait for Strauss..all the way to Panesar to feast on the innocuous dollies from the 3 Indian pacemen. It will one high score after another for the English bats.
Then, there is ..hold your breadth- 7 ODIs, in traditional English cricket and with some of them even D/N. Hmmm..Here too England must be waiting to revive its fortunes thanks to the hapless and clueless India.
posted by Crick_Love at 1:53 AM
7 Comments:
harsh man, don't you think sreesanth, patel and VRV can create some pressure? Ok they are not top quality but they are getting better. VRV and Munaf especially have ability to trouble batsman.
Ram..We have to wait and see whether Sree and Munaf will be fit in the 1st place. Even if they are, they have not bowled for weeks now and also in the 2nd half of the English summer, you can forget about bannana swing. You need raw pace like Bret Lee'a to get wickets. Potential like Sree is a mere paper threat. When it comes to putting it together and actual execution, it is always a pipe dream for India.
VRV at best is a pretender. He has no variety; can not cut the ball, can not definitely swing and has to depend on raw pace and when that falls below the breakeven 95, he gets hit.
Munaf is a potent weapon but will have to put together everything..India also lacks good slip catching (when will India be able to find someone like Alaister Cook, test match style opener, who can field in the slips) and that will waste any odd chance that might come..
Thanks to SKY Sports I am in a position to watch what ever I want. Be it India vs Bangladesh or England Vs WI. What is more important is the number of ads shown. We have ad breaks after every 5 overs or during a fall of wicket or during drinks.
This is good because you get to see a lot of things happening on field during an over break. For e.g. Sreesanth's injury in the 1st ODI vs Bangladesh. I am sure none might have spotted in India at the first instance.
The only problem with the India Vs Bangladesh series is that one has to put up with those 'Orgasmic AAHs!!!' or Arun Lal when ever SCG or a Bangladeshi Batsman hits a boundry, or those half baked Banglish commentry by Akthar Ali Khan. Barring that the coverage is pretty good.
With regard to England Vs WI, well the commentry team is amazing. Starting from Mike Artherton, David Gover, Bumble, Mike Holding, Nasser Hussain, Nick Knight, Mark Nicholas, Bob Willis, etc....
Their standard is pretty amazing. I am really waiting for the India Vs Eng series not because India is taking on Eng but because we will get the opportunity to listen to those commentry gurus along with Harsha Sunny etc.
India in England : I am not sure where India is heading to. Barring a major injury to KP I don't see India having any chance against England. VRV, Sreesanth, RP Singh and ZAK don't use their brain while bowling. Bowling is not just about running in a throwing the ball at the batsman. None of the above mentioned bowlers will be able to tie down a batsman and frustrate him. Munaf can to an extent build some pressure but that will be eased out in the other end. I would reckon India should go with Irfan. Not for his pace but for his swing. Treat him like a VASS. Have the keeper standing up to him and ask him to bowl wicket to wicket with little swing both ways. He can create pressure with some imaginative field placing.
As for batting is concerned. We dont have quality openers who can withstand the moving ball. In our last tour I think we trie Sanjan Bhangar as opener. I guess we also had VVS opening in one test. Unless we find someone who we can call genuine opener in Gavaskar mould we will continue to struggle overseas. With regard to the middle order, we will have one from the big 4 (RSD, SRT, VVS, SCG) scoring century in every test. Which makes them immune to AXE from the selectors. Once again we will blood new (Fringe ) players, playing at number 5 - 6. And the same old saga will continue even in Australia.
Cheers
PG
I thought sreesanth did really well in South Africa, was able to get wickets even when banana swing was not available.
Circa 2003 people used to say Steve Harmison only had pace and nothing else and within a year he was the world's best bowler. I see VRV in the same category. Fast bowling is a simple game of bowling it fast outside offstump and getting some movement of the seam. I like that he has a fairly simple repeatable action, comes in close to the stumps (he knocked the stumps a few times against b'desh) and has good size frame. I think these are reasons for optimism.
Ram... I wish that I can echo your optimism but sadly it won't be possible. I have seen too much of Indian cricket, to worry about one series wonders. In the long run, they all flatter and fall by the wayside. Sreesanth did well in that 1 test in SA (in fact, 1 innings only- he was not that effective even by 2nd innings)..that is it. As far as VRV, he is already dropped for the 2nd test tomorrow and by the time, we reach England, God knows what will happen.
As far spin, the less said the better. Kumble is still India's best bet after a decade and we have to hope that he does something with the ball.
http://stats.cricinfo.com/guru?sdb=player;playerid=12020;class=testplayer;filter=basic;team=0;opposition=0;notopposition=0;season=0;homeaway=0;continent=0;country=0;notcountry=0;groundid=0;startdefault=2006-03-01;start=2006-03-01;enddefault=2007-01-06;end=2007-01-06;tourneyid=0;finals=0;daynight=0;toss=0;scheduledovers=0;scheduleddays=0;innings=0;result=0;followon=0;seriesresult=0;captain=0;keeper=0;dnp=0;recent=;runslow=;runshigh=;batposition=0;dismissal=0;viewtype=bow_list;bowposition=0;ballslow=;ballshigh=;bpof=0;overslow=;overshigh=;conclow=;conchigh=;wicketslow=;wicketshigh=;dismissalslow=;dismissalshigh=;caughtlow=;caughthigh=;caughttype=0;stumpedlow=;stumpedhigh=;csearch=;submit=1;.cgifields=viewtype
sreesanth career summary, in the second innings he got 3 for 59. I don't think it is that bad.
http://stats.cricinfo.com/guru?sdb=player;playerid=47100;class=testplayer;filter=basic;team=0;opposition=0;notopposition=0;season=0;homeaway=0;continent=0;country=0;notcountry=0;groundid=0;startdefault=2006-03-09;start=2006-03-09;enddefault=2007-01-06;end=2007-01-06;tourneyid=0;finals=0;daynight=0;toss=0;scheduledovers=0;scheduleddays=0;innings=0;result=0;followon=0;seriesresult=0;captain=0;keeper=0;dnp=0;recent=;runslow=;runshigh=;batposition=0;dismissal=0;viewtype=bow_list;bowposition=0;ballslow=;ballshigh=;bpof=0;overslow=;overshigh=;conclow=;conchigh=;wicketslow=;wicketshigh=;dismissalslow=;dismissalshigh=;caughtlow=;caughthigh=;caughttype=0;stumpedlow=;stumpedhigh=;csearch=;submit=1;.cgifields=viewtype
munaf career summary, again not bad
And remember that windies have some of the flattest wickets in the world right now.
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