India v England - Test Series

[crodonilson]

Anyone excited?? Just 9 hours to go until one of the most eagerly anticipated series in India in many years gets started at this quite magnificent arena...



Can England finally end 27 years of hurt for their loyal supporters?? Can India take revenge after their 4-0 humbling last summer in England??

We're about to find out..........

 

[Pavilionaire]

I suspect our inability to bat against spin on the sub-continent will, once again, be the decisive factor.

 

[Taybha]

Looking forward to it yes , but cant see anything but a comfy series win for india

 

[Billy the Fish]

No practice against spin in the tour matches either. 3-1 India.

Will still set the alarm for 4, whether I bother to get up is anyone's guess

 

[melias shoes]

Really can't see us winning this tour. Always struggle sub continent. I'd like to be proved wrong but don't think I will be.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Looking forward to KP succombing to some very ordinary spin bowling time and time again this series.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Looking forward to KP succombing to some very ordinary spin bowling time and time again this series.

Hopefully the pitches are prepared well enough for his and Yuvraj's ego's at the same time!

 

[matthew]

India will tear it up! Go large on Virat Kholi to be leading run scorer

 

[OzMike]

Till KP goes I will stay neutral.

 

[brightonmark1234]

come on england lets hope we play spin well

 

[Hiney]

India 120/0 at lunch.

Sehwag ominous

 

[Billy the Fish]

Alarm got turned straight off - good choice

 

[Beach Hut]

Wicket (finally)

 

[Taybha]

90 ball ton for Sehwag India 174-1

 

[BensGrandad]

Playing in India without Monty why?

 

[Bold Seagull]

Great bowling Swanny, fantastic stuff.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Are any websites doing session by session highlights? I'm sure someone has done it before.

 

[Seagull over NZ]

By the time we come to bat on day 3 (or late day 2) it will no doubt be turning. Even without our inability to bat against spin we just don't have the batsmen (other than Cook and Trott) who can bat for a whole day and a bit. That will also be our undoing I would think. KP can of course score amazing hundreds but we will need him to get "Daddy" hundreds. Watched about 15 minutes of it before going to work and the pitch is flat as anything. They would have been better to play Panesar and not Bresnan. England seamers combined bowling is 36 overs 0 for 161. You would hope that at worst Monty would be 25 overs 1 for about 75 so immediately we have saved a lot of runs, more than Bresnan would have got with the bat than Monty.

 

[CHAPPERS]

India also appear to have taken a risk with the pitch for the Ahmedabad Test. It is not just that it is relaid - and relaying a Test pitch two months before a game means no-one can predict how it will play - but that it has been relaid with a higher proportion of sand and a more brittle type of clay. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that India expect it to break up and offer substantial assistance to the spinners sooner rather than later.

But what if England set a challenging first innings total and utilise the crumbling pitch when they bowl? What if England's seamers gain as much from the surface as India's spinners? What if Swann enjoys the best of the conditions? India's tactics are not those of a side that truly believes in its own ability. If they did, they would surely prepare the best possible cricketing surface and back themselves to prevail.

If England knew this about the pitch then you'd have to think Monty was a real option and one it looks like they should have taken. Patel has only bowled 6 overs so far which is strange as second spinner on a flat pitch in India.

 

[Bold Seagull]

In view of the clamour for Monty to replace the 3rd seamer, when was the last time an England side only included 2 recognised seam/fast bowlers?