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India In England 2011 Test Series Preview By Babar Naveed

Discussion in 'Cricket Talk' started by BoomBoom786, Jul 19, 2011.

  1. Offline

    BoomBoom786

    Joined: Apr 12, 2010
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    2011, An year in which the cricketing world has already seen many mouth watering and huge contests and much to the delight to the millions of cricket lovers around the world, there are many more enthralling bilateral series to come. Among them Sri Lanka versus Australia, Australia versus South Africa and India versus Australia are hugely awaited. However in the same year another great cricketing rivalry will be revived, from 21st of July the bilateral series between India and England will be played at the home of cricket. India the self proclaimed “Greatest Cricketing Nation” will take on the “Pioneers of Cricket” and the very arrogant English side that has been on a roll for almost the last 5 years.

    The Test Series is also of great importance because the first test match that will be played at the prestigious Lords Cricket Ground will be the 2000th test match of its history. Also India’s most proud son Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will be eyeing his 100th international century and there is no better occasion to do it than at Lords in a historic match.

    Throughout the last decade India’s performance in England (Test series) has been has improved. They lost the Test series in 1996, managed to draw 1-1 in 2002 and eventually won the series 1-0 under Rahul Dravid in 2007.

    This time round it’s going to be an entirely different prospect because the English side is very strong especially now they have a quality spinner in Graeme Swann who can trouble the Indian Batsmen who usually play spinners well. The English fast bowling lineup is pretty decent as well who use the home swinging and seeming conditions well. The likes of James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlet have shown that this English bowling lineup will be a sure force to reckon with for any teams in any conditions.

    England’s batsmen are as usual of high class and quality. They are in form and most of them are consistent apart from Jonathon Trott all of them have played and performed against India.

    The key responsibility of holding the batting together will lie on the experienced Kevin Pietersen and Captain Andrew Strauss, and for sure these will be equally and efficiently supported by Ian Bell, Jonathon Trott, Eoin Morgan and Matt Prior. Other opener Alastair Cook will also be under pressure to perform as English media always has keen eye on the performance of their top order batsmen as there is a stiff competition between them. All in all the English side looks very balanced and they will certainly make use of their home conditions and local support and the fact that that have beaten almost all the teams in recent test series will help in giving Englishmen a greater confidence going into the series against the Indians. Andrew Strauss’s leadership will once again be tested as he will spend most of his time in the field thinking about how to get rid of the Mighty Indian batting lineup that has class, authority, and consistency along with form written all over it.

    Now talking about the Indian team, just like England, team India also have been brilliant over the last 3 years and it has got a lot to do with captain cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, and Sehwag were always there, but India was not as good as it is today. It’s the X-Factor which MS Dhoni carries with himself and the way he leads the pack is what makes India an unstoppable force in the longer formats of the game.

    As usual in this tour as well India’s gigantic batting lineup will be its main strength. And the fact that all of them have scored runs in England will be a point to be seriously considered. Virender Sehwag is not available to India initially as a result the rookie Abhinav Mukund might get an opportunity to open the batting. It’s an opportunity that the youngster might relish and make a name for him. Secondly he will have classy and legendary batsmen all around him to guide and motivate him. Gautam Gambhir will be there at the top of the order to provide solid starts as usual and the fact that Gambhir plays spin really well makes him that much more dangerous. It’s his first major test series in England and rest assured that he will look to score heavily. India’s middle order probably comprises of batting legends. Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar don’t need words to be described; their records not speak but shout for them. This is where it gets very interesting. England’s impressive bowling attack which now has the classy Swann also versus the India’s awesome threesome. And it’s on the cards that this Trio of India’s batting legends will make this tour which probably might be their last a memorable one.

    It doesn’t end here. Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Dhoni, Suresh Raina are also there to further strengthen the batting. Reserve keeper Wriddhiman Saha will also provide Dhoni with options.

    India’s bowling is being lead by Zaheer Khan, who was also impressive during the last tour, and has been brilliant with both the new and old ball for India. Then there is Ishant Sharma to control the bowling attack. The tall Dehli fast bowler performed well in the recently concluded West Indies series and will look to benefit from his good form and the helpful English conditions. Praveen Kumar is also a candidate for out and in swing bowling, because of his ideal pace and accuracy, he is all set and expected to exploit the conditions.

    Indian spin department is well balanced. Harbhajan Singh the veteran always relishes a big challenge and surely he will be up for it from the start, the Sardar will also be helpful as he is in good batting form as well. Amit Mishra though is not highly spoken of, but certainly he will look to prove his point at the grand stage.
    All is set, for the master piece of a series. The two teams are strong due to which any comparison is not necessary; it’s just that the team which keeps it together and maintains the focus will take it away. However, team India has a very smart and successful captain in MS Dhoni, who surely will be at his thinking best and will look to add another success story in his Captaincy book.

    :INDIA:
  2. Online

    1137moiz

    Joined: Jun 30, 2011
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    Did you write this BoomBoom786? Very nice
  3. Offline

    chandtara

    Joined: Jun 18, 2011
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    I think he did Moiz, where are your reports? You still writing them?
  4. Online

    1137moiz

    Joined: Jun 30, 2011
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    I am but I'll only submit the Pakistan ones here InshaAllah.
  5. Offline

    chandtara

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    England THRASH India by 196 runs in the first test!
  6. Offline

    GOAT

    Joined: Jul 27, 2011
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    Pretty much the best way the series could go for me right now. England hammer India in the first Test, SRT doesn't get his 100th 100 yet Dravid keeps on scoring. It's nice to see Barbie being so high amongst the wickets and runs; I know our Indian brothers must be hating it :).

    It'll be tough for England to force a win here without a big showing from their batsmen. If they wrap it up though, I can see the next two Tests probably being high scoring draws.
  7. Offline

    chandtara

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    England have scored over 400 runs today. Lead is 370...England surely on their way to victory?
  8. Offline

    Bilal123

    Joined: Dec 11, 2010
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    Another hundred will guarantee a win, if not then at least a draw. Very improbable for England to lose from this position
  9. Offline

    GOAT

    Joined: Jul 27, 2011
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    Another 100 runs should be doable, quickly too if the tail swings for England. All in all it's what we've been saying for a long time: India is getting exposed outside of the subcontinent.

    Hammered in the first Test and now a whopping 400 runs in one day. Their bowlers are classless, and the "better as a pack" argument seems a hard one to be pushed. England are playing like number ones right now.
  10. Offline

    Yaser

    Joined: Apr 8, 2010
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    Tendu will get his 100th century during a crushing defeat.

    how very fitting.
  11. Offline

    Juggernaut

    Joined: Feb 17, 2010
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    LOL. Get over it mate. Whatever happens today Tendulkar is still one of the all time great batsmen.

    Loved Shane Warne's comment on Raina: He is not a test player. Have to agree with him. Looks like a schoolboy against the shortball.

    As for Dhoni, some Indians are calling him the Indian Imran Khan. :)) He ain't got nothing on the Great Khan.

    Can't get his head right in a series which has been billed the unofficial test championship. Keeping has been mediocre, batting has been poor and they dare compare him to Imran Khan.
  12. Offline

    zeenix

    Joined: Dec 17, 2009
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    See, it is still to his credit that he has put his team on top of world rankings and also won them the world cup.

    Well the 100th 100 is still elusive, however it would be befitting if he were to get that hundred in a lost cause. Indians won't mind it though. They have this penchant for records, and for 90% of the indians, Tendu century is worth more then a mere Test Win or even draw..
  13. Offline

    chandtara

    Joined: Jun 18, 2011
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    Bring on Amit Mishra, says former Pak leggie Mushtaq Mohammad

    Edgbaston-based Former Pak leggie Mushtaq Mohammad says Amit Mishra should be in Playing XI after injuries force Bhajji and Yuvi out for remainder of Test series

    Who said things couldn't get worse for the Indian cricket team on the injury front?

    Yesterday, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were ruled out for the rest of the four-Test series in England through abdominal and hand injuries respectively.

    India's litany of woes continue after Virender Sehwag was ruled out for the initial part of the tour due to a shoulder operation. Not long after the Lord's Test started, Zaheer Khan pulled a hamstring and has yet to return to the field. In the second Test at Trent Bridge which came after the 196-run caning at Lord's, Gautam Gambhir could not be fit enough to be in the playing XI due to an injury suffered on his elbow in the latter half of the Lord's Test.

    Has India had a more frustrating recent tour is a question which will not get many affirmative responses. Down (2-0) and out they probably are.

    The BCCI announced that replacements, batsman Virat Kohli and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, but in all probability Amit Mishra, despite not hitting the high notes in the warm-up game against Somerset, will get the nod.

    Former Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohammad, a leg-spinner himself, told MiD DAY yesterday from his home in Birmingham that a leg-spinner would be ideal as against playing an off-spinner. "You have got to give Mishra a chance now. He is fresh and hungry to do well. The leggie will be good against the English fellas rather than the offie," said Mushtaq, who spoke to MiD DAY before the news of Harbhajan's absence was made official.

    Yuvraj fractured his left index finger on Day Four at Nottingham while tackling a bouncer from Tim Bresnan. In the end, finally, another bouncer from the Yorkshireman dismissed him.

    Harbhajan's Grade I abdominal muscle strain means he cannot play his 100th Test at the Oval.

    Mushtaq watched the Lord's Test with his younger brother Sadiq and followed the Nottingham Test on television. "India's bowlers look tired. They have played too much cricket... unimportant cricket with the Indian Premier League and all that. The human body can take only so much. I can understand that the boys are playing IPL because of the money, but then, if you want to play for your country, you have to be 100 per cent fit. The Indian cricketers looked tired -- physically and mentally," said the 67-year-old former all-rounder, who played for Northamptonshire, the team Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Co have to tackle in a two-day fixture here tomorrow.

    Mushtaq added: "The bowlers fared well in the initial stages of both Tests, but they couldn't continue in that vein because they got tired. The batsmen did not respond to the challenge too. Rahul Dravid is among the runs, but Sachin Tendulkar doesn't look in good form. He must fire now. India must put 400 plus runs in the first innings of the Edgbaston match to have any sort of grip on this England team. India should bat first considering their world-class batting order.

    "While the fast bowlers appear fatigued, Harbhajan looked uninterested. There are a lot of things wrong, but it boils down to too much cricket before coming to England."

    Bring on Amit Mishra, says former Pak leggie Mushtaq Mohammad
  14. Offline

    chandtara

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    'Can't blame spinner if the batsmen don't score'

    Former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has defended Indian spinners, saying their criticism is harsh when the conditions are against them. “What can the spinner do when the batsmen have failed to put runs on the board,” asked Saqlain, who spent time with under fire Harbhajan Singh on the sidelines of the Northampton tour game before the bowler pulled out of the series with an abdominal injury.

    Saqlain, who took 208 wickets in 49 Tests and was a huge success in county cricket, is now settled in Leicester.

    Excerpts from an interview:

    Spinners don’t seem to have a role to play on this tour?
    A: The conditions have not been ideal for spinners. For the last few seasons at Trent Bridge, spinners’ turn to bowl hasn’t come. It takes four to five overs for the fingers to warm up. In a Test if he bowls 10-15 overs, how do you expect him to take five wickets? And without runs on the board he will only be thinking of bowling dot balls.

    What is the key to bowling here?
    A: You get more bounce here than the subcontinent. But you have to be more patient here. I have taken wickets here but I have bowled on an average 25 to 30 overs. Even when Warne has got wickets here he has bowled a lot of overs. Here the spinner has to use his brain. It is like you spread the net to catch fish. You have to gamble and you need strength in your arms.

    What is your prediction for Mishra, at Edgbaston and The Oval?
    A: At the Oval and here (Edgbaston), spinners will come into play. Whenever I have played at Birmingham, I have got help from the wicket. It is a perfect situation for Mishra as no one is expecting anything for him. He will be able to bowl freely. But if Indian batsmen put runs on the board then he will be a different bowler.

    Pietersen and Prior have hurt Harbhajan. How does one bowl to them?A: Pietersen is an attacking batsman. If you bowl dot balls to him and play on his patience, keep him off strike for long spells, then he will take risks. It is a cat and mouse game. You will have to figure out which side to attack him. Prior too is an attacking player. I have always blocked him on one side. He doesn’t mind playing with the spin and against the spin.

    You had a meeting with Harbhajan last week?
    A: He was on the verge of 100 Tests. He was a bit upset to get injured when it was time to play matches where conditions would have suited the spinners more. The criticism of Harbhajan has been unfair. Swann hasn’t done well either but no one is talking about him. He was bowling on the first day at Lord’s when conditions suited the fast bowlers and you are blaming Harbhajan. Not one, two or three years, he has done well for 12 years. The difference is their batsmen have got runs, yours haven’t. There is a negative sort of attitude against Harbhajan. With Murali, Warne and Kumble retired, for me, he is the No 1 spinner in the world. It is important not to confuse him.

    What will be your advice to Harbhajan?
    A: He should ignore everything that is being said about him and enjoy his cricket. He doesn’t need to think or do anything differently. His lack of success here had a lot of reasons beyond him, the pitches, the conditions, his injury, the lack of runs on the board. For example: ‘If the match is at the Oval, the Sun is out and the pitch is dry, Yeh unko udake rakh dega (he would blow away the England line-up).

    'Can't blame spinner if the batsmen don't score' - Hindustan Times
  15. Offline

    chandtara

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    Talk about whooping lads, check out the England score! 700 plus and just declared! Cook falls six short of a triple ton!
  16. Offline

    Juggernaut

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    Just watching the highlights of the days play on Channel. Way too much latent homosexuality in the Indian huddle. A certain left handed opener groping a tall right arm Indian quick. :eek:

    Can't believe Channel 5 couldn't edit that out of the highlights.
  17. Offline

    Juggernaut

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    Just watching the highlights of the days play on Channel 5. Way too much latent homosexuality in the Indian huddle. A certain left handed opener groping a tall right arm Indian quick. :eek:

    Can't believe Channel 5 couldn't edit that out of the highlights.
  18. Offline

    chandtara

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    Lol juggernaut thanks for the warning! It goes from bad to worse for India, Sehwags overhyped return results in a KING PAIR!
  19. Offline

    Saladin

    Joined: Jul 8, 2011
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    what a sh*t team india is , how the hell did they become no1 ranked team in the first place. Anyways Pakistan didnt let England score 700 past them and they managed to win a test match at the very least.
  20. Offline

    Bilal123

    Joined: Dec 11, 2010
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    LOL at Indians.. They messed up our quality bowling attack last year and now they have got a beating of a life time from England. Though Pakistan was useless last summer, they came over with little hype and were still in the series until the 4th and last match. Comparing how both Pak and India did vs Eng I can say confidently that Pak have outdone India by a mile.
    I remember the team that is racking up 700+ this series, it was struggling for 300 last year. Pretty good effort from the worlds no.6 team. Not so good from the "no.1"
  21. Offline

    Juggernaut

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    Lol at you. They didn't mess up our bowling attack. It just turned out that Aamer and Asif are greedy shameless pigs.
  22. Offline

    munirnadeem

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    More ass kicking awaits india.
  23. Offline

    Juggernaut

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    I just can't help but laugh at Sehwag and Laxman. Extremely poor players when the ball is doing a little.

    Their stats are hugely influenced by bashing teams on the dead tracks at home or playing against the Aussies on fast, bouncy batter friendly pitches.

    Laxman a great? Don't make me laugh. Sehwag one of the all time great openers? Sorry but that's a joke aswell.

    Gautham Gambhir is another one whose false bravado has been shown up. Twice now the team have needed him to bat and he's refused to play through the pain barrier.

    Dravid is showing people why he's one of the all time best. Shame Tendulkar has been out of form. Would have loved to see a big score from the Little Master.
  24. Offline

    GOAT

    Joined: Jul 27, 2011
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    I love this series man. I really do.


    edit: lol'd @ the censor. Well played mods, well played.
  25. Offline

    chandtara

    Joined: Jun 18, 2011
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    BCCI responsible for Indian team's debacle in England: Mushtaq Mohammed

    KARACHI: Former Pakistan Test captain Mushtaq Mohammad has blamed the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) for the debacle of the Indian team in England where it has lost the Test series and its number one ranking.

    "The BCCI is very much responsible for poor planning of this tour. They thought their cricketers were machines and are being treated like machines. They (the players) can't play day in day out, they are human beings and they do get tired both physically and mentally and they do need rest," Mushtaq said

    The 67-year-old had no doubt that the Indian players look tired in the ongoing tour.

    "I have watched India play in all the matches so far and what I have found is that they look tired. It is not only surprising but very disappointing too.

    "You got to have enthusiasm to compete in any kind of competition. Mentally and physically, they are very tired and it is showing on their faces and bodies. You can tell a lot by how a player thinks and reacts to different situations, but due to tiredness they have no answer to England," he said.

    Mushtaq also said that the Indian bowlers, in particular, looked worn-out with a lack of backup options.

    "The bowlers looks as if they have over-bowled. From the series in the West Indies, they came straight to England and went on to play the four-match Test series without any preparation."

    The former cricketer said that the Indian batsmen were not given an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the tough English playing conditions.

    "Indian batsmen never had a chance to settle down and score runs. They only played one three-day warm-up game and straight away went on to play the Test series. This is one of the reasons why the Indian batting has failed.

    "For any major series such as this one, if you do not have proper preparation, it is bound to come back to hurt you and this is exactly what has happened," Mushtaq said.

    Stating that he was surprised to see India's famed batting line-up, which has got the reputation of 'the best in the world' has failed to reach 300 in any innings so far, Mushtaq said, "They must realise that Test cricket is very tough and it's not over in a day and you have to survive and battle for five days. One of the best batting line-ups in the world has failed miserably and disappointed all their fans and supporters."

    Mushtaq, who has played 57 Tests and 10 one-dayers, also blamed the Indian players for giving competitions like IPL more preference than playing for the country.

    "I also blame the players for running after the money in the IPL. They had put their body through all kind of strain and pain and didn't think about the tour of England, which was a very important tour. I hope they learn their lesson that too much IPL and unnecessary cricket spoils the ranking of the team," he said.

    BCCI responsible for Indian team's debacle in England: Mushtaq - Times Of India
  26. Offline

    chandtara

    Joined: Jun 18, 2011
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    Ouch Tendulker out on 91! This was his chance to get that 100th hundred!!!!
  27. Offline

    Saladin

    Joined: Jul 8, 2011
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    pathetic display from the sh*T Known as India. 4-0:))
  28. Offline

    chandtara

    Joined: Jun 18, 2011
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    Still a chance for ANOTHER innings victory!
  29. Offline

    chandtara

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    India have been whitewashed 4-0!
    Another innings defeat!!!!
  30. Offline

    Markhor

    Joined: May 9, 2010
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    Awful performance from India. But it should not detract from England's brilliant display, fully deserve their No 1 spot - they have worked extremely hard to get it from the low of being ranked bottom in the Test rankings in August 1999.

    As for India, that ought to teach them that IPL hit and giggle tournaments are not the be all and end all.
  31. Online

    ManHOOS

    Joined: Sep 19, 2010
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    Temptation*

    Joined: Mar 18, 2010
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    India getting whitewashed within a test series?..nothing beats this.

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