ACID TEST !

Taking a look at the future has never looked so worrisome for Indian Cricket. Blame it to on the high standards set by the team in the last two decade. Blame it on the Board that doesnt value its No.1 status as much as the fans do.

As things are, India are 2-0 down and now its players are braced for a very very tough challenge.

A few things are clear for me, Suresh Raina is not cut to play top quality pace bowling in seaming conditions, whatever he gained in the West Indies has been cancelled out, he has many questions that he must still answer. Yuvraj, I think has played his last Test Match for India. While Raina still shows signs that he wants to play Test Cricket, Yuvi doesnt even look like he wants to be there, maybe I am wrong, but Yuvi must prove me wrong. Bhajji needs to really deliver now and his past reputation & performance cannot guarantee a place for him in the Team.

Sachin and VVS need to support the lone hand of DRAVID badly !

In some ways the biggest worry has been the fact that India wilted at all crucial moments in this series. 70 odd for 5 at lords in the second innings and yet England get away. 125 for 8 to 221 in Notthingham was a great escape and then Indian collapse from 260 for 4 to 290 all out.

Mishra will have to provide the much needed support to the pacers who have bowled their hearts out, his role will be very important in this match

The fact also remains that we were with 3 fit bowlers in both tests and that is probably a reason why the bowlers were spent by the last session. England got away.

The best thing that India could do is to put up a totally fit 11 players and hope no injuries happen during a match. While cricket at the top level is played in the mind, it is a crime to players who do not complete the game. India had Sachin ill, Gambhir bruised, Zaheer limping in Lords. Then it compounded its problems by making Dravid open and disturbed the batting order again an injured Harbhajan in the second test.

Tough times ahead and lots to ponder !

Dhoni holds the key, his confidence is at an all time low, runs are not coming, keeping is not upto the mark at all and most importantly I felt in the two games that went by Dhoni has captained quite weirdly. Dhoni has always been his own man, but I have never seen Dhoni over attacking or being over aggressive. However in Nottingham while Enland were scoring boundaries like crazy he couldnt stop them at all, as a fielding captain he has been one of the most shrewdest. Not the aggresive Steve Waugh or Mark Taylor type but sort of shrewd like a Naseer Hussain ! But it was strange to see 3 slips while the run rate is 5 and score 350 !!!

Dhoni has always been his own man and sometimes his success was inexplicable, similarly it will be difficult to digest his failures as his ways will always bemusing ! This is Dhoni’s biggest challenge as a Test Captain. This is the ACID TEST for him.

India will have Sehwag & Gambhir opening and the batting line up will be in order, although no. 6 is still a problem area especially with Dhoni in such poor form. Mishra will probably bowl better than Harbhajan and having 4 fit bowlers will help India immensely.

viru gauti together will bring a lot of relief to India !

Virender Sehwag will probably bring in the freshness India needs badly. More imporant than his runs will be his ideas and approach hope it rubs on to the other players. It would be unfair to expect Sehwag who has not played any serious cricket for 3 months almost to come and start tearing the English bowling apart. So while we all are looking at him as the Saviour of Indian Cricket dont expect too much or you might just be disappointed. He is human and without much cricket under his belt its more a case of hoping than having substantial logic.

Let us hope India prove all pundits and all logics wrong and fight from here on… Its not that they have not done so in the past… Never write them off !

Amen !

Day 2, Lords, India V England 2011 – a bulletin

• Looks like a draw on the cards. The pitch looks good for batting !

• Praveen Kumar, as slow as he may seem, has shown he is might mighty effective and has ensured he is going to be a regular for the series.

• Ishant is 22, but he needs to learn fast, India cannot afford to have him bowling like this, especially when the spear head of the bowling is limping. He looked ordinary to say the least.

• Dont expect too much from Bhajji on a slow, low and green track on day 1 and 2. Bhajji could do with a few smiles and he needs to relax !

• Dhoni is a maverick and trust him to surprise you !

• Pietersen is maturing as a batsman and that is bad signs for everyone else, seems he is playing for the team and not for the gallery anymore !

• Geoff Boycott needs to remember that 18 more days of Test Cricket still remain and although this bowling attack minus Zaheer wouldnt scare him Mom I am somehow sure he will be made to eat humble pie not before long !

• How India would have loved to have Sehwag walk in today and smash the bowling to all parts and have India at 380 for 4 by the end of the day and pushing England to the wall on the last day !

yea rite… I need to stop !!!! but fantasies of the Sehwagian in me just dont stop !!!!

PK and KP are great characters and at the end of the day this was a heartening pic to see… they did slug it out in the middle !

Ahoy Pommie Land !!! & taking stock of the Carribean sojourn !

Today ends the looooong wait, err… atleast for me. Guess you cant comprehend can you ? Well, today we are here in Somerset, the men in blue I mean for their first tour match of England !

The Men in Blue from after soaking the sun and enough playing on the Carribean beaches have now come to the English Summer, which is almost like our winter !!!

The land of low, slow(err..not so slow) pitches where it swings the moment there is a cloud and it stops swinging the moment there is sun ! The greens here are lively green and almost all stadiums picturesque ! There is a totally different charm of watching Test Cricket in England, something I dont see anywhere else, neither Australia nor New Zealand !

The English crowds have always been appreciative of good cricket and I think they will enjoy watching the brash, confident and supremely talented men from India ! Too bad for the crowd the biggest entertainer today in Test Cricket will only be available from the 3rd Test Match !!!

India has come a loong loong way from wanting to play a hamstrung affected Kapil !!! Today they dont play unfit players, be it a Sehwag or a Sachin or a Zaheer or a Gautam or all 4 of them together !

As much as people still doubt that India is not the real number 1 or whatever crap, the fact is India is a very good allround team, take any 4-5 members out and still they dont really sweat and that is what is their biggest strength.

Imagine if this England team were to play us without Anderson, Cook, Strauss and Pietersen ! Whaddya think would our chances be then ??? huh ??

Yes, in the caribbean, Dhoni won the series but missed a huge oppurtunity. India is a good team but I think champions always keep raising the bar. Safety first really cannot be good idea, aggression and showing intent should always take first priority, coz the moment you let the opposition see a weakness they will be all over it. India must assert themselves more !

Above all, Dhoni or for that matter, all captains must understand they are there to play cricket for the crowd ! The crowd pays for the tickets and thats what allows the cricketers to actually play their most loved game and even earn a living out of it. They could have been working in some boring cubicle all their lives if not for the paying spectator !!!!! So as a player their biggest responsibility is towards the public that has turned out to watch !!!! How the heck can Dhoni decide to not go for 84 runs in 90 balls on that fateful day in Barbados is beyond me. The entire ground was full with spectators !!! Now dont blame anyone for Test Cricket’s demise !!!! The players must understand that a hard fought draw is another thing, but not playing while the public has paid for tickets is BLASPHEMY !!

Dhoni is GUILTY in my books ! period !

The turn around in Indian cricket began on that famous afternoon in Kolkatta when Dravid and Laxman batted like men possessed. It was sad to see they were the two at the crease and with such a petty chase in a series where we were sitting 1-0 up in the series, we chose to ABORT !!!!

Thinking of the Carribean tour I actually think we gained nothing from the series apart from perhaps watching Ishant regain his confidence and composure, can’t help but feel all the overs bowled in the carribean will do him a world of good in England. Perhaps Praveen was a relevation, coz I was always worried he cant get the ball through to the keeper at a decent pace, but he proved pace is not the only thing and his teasing, tantalising line and lenght and movement could probably have him playing ahead of Sreesanth alongside Zak and Ishant !!!!!!

That apart I dont really think Indian bowling was put under much pressure in West Indies as the batsmen were just not enterprising there so I am not really sure how much to read into the bowling performances.

The true test begins on 21st July, England are a more well rounded and balanced team, they would like to avenge their defeat on India’s last visit and actually increase more murmurs that they are the number one team and not India !

India on the other hand needs to squash all murmurs ! The Barbados fiasco didnt help !

I indeed dont think the English bowling can actually consistently bowl us out cheaply, way too much quality in our line up to fail regularly and that will be India’s strong point. Also I have always believed that Indian bowling is most competent in seaming, swinging conditions, whilst their quality batting ensures enough runs the help from the surface makes our bowling a lot more dangerous than on flatter surfaces !!!!

LONDON - AUGUST 13: The Indian team celebrate their series win against England during day five of the Third Test match between England pic courtesy : cricinfo.com

Greener, bouncier, livlier tracks should actually help Indians to win as our quality of batting will ensure the bowlers have enough in the bank to bowl !!!!

 

 

I hope Dhoni and his boys are thinking on the same lines !!!!

Exciting times lie ahead and I am hoping for an entertaining English Summer !!!!

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Next post : India’s chances and man to man comparisons and Swot Analysis and preview to the first Test !!!!