Eng-Ind - 2nd test preview

While the English press is already celebrating the win in the Lords test by saying that the team is a step away from being No.1, the Indian media is talking about the typical attitude shown by Indian teams in coming back from such situations. While both are partially true, the players must be quietly planning their own battles for the next test match with the hope that there will be enough support for their style of cricket.

Now, what should be the Indian approach in the next match to equalize the series? A number of small steps:

1. The famed batting lineup should come to the party. Rahul Dravid will most likely open the batting and he has to take this in the right spirit (and not just do it for the sake of the team).
2. Sachin Tendulkar has to forget the fact that he is one-century short of a landmark milestone. He cannot get bogged down by statistics and even though he will create history eventually, he has to free up his mind.
3. VVS Laxman has to blame himself for both his dismissals at Lords. If not, he has shown that he can correct his record in England. Will it start from this test? MSD will hope so.
4. Yuvraj Singh will be the player to take over from Gambhir and must ensure that his pie-chucking skills get Kevin Pietersen out quickly.
5. The Indian team should kindle Sreesanth in such a way that he performs with the ball and not lip-service.
6. Hope Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar have been kept in cotton-wool for the last 3 days. 
7. Harbhajan Singh should start flighting and turning the ball now. It has been high time he has led the attack and he should realize that his bag of wickets is not justifying his performance on the ground.

Yes, a long list of tasks but not impossible for the Indian team.

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Eng-Ind - England go up 1-0

The 100th test match between India and England went the way of the hosts in a match that, though affected by rain, was played in bright sunlight most of the days. Though one can point their fingers towards the bowling, the famed batting of the No.1 test team in the world did not come to the ground. Agreed that the absence of Zaheer Khan helped England's cause but it was the clinical efficiency of the English team was visibly evident in the performances. The winning margin was almost the deficit that India had after both the first innings was completed - this meant that the match was lost then and there.

A look at the Indian eleven reveals the pluses and minuses from the test match:

• Praveen Kumar. There was a question mark on his presence in the playing eleven. This match yet again, proved his worth to the team especially in such conditions. He was also a willing work-horse on whom MSD could go back repeatedly for an extended spell. Hope his fitness continues to be in the prime condition. His batting in the first innings showed how much Sehwag was missed by this team - the minute he started attacking the bowlers, the English were a bit disturbed.
• Rahul Dravid. Hope no one raises the talk about his retirement plans once again. Rahul showed in the first innings why he is such a vital cog in India's batting wheel. His technique has changed a bit but it has helped him overcome the mistakes he was doing in recent times. It was a real surprise that he could not continue further in the second innings. He kept wickets, opened the innings and caught some tough catches - what more can the man do?
• Suresh Raina. A dodgy decision in the first innings cut his knock short but in the second stint, he was the fulcrum of the Indian innings. He has showed in both the tours so far that he has worked hard on his shortcomings against the short ball and how. He was in no problems against the English bowlers during the innings - another attestation of Greg Chappell's prediction that he was a talent to watch out for.
• Ishant Sharma. If he had listened to Zaheer Khan in the first innings, the Indian team would have been in a much better position in the test match. He was listless in the absence of Zaheer but produced a dream spell in the second. If he can repeat such spells in the forthcoming test matches, India has a good chance to equalize the series quickly.
• VVS Laxman. His batting was in sync with his record of poor scores in the first test of a series (reflection of India's fortunes as well). He did well in the second innings but fell in both stints to his knack of pulling the ball in air. 
• Abhinav Mukund. His temperament was good in both innings and impressed all the greats in the commentary box. If he reaches out to Sunil Gavaskar before the second test, he will have better options to tackle the weakness of reaching out to wide balls. A good back-up for the combination of Sehwag and Gambhir.
• Zaheer Khan. Had dismissed both the openers on the first day before he walked out of the match. Has continued a knack of not playing all the test matches in an overseas series. The sooner he can make a reappearance in the eleven, the better the chances of India in the series.
• MS Dhoni. His batting seems to be still in B-mode while his captaincy was decent enough with all the issues going around in the team. The team was down to 8 fit men in the second innings and the captain did everything in his capacity to reduce the final target. It was a good move by him not to tax Ishant after the lunch on the fourth day, despite all criticism he received - remember the likes of Srinath and Prasad being overworked by Sachin Tendulkar leading them to severe injuries.
• Harbhajan Singh. There is no reason why Harbhajan is in the squad - maybe the team management think that it is not right to drop a bowler with 400 wickets. His outcome in this test (though Dhoni did support him) was the same as Suresh Raina - not to belittle either of them. He was clearly outperformed by Swann. The English bowlers knew the exact lengths to bowl to him also - making him ineffective with the bat as well.
• Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir has to get into his groove as early as possible. Obviously, his elbow will be in focus over the next three days. If Gautam can get going, the Indian team can seize the advantage over the bowlers quickly. Without Sehwag, India depends on GG to get going.
• Sachin Tendulkar. The legend was bogged down by a viral infection as well as the hype surrounding his 100th century. He is probably putting additional pressure on him to score the next century (also, getting one in Lords was worrying him also). Hope to see him back in his groove in the next test.

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England-India test series preview

• 2000th match in history of test cricket
• 100th test match between India and England
• 1st test in a new series between the No.1 and No.3 in ICC Rankings
• Sachin Tendulkar on 99 in the number of centuries (tests + ODIs)
• Sachin with a sub-40 highest score at Lords

It does not get any bigger than this as a build-up to the test series that starts this Thursday. The return of Sachin, Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth to the test squad will add strength to the Indian team. The English team is looking at the pinnacle of the ICC rankings by toppling the Indian team. 

The Indian team did not get good practice on English soil in the single warm-up match last week. The last time they toured, they played the ODI tri-series and two warm-up matches (one of them had Strauss in the line-up) before the first test. Obviously, the result of the series was 1-0 in favor of the Indians. This time, it is just one match against Somerset to adapt to the conditions. The English pitches typically suit the batsmen on a normal sunny day but change their stripes rapidly after a passing shower. This is where the Indian team has to be careful about. The English bowlers could not dislodge the Sri Lankan batsmen mostly during the three test series except for a bizarre session when the Lankans collapsed.

Players to look for will be Alistair Cook and Ian Bell from the English batting line-up. Andy Strauss and Kevin Pietersen will be under pressure thanks to their recent failures. Similarly, Rahul Dravid and Suresh Raina will be on the spotlight after their successes in the Caribbean islands. 

On the bowling front, Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma can support Zaheer Khan in driving the advantage towards India. Harbhajan's lack of form will be worrying but after his 400-wicket landmark, he will be itching to go flat out. How much Greame Swann can trouble the batsmen will be key to the English bowling attack when the ball does not do much. The tall bowlers will be looking for the pitch to help their height and swing but will the pitches help?

Shane Warne thinks England will win 1-0 but I feel that there is a high chance of a drawn series. 

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WI-India 1st test - India win the series 1-0

Being the No.1 team in the world, one expected the Indian team to win this series 3-0. Thanks to the team that was selected for the series (without SRT, Sehwag, Gambhir, Zaheer), the expectations was reduced and the public was not expecting a brown-wash. That the final verdict was 1-0 must be looked at as a good win for the team (with a new coach as well).

The first match was won by the team despite being in a precarious situation at one stage. Rain thwarted the victory march in the second test. The final test was going the Indian way till Kirk Edwards and Shiv Chanderpaul decided to show what they were made of. Chanderpaul has seen so much criticism come his way that he made his bat do the talking. There were talks that he was asked to quit test cricket and make way for younger generation - if his performance in this test was anything to go by, the youngsters have to prove themselves first before even thinking of taking his place in the eleven. Edwards on the other hand, looked shaky but went on to cobble a century.

The return of form of MS Dhoni and continued efforts of Suresh Raina, Abhinav Mukund and evergreen VVS Laxman were the highlights from the batting front. All this augurs well for the English tour where the four of them will most definitely play the Lords test match. Ishant Sharma bowled well again while Harbhajan improved his performance compared to the first 2 matches. The lack of penetration on the final day would worry Dhoni and Fletcher but with the return of Zak, there will be some solace.

Overall, a good tour for the Indians where they won 1 T20, 3 ODIs and 1 test match. Expected but nevertheless a decent result with the number of youngsters who were blooded in this series.

England, here we come.

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India tour starts in England later this week

The Indians have still not played their last day in the Caribbean at the time of writing this post. They start their tour in UK on the 15th with a tour match - 5 days to move across multiple time-zones and much tougher opposition. The Indian team composition will also differ (6 changes from the one that is playing West Indies).

Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir will be the prominent reinforcements to the Indian team. Virender Sehwag will be available from the second test onwards - Abhinav Mukund will play the role of an opener in the first test after performing his role to the best abilities. Dravid, Laxman and Sachin will be the strong middle-order that can take on any team in any conditions. They will be probably playing their last series in England and definitely looking forward to a fitting farewell. Suresh Raina has shown that he has got over his earlier weakness against the short ball by scoring fifties in this series. The inclusion of Yuvraj Singh is a good option to have but will he be present in the playing eleven? Very unlikely.  

The bowlers on the other hand will get a boost with the return of Zaheer Khan. The best left-handed bowler in the business today, Zaheer will provide the guidance to the rest of the pace bowlers who must have been tired after the latest test series. How quickly the likes of Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar recover from the travel and test match rigors remains to be seen. Ishant has come of age in the WI series and he will be raring to go. Praveen Kumar showed that he can be an asset in the test match scenario just like the ODIs. Add Sreesanth and Munaf Patel to the mix and you have a world-class combination that the English team management will be worried about. W Saha and Amit Mishra might be the journeymen in the tour who will play the tour matches but will do no more duties in the test matches other than carrying drinks (unless a severe injury puts out the keeper or spinner).

Leading this team from the front will be the best captain of India (even better than the successful Sourav Ganguly) - MS Dhoni. He has already toured the Old Blighty (under the captaincy of Anil Kumble) earlier and with the company of Duncan Fletcher must be ready with the strategy to lead his team to victory in the series against the Andys (Flower and Strauss). He showed glimpses of his batting form while his captaincy with the beleaguered team has been brilliant and spotless as ever.

My take on the test series - an Indian win (1-0) or a drawn series (1-1).      

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WI-India 2nd test - Laxman and Ishant nearly make it 2-0

Ishant Sharma with the ball and VVS Laxman with the bat almost got the win for India that would have enabled them to go up 2-0 in the test series. Bad light and rain had made the most impact on the match and they ensured that they will have the final say on the fate of the match.

Ishant Sharma had shown glimpses of form in the first test match - here, he took it a notch higher. It was very satisfying for the Indian fan to see him pinging the opposition batsmen on the helmet and then troubling them with his swing/seam. He was the leader of the pack and he came to the party whenever his captain asked for a breakthrough.

VVS Laxman, just like Rahul Dravid in the first test, held the Indian innings together after early inroads were made by the Windies pacemen. The short ball has never been a problem for the tall batsman - here also, he pulled out his horizontal bat whenever required to keep the bowlers at bay. Raina in the first and Abhinav Mukund / Rahul Dravid in the second innings gave him good company. He missed a century in both his innings but he would have been the happiest if India had gone on to win the match.

Mukund learnt from his own as well as the rival batsmen on how to survive and play on such wickets. His gritty performance meant that he was selected to continue in the Indian team for the England sojourn also. Suresh Raina continued to impress everyone with his gutsy performances - weaving and pulling whenever the ball was pitched short. He seems to have reclaimed his spot in the batting order during this series with the help of such timely knocks.

Harbhajan Singh again continued to disappoint - a bowler of nearly 400 wickets has struggled to pick up wickets once again. His friendship with the captain will be under strain now, because of such lackluster performances. It is time to look at Pragyan Ojha for the next test match.

MS Dhoni was involved in two incidents that could have made a difference to the verdict - one was his dismissal in the first innings of a no-ball (even though the TV umpire was involved, the wrong decision was given) while the other was the dropped catch by him of the wicket-keeper Baugh (Baugh and Bravo held the fort for Windies on the last day to ensure that the match would not be lost). Though it must be argued that, because of Dhoni's decision, the match came to life on the last-day after the declaration. One can say it was brave but obviously the form of Windies batsmen must have made it easy for MSD.

The last test match with India 1-0 up in the series. Will they make it 2-0 in Dominica?

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