West Indies in India (2011)

Originally posted by Mikey Wow , that's mammoth and Sachin's record doesn't survive long. Zuhair is right though, the game has definitely moved in favour of the batsmen and no surprise we see another 400+ score in an ODI innings. It does make it hard now to compare ODI's between eras, just like it is with test. ODI game is so much different now.

Not really Mikey, to some extent these powerplay makes it easier , that said there is more risk for player in getting out .

Edited by MalhotraRaj84 - 08 December 2011 at 5:09pm

Sammy can surely bowl sam. His test match statistics are better than many around

India are a damn good side especially when playing at home, there is no doubting that. Their batting depth is amazing. They keep producing quality batsmen all the time. They will be a tough side to beat for sure. Their bowling has also improved of late but still lacks some bite especially when it comes to knocking off the tail. but otherwise a really good side they are

Originally posted by zuhair_abbasi India are a damn good side especially when playing at home, there is no doubting that. Their batting depth is amazing. They keep producing quality batsmen all the time.

Bit like Australia's fast bowling depth at the moment. Where the hell were all these young quicks last summer?

I agree BP , it's not an invincible Indian side because the bowling is pretty ordinary.  Having said that , England just couldn't find a way to pressurise them with bat or ball , they just didn't adapt to the conditions.  Next year they've a full test series in India and if getting belted gives them some idea of the mountain they have to climb , then 5-0 might just be a blessing.
          I don't think there's a test side that prepares better than England nowadays and I'm confident that we'll much closer , come the end of the series. 

I think they will fare rather well in the Tests against India in India. Good players of spin in Bell, Morgan and Pietersen. Also, the batsman won't be under pressure to constantly score so the effectiveness of the likes of Ashwin will reduce to some extent. Their only issue would be how to get the Indians out on placid pitches. Anderson and Broad have never really done much in the subcontinent so they will be relying a lot on Swann. I expect India to play him with ease though so bowling, unlike the recent series, will be their main concern. 

Reverse swing is the key and I'm confident that Anderson , Broad and Bresnan will cause enough problems.  The boys arrive in SA today for two weeks conditioning - they want to hit the ground running , come day one of the first match.

Further setbacks before Australia tour. Looks like for Boxing day ... Australia will get rid of Hughes and Johnson (already ruled out)  . While dangerous Warner will be preffered and Watson will be back. That is the reason I wanted Hughes to be succesful to some extent, so that Warner does not get enough chances (atleast till Indian tour).

Edited by MalhotraRaj84 - 09 December 2011 at 3:55pm

Originally posted by sam_ahmed Others can overtake too Raj, although I hope no one except Pakistan do!  I'm very clear about this actually, I really feel India, Sri Lanka are two teams that have gone past their peak period, I might be getting this feeling because a lot of their senior players are gone or are about to go and their recent away performances have been poor.

Sam, even if India's complete 11 second string players play for another 2-3 years, still they will be in top four.

One interesting question.  Where would Virender Sehwag end up being rank in terms of great batsman against spinner?  No spinner has been able to tame Sehwag whatsoever from memory.  He has even toyed with Murali and when Mendis was a mystery, he was one of the very few who made it look so easy.  Narine recently has been hard for others to hit but Sehwag greated him with a 6 and continue to de-mystify him.

I've always rated Sehwag as a great player of spin, i'm starting to even think about rating him ahead of Sachin as far as that goes.  Call me nuts but Sehwag completely destroys them and even have one of the deadliest late cut in the game.

Only Vettori for spinner i've seen Sehwag been quiet against.  He really has a great eye, you can see his plays them off the pitch and makes it look so easy.

Originally posted by MalhotraRaj84 Originally posted by sam_ahmed Others can overtake too Raj, although I hope no one except Pakistan do!  I'm very clear about this actually, I really feel India, Sri Lanka are two teams that have gone past their peak period, I might be getting this feeling because a lot of their senior players are gone or are about to go and their recent away performances have been poor. Sam, even if India's complete 11 second string players play for another 2-3 years, still they will be in top four.   EDIT: The other thing to note is , India have played with lot of youngsters over last few years.They have rotated lot of youngsters.The results have been good enough so far. I haven't seen anything of note in teams other than AUS,SA or ENG which suggests that others can overtake them.

Edited by sam_ahmed - 10 December 2011 at 8:24am

I think there are better modern day players of spin bowling than Sehwag. Dravid, Gambhir, Sachin, Clarke etc. are all more consistent and technically more sound than Viru. It's only his complete domination at times that makes him seem so competent. Don't get me wrong, he is still very good against spin but there are better players.

For the next game, I want to see India give Pathan a go ahead of Mithun. I don't know what the selectors were thinking selecting this bloke for the Australia tour, if he plays in one of the games then the man is going to get slaughtered. Parthiv also has one last chance to be reserve WK for AUS/IND/SL ODI series but I think he will likely fail and hopefully, that will prompt the selectors to give an opportunity to someone else.

As for WI, why even play Sammy? He definitely has a role to play in T20 and Tests but ODIs, the guy is just a waste of a place. He is scared to bowl himself, he bats below Russell and rarely contributes and isn't exactly an electric fielder. Just drop him for ODIs and give the captaincy to someone else. Who would take over captaincy though in the absence of Chanders, Sarwan, Gayle? Samuels? 

BP, I really don't rate batsmen on technique, as at the end of the day, i'll take Gayle over Ganga.  Can you recall Sehwag really being outfoxed by a spinner from a googly etc?  I've seen Dravid outfoxed by a Dave Mohammed Googly before.  Mendis couldn't trouble Sehwag while he did it to Laxman and Dravid.  Dravid is technically sound and fast to get back on the back foot but watching the way Sehwag has batted to Mendis, Murali etc, he's handle them better than Dravid. 

I think the majority of spinners will tell you they rather bowl to Dravid than Sehwag.  Putting a spinner to bowl inside of the powerplay to Sehwag is like committing suicide!

If not Pakistan then I'd be very much happy to see India be No.1 again Raj, I mean I would prefer India to be No.1 rather than some other nation. Just that I don't think it'll  happen in near future, that too not exactly because the trio will be gone (that is one of the reasons) but more so because the bowling is just not good enough.

Originally posted by sam_ahmed If not Pakistan then I'd be very much happy to see India be No.1 again Raj, I mean I would prefer India to be No.1 rather than some other nation. Just that I don't think it'll  happen in near future, that too not exactly because the trio will be gone (that is one of the reasons) but more so because the bowling is just not good enough.

With the bowling attack of Vinay Kumar and Mithun their goal should be to stay in the top 4 and stop dreaming about no.1