Yh agreed kav. The problem with india is they dont even have anyone who can replace dhoni as a captain as none have any leadership credentials.

imo we really should hire wasim akram as a bowling coach and dravid as batting and slip catching coach until after WC. Gambhir imo will play his last game for india next match if selected. Has looked very very poor and hasnt improved a bit since his struggles from 2011

It will take a huge effort for India to comeback and draw the series. firstly not bowled England out twice in the last 2 tests. infact not once.
Think India need to dispence with Jajeda hes not upto it.
why not go back to Dhawan and play gambhir in the middle order?..

Gambhir will be poor wherever he plays whoelse he's utterly inept against the ball that seams or swings even a fraction and hasn't played a test match for yonks before the last one.

Viru as for our bowling Wasim Akram would be a phenomenal bowling appointment. Can't see it though - Pakistanis would go nuts. He has done well with the Kolkata seamers in the IPL also and knows what he's talking about - also helps he's actually a winner unlike the loser mentality bowlers we currently have.

Jadeja's spin bowling hasn't worked in England. Aswin will probably play the next test. He went wicketless, but should have been bowled more with attacking fields. Is there a spinner in the Indian squad than can bowl fast leg breaks? My dad recalls a freakish Indian spinner by name Chandra who could rip through any batting line-up on his day.

To be fairly honest India dont have any batsmen or bowlers that are international standards.the team that that is playing right now is probsbly the best we have.

Viru - like many teams, they just struggle overseas, especially outside of the sub continent.

The performance last test was probably the most gutless performance I've seen. They gave up. Did not even try to bat the day out.

Kohli, the boy wonder, looks aweful.

I bet they will do ok in the ODI's and all will be forgiven.

Vijay and Rahane look good. Dohni has done ok.....but it stops there.

Bowling..we'll looks like we need Sharma, which sdays alot for our attack.

Jadeja and Ashwin have just turned into your typical 20\20 players (which, given the money on offer is understandable that some players choose to follow this path)

I had high hopes for Dhawan and Pujara this series, both have been a let down.

Where the next Dravid\Laxman\Kumble will come from..who knows.

It says alot that our best spinner in the whole country is Jadeja and Ashwin. It doesnt help how dhoni handles them.

Sometimes I wonder whether blaming dhoni is even fair. The players are just equally liable considering they dont want to take responsibilities.

I guess after this series it would be fair to say that we shouldnt really expect much from this team. BCCI at the end are to blame as they have done nothing since the first whitewash we had in 2011. This will carry on until we produce good pitches that help fast bowlers and in return they can develop new skills. Our pacers only know how to bowl straight. they have no skills whatsoever.

I think deep down the team and dhoni knows that the team is not capable of winning and hence even when a small partnership builds they drop their shoulders and lose concentration. This results in the dropping numerous catches.

I know India haven't taken 20 wickets.. But I think the best option is to bat first at the oval.. and get a large score and then allow Ashwin to bowl later on in the game.
4 attack of Kumar/sharma/ Aaron Ashwin

Bat Gambhir at 6 and Dhoni 7.
I think the forecast aint to bad for the game..

Looks weak in bowling.. But if India can get some kinda lead to take into the 3rdd innings.. Ashwin bowling last.. India have a chance of a result.

Yes I think we will go with 7 batsman in this game especially considering most of the batsman are out of form. Hard to see how dhoni will go with 5 bowlers now.

Why would Dhoni bat at 7? He's been the best india have had after Rahane.

Oval is generally a flat track, if the suns out, I reckon it'll end in a draw. Will be interesting to see how India tackle Moeen- third time lucky?

Thats true afridi. I personally think we should bat Rahane at 4. We have been losing 3/4 wickets in quick succession and this is adding alot of pressure on Rahane and despite being in good form he has been bogged down by consistent pressure. And dhoni at 6.

Dhoni as been coming into early..

Think England will make any changes? Maybe give Finn a chance?

any law that restricts selecting women in the mens team? If not wont be a bad idea to pick a few of the bowlers in the team. They seem to be showing the men how to play cricket. it doesnt matter to them if they havent played tests for 8 years and that also in alien conditions. whereas this lot always have the excuse that the team is inexperianced.

dhoni skipped the practice session today. so he will only have a few hours tomorrow before taking part again. Not sure if he cares whether the team loses or not.

On the other hand we had cook pracicing by himself 4 days before the Southhampton test to improve his batting. Here we have the indian team attend football matches in Manchester and Chelsea when the team is losing. This will look even bad if we get thrashed on friday.

Its like a paid holiday.

comment by englandwhoelse (U16825)
posted 21 hours, 35 minutes ago
Dhoni as been coming into early..
----------------------------------------------------------------------
coming into what early...?

oh - in too early...

The indian women would do better right now..
Binny
Pankaj
Kohli
Pujara

You gotta laugh. all the commentators biggin up Pujara. the man cant get the ball of the square.

England dont be too happy yet. Scoring against India doesnt really make your batsman world class does it. I think you already know that we are the team that gets the out of form batsman in form. Lets see how your batters do against a more potent attack.

I really think we should start grooming a young opener now. Both Dhawan and gambhir are pretty old and they have technical deficiencies which are hard to change IMO.

We should probably look to groom the likes of Mukund/Jiwanjot singh. They are both very young and the more they play the better they are going to get. We should try them out in WI series and see how they perform.

India's best option is still to pick 2 spinners v England, especially at the oval. Is there seriously no other spinner than jadeja?? What's happened to piyush chawla?

dhawan,
vijay,
pujara,
rahane,
ashwin,
kohli,
dhoni,
kumar,
(spinner),
ishant,
aaron

Nah Spinners aint going to do much damage. I Think one spinner is enough. Oval aint going to be a rank turner. If its going to help the spinners, then ashwin should be enough. Its not like jadeja is a good spinner to do any damage. I think our main concern is how do we pick the first 10-15 wickets when its not going to really do much for spinners.And that is why IMO we need 4 pacers. Indian pacers in general are not that good especially for a long period of time. So India need 4 pacers so that they can each contribute abit.

And that doesnt mean picking medium pacers like Binny and one dimensional pacer like Pankaj singh. IMO if we are really up for winning, Ishant, Bhuvi, Varun and Shami should be in the team. I know Shami has been wayward but he can be a handy pacer especially if used in short spells.

I think as far as the playing 11 is concerned, gambhir is set to play this match as well. And maybe the last time we will see him play for India. Hasnt been consistent at all in any forms of the game, be it first class cricket on the flattest tracks in India. Not sure how he even managed to get the plane here.

Pujara and Kohli will have to fire. If they fail so will our middle order. IMO they have already done damage to their reputations quite a bit, and will need to perform here and in Australia to redeem their reputations and maybe even their careers.

"any law that restricts selecting women in the mens team? If not wont be a bad idea to pick a few of the bowlers in the team. "

Any law that restricts men playing for women's XI? Trade Robson and Jadeja to their respective women's teams.

Eng will win....so far my prediction have all been wrong. Hope that carries on this match

A bit random I know, but a quality interview with ICC president....

http://wp.me/p4Fb9D-tU

I see one more medium pacer in the touring India squad - Pandy. Is he any good?

What ever happened to Munaf Sharma? Injured?