The third test begins today in Edgbastaon .It’s an important test for India not only with respect to their current test ranking but also it’s a matter of self pride for team India as it’s not such a bad team that it would go down 2-0 in the series and that without putting up any fight. This team still has got a very strong batting line-up ,it’s just the case that the batting line up hasn’t played together in the past two test’s and those who have played were not able to perform. For the first time in the series the Indian team will be playing its full batting strength .It has only stronger with the return of Sehwag and Gambhir will be playing this test after missing the 2^nd test. The bowling department still lacks experience but they don’t lack in talent and skill and the bowling unit has done well in the past two test’s. However it can be said that had Zaheer not got injured it could well have been a totally different story in the series.

The batting still is a big worry as no batsmen other than Dravid has scored a hundred. Tendulkar got into some form in the 2^nd innings of the 2^nd test, Laxman has got start’s on a couple of occasions and also scored a fifty but then these are not up-to his standard’s ,Raina got a fifty at lords but after that has been troubled by the short pith bowling. The skipper has been totally out of form and in the last five tests has scored just a single fifty and he has to put up a good show .Gambhir hasn’t scored in the first test but can get his act together in the coming series .Sehwag hasn’t played in the series so far and in the practice match got out cheaply .Now just in case out of these seven any of three gets going and the rest four support them with useful contributions, it could just change the way the series is heading. For India it’s very important that the openers give them a good start and one of them scores a big hundred ,what it will do is that it will allow the middle order to play the not so new ball and hence less trouble for them .We have seen in the past two tests that the middle order has got to play the newish ball and they were not able to cope up with the swing and the seam movement and in trying to adjust to the movement got into their shell and didn’t play their natural game and got out.

The Indian team for the first time in the series might play with the full bowling unit .What made me write this is, in the first test with the injury to Zaheer the Indian were left with just three bowlers and among those three Harbhajan wasn’t at his best, while in the second test Harbhajn got himself injured and didn’t bowl that many over’s that were expected of him ,means again India played with only three bowlers .Hopefully in this third test India will be able to play with four bowler’s, three pacers and one spinner. The pacers have done their job quite well, specially P.K has been brilliant .He has bowled long spells with accuracy without much support from the other end and this shows that he has got a big heart .The only thing which surprises me is that he is not taking his batting seriously ,he is quite a capable batsmen and has scored runs for his state and that also at a brisk pace. Once he starts getting runs at no.9, it will be a great benefit for team India.

Just hope that the Indian batting line-up clicks in this test and the bowlers do their job and result in a test win and comeback in the series for team India.

The Indian team has got a tough test in the remaining of the two test’s .Firstly they need to play for pride and for that no.1 test position, they have to show to the world that they are a hard side to beat and can play tough cricket when pushed back to the walls. We have seen glimpses of a comeback in the 1^st innings of the second test but the failure in the second innings over-ruled it. It’s not that India can’t make a comeback ,but they have to fight it out as a unit .A Dravid or Tendulkar or for that matter a Sehwag can’t do it all alone .For India to make a comeback and draw the series level it has to be a team effort and it has to start right at the top from the openers.

The comeback of both the regular openers(Gambhir and Sehwag)will definitely boost the morale of the side as they have in the past showed what they are capable of. And if they give a good solid start of say a 100 plus then it could be a different game altogether as the batsmen’s that follow are quite experienced and so far in the series haven’t got the benefit of going out in the middle and play their game .Specially Tendulkar will be a totally different player when he plays his natural game and doesn’t gets bogged down to resurrect the innings,so will be the case with Laxman and the likes to follow.

The inclusion of Sehwag gives the side that edge over the opponent bowler’s. Sometimes the bowlers just try to over attack him in trying to get him out. He is a type of batsman who can demolarize any attack with his brutal onslaught which allows the batsman at the other end to play freely and without any pressure. He plays his cricket with such careless ease that when he gets out in that fashion nobody even complains. Sehwag has kept batting very simple , his style is to attack and that’s the best form of difference he knows. If he clicks along with the other batter’s then the way the Indian bowlers are bowling it won’t be a surprise that team India do well in the next two tests. And if Zaheer Khan gets fit to play the next two tests then it will be a totally different ball game for India .Hope it happens for the cause of team India.

The second is over within four days and has resulted in a big loss for the Indian team. After the first test loss, many would have thought that this Indian team will bounce back as they have done in past couple of years, that wasn’t the case this time around. The beginning was a great one, winning the toss putting the home team in and then reducing them to 124-8,then England went on to get 221.Half job was done by the English tail as the Indian batsmen were to struggle under those seaming and swinging conditions. Indians did hold the upper hand until that second new ball was taken and that spell from Stuart Broad. That changed the whole scenario of the match and after that the Indians were not able to repeat their first innings performance with the ball.

The only Indian batsmen who have looked in some sort of form in this series is Rahul Dravid, no doubt that he is known as the wall of the Indian batting .As we have seen in the two test’s when Dravid scored runs India got to 200 else they found it difficult to reach even that milestone. This is a big concern for the Indian captain along with his own form. It really gets very hard for a skipper to motivate his team specially when the team is not doing good, his key players getting injured ,his main batsmen’s not scoring runs ,his main bowler not bowling well and then his own form is not good.

The case is exactly opposite for the England skipper .Although he is not amongst runs but his key players are getting runs and big runs .Pietersen scored a double ton in the first test and in the second innings of the second test scored a good fifty .Trott also was amongst runs in the first test .Bell used up his opportunity of getting promoted and scored a big century. The lower middle order of Prior,Broad,Swann and Bressnan can get them runs any time and at brisk rate as well. This probably is the main difference between the two sides. England’s lower middle order has contributed in both the test’s, meanwhile the Indian middle order has hardly contributed.

Its going to interesting to see how the Indian team rises to this situation. They are a good side, we all know this, and with the coming of sehwag and zaheer (hopefully),in the third test it might just look a different side altogether .Also a week’s rest will give the bowlers the rest they badly needed. Sehwag has to adapt to the English conditions very quickly. He hasn’t played for a long time and has got only one practice game before the third test. What happens remains to be seen but to come out of such difficult conditions requires lots of character ,not from an individual but from the team as a whole.

So far the second test has been the case of lost opportunities by the Indians .They had England 120 odd for 8 and then they allowed England to reach a respectable 221,which under those swinging conditions was a good score and with the kind of bowling attack English team has got they could even bowl out opponents within this score. It was a far improved bowling performance by the Indian team and had they taken those last two English wickets ,it could well have been job well done .Shreesanth in particular bowled well, he pitched the ball up and swung the ball very late, which is hard to play. P.K was his usual self ,bowling within himself and bowling in the rite areas .Ishant too was superb with his accuracy and it all showed in the wickets column.

Indians started badly in their reply as Mukund was out to the first ball ,but then the two men who have done this resurrection work quite well in the last few years were at the crease and once again they didn’t let the Indian hopes down.They played every ball to its merit and left the ball well .They were involved in the best partnership of the match till then .Sachin Tendulkar again fell cheaply and so did Raina  .Then came the comeback man, Yuvraj Singh making a comeback after nearly a year applied himself well and played disciplined cricket and supported Dravid well .Their partnership was looking to take the game away from England until that new ball was taken .Broad first accounted for yuvi with the new ball and then he took a hat-trick that spoiled any chances of India’s taking a big lead. Dravid once again prove to all why he has been known as the wall of Indian cricket. His patience and determination to perform when the chips are down is just incredible. However Dravid was left alone and he perished in taking chance to score some quick runs.

A lead which could have been well over 100 was reduced to mere 67 runs, courtesy to that brilliant spell by Stuart Broad. Still it was a healthy enough lead for the Indians and had they got 2 or 3 wickets within this score then it could well have been India’s test .However this was not the case. They got 2 wickets for 57 but then it was England all the way, K.P and Bell played positive cricket and they counter attacked the Indian bowling and the pace trio of India didn’t had any answer to the onslaught by the two Englishmen .Their departure was followed by Morgan walking in and he played the way he has being known for .He also played attacking cricket and punished the Indian bowling and so did the batsmen to follow except for trot who was injured and wasn’t looking comfortable in the middle.

It was a brilliant and planned counter attack by the English team, for which the Indians didn’t had any answer. The Indian bowling is looking depleted with the absence of Zaheer and Harbhajan not bowling well and now getting injured. To add to this their batting order has also got disturbed by the injuries to Sehwag and Gambhir and that does make a lot of difference to any team’s combination. Both in the batting as well as in the bowling department the main openers are missing and that is causing dearly to the Indians .This test is also looking far from India’s reach and a loss won’t be a surprise. One can say that this test has been a case of lost opportunities by the Indian’s.

The first test of the much awaited India-England test series is over and England came out victorious. They were the better team for all the five days and never allowed the Indian team to get on top of them. Whenever there was that finest of chances of India getting on top ,England players came out with something special .To start it ,batting under the clouds with chances of rain, and with the Indian pace trio in good form ,it wasn’t easy for England .But they batted with patience and left the balls outside the off stump quite well, they were also helped by some bad bowling by the Indians .The Indian bowlers bowled far too outside the off stump and hence making it easy for the English batsmen .Then K.P played that outstanding knock which earned him the man of the match award. With the second new ball P.K bowled well but wasn’t supported by Ishant or Harbhajan ,to add to this Indian spearhead Zaheer khan pulled his hamstring and wasn’t able to bowl during the first test as a result of which England posted a mammoth total of in excess of 400.

The Indians got of to a decent enough start with both Mukund and Gambhir not having any sort of trouble against the swinging new ball.Mukund in particular was looking in superb touch until he dragged one onto his stump from way outside the off stump  .Gambhir was bowled of a ball that swung very late. Then we had a good partnership between Dravid and Tendulkar ,but as the things were looking to go India’s way ,Tendulkar edged one to the slips. After it was a sorry tale for the Indians because whenever they started to build a partnership they lost wicket .The only highlight was Dravid’s ton and the celebration from him said how special it was for him .India just managed to save the follow on but gave a healthy lead of 188 to the home team which is quite a big lead to win a test match, unless you falter in the second innings.

England’s second innings got off to a good start but were soon reduced to 60 odd for 5 from 52-1.It was a superb spell of fast and penetrating bowling by Ishant Sharma, who looked off colour in the first innings. Here again the Indian captain missed a trick .Ishant wasn’t given the ball after lunch and P.K and Harbhajan were not able to keep up the pressure .Finally when he was brought back into the attack, he picked up Morgan with a good short delivery, but after that it was all England as prior and broad batted wonderfully well .Here again the Indian team missed the services of Zaheer khan. Had Zaheer been there with England’s score 60-5, with his experience he probably wouldn’t have allowed the English team off the hook.

It was a tough ask for the Indian team to play 120 odd over’s or for that matter for any team .Nobody expected them to get to 484,but yes with the batting order they have one expected them to atleast put up a decent fight and to play down the over’s. That wasn’t to be the case as they got the start which was needed, then after surviving the fourth days play dravid got out early on the 5^th days morning. For, to have saved this test it was very important for dravid to play a long innings, that wasn’t the case this time .Then it was that painful innings from the master which we have often seen when he goes to save a test for india,Tendulkar went into his shell and allowed the bowlers to dictate terms to him. Now here ,had he played his natural game and got out nobody would have said a word but he allowed the bowlers to get on top of him and build pressure on him and the batsmen’s to follow.

Raina played well in the second innings under pressure and scored a good half century, but he had no support from the other end. Now it’s a very tough ask for the Indians to come back and win this series , though nothing can be predicted. Zaheer khan is not available for the second test and so is sehwag , a big disadvantage and to overcome such a big loss and come back stronger at your opinion needs to have a stronger character and this Indian team is capable of it .They have done this in past and it won’t be a surprise for me that they come up all guns blazing in the rest of the test series.

Its advantage England

I would say this not just because the English team are playing at home or the Indian team has not got enough match practice or for some other reason .The biggest reason I personally feel this is that the Indian batting line-up is minus sehwag and that makes a whole lot of difference to the make-up of Indian innings .Whether sehwag deliveres or not is a different question but his mere presence in the middle makes bowlers commit mistakes. He will score his runs at a brisk pace and will hit good balls for runs .He will never allow the bowler to settle .Take it this way that if he has hit 3 fours in a row, it’s not like he won’t go for the fourth one .He is just that type of a batsman. To add to this the batsman replacing him(Abhinav Mukund) has got experience of only 3 tests and has got only one score of over 50.No doubt about his capabilities as his domestic records show but then the conditions in England are totally different then back home.

The sehwag affect is such that it gives time to the batsman who are coming next to settle down, as the bowlers still try to get their act together after the sehwag onslaught .And it also gives a team to score more than 300 runs in a day and every chance of winning a test .It’s quite obvious that if a side gets a good opening stand then the batsman who follow in next have got their task cut out and specially if the side has got a middle order such as India’s then it’s very hard for the opposing side to contain the batsman.

If the Indian team has been able to win test matches in the recent past sehwag had a major role to play .He gave his bowlers a fairly good time to get 20 wickets .We saw in West Indies that we won it 1-0,it could have been 2-0 had we got sehwag there in the last test. He would have given the side that rollicking start that was needed at that time. One can now just wait to see how long it takes sehwag to get fully fit and play for India in the test series. Once he is there in the 11, it will be a totally different ball game. Sehwag is the unsung hero for team India in the test matches specially. Whatever happens , will be known to us in the match starting tomorrow.

England in the driver’s seat.

The first between the top two teams finally began with a delayed start because of rain. It was a good toss to win for the Indian captain and his decision to have a bowl first was just what the Indians would have liked. However the Indians didn’t start well, although they got the bowl the swing, specially Praveen kumar who swung the bowl both ways but wasn’t accurate at the start ,zaheer khan who was making a comeback to international cricket after the world cup took a little time to get into his own and when he finally got there he stretched his hamstring muscle and wasn’t able to bowl for the rest of the innings .Now that hurt India badly. India were one bowler short and to add to it Ishant wasn’t looking the bowler he was in the carribean and Harbhajan has been out of sorts for a long time now and here again he wasn’t the bowler whom we all know. For Harbhajan to get into his own, he needs to pick up wicket very early in his spell and once he does that he is a totally different bowler.

Well, now what can happen in this test match is an England win or draw. For India to win from this situation they have to bat very well and get atleast a hundread run lead over England. For this they need atleast two of their batsman to score big 100’s and useful contributions from the other three or four batsmens .Then it will be the bowlers turn to make amends for the first innings.Its a big question for the Indian bowling line-up whether they can take 20 wickets if Zaheer is not there to bowl. We have already seen the Indian bowling struggle in the first innings and now it’s interesting to see how the batters perform.

From England’s perspective they have nothing to loose , they should just look to attack and get the Indians out cheaply .They have got bowlers who will extract more bounce from the wicket then the Indian bowlers did and exploit the conditions better then what the Indians did. They have got the swing of Anderson,pace and bounce of Tremlett and Broad and spin of Swann. These four bowlers are very much capable of getting any side in the world out twice in three days. It’s just how they perform on that particular day. For England pietersen batted brilliantly .He was his usual self at the start and was struglling early on in his innings but as he spent his time in the middle he grew in confidence and started scoring freely and the last 40-50 runs he scored of his innings were a treat to watch. It was the K.P. of old or to say of his starting days.Trott and prior played crucial innings and supported K.P well .Prior in particular played good cricket .He came at a time when the ball was new and swinging and England had just lost couple of wickets in an over .He played his shots and scored at a brisk pace ,just what Gilchrist used to do for Australia.

Tommorow is very big day in the test match and the first hour or two would be crucial for India. If they survive the first session then the getting might just get a bit simple for team India ,else it’s going to be a tough journey.

The West Indian Tour

The  Indian tour of the West Indies so far has been of ups and down .The thing to be noted here is the team who has won the matches hasn’t played good cricket ,instead they have won because their opponent played bad cricket then them .Of the three one-dayers  which India won ,they registered quite easy wins during the first two ODI’S .In both the matches West Indies lost their way after being in good position .In the third ODI Indian team let West Indies off the hook after having them 6 down for under 100,they posted 240 in that game .Then the Indian team won the match after being 6 down for under 100.At that time West Indies team let Harbhajan and Rohit Sharma off the hook .In the last two matches the Indian team was of no match to their opponent .They lost by over 100 runs and then the last match by 7 wickets .We easily get the idea that both teams were not consistent .

For India only Rohit Sharma was consistent with the bat and he got rewarded by being named man of the series .Virat Kohli played well in two matches and scored 84 and 94.In the bowling department Amit Mishra was the highest wicket taker and was a kind of a mystery for the West Indian batsman .Munaf Patel has grown in confidence after the world cup and then bowling well in the IPL .He has rediscovered himself .Raina played really bad shots to get out which wasn’t expected by a man who has played more than 100 ODI’S and also who is the captain of the side .Shikhar Dhawan and Badrinath wasted the opportunity .Dhawan for me was out of sorts when the bowlers pitched short and struggled for his runs although he scored a fifty in the 2^nd ODI .Badri didn’t lived upto the expectations which has gained just because of his domestic record .He has got one of the best averages in domestic tournament and has been scoring 1000 plus runs for last 3 to 4 seasons now .But he failed at the highest level.

For the West Indies team the failure of Sarwan was a disappointment .They have found a very good all-rounder in Andre Rusell.He bowled well both with the new bowl and in the last overs and also scored useful runs down the order .The failure of big hitting batsmen Kieron Polard is a big concern .He has been scoring heavily everywhere except for the notional team .The two leg spinners Bishoo and martin also showed that they belong to this highest level .Bishoo as we saw in the world cup has kept up his good work going  and he will only get better with experience and should go on to become a great leg-spinner .Martin has done a good job in the limited opportunities he got.

Over all if we have a look at the West Indian team ,  its quite a good bunch of youth and experience .If everything goes on well and these players play for couple of years together they will definitely become a force to reckon .They have got a very good fast bowler in Roach  .Good all-rounders in Sammy bravo and Rusell .Power hitter like Polard.good openers as Adrian Barath and simmons .A very young and exiting prospect in Darren Bravo .Keeper who can contribute with bat(Carlton Baugh).International cricket needs this West Indian to become better as they have gone the downslide for over a decade now, and also to increase the competition in International cricket.

Its been a strange World Cup….I say it strange because the teams have lost from nowhere and won from rather hopeless situations .England have come out as the most unpredictable team in Group-B .They played six games and all of them went down to the wire. The game against India was the game of the World Cup so far .And in my opinion that was the game that set the Cup Alive .Until that game it was a dull World Cup .But after that one can hear people talking on the roads who will be playing today and all those talks about the team and the game plan .Then they lost to Ireland after setting them a total in excess of 320,then they beat South Africa when they were shot out for 170 odd .And then they lost again to Bangladesh after getting their 8 wickets and Bangladesh still needed 50 odd runs .They were down and out of the World Cup until West Indies in their familiar manner collapsed ,loosing 4 wickets for 3 runs. Just to keep England’s hopes alive.

Ireland has been the team for me in this World Cup .They looked far better then the other associate nations .They beat  England courtesy to that brilliant 100 by Kevin ’O’ Brian .But after that both the team and Kevin were not able to live to the expectations of the people which they themselves ignited. Their loss to Bangladesh would have been heartbreak for their supporters. They fought hard against the Indian team, but I guess their lack of exposure to International cricket was the main reason for their performance. This team has got the capability and is a team to watch out for the future.

The South African team has looked the best in the group so far apart from their loss to England .Their run chase against India was a very planned one .They didn’t panic , their main aim was to give a solid start and then accelerate in the end and they executed it very well. They were helped by some very sloppy batting by the Indian batsman in the late over’s and some bad bowling in the last over’s .Today if the African team wins they will top the pool and if not so then we will have to wait for the game between India and West Indies. Indian team so far is yet to play to their potential,Nehra  and Harbhajan Singh are far better bowlers then they have performed so far .I Wish Indian team ALL THE BEST….

In this article let me tell you about the team which has gone from strength to strenght since the time they came into recognition of International cricket.Its team Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka a very small Island nation but has got huge amount of talent in cricket.Over the last decade or more they are a force to recokn.They have got everything which a team should have to win a World Cup.They have got good all-rounders,batsman who can give them that rolliking start and then batsman who can steady the falling innings and bat through the full overs.Then they have got the biggest advantage of playing in home conditions.They have got an exellent home record,better than most of the cricketing nations.
Now lets discuss about the team Sri Lanka has got.They have got Dilshan at the top who can destroy any bowling attack in the World and he has established himself as one of the best in the World,then he can bowl his off-spin whenever necessary.Then they have got Sangakara,Jayawardena,Samarweera….All with huge amount of expereince and a lot of potential.Sangakara and Jayawardena in particular have got the capabiity to t and turn any match around as they have got the capability to milk the bowling around and hit those lusty blows when necessary.Samarweera is a batsman who usually likes to bat through the innings,but a very expereinced cricketer and used to home conditions very well.Then they have got Angelo Mathews,a very young and talented cricketer and in the recent past Sri Lankan team has depended on him more often than not.A good all-round cricketer who can also bowl seam up.
Coming to the bowling of Sri Lankan team.Fast bowling lacks a little bit in expereince as there is only Lasith Malinga on whom a captain can rely any time.He has got good pace and in slog overs he is very hard to hit.He has got those toe crushing yorkers and a very good slower ball.Apart from him the fast bowlers are not that expereinced.But then to compensate this they have got a world class spinner in as Mutthaiya Murlidharan.He has got everything which a spinner needs and in this old age also he is brilliant feilder.He would also give his all as he will be playing his last world cup.Then they have Mendis and Herath.Two very good spinners.In all a very good and competetive unit,exellent feilding side and right there at the top to win the World CUP……Keep an eye on them…..