Will be interesting to see what changes India make , Thakur and Krishna were expensive, Siraj is a liability but I don't know what other seamers they've got - if Arshdeep is around then he'd be a good bet to come in. I'd assume Bumrah will play with a week's gap.
Sai and Karun Nair probably get the second test to prove themselves.
Will be interesting to see what changes India make , Thakur and Krishna were expensive, Siraj is a liability but I don't know what other seamers they've got - if Arshdeep is around then he'd be a good bet to come in. I'd assume Bumrah will play with a week's gap.
Sai and Karun Nair probably get the second test to prove themselves.
They're in a bit of a pickle with their insistence that Bumrah will only play three Tests. It would make sense if he were to play the first, third and fifth. But I can't see how they can afford to drop him for the next Test, without risking going 2-0 down - that would be very hard for them to recover from.
Astonishingly, given the environmental conditions, Bumrah went wicketless in the fourth innings - his second-worst fourth innings figures in Tests. So, to an extent, all their seamers managed to put in a convincing argument to be dropped. This is a lot of fun.
There's a decent gap before the second test, so hard to argue he needs resting for that. But then it would mean he misses the third test, at Lord's, and I'm sure Bumrah would want to play in that.
Their seam bowling depth seems really poor as well, no wonder they play home tests against us on raging turners.
I agree with Bumrah, his back issue is a problem to them. Ideally they would have wanted to go one nil up to be able to rest him at Edgbaston, but that is now unlikely. Missing Lords with the possibility of being 2-0 down…mouth watering.
Is it me or have the English commentators been showing a bias towards India? Maybe they are looking for IPL work...
Nasser Hussein always does but then he has Indian heritage. Ravi Shastri is Indian. Isa Guha's parents are Indian. Mel Jones whilst English born was an Australian cricketer.
Mark Butcher was the stand out one for me. Shastri is as biased for them as Botham was for us
Is it me or have the English commentators been showing a bias towards India? Maybe they are looking for IPL work...
Nasser Hussein always does but then he has Indian heritage. Ravi Shastri is Indian. Isa Guha's parents are Indian. Mel Jones whilst English born was an Australian cricketer.
For some reason I always believed Nasser Hussain had Pakistani heritage.
Comments
They do not care about history - they will go and chase any total, and by & large, make it look far easier than conventional wisdom says it should be.
Sai and Karun Nair probably get the second test to prove themselves.
Also, first match it ages that the whole office was following
Astonishingly, given the environmental conditions, Bumrah went wicketless in the fourth innings - his second-worst fourth innings figures in Tests. So, to an extent, all their seamers managed to put in a convincing argument to be dropped. This is a lot of fun.
Their seam bowling depth seems really poor as well, no wonder they play home tests against us on raging turners.
New Zealand - 2
Pakistan - 1
South Africa - 1
England - 6
Everyone else - 0
How many times has each team successfully chased 290 or more in the last three years?
Pakistan - 1
England - 4
Everyone else - 0
Australia are currently playing West Indies. None of the Australian team are in the top twelve.
Same, but in reverse, for the bowling rankings.
And while some commentators are like cheerleaders, others are more dispassionate or can still praise the opposition when they do well.
Certain people here think Steve Brown wants Charlton to lose when he praises a bit of good opposition play for example.