India v England, 1st Test, Ahmedabad, 15-19 November, 2012

It would be worth India playing Ojha just so he can bowl at Pietersen. Although Yuvraj seems to be the one who has the wood on him.

I do think Ojha is a very good bowler though, but for some reason India haven't trusted their left arm spinners in recent times. Murali Kartik was prematurely tossed aside as well.

I doubt that Harbhajan has usurped Ojha for a test spot.

taipan wrote:
If he can cause that much difficulty in 4 overs imagine the problems he will create in 30 overs.

Aye, he could take 30 wickets in 30 overs. Sort of.

Brass Monkey wrote:

taipan wrote:
If he can cause that much difficulty in 4 overs imagine the problems he will create in 30 overs.

Aye, he could take 30 wickets in 30 overs. Sort of.

And ten extra monkeys too. Unstroppable force.

The last time Bhajji 'ruined' any side in a test was 2 years back. After that he has wasted 5-6 tests for a pathetic 13 wickets. Dhoni is twat enough to try and force Bhajji at the expense of one of the 2 young guys in the side. He has done it in the past and shown enough favoritism towards his buddies like Bhajji and Raina.

I don't know what Vijay is doing in the side except to add pressure to the other 2 non-performing prima donas Shitwag and Ghati. Except that having a non-performing opener to threaten the other 2 non-performing openers to perform also makes even little sense.

It's a proper 'Ashley Giles' pick. Ashwin can't be dropped (353 @ 39, S/R 72, 49 wickets @ 26.5) so I don't actually see what Ojha has done wrong (33 wickets at 21 in his last five Tests), added to the fact he's a leftie...

Still, may as well play 3 spinners, just in case England last more than 40 overs.

I still wouldn't play Compton because I don't think Bairstow deserves to be dropped in order to accommodate him. And of course they wont drop Bell. And of course KP will get picked.

After Gambhir with his 'yeah yeah so what if Sehwag and I have been $hite for 2 years, as an opening pair we still have a career average of 53' self- inflating nonsense, Bhajji comes up with his own Brand of 'immortalia'. Can I say 'immortalia'? It rhymes, admittedly badly, with 'genitalia'.

Immortalia genitalia linky

"A good bowler should not be only judged by his wickets count, his skillful bowling methods should also be taken into account," Harbhajan told PTI in Mohali

"During the time I was out of the Indian team I got time to work on different aspects of the game. I captained Punjab team and also the Mumbai Indians. I think I have become a good listener and can handle things on the field in a better way."

In other words, he has improved as a bowler by not taking wickets and listening well.

Perhaps he should improve as a human being by not breathing and squinting really hard.

Overpaid, lazy, arrogant qunts with egos the size of Russia. Sums up 90% of international cricketers these days, really.

"A good bowler should not be only judged by his wickets count"

if it wasnt for the fact that he has taken 300+ wickets he wouldnt have ever been considered again. maybe he should just shut up. or sreesanth should make him

The England selectors must have a problem.

Cook aside, the only three batsmen who have hit the bhoomi running are the ones who presumably were at best competing for one place (at 6).

I presume they will now go with:

Cook
Compton?
Trott
Pietersen
Bell
?--?
Prior
Broad or (at 10) Meaker/Onions
Swann
Anderson
Panesar - hard to see him not playing, so only two seamers.

Disasters apart, you'd think they hardly need Sam's spin if they have 2 1/2 spinners there already, so I presume he would be there for his batting. On the other hand, if it's batting they want, there is centurion Bairstow - but so far at least, he's not noted for brilliance against proper spin, and India are likely to have three (and a bit?) of these up and running. And thirdly, Morgan is fragile in Tests.

We have to pick batsmen who are in form. So that means both Bairstow and Samit playing, and either Bell opening with Cook, or Compton opening and Bell being dropped.

I think it's unlikely they'll now suddenly hop Bell up to 2. Woudl seem a panic measure, for a start.

Or drop him. They believe in his skills against spin.

They believe in Bell full-stop. And why not? At the end of the day he averages 46 over 80 tests with 16 hundreds. So sure, play him. But he's proven to be pretty poor against spin on slow pitches, so is the middle order his best spot in Indian conditions?

Then there's young Bairstow, who if England were to stick with their pecking-order, backing a guy and sticking with him etc philosophy, will be playing in the first test. England wouldn't have dropped a guy one test after such success since Graeme Hick back in 1998. It just goes against everything they've been practising and preaching for the last 13 years.

And Samit. I just get the feeling there's no way they wont pick him. Especially now that they know he's a pretty damn good player of spin compared to most English batsmen. Plus his reasonable left arm spin is an attraction for them.

And the alternative to picking these three guys is playing one of two rookie openers in less than ideal form. Should be a no-brainer, imo.

Remember when last year, people were all like 'orrr gorrsh, Ian Bell'th wicked... he'th averaging over, like, 100s and shit.'? Where's that now then? Why aren't we talking about his stats now? It's OK... at least I like to obtain some balance:

2012:

11 Tests, 500 runs @ 31.25, 0 tons.

Balance, people.

I'd still have him over Compton or Root for this series. If either of those two average 31, it will be considered a "promising" series for them.

England have a problem whichever way they go here.

1. Don't select or move in the order one of Trott, KP and Bell. Can't see that happening, pretty sure they'll be 3, 4 and 5.

2. Drop Bairstow - harsh.

3. Don't select Patel - pretty nonsensical on the basis of what he's done so far.

4. Select Fat Sam as one of only 4 bowlers - too risky.

It would be a big call, but one option could be to take a punt on Bairstow opening the batting?

His game is not really set up for opening, and it would certainly be a risk, but it would solve the conundrum of trying to avoid one of the above.

Not necessarily what I'd do, but was an interesting idea someone else came up with elsewhere.

I wonder whether they'd consider it?

Good to "see" you, Bob! ~ Hope you're well

Yeah, very well thanks, Peter.

Knew it had been a while, but shocked it has been so long.

How's yourself?

Goodness. Nothing like the imminent start of a Windies v Bangladesh test series to bring long lost forummers out of hiding!

Henry wrote:Goodness. Nothing like the imminent start of a Windies v Bangladesh test series to bring long lost forummers out of hiding!

Well that is the big one...

...what are we doing even talking about England's tour of BanIndia with that one round the corner anyway?!

Well here's a blast from the past. Welcome back.

Taips.

Keeping up the fine tradition with the avatars I see. Good work.

Not three bad, Bob, thanks.

Before Skulls jumps on you and pleads for at least 0.3 k posts a month .... I hope you revisit more often, as time and inclination allow, but that's not pressure! The place is better for all deeply-felt and reflective cricket input.

Splendid.

And yes, I might well do.

Have been doing most of my forumming over recent times on Battrick, but have wound my team down on there now having got bored of the rubbish gameplay shortly after getting it to the #1 rank in England. In fact, I think a chap called Mr Prez may have called in here a while back after I tipped him off on the Battrick forums.

Any road, bottom line is I'll probably have a bit more time in the evenings and at weekends that I'm now looking to waste, and as I recall this place and the C4 forum before it were amongst the more enjoyable places I found on t'interweb to p*ss away time that could otherwise be used more gainfully elsewhere!