2nd Test: India v England at Visakhapatnam on Nov 17-21,

[Dr Cricket]

Looks like someone changed teams again what happened to your support for BCCI ahead of ECB in this series.

I am not fond of either. But BCCI fans (not talking about the fans on here except one ) are absolutely unbearable. No better sight than seeing them lose and crib.

BTW not talking about you Adi or Red.

TBH thought you were talking about me and made me chuckle.
Very important toss though without Ashwin think india would have lost the game.
thought batting on day 4 was tricky and ashwin scored a vital 70 runs that saved the game, was awful with the ball though.

Not sure any game where the first 3 days are flat is fair on both team look at this game.
england had 2 day on the best pitch, india 1 day and they had to work hard on day 4 to stay with england.

Actually a good performance from india reckon with Dhoni in charge india lost the game, although they were awful with the ball they need to be better otherwise england going to draw or win another game soon.

[meninblue]

I know it could be tough for players but very lovely for fans to get to watch next test so soon.

[Dr Cricket]

I know it could be tough for players but very lovely for fans to get to watch next test so soon.

think the players would like 1 more day to enjoy vizag though, not sure many will be able to walk the beach or see the beautiful area.

[Arthur Crabtree]

What do England do about Anderson in the second Test?

Not pick him, the team did well.

Pick him and drop a batter as Stokes is injured and struggling to bowl.

As above but leave out a spinner.

Or leave out one of Broad or Woakes?

If, as promised, Visakhapatnam will be a borderline dustbowl, it makes sense to play the extra spin. Not because two can't do a job (two would be fine with Swann and Monty) but because England's spinners aren't established enough, apart from Mo, to be completely relied upon. And are they versatile enough? Rashid, for example, is being kept away from the newish ball.

I'm not sure leaving out a batter makes sense on a promised bowlers' pitch. I'd keep Duckett at four, rather than move Moeen up there, followed by Stokes and Bairstow at 5/6.

If Anderson is one of England's best two seamers, he should play, and one of the other pace bowlers make way. Apparently, the Indian batters didn't play spin that well in Rajkot, and spin took the most wickets. Tough decision, but if Anderson comes back, Broad or Woakes should be dropped.

Other decision: Ansari or Batty?

Can't see Buttler/Ball/Ballance/Finn coming in.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Rahul will be back for India.

Looking at the performers of openers in the past twelve months, against recent trends, they have been doing well, accepting that apart from England, no one has been playing enough for the figures to be that robust. In terms of averages, Warner and Cook are way down the list, and I'd say they were the established top two by reputation. There have been several memorable performances by openers in the last 12 months.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe a taster for end of season awards on CMS!

[Gingerfinch]

I saw one headline in one of the papers that we have our Tendulkar, with regards to Hameed. No pressure!

[rich1uk]

I saw one headline in one of the papers that we have our Tendulkar, with regards to Hameed. No pressure!

can he bowl legspin tho ?


just an aside, shouldn't this thread be in the "Live Cricket" section ?

[mikesiva]

I saw one headline in one of the papers that we have our Tendulkar, with regards to Hameed. No pressure!

can he bowl legspin tho ?


just an aside, shouldn't this thread be in the "Live Cricket" section ?

Done!

[hopeforthebest]

The general story from the media seems to be that Anderson will have to wait as there'll be no changes for England. Cook might not be thrilled by that.

[Dr Cricket]

Doesn't cook pick the side and selectors pick the squad.

[Dr Cricket]

Looks like the toss might not matter too much with the way the groundsman describing the pitch.

[Dr Cricket]

Rahul likely to come in for Gambhir.

[Dr Cricket]

Actually baffles me how the toss could be important if the pitch turns from day 1 or very early in the game.
the batting will be the same difficulty batting first or 2nd in both innings.
in the first innings the advantage of batting first might be worth 20-30 runs which can easily be made up by better bowling or batting by either side and in the 2nd innings the lead or trail is more important than actually batting last, although chasing 200 + can be tricky on the last day.

Really the toss is only important on flat india decks where the ball only turns from late day 3.
if the ball turning from day 1 the toss isn't that important, remember in 2012 while the ball was turning from day 1 teams won 6 times consecutively while losing the toss.
England twice and india 4 times.
england won in mumbai and Kolkata while batting 2nd and easily as well.

I understand people would like to bat first but team won't lose sleep or panic if they actually lost the toss like they would do in Rajkot especially since the pitch got more help for the bowler to take wickets in the first day or innings.

Also I get it that all team will bat first because no team would really love to chase last but the toss isn't the reason why you lost the game if you bowl first, literally the toss make no difference to the result if the ball doing something in the first innings and both teams got similar conditions.

[Dr Cricket]

Interesting Joe Root and Virat kohli both to play 50 test on Thursday.