First of all my bets for the first test went ok. While England failed miserably I bet on them mainly due to the value of the odds and I still feel they will win at least one test in this series. The other two bets went well. Alistair Cook was England’s best batsman and he was only seven runs shy of the top score in the first innings which was frustrating but I still feel I read the England batting lineup correctly. The third bet went well and Pragyan Ojha was the highest Indian wicket taker.
Wicketkeeper
This is one area which both India and England seem to be settled. Both M.S. Dhoni and Matt Prior number amongst the best in the world. Prior is probably the stronger player of the two particularly with the gloves but Dhoni does have to the pressures of captaincy in on his shoulders. Prior has a superior century rate with one ton every 14.5 innings compared to one every 21.8 for Dhoni. Well Prior may be the slightly better player they are both key players for their teams. Neither team has lost when one of t Continue reading
Past History
The last meeting of these two sides in test cricket ended with an emphatic victory for England. They won 4-0 in a four test series. England had four scores of over 450 whereas India only managed one score of 300 or more which came in the second innings in the final test at the Oval. England had the three leading wicket takers in the series and the two highest run scorers. Only one Indian batsman managed to score a century compared to five in the England ranks. However this is far from representative of the past result in this fixture particularly in India. England may have won 38 tests compared to India’s 19 but alot of that is because of India’s struggles coming into test cricket with England leading the series 15 – 1 before 1960. England have not one a series in India since 1985 and have only won one test in India since that victory. Last time around India one 1-0 in a two match series.
Overview
England come into this series facing more questions than they have in a while. After a triumphant run to world no 1 status they struggled in the winter. Saeed Ajmal and Adur Rehman gave the England batsmen fits, with Ian Bell in particular looking absolutely a loss to decipher Ajmal. They top or Continue reading
I firmly believe that Andrew Strauss will decide if and when he leaves the England set up himself and he is under no real threat of being dropped. However there is a slight chance he might well decide that enough is enough and after failing to score a century since Brisbane in 2010 he is no longer the man to lead England. If this were to happen Alistair Cook would take over the Continue reading
The Sporter 