Undercooked tourists could be devoured by India by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Event:

England in India 2008/09

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DateLine: 10th December 2008

 

Such are the circumstances of England's return to India that the results of the Tests will be something of a footnote. The team's decision to go back has won them admiration that will endure even if they lose both games. England has been brave in returning to India post 27/11 tragedy. The question is: Can Kevin Pietersen’s men translate their courage into an extraordinary series triumph?

England Situation

 

Given the poverty of their preparation, England may be glad for the clemency and it will be a tricky readjustment to a Test mind-set with no match practice at all. Not a single member of the 15-man squad has played first-class cricket since September 27. The nucleus of the England team, who were not released to play for their counties by the England and Wales Cricket Board at the end of the summer, have played nothing but limited-overs matches since the final Test against South Africa, four months ago. England had been scheduled to play a three-day warm-up in Baroda over the last weekend but it was abandoned while the security review was conducted, and they could not find time for a replacement. Peter Moores has already conceded that preparations are going to be compromised in many ways through circumstances and he also admitted that they have got a lot of work to do to get mentally in the right place, and also physically and technically ready to go.

 

The Squad Dilemma

 

Kevin Pietersen and the English think-tank are in an unenviable position. Final decision has to be made whether to go with four pacers and a lone spinner or with three pacers and two spinners. In the event he could be handing over the debut caps to either Amjad Khan or Graeme Swann. The biggest concerns will be over the front-line spinner, Monty Panesar, and England's likely opening pair of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. Panesar, whose adaptability as a bowler has been questioned, had been due to play two matches in India with the England Performance Squad but both matches were cancelled after the Mumbai attacks. He will go into the Test having not bowled a ball outside of training in more than 10 weeks. Cook, meanwhile, has faced only 81 balls in the past four months. Strauss did at least play in the county championship in September, but since then he has only played three Twenty20 innings for Middlesex.

 

The rest of the batting line up which includes Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff had a fair bit of time in the middle and would not be a problem. Another headache that Pietersen is bound to have is the selection of the keeper. It will be a throw up between Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose. The question is will whether Pietersen will go with the batting ability of Prior or reliable wicket keeping of Ambrose. To win test matches you need to get twenty wickets and to have a keeper like Prior behind the stumps who does not inspire much confidence in his howlers will bring more frowns on the forehead of KP.

 

Indian Situation

 

India beat Australia 2–0 as recently as a month ago, since then they have won all five ODIs against England. The disparity in form could hardly be more explicit. India looks to be the settled team. Unlike Kevin Pietersen who has to solve the issue of selecting the final XI the Indian XI for the test picks up by itself. Amid the farewells and retirements of Kumble and Ganguly last month this could be the first stage of the transitional phase that India faces. India is sure to into the match with two pacers in the form of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, who had performed admirably well against the visiting Australians in the last series, and two spinners in the form of Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra. Ten out the eleven are in prime form in their respective departments and the focus of the critics and the fans will be on Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh.

 

Under-pressure Dravid and final chance for Yuvraj

 

In twelve years of playing international cricket this is the first time that Dravid in under scanner for poor form in Test cricket. Earlier in his career he had struggled to come in terms with the pace of one day cricket even when it was played at a leisurely pace compared to today’s rate. It will be important for Dravid to gain some amount of momentum under his belt. The runs from the blade of Dravid flow when he is judging well which ball to leave and which ball to score off. But now-a-days he looks to be in confusion as when to attack or when to go into shell. Twice in the Australian test series he was caught fishing at wide balls and once nearly edged it through the keeper. Earlier in the year in Australia he was literally in his shell and it seemed like an eternity when he scored his next run. To Dravid’s fortune he returns to the very ground where he scored his last century in Chepauk against the visiting South Africa and he can use it as an inspiration for giving a better performance. The other player who is also under the scanner is Yuvraj Singh. The one factor that will be heartening to for the Indian team management is that Yuvraj has grabbed the middle order spot with some really authoritative performances in the ODI series. This could be seen as the final chance for Yuvraj to claim the spot for once and all. The keyword that would be used to gauge Yuvraj’s performance will be Consistency.

 

Intriguing blend

 

Dhoni’s captaincy has been deconstructed to an elaborate form of science, which demands nothing less than a clean sweep. But besides the results, one looks forward to more of the delightfully irreverent field-settings one saw against Australia, or the unorthodoxy that balances itself with hard cold logic.

 

Teams:
England (probably): Kevin Pietersen (captain), Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Tim Ambrose (wk), Graeme Swann, Steve Harmison, James Anderson and Monty Panesar. (Amjad Khan 12th man)

India: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan (S Badrinath 12th man)