England vs India 4th Test Debate

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England line-up:

1) Andrew Strauss (C)
2) Alistair Cook
3) Ian Bell
4) Kevin Pietersen
5) Eoin Morgan
6) Ravi Bopara
7) Matt Prior (WK)
8) Tim Bresnan
9) Stuart Broad
10) Graeme Swann
11) James Anderson

India line up:

1) Gautam Gambhir
2) Virender Sehwag
3) Rahul Dravid
4) Sachin Tendulkar
5) VVS Laxman
6) Suresh Raina
7) MS Dhoni (C,WK)
8) Amit Mishra
9) Ishant Sharma
10) Sreesanth
11) RP Singh

Does Dravid not get tired? I'm being serious here, he's been on the field every minute of play, and Friday was seriously hot - I was there and I burnt my face!!!

Don't think much wrong with Jimmy - just having a bit of a problem with the footmarks.

Anyway he's much more important to the Test side than ODI.

[quote="We Are Number 1!!!"]Anderson has a problem here, why did we risk him? We have an important ODI series to follow[/quote]

It's the risk they chose to take. 4 bowlers and a potentially crocked Jimmy A on this wicket.

I wanted 5 bowlers so Finn or Oignons could finish this quicker or cover if Jimmy had a twinge. Now england have to get on with it and face the consequences !! .

The odis , well theres others who can do a job. In my view for Jim is not essential.

Its been a terrible series for Gautam Gambhir. He got a start in the first innings of the first match and didn't convert, then got a nasty hit while fielding, couldn't bat propperly 2nd time round although he managed an unconverted start yet again.
Then he missed the 2nd match, came back for the 3rd one, and again failed to convert the starts.
Again he got himself injured in the field and failed to come out opening the innings. Terrible. Particularly when one remembers the fact that he missed out on the WI tour after being named replacement captain for the resting MS Dhoni.

Swann's into the attack early, he'll have lots of work to do in the innings. Will be interesting to see how Sehwag deals with him. He really things spinners are not born to bowl to him.

Swann making the ball do things, but Prior's having a tough time out there.

dravid's gone and about time too..

he was been india's shining light in this awful series for them.

Well, its been a while coming, but Swann finally strikes.

Reckon Dravid was probably tired after his 1st innings stint. Good ball though.

Thats the one we wanted.

Top notch batter for india

India lost their first, and its not Sehwag. Dravid has gone at last. England successfully reviewing a bat-pad decission. Swann has 1 early in his spel. Should be a different bowler from now onwards.

Sorry but I'm as English as you will ever get, but that Dravid decision was a howler. There was nothing on hot spot and nothing was visible to the 3rd umpire to overturn the original decision.

by the way there was not much on HotSpot on that one. There was a diflection, and think its the right call, but even HotSpot can't tell you everything.

msp83 wrote:by the way there was not much on HotSpot on that one. There was a diflection, and think its the right call, but even HotSpot can't tell you everything.

Hussain, Atherton, Lloyd all think it wasn't out, so its pretty obvious that it wasn't a blatant error.

msp83 wrote:by the way there was not much on HotSpot on that one. There was a diflection, and think its the right call, but even HotSpot can't tell you everything.

It wouldn't be the first wicket to be given this series when nothing's showed on HotSpot. Thats just cricket. You get mostly good decisions, but there are always a few dubious ones, as well as the odd howler.

sehwag gone well bowled swanny

Well, there's no doubt about that one.

Swann clean bowls Sehwag with a beauty, who goes for 33. Not really advisable trying to take on a spinner of Swann's class. India 64-2.

The Little Master in next. His last chance to get that 100th hundred this series.

As much as i want England to whitewash India, i really want Sachin to get his 100th 100.

Dravid has been India's top batter in the series by a pretty long way, even after being at the wrong end of 2 tough calls, one here, one other in the 2nd innings of the last match when he was caught of the shoelaces.

Its always the way, when you are being beaton things just dont go your way. Its a real shame for Dravid but i dont think that he will mind too much. He has played the most cricket out there

I must say that Sachin is looking very comfortable out there today

Hmm.

England's bowlers (Swann in particular) causing all kinds of problems, but Laxman and Tendulkar surviving...and scoring runs.

Wouldn't it be just typical that, when they're looking most vulnerable, these two go on to make big scores?

Whoa!

Laxman clean bowled by Anderson for 24. India 118-3. Great delivery.

Mishra coming in as night watchman.

dyrewolfe wrote:Hmm.

England's bowlers (Swann in particular) causing all kinds of problems, but Laxman and Tendulkar surviving...and scoring runs.

Wouldn't it be just typical that, when they're looking most vulnerable, these two go on to make big scores?

Commentators curse
3 down and Gambhir dodgy, only the weather can save India now surely.

What a peach of a delivery from Anderson...!

Jimmy gets Laxman. Its starting to looke very dodgy for India now

Well, with VVS gone, think India's last chances of saving this one's gone as well.

Apparently Tendulkar was stumped but noone appealed...maybe they just want him to get the 100th 100 through sympathy

Sachin's still there. I wouldn't mind seeing him batting through to the end and reaching his 100th ton.

What a miss by Prior . Amazed he didn't appeal and the little uns was up in the air

Well, thats all for today.

England need 7 wickets for less than 162 runs to secure victory.

Either that or they need to bowl India out with enough time to chase down a small total...probably no more than 100.

Its going to be difficult but i feel that India will just hang on for the draw

Excellent stuff from England , another good days play.

It's all up for grabbs , India need to bat for all of 70 overs and then still they might get chased down.

I think England can do this on what could be an exciting last day of the series

and summer .

Just to say about the Dravid dismissal, he has admitted that he edged it. End of argument I think.

should india have put rohit sharma in their squad?

To my mind, it would be a shame if Tendulkar got his 100th international 100 tomorrow. Even if India get out of this one, they have been soundly thrashed this series and Tendulkar deserves a better context for this wonderful achievement. It would be far more fitting for him to make his 100th international 100 in a memorably glorious one day win by the World Champions over England a little later this summer.

We Are Number 1!!! wrote:

msp83 wrote:by the way there was not much on HotSpot on that one. There was a diflection, and think its the right call, but even HotSpot can't tell you everything.

Hussain, Atherton, Lloyd all think it wasn't out, so its pretty obvious that it wasn't a blatant error.

Dravid said he hit when speaking to Ian Ward at Close of Play, so actually it was a great call from the 3rd Umpire. It shows how poor Hot Spot is for those tiny edges. Although hot spot showed nothing the front on camera view showed a pretty clear deflection.

Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricket supporters are crying out for some resistance. Please show us the team has already hit rockbottom, and the only way is upwards.

Hoping for a Sachin ton but an England win, that'd be ideal.

Hot Spot is a big problem. It does sometimes give a clear yes, but the absence of a hotspot cant be taken as evidence taht there was no contact. We have seen many examples where it has filed.

Although they have dispelled the vaseline myth there is still a reliability problem there, when looking at it just just have to remeber that a lkck of a hotspot doenst mean there wasnt a contact...I think the 3rd umpires have finaly cottoned onto this and use it as an dditional source of information not teh sole decideing factor as they perhaps did in the past. Otherwise it becomes worth a speculatiove review for a player given out to a faint edge just incease hotspot didnt pick it up. Where theres a clear contact and deflection the third umpire has to be able to make a decision without a visible hotspot.

Ideally one would have wanted Tendulkar to score that ton of tons in a winning cause. But here if he can save India from an absolute whitewash, think it'll be worth it in a series in which everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for India.

Part of me does hope that he gets given out to a bad lbw decision on 99 abnd cant review it.

I think then India would fully embrace the DRS.

I think the point about third umpires using hot spot as one of their tools and not the gospel is right.

If a spot appears and the bat was miles away from the pad and everything else then you know there has been an edge. If there is no spot that doesn't mean no edge, and you have to check high-motion and the stump mic to be sure. Then if you can't be sure either way the decision stays on field.

Predictions for today?

India to be 250 all out. Tendulkar 75.

Is Sharma gonna bat? He's out of the one day squad with injury.

Not sure KB, might do if it looks like they're in with a shout of a saving the game, but doubt they will risk him if it is a lost cause.

So the last day begins. England needing 7 wickets and India needing 1 or 2 batsment to really stand up and be counted.

I have a feeling that India will save this.

Get Sachin and we can start the car.

Not so sure about that Fists. I honestly feel that India will go all out to draw this match and they have the batting to do it. They have to bat well at least once dont they??

In fact i would'nt be suprised if they set England a tricky little target.

eirebilly wrote:In fact i would'nt be suprised if they set England a tricky little target.

Given how they've played this series, i don't imagine England will have a problem knocking off 10 runs!