India v West Indies, Predictions

With the 1st Test getting underway in the early hours of tomorrow morning, do you think it will be a clean sweep for India or can the Windies make a fist of it.
With both sides having key players missing due to injuries or being dropped, could this have a bearing on the results ?.

My prediction, India to win the 1st test, then 2 draws.

Once again the scheduling looks crazy with the 3 tests being played inside 20 days, but money talks with the 5 ODI's

India will win the series 2-1 IMO. be intresting to see how windies quicks get on in india, edwards generating good pace as well.

For the West Indies to have any sort of a realistic chance of getting anything from this series, their batsmen will have to have 3 or 4 of them making good contributions, instead of 1 or 2 as normally happens. Then Edwards (who is looking good again) needs to bowl well and Bishoo with tracks that should suit his legbreaks also needs to perform. This lad has started his Test career quite well and his bowling will make all the diference, as to whether or not WI take anything from the series.

One or two tests may draw
Indian pitches have tended to get very, very flat....as you can see from round-1 of Ranji results so far

You'd expect India to win this series, but the margin might depend on how their spinner, probably Ashwin, bowls as the West Indies don't play spin particularly well in general but if they can get on top of Ashwin it might be a struggle for India to bowl them out.

India to win the series, Chanderpaul, India's nemesis for years, should at least ensure a draw, flat roads in India, and the inexperience of the Indian bowling unit, should help him as well.

India have lost only 2 out of the last 22 Tests at home, both against the mighty Proteas!!!

West Indies don't really have the firepower to hurt India, more so as Gayle is still on the sidelines.

Much depends on India's playmaker, Sehwag, if he smashes the West Indies around, then it will give India's rookie bowlers more time to win the matches for India.

Sehwag vs Gayle, would have been quite a spectacle!. Stupid WICB!. Is there no one to chuck out the idiots?

msp83 wrote:Sehwag vs Gayle, would have been quite a spectacle!. Stupid WICB!. Is there no one to chuck out the idiots?

More exciting would've been Sehwag and Gayle bowling at each other

JDizzle wrote:You'd expect India to win this series, but the margin might depend on how their spinner, probably Ashwin, bowls .

contrary to popular perception....seamers have had a BIG role to play in Indian wins even in India lately.

Zaheer, ishant and Sreesanth have all been great proponents of reverse swing with Duke balls.
when Australia and Eng toured India in 2008-09......Zaheer and more so Ishant were reversing the ball sometime as early as in the 7th over.

when SL last toured India.....only one of the 3 tests ended in a result.....when Sreesanth on an otherwise flat pitch was the only bowler who found reverse in the air......and had an 8-fer in the match.

Saffies have done better than others ( they drew the last series and came to within half an hour of winning it actually) because their bowlers have figured the art of reversing in Indian conditons....as has Shane Watson of Aus.

India will miss Praveen....who in Indian conditons is a great swing bowler in the first 10 overs...and in subsequent spells gets the ball to either reverse or grip and cut off the pitch almost like a spinner who can spin both ways at great speed with the WK standing up.

another bowler who was seen to be so effective in ODIs against Eng is Vinay Kumar only a yard faster than Praveen.......has mastered seam bowling in Indian conditons.....conventional swing with the new ball....then a deceptive mix of cutters and reverse with the old ball.

Of all the English bowlers I have seen recently Flintoff worked out Indian conditons very well......in the 2000 series under Hussain.... which was I think the begnining of the rise of Flintoff

Although Jimmy Anderson has a rather forgetable ODI record in India, his test returns have been better, and when a non-SA team won in India some time ago, he was key to that.
Don't think Vinay Kumar is as good as Praveen, when it comes to swinging the ball, or controling it.

msp83 wrote:Although Jimmy Anderson has a rather forgetable ODI record in India, his test returns have been better, and when a non-SA team won in India some time ago, he was key to that.
Don't think Vinay Kumar is as good as Praveen, when it comes to swinging the ball, or controling it.

Vinay is a diiferent bowler...who inspite of several seasosn of Ranji grind...on slow and low, turning him into a trundler......has honed his skills fo Indian conditions.

he has added a yard of pace and instead of operating in 125 kph range......he operates in the 125-135kph.
his remodelled action, with a smaller run-up... and his leap in the delivery stride, gives him the ability to get the ball to kick off a length..making it very awkarad and unexpected for the batsman facing him.

He doesn't banana swing it like PK...but rather jags the ball off a length, using the energy from the LEAP....more off the pitch...both ways deceptively....getting it to rise awkwardly too.
a great mix of pace, both ways off the ptich movement, occasional reverse....very very effective


Ashwin gets Samuels....WI 5 down for 200