India v England, Second Test, Wankhede Stadium Mumbai

So the 2nd test of the 4 match series between India and England is getting underway at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium from tomorrow. The hosts are leading the series after their win in the first test at Ahmedabad.
The track is expected to have assistance for spinners, but the possible bounce from the track and proximity to the sea might offer something for the seamers as well. The pitch was previously used in a Ranji match where Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane had scored hundreds.
The weather is expected to stay good.
Both sides have injury concerns going into the match. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav is unlikely to be risked as he's not fully recovered from the back problems that necessitated calling up Ashok Dinda as cover for the 2nd match in a row. However Dinda, who had covered for Ishant Sharma is unlikely to make it to the playing side, Ishant should be the prefered option. This will be Virender Sehwag's hundredth test. India probable side.
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Cheteshwar Pujara
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Ravichandran Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Pragyan Ojha.
As for England Ian Bell is unavailable for selection as he's on paternity leave. Stuart Broad has some fitness concerns. Tim Bresnan had a shocker of a match last time round, continuing a prolonged form slump. Steven Finn continues to be unfit. Cricinfo seems to think that Eoin Morgan, and Jonny Bairstow is likely to make it to the side in place of Bell.
England probable
Alastair Cook
Nick Compton
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Eoin Morgan/Jonny Bairstow
Samit Patel
Matt Prior
Stuart Broad?
Graeme Swann
James Anderson
Monty Panesar.
In 2006 England won at Mumbai on the back of an all-round performance from captain Andrew Flintoff and good bowling performances from James Anderson and Shaun Udal. The last test at the venue produced a very exciting match that finished as a draw with the scores leveled.

msp83 wrote:So the 2nd test of the 4 match series between India and England is getting underway at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium from tomorrow. The hosts are leading the series after their win in the first test at Ahmedabad.
The track is expected to have assistance for spinners, but the possible bounce from the track and proximity to the sea might offer something for the seamers as well. The pitch was previously used in a Ranji match where Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane had scored hundreds.
The weather is expected to stay good.
Both sides have injury concerns going into the match. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav is unlikely to be risked as he's not fully recovered from the back problems that necessitated calling up Ashok Dinda as cover for the 2nd match in a row. However Dinda, who had covered for Ishant Sharma is unlikely to make it to the playing side, Ishant should be the prefered option. This will be Virender Sehwag's hundredth test. India probable side.
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Cheteshwar Pujara
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Ravichandran Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Pragyan Ojha.
As for England Ian Bell is unavailable for selection as he's on paternity leave. Stuart Broad has some fitness concerns. Tim Bresnan had a shocker of a match last time round, continuing a prolonged form slump. Steven Finn continues to be unfit. Cricinfo seems to think that Eoin Morgan, and Jonny Bairstow is likely to make it to the side in place of Bell.
England probable
Alastair Cook
Nick Compton
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Eoin Morgan/Jonny Bairstow
Samit Patel
Matt Prior
Stuart Broad?
Graeme Swann
James Anderson
Monty Panesar.
In 2006 England won at Mumbai on the back of an all-round performance from captain Andrew Flintoff and good bowling performances from James Anderson and Shaun Udal. The last test at the venue produced a very exciting match that finished as a draw with the scores leveled.

Well replacing bell with two people would be one way of trying to improve our batting performance

It again should be a spin test for England. If we go with past history, this track offers some bounce for the spinners and someone like Ravichandran Ashwin should enjoy the conditions here a lot more than he did at Ahmedabad.

msp83 wrote: this track offers some bounce for the spinners and someone like Ravichandran Ashwin should enjoy the conditions here a lot more than he did at Ahmedabad.

will the test match see the 4th day light ?

if Eng win and toss and bat first....we may not

The likelihood is that Cook, Compton, Trott, KP, Bairstow, Patel, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Panesar will be the line-up.

All options include major risks, and I'm particularly worried that this team will be left short of options if the Indian batsmen play Panesar out of the attack: they play spin well, and a situation like that faced when Mahela hit Monty out of the attack in Galle becomes a possibility.

But the seaming options just aren't compelling enough I guess - sacrificing the extra batsman for an out-of-sorts Bresnan, Onions who doesn't necessarily suit the conditions or Meaker whose selection would be quite knee-jerky is ultimately not that appealing either.

Day 1 in Ahmedabad showed the value that spin can have in India when there is nothing in the pitch for the seamers: not playing Monty and instead going with the same balance as Ahmedabad is also difficult to justify, on the grounds that the seamers aren't doing the job that we except of them.

Time for England to ask what they're made of again. With this pitch offering something for the seamers, I'm quite optimistic. Anderson bowled really well here six years ago, he's twice the player since then. Important toss to win, England have to make 400+ in their first innings effort and the middle order have to improve. Come on England!

Unfortunately its asking too much for there to be life in the pitch for the seamers I think, and from India's perspective that is totally understandable.

Seamers might find a little bit more bounce from this pitch and perhaps some early morning movement. Unlikely to get a lot out of the track, but a little bit more than what they had at Ahmedabad perhaps.

Eve of Match Observations:

1) that ECB spokesman felt the need to make a statement about Broad's sore throat on the eve of the test match.....to me is a sureity that the decision has been made to drop him.

when a VC of a team needs to be dropped on form / performance....or is it because of his misdemenours in ttwitter against a knighted commentator ( players have been punished for twittering about non-Knighted Knights in the past we know)......and the ECB spokesman has to come and sugar-coat/ cushion it......implies the team is in tatters

2) when tesam morale is in tatters......don't be surprised if 120.5 kph bresnan is remains in place of Broad for his batting guised under some convoluted logic
Indians would be doing

3) Dhoni and BCCI might have pressured the curators enouhg to make the toss into a moot excercise....and god forbid if Eng win the toss, and bat first.....game may not go into the 4th day...because in such a case follow-on doesn't need to be enforced.

4) Yadav is out......some good news for England....but Ishant might not make that be felt too much...he has doen the surgery skipped IPL / CLT20...and played plenty of FC cricket to get back into shape and form...and has bowled some torrid spells of 90mph on flattest domestic pitches.

he simply needs to keep it full...and he might be a handful with his 85-90mph.

come tommorow and hope we see an exciting even contest....althouhg I would happily take an uneven contest also as an outcome if favourable

Can't our lads just remind themselves of how quickly India appear to buckle under the pressure and how generally second-rate they are as a team? Put the fact that we're in India out of your mind and we're laughing.

England 4-0 India
Australia 4-0 India

Only last year.

Pakistan 3-0 who? This year?

Can't wait for this match to start now. Hopefully will wake up early enough and witness cook winning the toss before laying the foundations for a big first innings total with another captain's innings.

Duty281 wrote:Can't our lads just remind themselves of how quickly India appear to buckle under the pressure and how generally second-rate they are as a team? Put the fact that we're in India out of your mind and we're laughing.

England 4-0 India
Australia 4-0 India

Only last year.

India are only challenged at home by South Africa...

msp83 wrote:Pakistan 3-0 who? This year?

Losing 8 tests away in a row is worse.

It will be intriguing to see how SA go next time they are on the sub-continent.

A lot is made of how they deal with it better than England and Australia, and I have reasons to believe that that is indeed the case.

However, its also true that they haven't played a proper series in Asia for some time - their tour of UAE was a disappointing 0-0 draw when Pakistan were reeling from spot-fixing, their last tour of India was a pathetic 2-Test series which finished 1-1 (who knows how a 4-match would have gone?) and they haven't toured SL for donkey's years.

Duty281 wrote:

msp83 wrote:Pakistan 3-0 who? This year?

Losing 8 tests away in a row is worse.

I'd say letting 'Mind The Windows' Tino score 95 is worst then that LOL

Shelsey93 wrote:It will be intriguing to see how SA go next time they are on the sub-continent.

A lot is made of how they deal with it better than England and Australia, and I have reasons to believe that that is indeed the case.

However, its also true that they haven't played a proper series in Asia for some time - their tour of UAE was a disappointing 0-0 draw when Pakistan were reeling from spot-fixing, their last tour of India was a pathetic 2-Test series which finished 1-1 (who knows how a 4-match would have gone?) and they haven't toured SL for donkey's years.

Well it's true that we haven't a good spinner, hell we ain't even got a decent spinner.

But the 2 Test series against India, we were 12 minutes away from winning when Harbhajan Singh got Morne Morkel out.

We would pummel SL and Pakistan.

India would be touch and go.

I do think SA should pummel SL and Pakistan were they to meet in the sub-continent on current form, but then I'd also have said that about England before last winter. And we were proved badly wrong.

Shelsey93 wrote:I do think SA should pummel SL and Pakistan were they to meet in the sub-continent on current form, but then I'd also have said that about England before last winter. And we were proved badly wrong.

Whilst I'm writting this, I'd say ignore the Proteas ongoing problems in Australia as the bowlers are dropping like flies!

But NZ bowled SL out for under 250 twice in the 1st test.

No disrespect to NZ, but The Proteas(when all 100%) are easily the best seam bowling attack.

Pakistan's batting is too weak to stand up to the venom the Proteas have.

So if we didn't beat them of be very upset!

Right here's my team which I genuinely think can win this next test:

1. Cook (C)
2. Compton
3. Trott
4. KP
5. Bairstow
6. Prior
7. Patel
8. Swann
9. Meaker
10. Anderson
11. Panesar

BAIRSTOW:

should be next in line, played well in England and needs exposure to sub-continent wickets as part of his development

PRIOR:

Outstanding in the last Test, will do fine at 6.


PATEL:

Batted well in warm ups and was unlucky in both innings in first test. Did a good job with the ball and deserves to be picked again.

MEAKER:

In India, the pitches are slow and when you have the opportunity to play a genuine 90mph bowler, you should play him. The seamers aren't going to bowl allot on this pitch, and I'd rather have Meaker steam in at 90 mph for 5-6 overs and be a genuine striker bowler than have Broad/Bresnan bowling 80mph and lower offering the odd 20 with the bat. For me, despite their decent batting attributes, if the top 6 struggle to play the turning ball, they aren't going to do much better if you ask me.

PANESAR:

Obviously comes in as the second out and out spinner.

Dhoni has won the toss and India will bat. And Harbhajan Singh will play as the 3rd spin bowler.

England team
AN Cook*, NRD Compton, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, JM Bairstow, SR Patel, MJ Prior†, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, MS Panesar, JM Anderson

India team
V Sehwag, G Gambhir, CA Pujara, SR Tendulkar, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni*†, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Z Khan, PP Ojha


Not gonna be helped by batting second, the bowlers need to step up.

Get in there? jimmy strikes second ball of the day, needed early wickets, let's get a couple more. Big news though, there's swing with the new ball.

Yesssssssssss Anderson gets Gambhir lbw second ball.

India 4/1.

jimmy looking good here

morning skyman, huge morning for england here

wow, what a start for England! this pitch already showing more life in one over than the previous one did in a whole test. expect Broad to bang a couple in early on at these two.

Morning Liam, yes a massive first session for England to set the tone. Hopefully Broad can answer Beefy with his bowling.

I'm streaming so got Indian commentary with paul collingwood, tell you what the Indian commentators aren't half biased! saying it was missing leg stump by a mile, thought myself it was at least hitting half of leg stump. should have appealed it oh wait.....

Yes, it would be bad if they receive a few bad decisions would'nt it

Can they complain

how would you bowl to sehwag skyeman? as well as pujara?

Just don't give him the early width, keep it tight. That is when he gets frustrated and plays a rash shot. For Pujara, the bouncer early on, on this livelier track.

wow, that is biased, thought it was knocking leg stump out to be honest. The ball has to swing a lot for it to pitch on leg stump and miss, and these pitches don't really swing much

I think England can be wider with their lines to Pujara than they are to Sehwag as a rule, Pujara strikes me as a predominantly leg side player, and doesn't leave the ball much so you can draw him out there. Sehwag will cream anything with width.

Keep throwing in these short balls too, neither batsman looking particularly comfortable against it...

I agree MAD, keep sehwag quiet and cramp him up and don't allow them to get off to a good start

also can't wait for 1st over of spin

yep, might be worth going with Swann early on, he should get some bounce here. or Panesar, who Sehwag will undoubtedly look to get after...

come on England, huge morning session for us

Have a sneaky feeling that Panesar might outbowl swann on this one, particularly if there is good bounce for the spinners

come on monty, good captaincy from cook

and here is Panesar, interesting move by Cook, Sehwag not settled yet...

Panesar on before Swann, not so sure?

too fast and too full from monty. First over but once he's settled I hope he can give the ball some more flight and take the pace off the ball

dreadful first over, just firing in a succession of full-tosses and half-volleys...

Not the best 1st over from Panesar and no spin this early. But the scores here last time when Eng won went 400, 279, 191 and India 100.

too many easy singles for my liking

much better second over from monty

Don't think I like the balance of that Indian side. A 3rd spinner who has been struggling to bowl anything other than flat and fast rubbish....... Since Yuvraj is in the side and Sehwag also a capable parttime option, perhaps Dhoni should have gone in with Ishant? Brave call from Dhoni, but I am not really sure he got it right. Anyways, now India bats all the way to 9, that is the advantage.

better lengths from Panesar, though still too flat for my liking, around 58 mph (feel Panesar's best speed is usually aroudn 56 mph or so).

Broad has Sehwag poking uncomfortably at an off-cutter, but the inside-edge bobbles away for a single. Broad a bit too straight in that over, Jimmy will be back for a burst soon.

Looks a good pitch this, another great toss for India to win.

need a bit of luck to go england's way here

oh for heaven's sake! what do England have to do to have something go their way?