India v England, Second Test, Wankhede Stadium Mumbai

First topic message reminder :

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.

fifty for Pujara as Monty throws in a rank full-toss. Awful delivery, and just like that, the pressure is released.

50 for Pujara.

too many loose balls from Panesar at the moment, get Anderson on...

the pitch seems flatter this afternoon, probably due to the moisture having disappeared. I suspect the rest of today and tomorrow will be very good for batting, before it starts spinning and deteriorating.

a wicket out of nothing, and it's Panesar again. Gets the ball to dip a bit and Kohli's drive is straight to short extra-cover who takes a sharp chance. Poor poor shot from Kohli and he's kicking himself as he walks off. England right back on top again.

Only switched the match on and 2 wickets have fallen.

Well done Monty.

Swann back on, anc cleans up Yuvraj, India in deep deep trouble. Lovely ball from Swann, ordinary defense from Yuvraj.

Kohli runs out of patience to get Monty his third wicket and a very good catch by Compton. Just as I'm wondering how I should celebrate the inevitable wicket of Yuvraj to Swann, he gets bowled 5 down, get Pujara out and the whole batting line up will fall apart. Let's not let the tail make cheap runs.

India in deep trouble here, seems like Harbhajan's selection will after all come in handy as that makes that batting lineup a bit more lengthy.

great start by england- broad was seriously unlucky earlier as well!

It's going to be a great Test match. Should be more people there tomorrow.

Kinda worried how well our spinners are doing though!! england bat has gotta dig in!!

I'm also a bit worried about how much the pitch is already helping the spinners. There again maybe our spinners will outperform theirs in this match, as I don't think there is so much of a difference in terms of quality. Maybe, just maybe Doni will regret asking for pitches with spin and bounce from the outset.

Just superb bowling. A super spin power play on the 1st day. They have come out firing and are rightly getting the rewards.

Pujara looks so classy though.

unlucky there... through the slips

England fluffing a chance to get the set Pujara. They missed him ones in the last match and he never gave them another chance.

Dhoni trying to take the attack to the spinners, he has to be careful here, he's right to be positive, but the shot selection has to be good for it to come off.

Does anyone see England topping 250 in either innings?

Its a decent start, espec as they looked doomed the minute India got to bat first ...but I dont see its going to be enough.

If we can get em for 250 then thats good!

Anderson's back on, and there is a little bit of reverse going for him.

There is assistance for spinners for sure and there is some reverse for the seamers. But England have bowled very well to put India in the situation they find themselves in. Anything under 300, India should be very disappointed. India do have 3 regular spinners and Yuvraj and England are not that good against spin, but if Cook, Pietersen or Prior really get going with some contribution from the restt, then England can put India under pressure.

Shane Warne reckons 250 will be a good first innings score. Ravi and sunny also believe this could be a low scoring match.

Yes 250 is a low first up score but its most likely England will be all out in one inning for under 200, and not massively unlikley under 100. Its a spinner swicket, they are batting second, and they are up against 3/4 spinners one of whome they couldnt read even if he was an audio book.

Honestly it will take more than a few early wickets to give England a strong chance in this on a turning wicket thats only going to get more ridiculous.

If India are out for 200 then Id give them a shout, otherwise...meh.

Credit to India for at least preparing results wickets and not settling for 1-0, but again Englands disadvantage in these games ( ie they are a bit sh1t away from home) is made worse by losing tosses.
Im not saying its a dead game but dont get carried away by Englands seemingly good start, in all likeliehood it wont be enough...but does give them a chance if Cook or someone else can produce a wonder innings.

As i said earlier, any innings score in the region of 350 will probably be a match winning one.

Could do with a breakthrough pretty soon. Not liking the look of this partnership.

Appeal from Anderson for a caught behind, not out given, and rightly so, the bat just hitting the pad there, no contact with the ball.

At least 2 of Cook, Pietersen and Prior will have to play really well.

I would place more importance on Trott playing well than KP to be honest. Trott is Englands anchor in most games so its him that has to have a decent innings i feel.

In reality we have got to expect at least one of prior and cook to fail in this game. So we are looking at compton, trott, kp and bairstow to make the runs in the first innings. Unfortunately i don't see those four making a big contribution unless we witness one of kp's special innings

Pujara looks to be taking over the Amla role. Steadfast, assured, but bloody lucky. He looks to be an excellent player, but how many chances are we going to give him? England really have been their own worst enemy over the past 12 months.

Not sure what all the negativity is about from the media, though. England, despite their recent capitulations against spin, should be seen as in the driving seat here. 167-5 on Day 1 is a fine effort and if we can winkle out these two sharpish it could become an excellent one.

The pitch has offered turn and bounce which will be tough, but pitches like this often don't get too much worse until the last day. If it flattens out a little England could have the best of the batting conditions.

There is still hope. Stand tall, Englishmen, we can do it.

In the meantime, I'm going to prepare my other speech where I slate everyone from Flower to Gooch to Monty Panesar's batting ability when we allow Pujara to make 200, Dhoni 100 and then collapse to 100 all out tomorrow.

If KP plays one of those special knocks, the conditions and the bowlers become irrelevant. Cook has enjoyed playing in India more than he does when playing at home. Prior made consistent runs even in the UAE. The Indian bowlers have to be absolutely on top of their game against these players, otherwise they can take the game away from them. In a low scoring innings, even one substantial innings can make a big difference.

Fists of Fury wrote:Pujara looks to be taking over the Amla role. Steadfast, assured, but bloody lucky. He looks to be an excellent player, but how many chances are we going to give him? England really have been their own worst enemy over the past 12 months.

Not sure what all the negativity is about from the media, though. England, despite their recent capitulations against spin, should be seen as in the driving seat here. 167-5 on Day 1 is a fine effort and if we can winkle out these two sharpish it could become an excellent one.

The pitch has offered turn and bounce which will be tough, but pitches like this often don't get too much worse until the last day. If it flattens out a little England could have the best of the batting conditions.

There is still hope. Stand tall, Englishmen, we can do it.

In the meantime, I'm going to prepare my other speech where I slate everyone from Flower to Gooch to Monty Panesar's batting ability when we allow Pujara to make 200, Dhoni 100 and then collapse to 100 all out tomorrow.

Ran out of your collection of hats?

No no, I'm just reserving them for now, MSP

This is a long old Test series, I need to keep some back. However, I will eat one of my prized hats if Pujara doesn't get a ton and Dhoni doesn't reach 50, now you mention it. It's a guarantee.

Think the thing we need to keep in mind is the huge improvement from the first test. We would have taken the tea-time score in an instant after losing the toss.

Exactly, LiI.

We just need a solid start to this session. No freebies, make them work for runs and then take the chances when they come. Dropping Pujara was criminal.

magic monty

YES!!!!

Well that really opens things up

Enjoying a nice bowler hat as we speak. As a special treat, I'll eat a sombrero if Pujara doesn't get a ton.

Pujara looks a real class act doesnt he.

Panesar

I think this match will be similar to the match between India and Australia in 2004. A raging turner and a match that will probably be a 3 day affair.

Anyone care to tell me why Stuart Broad was picked? His deterioration is alarming, as much with the bat as with the ball. Potential world class all-rounder to Ishant Sharma in the space of a year.

Fists of Fury wrote:Anyone care to tell me why Stuart Broad was picked? His deterioration is alarming, as much with the bat as with the ball. Potential world class all-rounder to Ishant Sharma in the space of a year.

Bit harsh really. Broad and Ishant aren't too dissimilar.

Broad was pretty dud until his performances against England last year.

Nothing like a loose Broad over to relieve the pressure

You're right, they're not dissimilar. They're both garbage.

Fists of Fury wrote:You're right, they're not dissimilar. They're both garbage.

Hahaha fair enough!

Fists of Fury wrote:Enjoying a nice bowler hat as we speak. As a special treat, I'll eat a sombrero if Pujara doesn't get a ton.

Fists as you said its a long series and you have to keep a few more!. And 1 is enough for the day, otherwise there could be digestion issues!!.

Question to MSP, by selecting three spinners are India putting to much workload on the injury prone, brittle Zaheer Khan?

finally swann is back on, could do with one of his first over specials

Gerry SA wrote:Question to MSP, by selecting three spinners are India putting to much workload on the injury prone, brittle Zaheer Khan?

Gerry, I didn't like the balance or lack of it in this Indian bowling lineup. But if the pitch continue to offer the kind of help for the spinners, Zak may not have to do a lot of toil.