Tag Archives: India Vs England Test Series

Is team India relying too much on lower middle order?

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India the land of producing world class batsmen. Be it the great Sunil Gavaskar, god of cricket Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, the wall Rahul Dravid, our own Very Very Special Laxman, Mr. Destructive Virendra Sehwag and in present era the likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. It does include a lot of other names which could not get a mention here. History of Indian cricket has always been enriched with some of finest players to grace the game. Even if we look at the current batting line-up of team India majority of them would make a place in any world team.

India may have tried a lot of options at the top of the order but everyone have shown promise in whatever limited chances they got. Be it Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal or Shubhman Gill, all have showcased their talent in last two years. The powerful middle order is one of the best in the world featuring The new wall of Indian cricket Pujara, the run machine of modern era King Kohli and cool minded Mumbaikar Ajinkya Rahane. This batting line is more then enough to give bowlers a shiver down their spine. But what the world have witnessed in last few matches is completely different story.

Indian tail enders have never been known for their fighting spirit with bat in hand and that was the reason of team being on the loosing side most of the time once the top order departs. But from last 5-6 years this scenario has somewhat changed. With the evolution of T20 cricket and importance of every man contributing in all aspects of the game, bowlers are now putting price on their wickets and not throwing away like their predecessors used to do. Eighties and Nineties have witnessed a lot of matches being lost because of the complete surrender of lower order. The world have witnessed the real talent of lower middle order and lower order for the first time in the 1999 world cup played at England. Journey of the teams like Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand in that tournament was satisfactory because of hard hitting capabilities of their lower middle order batsmen like Moin Khan, Wasim Akram, Azhar Mehmood and Abdul Razzaq for Pakistan, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock for South Africa and Chris Cairns, Chris Harris and Adam Denial Vettori for New Zealand.

Coming back to the title of this article, what the world have seen in Australia this year and in recent series against England was completely unexpected. Failure of the top order have not at all impacted the spirit of the lower middle order and lower order, instead they came out with more positive intent and achieved the feat which even the batsmen were not able to. If the fans have forgotten the instances, just a little recap – Washington Sunder and Shardul Thakur partnership, Ashwin and Injured Vihari spending the entire day on field to save the match, Rishabh Pant with the tail winning the match for India. and even in this series Ashwin’s century and Pant’s fightback every time, Sunder and Axar’s crucial partnership in the last match.

All these performance on one side promises for bright future of Indian cricket but on the other end it also raise some serious concerns about the constant failures of our famous middle order. If they will keep failing the same way, WTC could remain a dream for the fans. We can not always rely on lower order to perform and expect to win matches.

<p class="has-drop-cap" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">Fans are waiting for Kohli, Pujara and Rahane to fire like old days. The world test championship final will be played on Lords where you expect the pitch to be fast bowlers friendly. Techniques of our great middle order will be tested again and this time fans would hope for longer stays from Pujara, hundred from Kohli and flow of boundaries from Ajinkya. If the middle order performs, no team can stop India to bring home WTC and becoming the first team to win all major ICC trophies.Fans are waiting for Kohli, Pujara and Rahane to fire like old days. The world test championship final will be played on Lords where you expect the pitch to be fast bowlers friendly. Techniques of our great middle order will be tested again and this time fans would hope for longer stays from Pujara, hundred from Kohli and flow of boundaries from Ajinkya. If the middle order performs, no team can stop India to bring home WTC and becoming the first team to win all major ICC trophies.

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Should Test Matches be Played at Neutral Venues?

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In recently concluded test match between India and England at newly inaugurated Narendra Modi Stadium worlds largest cricket stadium the way bowlers have dominated and the match was ended within 5 sessions, have raised the voices that home teams can prepare the pitches for their advantage and thus violate the rules of fair play. The pitch in controversy lasted for 2 days only and the such was the impact that no team was able to cross 200 run mark and even a part timer like Joe Root was able to take a fiver.

Joe Root (captain) of England during day two of the third PayTM test match between India and England held at the Narendra Modi Stadium , Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India on the 25th February 2021 Photo by Pankaj Nangia / Sportzpics for BCCI

What makes this series and its outcome more important to the world is, the winner will face Newzealand in the final of World Test Championship, to be played at Lords the same venue that hosted the 50 overs World Cup final last year. Current standings of the points table suggests that India, England and Australia are in race for the final. England fans and supporters are hoping for one more final against the newzealand at the home soil but to reach there they have humongous task ahead. Winning in subcontinent is always been a dream for any visiting team. In home conditions team India is almost unbeatable and when they have the crowd support behind them along the pitches favoring they become deadlier.

Coming bac to the pitch that was prepared for the third test between India and England garnered a lot of attentions from former cricketers and experts. A pool of current and former English players have raised their concerns about the pitches offered for the ongoing series. If the pitch straightaway starts helping the spinners (in this case it was misbehaving) from the ball one, it requires some serious attention from ICC.

Though this is not for the first time that any home team is preparing the pitches as per their strengths. Any home team would try to prepare the pitches which suits their style of play or is difficult for the opponents. When team India visits any country they also face situations which are not familiar to them. World knows that fast, bouncy and swinging condition are a weakness for Indian batting lineup and oppositions always try to exploit it by offering supporting pitches. If SENA countries can prepare wickets which suits their style of play, why can’t team India prepare pitches which favors them.

With this pitch controversy once again the same old debate has started that should test matches be played at neutral venues to counter the home conditions. That will not only eliminate the home conditions advantage but will also give rise to the popularity of cricket at non-cricket playing places. Teams may not find the same level of audience support at neutral venues initially but with time it will become popular too if the quality of cricket is there. We should not forget that initially 50 overs cricket was also not very popular but with time it has gathered a lot of attention even when the matches are played at neutral venues.

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What time holds we don’t know but one thing is very clear that Newzealand will be waiting once again to play the finals at Lords and this time they will not let the chance go from their hands to lift the most prestigious title of the cricket.

All image source : Google Images

Villains of Chennai

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With its first defeat at home after four years and that too on the ground which is believed to be one of the luckiest one for team India, some questions awaits for Virat and company as the next match standing just 72 hours away. With star players still not in their best shape, it would a grueling situation for team after being on the field for almost 3 days in the heat of Chennai.

We the fans in India chastise every failure and forget them very early too. We forgot the 36 all-out in Adelaide and filled with the joy of drawing the match in Melbourne. When the team Won at Sydney and Brisbane we were on cloud nine. But as soon as the we failed in the first innings against the lesser known bowing lineup, fans found a new reason to blame the team.

Do Indian Players Still Play Spinners Well

This defeat reminds us of the loss against the Australia at Pune four years back when our mighty batting lineup fell miserably against relatively less experienced spin bowling attack. Same happened in this match as well. Jack Leach and Dominic Bess might be big names for England cricket today for Indian fans and for the world they are lesser known players who are trying to make a name in international cricket.



What surprised more was even their fast bowlers were testing our batters on spinning friendly pitch and their batting lineup looked at no discomfort against our bowling. Apart from James Anderson all the bowlers are relatively new to the international cricket but their performance in this match have confirmed one thing that it will not be a easy going for team India in upcoming 3 matches.



Fans who were hoping for team to play in the ICC Test Championship’s final at Lords, will be rethinking after this performance. Momentum is now with England and even if they could draw the series, we might see the finalists of World Cup one more time playing for the pride at the same place.



This I am writing not on the basis of this one match but look at the form their captain is in. With this “Avatar” Root will pose challenges in next 3 games as well. Age is just a number for Anderson and he is looking younger day by day and showing this with his bowling. Archer is still a mystery for most of the batters. Bowlers are helpless against the power hitting of Stokes and Buttler.



For India the positives of this match were 6-fer of Ashwin, 85 from Sunder in first innings and Pant’s 97 in first innings. If we talk about the villains of this match there will be several contenders. Here we have listed three players who fans believe are responsible for this loss.



1. Rohit Sharma – With failures in both the innings and missed chances in slips he is first one to be blamed for India’s failure in first test.

2. Virat Kohli – Its been more then a year now that the world has witnessed a century from Indian Run Machine’s bat and his failure in first innings saw the collapse of the middle order. Team selection is another issue which raised the eyebrows of several experts.

3. Shahbaz Nadeem – He is playing just his second game and it would be hard to blame him for the defeat but his ineffectiveness on a spin friendly pitch hurt the team a lot.

As a true Indian fan we will hope for a fight and comeback from team India in next match but the way things have gone in this match, road to the next matches looks difficult for team India. Whatever be the result we will keep cheering and hoping for a win in the series.

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