Indian bowlers at full strength hammered in the first practice match.
By msdivkar
@msdivkar (23359)
India
July 16, 2011 9:10am CST
Indian bowlers at full strength with Zahir Khan and Sreesanth hammered to all corners of the ground by somerset skippered by England team captain Andrew Strauss. On second day somerset are 350/2 after 84 overs. Zahir Khan gave away 56 runs of his seventeen overs, Sreesanth is even costlier giving away 64 runs of just 16 overs both could not take a wicket. Amit Misra and Raina are two bowlers who took the wicket each. Could this be the indication of the state of the affairs to come in all important English tour where No.1 test position is at stake? your views please.
3 responses
@keenan_savio (416)
• India
16 Jul 11
I dont think this is something to be too worried about. It is a practice game and yes it has to be taken seriously. But I think that the Indians have got Zaheer back and this is the biggest strength for thier bowling line up. Sreesanth is know to be wavered many a times and instead of just running up and bowling at full pace should concentrate on line and lenght as well. The conditions in England are bowler friendly only if you bowl well and pitch the ball in the right areas.
So definately nothing to be too concerned about and the Indian will surley deliver the best performance when the test matches begin with a full strenght squard. Also considering that Zaheer is making a come back after a break he might have just needed this practice match to warm himself up and will be up to the task in the next innings or the first test match. Along with Zaheer, Ishant as well as Praveen and even Munaf will be availabe for selection. This will help further strenghten the bowling line up and considering that India is the number one team in test cricket, I'm very sure they will retain the spot and also will be on the victorious side after thet tests..
@msdivkar (23359)
• India
17 Jul 11
Hi Keenan,
I agree with you this is a practice match and players don't give their everything for such matches but this is true for bowlers not batsmen. Batsmen normally try to take full advantage of practice matches and try to be on the pitch for as long as possible but in this match entire top order barring Raina and Tendulkar to some extent, failed bitterly on a flattish pitch and conditions not so favorable to the bowlers. This is a case for worry. Thanks to Raina who remained unbeaten on 103 that the score got some respectability.
@keenan_savio (416)
• India
19 Jul 11
Indeed it is a time when batsmen try to occupy the crease for a long as possible and get valuable time in the middle out there. Its helps them regain some lost form and also fortourist nations its helps them to judge the nature of the wickets and also get used to the conditions. More importantly sub continent teams need to adapt more quickly as the conditions and the nature of the wickets are totally different compared to those back home.
Yes Yuvraj had been in good form and played well in the T20 world cup in 20047 in England. But as he was on a break rather nursing an injury, Raina made themost of his opportunities and has played well in the Westindies and also notched up a 100 inthe practice game. I my view I see Raina being selected ahead of Yuvraj on current form.Nevertheless its going to be an exciting contest between the two teams in the next few weeks to come..
@grvdubey11 (1879)
• India
16 Jul 11
This is the same pitch where India hammered SL by making 371 in 1999 world cup,this pitch has always been flat.Also the practice matches should not be taken seriously,Indian bowlers will be much better when the real matches starts.
@msdivkar (23359)
• India
16 Jul 11
Hi grvdubey,
I hope you are right. India have already lost 2 wickets on the score of 51. They tried to reply strongly by hammering 14 runs of 1st over but after loosing Gambhir on 32 and Mukund on 51, scoring rate dropped considerably. India lost their third wicket of Rahul Dravid on 72 as I right this. Hope they will recover to avoid embarrassment.
@grvdubey11 (1879)
• India
16 Jul 11
Indians are poor starters and now its becoming predictable.They play poorly at the start of the tour and then come back strongly.This practice match will remove whatever nervousness or anything like that is there,although India are not playing well in the practice match still i think they will play be very competitive when the series starts.
@moksha09 (467)
• India
16 Jul 11
These thing happen in cricket.There is no reason to be alarmed.The English side is better than the Windies but The Indians are back to full strength but will miss Sehwag and Pujara. The bowlers will come into their own quickly enough.
The series will be hard fought and India will have to show the aggression which was missing in the last three tests.
@msdivkar (23359)
• India
16 Jul 11
Hi moksha,
There is no doubt that English team is much stronger than Windies but I expected Indian bowlers particularly Zahir to perform better in English conditions which favors seam bowling but instead all seam bowlers are hammered. May be the condition is conducive to batting we shall see when India comes to bat.
