dirty
July 31st, 2002, 12:20 PM
Cut & Paste not Orignal ....................
My predictions for the series
I make the following predictions about the current series that India is playing with England. I make these predictions based on the experience of following Indian cricket for last 15 years.
Second Test :
India will try Harbhajan and Yohannan in the tour match following the first Test. They desperately need to solve the the fourth bowler problem (they will ignore the problems of the first three bowlers - Zaheer, Nehra, Kumble)
Harbhajan will get the nod. Two days into the match, it turns out be a wrong decision to play 2 spinners on a pitch doing something in the air.
Thorpe and Butcher are not in good nick. One of them will surely get a hundred in the second Test.
Sachin proves his detractors wrong with a wonderful score (maybe a century).
All the newspapers in India will write about it the next two weeks.
Decent performances from India will help them salvage a draw.
Again the newspapers raise the hopes of a series victory for India.
Third Test :
For the third Test, India dumps Kumble and gets Yohannan.
Meanwhile Ratra's position is shaky because of batting. Parthiv Patel will make his debut. scores well (maybe a 30 or 40). A lot will be written about the new genius kid on the block.
Fourth Test :
In order to win the fourth Test, India will make Parthiv open, dropping Jaffer and including Kaif for the middle order.
That'll shatter what ever confidence Parthiv has built about his batting in his young career. By the end of the third day, India will have a chance to win the Test.
Again the famed batting line up will crumble under pressure and India will lose the series 2 - 0.
Overall :
None of the problems that India had at the start of the Test series would have been solved.
Another young career (Parthiv) would have been killed.
Sachin again gets a good series aggregate ( about 50 + average) in a series, he did not help India win. But he gets all the attention, even though Rahul was equally consistent.
Ganguly will say "but we won the one day series..."
My predictions for the series
I make the following predictions about the current series that India is playing with England. I make these predictions based on the experience of following Indian cricket for last 15 years.
Second Test :
India will try Harbhajan and Yohannan in the tour match following the first Test. They desperately need to solve the the fourth bowler problem (they will ignore the problems of the first three bowlers - Zaheer, Nehra, Kumble)
Harbhajan will get the nod. Two days into the match, it turns out be a wrong decision to play 2 spinners on a pitch doing something in the air.
Thorpe and Butcher are not in good nick. One of them will surely get a hundred in the second Test.
Sachin proves his detractors wrong with a wonderful score (maybe a century).
All the newspapers in India will write about it the next two weeks.
Decent performances from India will help them salvage a draw.
Again the newspapers raise the hopes of a series victory for India.
Third Test :
For the third Test, India dumps Kumble and gets Yohannan.
Meanwhile Ratra's position is shaky because of batting. Parthiv Patel will make his debut. scores well (maybe a 30 or 40). A lot will be written about the new genius kid on the block.
Fourth Test :
In order to win the fourth Test, India will make Parthiv open, dropping Jaffer and including Kaif for the middle order.
That'll shatter what ever confidence Parthiv has built about his batting in his young career. By the end of the third day, India will have a chance to win the Test.
Again the famed batting line up will crumble under pressure and India will lose the series 2 - 0.
Overall :
None of the problems that India had at the start of the Test series would have been solved.
Another young career (Parthiv) would have been killed.
Sachin again gets a good series aggregate ( about 50 + average) in a series, he did not help India win. But he gets all the attention, even though Rahul was equally consistent.
Ganguly will say "but we won the one day series..."