India - Hugely disappointing

I'm sorry, but this is going to come across as very negative.

How did this Indian side get to number 1 in the Test rankings? Yes, they have a potentially excellent top 5 of the batting order, although this tour they've either missed games through injury or been off form with the notable exception of Dravid. However, beyond that they seem to have so little - one quality seamer out with injury, a trier of a medium pacer in Kumar, no spinner worth his place and absolutely diabolical fielding standards.

Perhaps we were just priveleged to have the great Aussie team at the top of the tree for so long - OK, may not have had quite the same batting firepower in the top 5 (though was plenty good enough), but with better players at 6 and 7, 3 great seamers, one of the best spinners ever and defining the standards in professionalism and intensity in the field. Even when things went against them, they would give absolute effort and commitment to the cause. By contrast, India seem (this series at least) to be totally out of it mentally - there really is no other explanation for things like the dropped catches today.

Hopefully England can take the #1 spot in the next few days, and continue to perform to a standard worthy of the ranking.

No wonder Boycot is saying " are these Bangladeshis in disguiise?"
any way, Indians fans should not be too disapointed, duiring this testing times.
Winning and losing is the name of the game (and life)
the rankings may go up as well as down, (please consult your financial advisor)

I know what you mean.

I thought we'd watch two closely matched sides go hard at it for the top spot.

In fact what we've watched is England utterly crushing a side that, with the exception of Dravid and Kumar, gives every impression of having given up completely. It's fun watching your side rack up huge totals, but give me the Ashes any day, win or lose, over this.

The first Test at Lords was a great one. After that, the Indians have seemed completely broken.

There now seems little to stop us taking the top spot. I'll have to wait for the Saffers for a real battle for the no 1 spot. The only area of England's game that concerns me is against really good fast bowling on a bouncy track...

they cant even play for pride cos thats been battered as well

Oh well. It's a funny old game. I have been impressed by Kumar. I just wonder how long it will be before the BCCI has broken his body on the rack of cash.

I agree. This should have been a great, really competitive series but as fun as it is, seeing your team playing brilliantly, I hate ones sided affairs...

...it must have been boring being those winning Aussies for all those years!

Any thing that goes up must come down, Indian fans need to learn so many things from England football fans, (AS WELL AS ENG. CRICKET FANS).
There has been no major success since 1966 football world cup win, England cricket team is even worse, not a single world cup win aprt from mickey mouse format, so compare that with Indians, to me 2011 world cup win was like they exceeded all my expectaions, especially after the 3 previous IPL seasons.
Always look forward to tomorrow, there is a Test Match World Cup at the horizon.

Active
"There has been no major success since 1966 football world cup win, England cricket team is even worse, not a single world cup win aprt from mickey mouse format, so compare that with Indians, to me 2011 world cup win was like they exceeded all my expectaions, especially after the 3 previous IPL seasons."

I think you'll find most cricket fans disagree, because we (mostly) put the importance on Test cricket, and as such won our big title in 2005 by beating the then clear best team in the World. By comparison, 50 over world cups are not that important - yes it would have been nice to win one, but we've never been as focussed on this discipline (or for the most part as good and innovative as the Indians, West Indians, Sri Lankans and Australians), and so have only to date reached the final rather than winning.

activereactive wrote:mickey mouse format

Hahahahaha. Please tell that to the BCCI, who seems to put so much focus on it. And the whole Indian team, who seem to prefer winning T20 over winning Test matches.

Makrish wrote:

activereactive wrote:mickey mouse format

Hahahahaha. Please tell that to the BCCI, who seems to put so much focus on it. And the whole Indian team, who seem to prefer winning T20 over winning Test matches.

Except for when they were winning and number 1.

Dohni still can out after tfirst test and said he sees test cricket as teh premier format. Its the fickle desperate fans such as yourself who pretend that test cricket doenst count when your team loses. Surav Ganguly is on radio now calling T20 an easy format.

England have sacrificed in the other direction. Part of the reason the underperformed at the 50 over world cup was the length of the tour to Aus, they went early to make sure they were prepaerd for the Ashes. India have come here tired and undercooked because of the IPL, not internatiomnal cricket. England effectivly banned their players from going.

Its money not a format the Indian players have been concentrating on. Thats the disgrace, and the Indian public should be angry at them for it because they have been humiliated in a series they could have won.

PSW, I'm not sure I follow. Are you saying that it's *not* India's fault that are failing? That it is, in fact, BCCI's fault?

The players could have easily refused to play in the IPL, but instead, they wanted to pander to the culture of cricket stardom in India and entertained the crowds, instead of thinking ahead to representing their country.

Moreover, their bowling attack has been lacking in the last two years. Since the start of last year, six double centuries have been scored against India, and none against England. Their bowling attack leaves a lot to be desired.

No I am saying that the Indian players chose to chase the money, and teh BCCI too.
Its not a case that they dont value test cricket obvver 50 overs, its a the case that they value money and an easy time over both recently. Which is sad for them , becasue they had a record to be proud of till this tour.

I dont think anyone but the most ardent WUMS would argue with the point about the Indian bowling, and its likely to get worse than better in the short term.
The batting and fielding in this series theres no excuse for, they are better players than that.