Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Battered England look to square the series

After receiving a hammering at the hands of Pakistan in the first Test at Dubai, the world no.1 English side would look to hit back hard and square the series in the second Test at Abu Dhabi.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first in the first Test, England threw away the advantage of a beautiful batting track and were bundled out for a paltry 192. Their batsmen were totally clueless against the spin variations of Saeed Ajmal who wrecked havoc with seven wickets in the innings. Nine out of their ten wickets in the first innings fell to the spinners. 

The inability of their pacemen to pick up early wickets weakened their grip on the match and finally the failure of their batsmen in the second innings made sure that the match got over well within three days. Throughout the Test, only Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior looked somewhat comfortable against spin bowling. 

In the bowling department, off-spinner Graeme Swann did strike but it was too late, the only bowler who seemed ominous was Stuard Broad who bowled with great heart. Chris Tremlett looked lacklustre and went wicketless. With the subcontinent pitches assisting spin, the Poms would most likely replace Chris Tremlett with Monty Panesar, who picked up a five-for in the tour match against Pakistan Cricket Board XI, in the starting line-up. The rest of the team may remain unchanged. 

After getting off to a flier, the Pakistan team lost the plot in the first innings of the first Test but did well to assert a decent lead of 146. The middle order got starts but failed to carry on. One of the big positives for Pakistan was the performance of Keeper Adnan Akmal who impressed with his intelligent batting down the order. Their spinners were the key but the pacemen also contributed as Umar Gul sparked the collapse in the second innings and picked up four key wickets. 

There are two changes expected in the Pakistan side as Asad Shafiq, who flopped with the bat in the first Test, may make way for the swashbuckling Umar Akmal, while Aizaz Cheema who struggled with an injury in Dubai could be replaced by Wahab Riaz in the second Test.

We can expect a slower pitch at Abu Dhabi and England’s prospects of winning the match will depend a lot on how well they handle the Pakistan spinners.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Ominous Australia aim for 4-0 whitewash

After a closely fought battle in Melbourne, Australia dominated the proceedings entirely in the next two Tests and clinched the series with a thumping win at Perth. The focus shifts on to Adelaide and India has nothing but to play for pride, while the home side would be looking to inflict their first series whitewash over the visitors since 1999-2000.  

The third Test saw one of the best batting line-ups in the world surrender abjectly to a comparatively inexperienced Australian pace battery at the WACA. After being bowled out for a dismal 161 in the first innings, the visitors were forced into submission by a David Warner blitzkrieg. The big four, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, failed to put up a good fight in the second innings and the Indians crumbled within two and a half days by an innings and 37 runs.   

The only positives for the visitors were the promising performances of Umesh Yadav, who staged a 1st innings fightback with a maiden five-for, and under fire Virat Kohli, who played a brave knock of 75 in the second innings.

Meanwhile, the Australian middle order faltered but the damage was already done by Man-of-the-Match David Warner. Their bowlers bowled with great discipline which fetched them key wickets at crucial junctures. 

The Adelaide Oval pitch will have something in it for the fast bowlers early in the first day, but will gradually slow down. For Australia, Nathan Lyon will most probably return in the final Test in place of Mitchell Starc. Brad Haddin and Shaun Marsh could retain their places in the playing eleven despite flopping in the previous three Tests. 

For India, wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha will replace suspended Mahendra Singh Dhoni. They might go in with two spinners and  off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha may replace Vinay Kumar and Ishant Sharma in the starting line-up. Rohit Sharma has a slight chance of making it to the playing eleven if the selectors decide to drop out-of-form VVS Laxman, but the chances are very bleak. Virender Sehwag will lead the team in the absence of MS Dhoni.

The fourth Test venue will offer some confidence to the visitors as they have a draw and a win under their belt in their last two Tests here. The home side on the other hand have won just one of their last four games at this venue.

The Indians need to up the ante and the big four need to perform in order to end the series on a high and salvage some pride with a consolation win in the final Test. A win would amount to a huge confidence boost ahead of the T20s and the ODI series.