Monday, October 31, 2011

India vs England: The good, the bad, and the slightly unattractive

Personally, I love my metaphors on a plate.
Apparently, we have been avenged.
For me, it’s only close to 30% done – because Tests do matter that much.
But I’ll take the 5-0, mostly because it was fun to watch the English team constantly complain about the cold dish they were being served. (See picture above)
Anyway, here’s what we learned from this series:
  • Even if you hate Ravindra Jadeja (which you probably do), you have to admit that he really has worked hard, and is now the ideal all-round option for India, given the lack of Irfan Pathan other options. He was the highest wicket-taker in the series, with 11, and an average of 17. With the bat, he averaged 37 from 3 innings with a good lower-order strike-rate of 110. He isn’t going to single-handedly win you one in fifteen games like Yusuf Pathan, but he’s pretty steady. For now.
  • Ashwin, unlike Harbhajan, takes wickets. One Challenger Trophy won’t save you, Bhaj.
  • Selection is still weird. Why on earth would you have Rahane open, when there’s no way he can bat in the top 3 in a full-strength XI? He did well enough, but from his innings of 91, he looks like a much better middle-order batsman to me.
  • Take Vinay Kumar’s 4-30 away, and in the four other games he gave away 150 runs in 24 overs, taking just 2 wicketsReally shouldn’t be a regular in the side.
  • Umesh Yadav was erratic too, but his pace was clearly an asset at several points in the series. I’d keep him around. And what a great debut for Varun Aaron!
  • The world’s #1 spinner fails at the home of spin? What’s that about?Swann took only 2 wickets at 95.5, conceding 5.3 rpo.
  • It’s all #trottsfault, for scoring 202 runs at 50.5, at a strike rate a shade under 80.
  • Virat Kohli (270 runs @90) doesn’t know what ugly batting is. Dhoni(212 runs, not dismissed), on the other hand, knows it better than anyone else, and excels at it.
  • Parthiv Patel had a rare bad series since his comeback, but no one cares since he’s just a stop-gap opener, like Dinesh Karthik before him. This can’t happen to Rahane, which, again, is why he should be in the middle-order. Unless someone retires from ODIs soon.
  • Do English fans feel the same way about Dernbach as I do about Vinay Kumar?
    Took me five minutes just to decide whether to put the comma after "bitch".
Series against Windies coming soon, I’ll be back.
Contributed by DHCF Rishabh Bablani
Rishabh’s personal blog

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