Amar Sohal
@sohalamarsingh
Historian of India and political thought @KingsCollegeLon | Fellow @RoyalHistS | Test cricket | Urdu poetry
India will soon play 6 Tests in Asia with 2 quicks and 3 spinners. Bumrah, Siraj and even Akash might be managed/rotated. Chance to invest in a young quick before next away cycle—they could develop control/skills under less pressure alongside 3 elite spinners. Who should it be?
Kamboj and Thakur bowled fewer overs between them than either Bumrah or Siraj, and conceded more runs than either of them. 29 out of 157. Its a 2 man attack plus 2 finger spinners in ENG. Just not enough.
A lot of people are saying you can't play 3 spinners without thinking about whether it's actually true, it's being treated like an axiom. India's marginal spinner is a lot better than their marginal pacer, England are worse against spin than pace, and two of India's spinners bat.
Finger spinners are not serious wicket taking threats in ENG. They can't be used as anything other than a 5th bowler. Kamboj isn't quick enough. Prasidh is, but IND seem to be upset about him going for runs even though he gets players out. Its all just negative from IND.
India need to be alert with strike management here, Gill should be facing Dawson and Sundar should be facing Stokes. The deadzone Stokes is accessing is only dangerous to RHB
The new ball will be very hard on this surface, up and down will only be harder to negotiate
Variable bounce for Stokes from the Anderson End already on Day 5. Baffling that Carse or Archer didn’t bowl from here last evening
Surprised ENG bowled Dawson for so long from the Anderson End where there has been variable bounce for the quicks. Siraj got quite a bit out of that end on Day 3. Was worth a decent go from taller Carse and Archer. Stokes not bowling was a huge miss
'This obsession of playing someone because of their second skill needs to stop', reckons Sanjay Manjrekar on India's team selections on this England tour #ENGvIND
It is actually crazy that a team with the best wicket keeper batter and the best Test all-rounder in the world cannot find balance in their playing XI even after 9 test matches in SENA. All they had to do is pick 4 best bowlers and 5 best batters.
Surprised ENG bowled Dawson for so long from the Anderson End where there has been variable bounce for the quicks. Siraj got quite a bit out of that end on Day 3. Was worth a decent go from taller Carse and Archer. Stokes not bowling was a huge miss
In the Shastri/Dravid era Thakur was picked to bowl and get wkts and did so. Nobody thought (based on what I've been told), that he was an all weather 4th quick bowler. When he stopped getting wickets (got 6 in 5 on 5 result pitches) he was left out. He's back for his batting.
Think folks need to start differentiating between bowling option depth and bowling quality depth. It’s the lack of the second one that India are facing here and there are no quick massive fixes, although they don’t help themselves, sure.
Its been three and a half Test matches. IND provide players in press conferences in every Test. I wonder if they've been asked - "Why do you bowl Thakur so little if you pick him? Why not pick someone you might actually bowl instead?"
Shardul bowled 11 overs out of 157. Clearly the captain didn’t have much faith in his fourth seamer. No justification for the selection blunder. Should’ve played Kuldeep. Or if they wanted more batting, Karun/Easwaran.
I don't think they're winning anyway but playing Prasidh for Kamboj (who is clearly unfit) and Kuldeep for Shardul might have improved the load distribution of their bowling. There's no point to playing Shardul.
India won at Perth and Edgbaston because the fast bowlers struck with the new ball. The moment the opposition saw off the new ball, the rest of the bowling got exposed. That is inevitable if there is no support cast.
IND just don't play enough bowling under Gambhir. They're obsessed with those pointless extra 30 runs at number 8. Watching this IND is like watching a team which hopes to sneak a win somewhere rather than competing for a win everywhere.
66 overs into England's innings and Shardul and Washington (despite his performance at Lord's) have bowled six overs between them. India's conservative team selection - over-valuing lower order runs, and ignoring Kuldeep Yadav as a result - has really helped England.
The load on Bumrah and Siraj is starting to tell. Same happened in AUS. There IND didn’t pick a 4th quick, while in ENG the 3rd quick has failed to provide regular support. IND have added to their woes by leaving Kuldeep out of each Test. Time for all-rounder obsessed GG to go
