The Reverse Sweep

India have found some bowlers

As India stumbled from heavy defeat to even heavier defeat during a traumatic summer in England one thing seemed very clear: the bowling cupboard was emptier than the contents of Wayne Rooney's head.

With Zaheer Khan injured, Harbhajan way past his best and Ishant Sharma even more inconsistent than usual, it was left to the wholehearted but lacking in pace Praveen Kumar to lead the attack. 

But after three Tests against an improving but brittle West Indies despair has turned into optimism as suddenly the cupboard is filling up faster than the supermarket shelves at Waitrose ahead of Christmas.

Harbhajan has finally been put out to pasture and Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha collected 42 wickets at 23 between them in the three Tests against the boys from the Caribbean.

They've also discovered that rariry of rarities in a country of over a billion souls - not one but two promising fast bowlers. The emergence of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron means that the likes of Sreesanth and Munaf Patel will be able to concentrate on the IPL and that RP Singh can return to the beach from whence he was summoned during the English expedition.

With Praveen returning from a well-earned rest, Zaheer (hopefully) from injury and Ishant fired up by the prospect of finishing Ricky Ponting's Test career, India suddenly look a different proposition.

The series against a transitional Australia under its new regime looks a thrilling prospect.

Where next?

Mumbai's thrilling final ball draw shows the true value of Test cricket

Sachin Tendulkar's 99.94

Virat Kohli - The (Little) Master's Apprentice

Who are cricket's likely future greats?

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

England v India: 1st Test, Lord's - Preview

With all due respect to South Africa, this series is the real clash of the titans to see who is the best current Test side. England have won five series on the bounce and India are yet to lose a Test rubber under the leadership of MS Dhoni – so something has to give.

England and India are notoriously slow starters, so staging the 1st Test of the series on a Lord’s featherbed may suit both teams as they begin to feel each other out. However, with India having had so little time to prepare on these shores, England may come to regret not staging this Test at Trent Bridge or Old Trafford.

Intriguing is the word that comes most to mind when assessing this match. Firstly, it is the 2000th Test match (prompting the ridiculous ICC XI picked by the public – Kapil Dev instead of Sobers? Sehwag or Gavaskar instead of Hobbs?). Then there is the small matter of Sachin Tendulkar aiming for his 100th international hundred. And if that wasn’t enough, there is the presence of Duncan Fletcher as Indian coach.

The time for all the talking is nearly over, let the extravaganza begin.

Likely line-ups

It’s Broad or Bresnan for England – we’d opt for the latter to reunite the four man attack who were so impressive during the innings victories at Melbourne and Sydney.

India’s final XI is less clear given Sehwag’s injury and the absence of Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan from the squad that recently beat the West Indies. With Suresh Raina excelling in the Caribbean and hitting a hundred in the warm-up match at Taunton, we expect him to bat at six, which means it is a straight choice between Yuvraj and Abhinav Mukund for the final batting spot.

Ishant Sharma was a revelation in the Caribbean and will open the bowling with Zaheer. Munaf Patel or Praveen Kumar will join the two spearheads and Harbhajan in India’s four man attack.

Look out for…

Kevin Pietersen likes the big occasion and it doesn’t get much bigger than this – the 2000th Test against the best side in the world at Lord’s. Don’t be surprised if KP marks the occasion with a sparkling hundred.

The battle between Zaheer and Andrew Strauss promises to be one to watch, but it’s difficult to look past Sachin Tendulkar’s quest to hit his 100th hundred and finally get on that Lord’s honours board.

Previously at Lord’s

2007 – Match drawn

A battling 76 not out from Dhoni and bad weather on the final day allowed India to escape by the skin of their teeth with just one wicket left for England to get in the first game of a series India went on to win 1-0.

2002 – England won by 170 runs

A captain’s knock of 155 by Nasser Hussain laid the platform before the bowlers earned England a big first innings lead. Centuries by Michael Vaughan and John Crawley helped set India an impossible target of 568, which they fell well short of, but not before the hitherto unsung Ajit Agarkar lit up Lord’s with this only Test hundred.

1990 – England won by 247 runs

Graham Gooch made history with 333 and 123 as India were trounced at Lord’s after England piled up 653 for four declared in their first innings. India didn’t go down without a fight though with Mohammad Azharuddin hitting a sparklingly beautiful hundred and Kapil Dev hitting four successive sixes to save the follow on.

Prediction

The weather and the pitch will probably lead to a stalemate in this Test, but we go for England to win what promises to be a classic and close series 2-1.

Where next?

Cricket Zeroes: Graham Gooch

Strauss’s Somerset stint is a sad indictment of county cricket

Duncan Fletcher's secret mission as India's coach

Mahendra Singh Dhoni - A born leader

Historic India-Pakistan summit flounders due to cricket diplomacy

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India vs Pakistan in the World Cup Semi-Final - Who will we be supporting?

 
Tomorrow’s semi-final between India and Pakistan is about as big a game of ODI cricket that it is possible to get.

With England finally being put out of their misery in this World Cup, The Reverse Sweep will be able to watch the action unfurl tomorrow as a complete neutral.

It should be a cracker.

The key duel will be between India’s batsmen and Pakistan’s varied and canny bowling line-up.

Indeed, we’ve written a post before surmising that an XI combined of India’s batsmen and Pakistan’s bowlers would be pretty unstoppable.

Obviously MS Dhoni rather than Kamran Akmal would wear the gloves.

Apart from a few overs against New Zealand, Pakistan have been magnificent in this World Cup with Shahid Afridi being both bowler supreme and a galvanising force as captain.

And they have done it without two of their best bowlers and their most experienced opening batsman.

It would be like India being without Tendulkar or Sehwag and Zaheer and Munaf Patel – okay Indian fans would probably be quite happy to be shot of Munaf.

And it is for this reason that we’ll be supporting Pakistan tomorrow. They are the clear underdog. They are the away side. And the renegade and mischief maker in us quite likes the idea of Shahid Afridi lifting the World Cup trophy.

As we said, it should be a cracker.

Where next?

Historic India-Pakistan summit flounders due to cricket diplomacy 

Revealed: New Pakistan Player Code of Conduct

Cricket Zeroes: Salman Butt

The renaissance of Yuvraj Singh

Check out our Reverse Sweep XIs

Read all our 2011 World Cup posts here

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Historic India-Pakistan summit flounders due to cricket diplomacy

News reaches the Reverse Sweep that the top secret peace summit between the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Pakistani President Asif Zardari had gone surprisingly well. It is understood that historic agreements on nuclear disarmament and the future of Kashmir had been drafted and were ready for signature.

Then the discussion moved to cricket, which according to the leaked and as yet unsubstantiated transcript changed the atmosphere completely.

And it all started so well:

Manmohan Singh: "By the way, congratulations Mr President on your cricket team's momentous victory over Australia at the weekend. 15 years is a long time"

Asif Zardari: "Why thank you Prime Minister. It was indeed a great day, although our batsmen did their best to bugger things up"

MS: "Yes, I saw that. Dougie, Hilfy and Mummy's Boy nearly did it. Damn them. Er I mean, batting isn't exactly your strongest suit, is it?"

AZ: "Spot on. As you probably know our best batsman retired in a huff after completely cocking things up in Australia. He is behaving like a spoilt child and keeps dropping hints to the press that he is ready to come back. Then our next best batsman also threw his toys out of the pram, because his predecessor as captain was conspiring behind his back. What does he expect? This is Pakistan after all. So, we've got a couple of school kids that Chairman Butt bumped into in the street at three and four. Then young Umar Akmal is sulking because he didn't get an IPL contract, and don't even get me started on Afridi..."

MS: "Yes, I can see your problem. Our challenge is entirely different. Our bowling attack is hopeless. Zaheer is injured and that leaves only Bhaji. Do you know, the reason why Murali said that Bhaji could challenge his 800 wickets?"

AZ: "No, go on"

MS: "Everyone thought that he was being generous. But that wasn't why. Murali based it on the fact that Bhaji would be bowling with the likes of Ojha, Sreesanth, Sharma, Mishra and that useless fool Munaf Patel for the next few years"

AZ: "Perhaps, it may help that in the spirit of our accord that I tell you that Munaf is actually a saboteur planted by the ISI and the PCB"

MS: "That explains a lot. Well, in return I'd better tell you that the same is true for Shoaib Malik. You know we couldn't believe it when you made him captain!"

AZ: "That, I am not surprised about. He still wants to be captain, you know"

MS: "Even the PCB wouldn't be that stupid, would they? We are already 1-0 down to Sri Lanka and I hear from my aides that the bowlers are being flayed to all corners of the ground in the second test too. Bang goes our number one ranking"

AZ: "You know perhaps our countries should reunify? With our bowlers and your batsmen, we could take over the world. We could even get Bangladesh onside too. Then we would have that great opening batsman of theirs as well"

MS: "That would be amazing to have Imrul Kayes in a reunified team. You know, that is a great idea. This summit could put Gandhi, Jinnah and Nehru all into the shade"

AZ: "But what would we call this new country?"

MS: "Well, it would obviously be called India. That was the name before partition and that should be the name after reunification"

AZ: "Why, you empire building filth. That is a massive insult to Pakistan. I will sign no such accord"

MS: "Don't you raise your voice with me. All deals are off, I'm leaving"

AZ: "I withdrew first. I want that put in the official transcripts"

At this point our source advises that the respective aides moved in to separate the two leaders from exchanging blows. The region and the world will never know how close it came to a truly historic peace accord. Cricket, you see raises passions. Not all of them healthy. But a team comprised of India's batsmen and Pakistan's bowlers would indeed be tough to face. We're not sure whether Imrul Kayes would get in the XI though.