England V India - 1st Odi - Delhi

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India v England, 1st ODI, Delhi

Flintoff backs England against Indian juggernaut

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Delhi

March 27, 2006

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It must be an exciting time to be Andrew Flintoff. Around a month ago he was handed the captaincy; last week he inspired his bunch of boys to a most unlikely series-levelling win; few days back he flew back home and savoured the moment with his newly-born son, who he "hadn't seen for a while, in fact never". Now he's back, for the first of the seven-match one-day series, to the same venue where, in January 2002, he was "shot".

England's last game at the Feroz Shah Kotla was a cliffhanger, one where they sneaked home by two runs. The reason why the game is remembered, though, is because of Flintoff's startling remarks in his book, Being Freddie: "I felt something hit me and, looking down, saw pellets on the ground. You expect to have plastic bottles thrown at you when you are playing on the subcontinent, but you don't expect to be shot ... I think I should have made more of a stand because I wasn't there to be shot at."

He was shot again today, in fact several hundred times. This time it was by an army of over-enthusiastic photographers, trying to get as many pictures of him and Dravid unveiling the TVS Cup. He couldn't control smirking at the passion on show, as the photographers nudged, shoved and howled. Later, sporting a refreshingly relaxed air, he settled down to address the press and said he wasn't going to break his head over crowd troubles - "We have other things to worry about than think of what happened four years ago" - and hoped his side would show the same ability to scrap against the odds - "What English cricket is all about".

Last Saturday, as Flintoff was back home "feeding the baby", Matt Prior and Ian Bell warmed themselves up with fine half-centuries in the practice game at Jaipur. Both could find a place in the starting XI tomorrow but it would be the explosive skills of Kevin Pietersen and Flintoff - "impact players," as Dravid called them - that could win the day.

Statistically, though, England are up against huge odds. Their last overseas one-day series win, if one excludes Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, came way back in December 1997, when Adam Hollioke led a group of tyros to victory in Sharjah. India, on the other hand, are on a red-hot one-day streak, with thumping victories over Sri Lanka and Pakistan intercepted by a drawn rubber against South Africa. They have hunted down targets like panthers on a prowl, 13 successful run-chases in a row , and possess a flexibility that serves them in a crisis.

Munaf Patel's bruised heel during practice may rule him out of the game but India now have a medium-pace pool to pick from. Sreesanth's skid, Ajit Agarkar's nip and Rudra Pratap Singh's discomforting lift blended beautifully in Pakistan. Vitally, they were backed up by innovative captaincy and an off-side cordon - Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina - that resembled a gymnastic crew. Something happens to India when they play one-dayers these days. It will take a mighty effort to stop this juggernaut. But again, Flintoff may well turn out to be that superhuman force.

India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Ajit Agarkar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Sreesanth

England (probable) 1 Matt Prior, 2 Ian Bell, 3 Andrew Strauss, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ian Blackwell, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Kabir Ali, 11 James Anderson.

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is staff writer of Cricinfo

© Cricinfo
 
Kabir Ali ahead of Hoggard. Your having a laugh. I've got a feeling India will thrash us in this game. We just don't have the one day experience like they do. If we're going to have any chance then Pietersen or Flintoff needs to put a big innings in.
 
the world cup is only about a year away - this series is going to be very important for both sides - it should be really interesting
as long as england can get early wickets - they have a good chance of winning
because if they let sehwag run riot in the first 15 overs - the game may be out of their hands
but even still - as rob h said - if pietersen or flintoff put sum big innings in - shud be very competitive
 
It looks ok to me considering we're missing 3 of our usual 5 bowlers.

Flintoff, Anderson and Mahmood would be my choices to lead the attack with Ali as the bowler who can bat and Blackwell as the spinner. As it is one would probably expect Hoggard to play in place of Mahmood given his good form at the moment but I am still very mistrustful of Hoggard playing one day internationals.

Only one of Jones and Prior should play.

My team would be something along the lines of..

Prior+
Strauss
Shah
Pietersen
Bell
Flintoff*
Collingwood
Blackwell
Ali
Mahmood
Anderson
 
I have always maintained that STruass should be at four for ODIS. That is where he has performed best for them and they should continue with him there and Micheal Vaughan should open when he is there. However, Strauss at 4 in my opinion.

I think if England win the toss, despite the conditions, bowl first. I do not think they have the expierence to set and defend a target, meanwhile India's last 13 wins have come in a chase. They could not even defend 328 against PAkistan.
 
Suresh Raina & Kaif looked to be in very good nick in the warm up game. i have a feeling they will play an important role in the series.
 
At the End it all boils down to How KP and Flintoff plays.....

Shewag is just Sub-cont. bowler bully........
 
I hope Sajid Mahmood/Kabir Ali/Shah do well

If they do play together that would be amazing!

3 players with pak roots, would it be some sort of record?:p
 
M J Prior, A J Strauss, O A Shah, K P Pietersen, P D Collingwood, A Flintoff, G O Jones, I D Blackwell, L E Plunkett, Kabir Ali, J M Anderson

Does Hoggard not play one dayers usually for England? Being an in-form bowler, they could have had him in the team!
 
india bat

nearly a wicket too anderson on the very first ball
1 run non the lss
india are away
 
only indians can make such run feast pitches seriously............

15 for 0

2 overs....
 
cavin420 said:
only indians can make such run feast pitches seriously............

15 for 0

2 overs....

yeah right,even a 400+ score was chased here recently :p
 
spindoctor said:
The super-subs are removed from the game. Do the powerplays still come into play?
yes, power plays still remain part of the game......................
 
cavin420 said:
outtttttttttttttt
sehwaggggggggg
waheed you were spot on!!
and what did i say???????

kabir ali bowling beautifully bowled a maiden..
17 for 1
 
that should have been taken by shah with eyes closed...hes a class slipper but dropping dravid means game set n match to india (i hope not!
 
cavin420 said:
17 for 1

anderson gets sehwag
dravid comes out
and good morning my dear ol enemy :p

shewag seams to be in the worst form of his career!

enemy? that hurts! :p
 
jusarrived said:
shewag seams to be in the worst form of his career!

enemy? that hurts! :p
dont worry i still follow the rule, keep your friends close but enemies closer (lucky you ehh :p



and waheed both shah and kabir ali......(pakistani roots) i blv still hold pakistani natiionaltiz (dual holders unlike india ;-)
 
Waheed_one said:
England fielding like Pak?
more like british pakistani players fielding like they know how best too :D


wow what a ripper beats dravid anerason , dravid doesnt look comffortable here....although runs flowing

39 for 1
6.3 overs
 
Dravid scoring more run in boundries????....I am surprised he didn't sent in Pathan or Dohni for attack????
 
Funny how this ODI takes top place on cricinfo and the Pak vs SL test match is reduced to a micro headline.
 
lahori2 said:
Funny how this ODI takes top place on cricinfo and the Pak vs SL test match is reduced to a micro headline.

yeah exactly and in engalnd vs india ma favorite non pakistani player is bowling FLINTOFF
 
kaif runout too! :12:
68/4

cant belive i have been banned in an indian forum,though i don remb postin anything about ganguly or tendu lately :20:
 
jusarrived said:
kaif runout too! :12:
68/4

cant belive i have been banned in an indian forum,though i don remb postin anything about ganguly or tendu lately :20:
Abe ko paisey do. unban ker dey ga
 
i know mods will probably have my behind for this since im the quintessential anti indian but jeeeez.. how do u indians even show ur face if u get whooped in odis too.. it doesnt look too good right now.. man oh man.... talk about major butt whooping.
 
Cartman said:
i know mods will probably have my behind for this since im the quintessential anti indian but jeeeez.. how do u indians even show ur face if u get whooped in odis too.. it doesnt look too good right now.. man oh man.... talk about major butt whooping.

kinda the same way you got the nerve to show up after creating a thread about kicking bharati behind and then you getting whooped 4-1
 
last time i checked Indians went back home with their behinds in a duffel bag... but then cried themselves to sleep saying oh well they only beat us after 15-16 years.
 
now plunkett gets dravid.... i wonder if indians are going to make plunkett the next glen mcgrath here.
 
Cartman said:
now plunkett gets dravid.... i wonder if indians are going to make plunkett the next glen mcgrath here.


Not He still has 16 years to go before awarded Grawth but do have ponteinals
 
Cartman said:
now plunkett gets dravid.... i wonder if indians are going to make plunkett the next glen mcgrath here.

don get your hopes high..our batting starts now...dhoni ,bajji n our main hope sreesanth still to come :D
 
jusarrived said:
don get your hopes high..our batting starts now...dhoni ,bajji n our main hope sreesanth still to come :D


Dhoni: Max he'll Play is five over.........He is Sub-cont. bowlers bully.
 
Just seen the wickets - what a beauty to get bowl Dravid!
 
I think Ind will comfortably get 250+ on this pitch.
 
good to see raina not throw his wikt away..hes known as an attacking player..refreshing to see a 19yr old havin good temparment!
 
Just got a very apt comment from one of the chat lines.....
India is the most important cricketing country in World Cricket :)
It is like an hospital.....anyone from other teams out of form regain form after playing India
It is like an institution.....So many so-so players become stars after coming to India....Panesar, Anderson, Plunkett and now Kabir Ali. Not to forget the age old records here.

Guys dont worry, if you want your players to regain form just set up one more series with India immediately.
 
Kabir Ali took four wickets.

India - 203 AO
 
I am just wondering if it is worth staying up to see the rest of the match.
England with their experience of 20-20 cricket should be able to overtake this within 35 overs even with bits and pieces cricketers.
 
sp10006 said:
I am just wondering if it is worth staying up to see the rest of the match.
England with their experience of 20-20 cricket should be able to overtake this within 35 overs even with bits and pieces cricketers.
I would nt think so - Ind arent the 'get out of jail' merchants.

Harbhajan top scoring - what next???
 
Harbhajan top scoring with 37 :))) :))) :))) :)))

Solid bowling display, as long as we dont lose early wickets in the chase we should be ok. Flintoff's captaincy just gets better and better.
 
As I said Whippy.....India is an Institution of Cricket.....Another great Captain graduates with full honours.
 
Flintoff and Anderson were below their best, Ali and Plunkett flickered between precision and puddin' head but I guess with Ian Blackwell's fine spell and India's self destructive batting it didn't matter too much.

Not that we'll win, England can't chase more 150 without imploding.

Especially with that batting lineup.
 
Billy said:
Flintoff and Anderson were below their best, Ali and Plunkett flickered between precision and puddin' head but I guess with Ian Blackwell's fine spell and India's self destructive batting it didn't matter too much.

Not that we'll win, England can't chase more 150 without imploding.

Especially with that batting lineup.

Are you trying to "Not Jinx" the team by these statements mate. England has never looked like a team to get out that cheap, even when they were not winning.

BTW.....

"Not that we'll win, England can't chase more 150 without imploding."

AMEN ;)
 
With no Tresco, our ODI run chases this series will be hit and miss. A lot rests on the shoulders of Flintoff and Pietersen, one is in superb form the other not so; and I guess you just have to rely on those two doing something. I personally am confident, the ball has run for us in this match.
 
England are 'King of the Kollapse' so Ind is in with a chance ONLY if Eng implode! Cant see Ind winning this (although nothing to stop Eng from losing it!)
 
Well to be fair we usually win the first match in these things before the real troubles start but I can't help thinking we're a batsman short.

We're basically only playing 4 specialist batsman for no apparent reason. I understand that Fletcher wants Jones' keeping to get as much of a work out as is possible but if Prior makes the team solely as a batsman then he should keep. It's not like he's totally part time, he nearly always keeps wicket for Sussex now.
 
In ODIs, England's batting is either world class or awful. The result of this match depends on which one they are gonna pull out of the hat today.
 
And specialist batters are in short supply, but we have a very short tail...everyone 1 down til 10 can bat. There has to be a compromise somewhere in one dayers.
 
In that case...the best would be to take an aggressive approach.....I mean get the runs before the bowlers catch up with you.....:)

With just 204 needed it shouldnt be that tough. IF however they decide to play watchfully I feel they might just be making a mistake.
 
Cut away for four, what a shot by Shah.
 
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