England Test Match Tour of India 2024

England XI Hyderabad
1.Crawley, 2.Duckett, 3.Pope (vc), 4.Root, 5.Bairstow, 6.Stokes ©. 7.Foakes (w), 8. Ahmed, 9.Wood, 10Hartley, 11.Leach

I doubt that Bishir would've played even without the visa issues. You wonder if this is India causing trouble, England management selected this squad week ago, this should've been sorted.

The pitch has given England no option other than pick 3 spinners, 2 slow left arm bowlers isn't ideal you would usual want an off-spinner which Bashir could've provided, although India don't have many left-handed batters. There's talk of Root filling that role, even opening the bowling if Jaiswal is selected. Despite both bowling left-arm Leach & Hartley are different, the later being much taller (6' 4')

It is a bit of a worry having Wood as the only pace bowler, with his fitness issues, I can't see Stokes bowling much if at all so soon after a knee op.

Barstow has benefitted from the absence of Brook, with Foakes expected to keep in spinning conditions you want your best man behind the stumps.

India have form in this regard. The Pakistani World Cup team had issues with visas as did a Pakistani commentator who gave up and never got to the World Cup. If you are of Pakistani descent Indian authorities make it difficult to get a visa.

^^ I did catch on the the Pakistan connection, although I was highly suspicious of the visa problem. It always boils down to politics in the end.

Oh what a surprise… England reveal that Bishir has flown back to England to try to get his Visa sorted out & suddenly he gets it. Amazing what a bit of negative publicity for India does.

(19-01-2024 10:45 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  India Squad (1st 2 Tests)
Rohit Sharma c)
Shubman Gill
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Virat Kohli
Shreyas Iyer
K L Rahul
K S Bharat (w)
Dhruv Jurel (w)
R Ashwin
Ravindra Jadeja
Axar Patel
Kuldeep Yadev
Jasprit Bumrah (vc)
Mohammad Siraj
Mukesh Kumar
Avesh Khan

Rajat Patidar - Called up to the squad as a replacement for Virat Kohli who will miss the first 2 Tests for personal reasons.

The Indians do like to throw their weight around. Just read that during the World Cup the ICC are responsible for choosing the wickets that are played on for each game at the match ground. Whenever India played they looked at the wickets and simply played on the one they thought would suit them best. The ICC response? Silence

Skulduggery at it's best when they next tour here we should maker sure they are not smugggling nuclear weapons in the coaches!!
The ICC needs to wake up and see what is going on and step in.

(24-01-2024 18:33 )SecretAgent Wrote:  The Indians do like to throw their weight around. Just read that during the World Cup the ICC are responsible for choosing the wickets that are played on for each game at the match ground. Whenever India played they looked at the wickets and simply played on the one they thought would suit them best. The ICC response? Silence

^ Another reason why the ICC is not fit for purpose! A large part of the issue here is that Aus/Eng are effectively cohorts in the stitch up that sees India 'rule the land'. I get that money talks, but if Aus and Eng were to seek to be independent of the 'ownership' of the game ( ok they probably enjoy the 'power' they have too), they could help push through change! I know that ultimately India, with all the money muscle, will always have a power pace, and a belief that cricket can't do without them (they need us more than we need them) but if the big two stand on principle, on some level it may have an impact! I guess that nobody is going to 'bite the hand that feeds'

^^ I can't agree with this being the responsibility of England & Australia, why should they seek be independent of the ownership of the game, your making them the scapegoats to a problem that lies with the ICC alone. They are no more culpable than Ireland, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh. They're all ICC members with equal votes.
This is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. The ICC need to man up & take back control before it's to late.

India & the IPL franchises are monopolizing the cricket landscape. The re-vamped SAT20 has all 6 teams owned by IPL franchises, MLC (US) 4 out of 6, ILT (UAE) 3 out of 6, CPL (WI) 3 out of 6.

What this means is that a player with an IPL contract may also be expected, if required to turn out for other respective franchises across the globe, therefore controlling many off the best players in the world. This puts these players in conflict with their home cricket boards. On top of all this, players contracted to the BCCI (IND) cannot play in any other countries T20 tournaments, apart from their own IPL.
The big question is, will India be willing to share it's riches with other nations in the interest of protecting the game as a whole, or carry on as they are & ultimately end up having to just play amongst themselves.