‘India’s best pace bowler is slower than England’s leading female seamer’

England is edging closer to the Test match summit, but India are facing an abyss, feels former Test fast bowler Mike Selvey.

 

In an article for the Guardian, Selvey says that while the bragging rights for the number one ranking still remains with India, it is a position that is tenuous and will come loose if neither of the two remaining Tests are won by England.

 

“After two such overwhelming wins by England it is clear, rankings or no rankings, where the balance of power lies in the Test match arena. Quite simply, England are an inspirational team, one of the very best that they have fielded for decades, while India, at the moment, are a collection of individuals, some of them giants of the game, but lacking the obvious cohesion and sense of purpose that their opponents carry with them,” says Selvey.

 

“England have shown their capacity to fight their way out of a corner on more than one occasion over the past couple of years, while India, as a team, look bereft of that spirit which can overcome adversity,” he adds.

 

Selvey says that Rahul Dravid has been the exception, with two centuries. He says that Dravid’s Trent Bridge century should be a compulsory part of the education of any aspiring batsman.

 

He adds that both VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar have shown flashes of the craft that has made the Indian middle order one of the most revered the game has seen, but adds that there are flaws in the team.

 

“The Test match talent pool looks to be a shallow one. Too many hopes are being pinned on the potential return of Zaheer Khan. He can be a superb bowler but at Lord's he got what might have been inevitable given his obvious lack of fitness and match practice. His replacement, Sreesanth, is an endearing eccentric, and a clever bowler at times, but he is no real replacement,” Selvey says.

 

“When the best Indian pace bowler in the series so far is someone who sends it down slower than England's leading female seamer Kathy Brunt, there are questions to be asked,” he says.

 

He also says that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is right to point out that many of his team, in effect, are now in the middle of a seven Test series being played over a nine week period.

 

For that, blame the Indian board, which sanctions their contribution to the future tours programme. However, that does not excuse the lackadaisical manner in which they prepared for the first Test, something which allowed England to sprint out of the blocks at Lord's and then stretch the lead in Nottingham.