Pietersen starts with a disclaimer. He says he is not someone who can be trampled upon. In February 2014, Pietersen went to the ECB to meet the then 3 powerful people in the English game, captain Alastair Cook, Managing Director Paul Downton and James Whitaker, the Chairman of Selectors. England had just concluded a disastrous …
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England have chosen to sack their white-ball coach, Mathew Mott. It wasn’t surprising at all given the performance of the team over the last couple of years under Mott and Buttler. What was unexpected however was the retention of Jos Buttler as the captain. From the heady days of the ODI World Cup win followed …
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Well, there was a series between England and West Indies. Not that many paid much attention to the series. As expected, England won the series 3-0. It is actually a big improvement for England against this particular opponent. For some reason, England and Pakistan are the only teams that still lose games to West Indies. …
Read More “The England West Indies series”
Before proceeding to read this blog, please read part one of the England series against India. In this blog, I will dissect the opinion of England’s former cricketers, some of whom were really savage on their team. It was an incredible performance on the part of the Indians who missed several key personnel in the …
Read More “England’s series against India”
The English were overwhelming in their opinion about the series in India. They will lose and some even said heavily. In the end, it did come true. England lost the series heavily. 1-4 defeat, with the sole victory on the back of an unbelievable Ollie Pope innings, that they must have lost as well. The …
Read More “The series from England’s perspective”
Prior to the start of the series, if anyone had told Rohit Sharma that his team would lose one Test, he would have been satisfied. If the same person had told him that his team would win 4 Tests and thereby the series, he would have been ecstatic. With the withdrawal of Virat Kohli just …
Read More “Series win Indian perspective”
Eversince the loss of the series or more precisely, eversince Joe Root’s ill-advised ramp of Bumrah, England’s former cricketers have advised the team to look beyond Bazball. They range from Michael Vaughan to Mark Ramprakash though sane voices like Nasser Hussain have asked the supporters to refrain from criticising Bazball. I would urge England don’t …
Read More “Don’t discard Bazball England”
It was an excellent series win. There are no two ways about it. Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid and the entire management must be thrilled to achieve this win. Perhaps, under Rohit and Dravid, this is their best performance. I do remember that India reached the ODI World Cup Final but did they win it? No. …
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Suddenly, Bazball is in the news but for the wrong reasons. Why the cry over Bazball? England was never known for exciting cricket. Push into a corner, they will usually buckle down and wait to be rolled over. The various teams under Alastair Cook and Joe Root more or less resembled lambs to the slaughter …
Read More “Why the cry over Bazball?”
It is likely that Jasprit Bumrah, the most successful Indian bowler on spinning pitches, will be rested for the next Test against England. The aim of the move is to ensure his longevity. This is a noble intention and there is no doubt about it. Given Bumrah’s history with injuries and his relevance to the …
Read More “Indian team’s priorities are wrong”