Praveen Kumar to Cook - Nice effort by Ms Dhoni to save Boundary | India vs England 2nd Test Day 1
Praveen Kumar to Cook - Nice effort by Ms Dhoni to save Boundary | India vs England 2nd Test Day 1
10.57am Start of play is imminent, England's openers making their way to the middle as the Indian fielders spread across the field. Praveen Kumar has the new ball. If it's going to swing for anyone, it'll swing for him.
"Why can't Sachin open in the test matches too? he's always faced the new ball from the best of bowlersn in ODI and IPL.. How different is this?" That is an outlandish suggestion Zahir. I don't know where to start.
Nagraj Gollapudi is also at the ground, and he's just told us that "the sun is threatening to unveil itself from behind the steadily passing clouds," news that will please England's batsmen more than India's bowlers. Also, it's a another full house for day one of the second Test, which is tremendous news. The quality of the cricket has warranted the interest shown by the public.
10.50am While we wait for play to start, why not have a look at Siddarth Ravindran's preview, which offers everything a good preview should. Sharda Ugra has also been busy; she reckons India need to play to their strengths and the batting line-up needs to hunt as a pack. She's also written a fascinating tour diary about Trent Bridge.
"Surely with Bresnan in the side - logically putting Swann down to 10 - England don't need six specialist batsmen!" writes Edward Green. "They should go for the kill - Finn in too, leave Morgan as 12th man and make certain of their 20 wickets." Well, they didn't seem to have a problem at Lord's, and it is only the second Test of the series.
"I'd imagine both Gower and Manjrekar would do nicely..." writes Joe. What a combo!
"In 3rd test Sehwag will come and dhoni will go," reckons Manoj Pandya. "Because with SS and IS in the playing eleven without mentor Zaheer, india will not be able to complete overs in time."
10.40am We've just had a closer look at the wicket, which looks firm but is quite grassy, with tufts of grass on the wicket. So, help for the bowlers, but if they don't get it right it should also be a decent track for batting.
"Sat at work in Hull while my colleague is sat at the test, probably already on his 3rd beer," writes Steve Wood. "Come on, England, cheer me up!" Three beers before start of play?
"RD open...damn, we have the best opening pair in the world and they are not gonna play. there is no backup openers also..." writes Vibash. "Only if aakash chopra was doing a commentry stint, it might have made things easier." Well, Sanjay Manjrekar is chatting to David Gower on telly, would he do?
Madhusudhan has a really interesting stat to share with us: "Teams winning the toss have won four out of the last five matches at Trent Bridge. However, teams that have fielded first have won only one game out of the last five." That sheds an interesting light on MS Dhoni's decision.
10.30am India win the toss and will bowl. It's confirmed that Yuvraj Singh will play in place of Gautam Gambhir, Dravid to open, and Sreesanth plays for Zaheer. "We would've had a bowl as well, but I don't think it's a bad toss to lose, the wicket doesn't look too bad," says Andrew Strauss. He also confirms that Tim Bresnan is in the side for Chris Tremlett, who hasn't been able to regain full fitness - he had a back spasm yesterday to go with his gammy hamstring.
10.28am We've just heard that Sreesanth will be the seamer to come in for Zaheer. That'll be confirmed in a few moments, at the toss. No matter who plays for Zaheer, Harbhajan will also have to step up. There's an urgent need for him to set things right, Nagraj Gollapudi has observed.
10.15am Good morning and welcome to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball coverage of the second Test of the Pataudi Trophy. The weather is usually the most important factor when playing in England and Nagraj Gollapudi reports that "the clouds have covered Trent Bridge like an umbrella". Which is a bit ironic.
India will be without Zaheer, who's hamstring isn't as it should be, and they might be without Gautam Gambhir as well. Gambhir got smashed on the elbow while fielding at short leg at Lord's, and he didn't do much warming up this morning, mostly just hanging around. So Yuvraj is likely to play. But will he open? Or will Raina or Dravid be asked to face the new ball?
The question for England is whether Chris Tremlett's hamstring niggle has gone away, or whether Tim Bresnan will play. Tremlett's also not been doing much warming up this morning, making Bresnan's inclusion a near certainty.
10.57am Start of play is imminent, England's openers making their way to the middle as the Indian fielders spread across the field. Praveen Kumar has the new ball. If it's going to swing for anyone, it'll swing for him.
"Why can't Sachin open in the test matches too? he's always faced the new ball from the best of bowlersn in ODI and IPL.. How different is this?" That is an outlandish suggestion Zahir. I don't know where to start.
Nagraj Gollapudi is also at the ground, and he's just told us that "the sun is threatening to unveil itself from behind the steadily passing clouds," news that will please England's batsmen more than India's bowlers. Also, it's a another full house for day one of the second Test, which is tremendous news. The quality of the cricket has warranted the interest shown by the public.
10.50am While we wait for play to start, why not have a look at Siddarth Ravindran's preview, which offers everything a good preview should. Sharda Ugra has also been busy; she reckons India need to play to their strengths and the batting line-up needs to hunt as a pack. She's also written a fascinating tour diary about Trent Bridge.
"Surely with Bresnan in the side - logically putting Swann down to 10 - England don't need six specialist batsmen!" writes Edward Green. "They should go for the kill - Finn in too, leave Morgan as 12th man and make certain of their 20 wickets." Well, they didn't seem to have a problem at Lord's, and it is only the second Test of the series.
"I'd imagine both Gower and Manjrekar would do nicely..." writes Joe. What a combo!
"In 3rd test Sehwag will come and dhoni will go," reckons Manoj Pandya. "Because with SS and IS in the playing eleven without mentor Zaheer, india will not be able to complete overs in time."
10.40am We've just had a closer look at the wicket, which looks firm but is quite grassy, with tufts of grass on the wicket. So, help for the bowlers, but if they don't get it right it should also be a decent track for batting.
"Sat at work in Hull while my colleague is sat at the test, probably already on his 3rd beer," writes Steve Wood. "Come on, England, cheer me up!" Three beers before start of play?
"RD open...damn, we have the best opening pair in the world and they are not gonna play. there is no backup openers also..." writes Vibash. "Only if aakash chopra was doing a commentry stint, it might have made things easier." Well, Sanjay Manjrekar is chatting to David Gower on telly, would he do?
Madhusudhan has a really interesting stat to share with us: "Teams winning the toss have won four out of the last five matches at Trent Bridge. However, teams that have fielded first have won only one game out of the last five." That sheds an interesting light on MS Dhoni's decision.
10.30am India win the toss and will bowl. It's confirmed that Yuvraj Singh will play in place of Gautam Gambhir, Dravid to open, and Sreesanth plays for Zaheer. "We would've had a bowl as well, but I don't think it's a bad toss to lose, the wicket doesn't look too bad," says Andrew Strauss. He also confirms that Tim Bresnan is in the side for Chris Tremlett, who hasn't been able to regain full fitness - he had a back spasm yesterday to go with his gammy hamstring.
10.28am We've just heard that Sreesanth will be the seamer to come in for Zaheer. That'll be confirmed in a few moments, at the toss. No matter who plays for Zaheer, Harbhajan will also have to step up. There's an urgent need for him to set things right, Nagraj Gollapudi has observed.
10.15am Good morning and welcome to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball coverage of the second Test of the Pataudi Trophy. The weather is usually the most important factor when playing in England and Nagraj Gollapudi reports that "the clouds have covered Trent Bridge like an umbrella". Which is a bit ironic.
India will be without Zaheer, who's hamstring isn't as it should be, and they might be without Gautam Gambhir as well. Gambhir got smashed on the elbow while fielding at short leg at Lord's, and he didn't do much warming up this morning, mostly just hanging around. So Yuvraj is likely to play. But will he open? Or will Raina or Dravid be asked to face the new ball?
The question for England is whether Chris Tremlett's hamstring niggle has gone away, or whether Tim Bresnan will play. Tremlett's also not been doing much warming up this morning, making Bresnan's inclusion a near certainty.
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