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I wish both England and India well and hope the 2 tests played are entertaining and closely fought out.

Crickey, that picture doesn't make Sharma look too pretty does it! Hideous.


"He has also asked his team-mates not to indulge in excessive celebrations and to show some restraint on the field."

They won't have anything to celebrate... but good luck reigning in Harbi, he'll probably slap a few fans this time round.

Hi Oliver, good blag, England will struggle I feel.

The text has disappeared underneath the 1st pic in the blog, of the guy practising bowling.

The guy practising his bowling is none other than MS Dhoni

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

India look a class act and I think England may struggle, the top order will probably get themselves out no matter how the indian attack plays.
Fingers crossed though as always, we live in hope.

I just hope after every thing that has gone on - the Indian public turn out and fill the grounds cos the Aussie tests looked a bit sad with no one to recognise the great acheivment by India.

Win, lose or draw, England have already done Indian cricket - and India in general - a tremendous service by continuing with the tour.

After the greedy debacle of the Stanford series, this has shown English cricket at its best.

I am hoping for two closely contested games that shift the emphasis back to cricket. However India at home is never anything but challenging and the current India side is bristling with talent.

As to empty stadia, last I heard there were going to be five thousand police and commandos......

Its a landmark series and will be remembered for reasons that go beyond cricket. It definitely brings England and India closer to each other on more fronts than the mere economics of cricket. Apart from playing the game competitively let it be the friendliest series in a tribute to the memory of those slain in the Mumbai mayhem.

I hope this series will remove the horrors of the Bombay blast. I sincerly hope that cricket would be the winner and I wish both the teams well.

Good on England. Gonna help India start to overcome this tragedy by sending a load of second rate batsman and bowlers for a whipping. ironically if most of the players had pulled out and we'd sent replacements i could have said the same thing.

Good article......throughout history, any form of sport has tended to heal wounds created from horrible incidents. It is the same here and I commend the England cricket team for coming back to play and proving to everyone that there is always hope and there is still good in thi world. looking forward to 2 great test matches:)

I am an Indian supporter. But this might be the first time ever I don't care much about who actually wins, as long as it is a good contest.

I have a lot of respect for England. The recent atrocities have put sport (more specifically cricket for India) into perspective. I will not begrudge England for winning at all. In fact I am secretly hoping they put on a good account of themselves.

Best would be a couple of close matches, maybe India winning both though :)

As an Indian supporter, all I have for England is respect.I don't understand the politics of cricket or arm-twisting of BCCI.All I see is full strength England squad playing cricket in Chennai which in these difficult times is incredible.Hats off to you.

Congratulations to Pietersen & co. for making the trip to India. My respect and regard for KP has gone up several notches... he is a true leader of men.... completely different to the negative, defeatisit moaning Vaughan.

As far as the cricket goes, it is a tall order for the Englishmen... unless the batting can improve overnight. The weather in Chennai might mean this is a one-match series at Mohali though.

"completely different to the negative, defeatisit moaning Vaughan"

I find that comment surprising. I dont recall Michael Vaughan being any of those things. Quite the contrary to be honest.

"I find that comment surprising. I dont recall Michael Vaughan being any of those things. Quite the contrary to be honest."

I don't either.

But maybe it is an impression people get at the end of long captaincies, I seem to remember Vaughan being considered a breath of fresh air after the 'negative, defeatist' Nasser Hussein. And the same was probably said when he took over from Atherton.

Just recently, Vaughan reckoned that England should not return, and that 2 weeks of compulsory, proper mourning was required over the Mumbai blasts. Maybe he's forgotten he's the skipper.

Comment 2, by womble re. india's prospects-

"They won't have anything to celebrate".

Are you serious? They beat England in the last test series IN ENGLAND, just beat Australia at home, were prevented from thrashing England 7- 0 in the one day series by 10 terrorists, rather than 11 Englishmen. Confidence in your team is one thing, but India winning is a mere formality.

These test matches will be all about Englands batting. I hope that if we get the opportunity to bat first Cook and Colly can get some runs as they need desperately need them. Apparently the news in India was shown uncensored of the shootings.....I really do hope the test matches go ahead without any problems and Cricket can reclaim its place as the sport that tries not to be a political football.

kamalarsenal: ODIs have no bearing on our test team. You may regret thinking that India winning is a formality. Think you will find the Barmy Army will never predict the actual results until the match is under way. Let the games begin.:)

How is Collingwood still in the team?? What do Shah and Bopara have to do to get given a chance....??

Other than that though, looks like a nice balanced side and with Broad to come back for the second test there's plenty of competition for places. Now we just need a solid batting performance.......

Excellent blog... great to look forward to some cricket, but I do fear for England. When you go down the India side it is laced with experience and potential - a lethal combination.

Whilst the ODIs aren't a great inidcator, how can Collingwood be playing still??! Shah deserves a chance and must wonder what he has to do. Our best player of spin, a real fighter and the best ODI batsmen of the last couple of series. When Collingwood is out of form he looks like Devon Malcolm playing left handed with a toothpick! Drop him, play Shah and at least give Owais a chance to forge an international career.

Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
V.V.S. Laxman
Yuvraj Singh

Six batsman better than anyone we have but Pietersen. That is a mouthwatering line up.

They'll win twice in three days.

Whilst it is correct to play cricket once more, can't help feeling the decision is way too hasty, maybe conflict should resume after Christmas as England don't go to the West Indies until February, and India's tour of Pakistan looks in doubt.
Once again the ICC just stand by and do nothing, it is the greed of the BCCI that is oiling the whole show, if India was to become a no go zone like Pakistan, where would the IPL be in future, already the T20 Champions League is in limbo.
The matches are going ahead for the wrong reasons, England have been hoodwinked into going only so the likes of Flintoff and Pietersen can gain their lucrative IPL contracts.
India is no safer than anywhere else, that doesn't mean these matches should go ahead, the chances of another terrorist attack will be minimal, but morally the ECB and ICC should have called the BCCI's bluff and call for a longer period of reflection before resuming.

Its funny how England are being considered hereos for going back to India to carry on the series whilst when new zealand ran back from pakistan in the bomb blasts those years ago, and they were considered to be doing the right thing.

I tell you what the difference is, its simple you dont say no to the rich BCCI. If a touring western country does not go to pakistan, no big deal, they do not lose out and they now nothing can be done to them, but if they refuse india, they lose a lot of money and india in turn will not tour them as they got more than enough money.

Also the IPL is the biggest fatcor, as players will not be able to play the IPL and not get rich. so Englands reasons for returning are pure financial and not bravery, they are hypocrites!

Bravery would be helping a country whose cricket is nothing existent due to terrisom, we could unite to beat them, but instead we refuse to tour pakistan for simple reason, no money to be made
It really annoys me when i read articles about England being brave and not let terrorism beat cricket, it s all crap, its all about MONEY!

I might offend a few people with this but there are many who feel like this but do not want to say

Hi Ace

I was not aware that the English players had the choice of returning to either India or Pakistan. I understood that they were presented with a relatively straightforward choice and chose to return and play cricket in India. What would you rather have had them do?

There may be hypocrisy in how the world of cricket responds to demands from differing national cricket boards but I don't think that this accusation should be foisted on the English team who considered the Indian situtation in isolation and it must be said witnessed the attrocities in far more detail than we did in the UK.

I think it's easy to spit bile and pursue hidden agendas particularly in forums such as these. For once it would be good to recognise that a resumption of the series and a step back towards normality has to deliver a net positive benefit to the community and to cricket in Asia irrespective of the overriding decision process.

Hi Geraldswine

i tell you why i think it is financially motivated, how many times have england toured Pakistan since the bomb attacks happened on the tour of New zealand? none???

How many of the western sides have been there since then? none???

Once you answer that question, that will tell you why i think it is all financial

Thank you

Very informative article by Oliver as usual. It is always difficult to make any comment about quality blogs as there is nothing much to add or to criticise. Not so the case when it comes to reading the public posts!

- Michael Vaughan was rightly lauded as being a positive influence on the team, a good man manager and certainly atypical of the dour northerner image associated with many Yorkshire and Lancastrian captains. Negative? Tell that to the Australians in 2005. Frankly, if I were MV I would start a libel case against such an accusation. I realise that everyone is entitled to their opinion but some are so far out of whack they make you wonder if Martians have recently and secretly invaded and are trying to come to grips with the strange game of cricket.

- A case in point is ace1436 who has already been outed by geraldswine (with some very well crafted and succinct sentences) as having a hidden agenda. Actually, not so hidden really. Maybe ace1436 is annoyed with the naivety of some of the above comments in applauding England's bravery (not really that brave in comparison to what our boys in Afganistan are going through) but this was never mentioned in the article above as Oliver is presumably too smart to make such a claim. I have to guess at ace1436's origin but I would be surprised if he is not originally from 'over' the border as he is obviously not too keen on India. I am sure I am going to offend him and many others of his ilk by saying that if I were a cricketer I would not want to tour Pakistan primarily because I would not want to go there in the first place! I remember defending poor Ian Botham when he made a joke about it being the place you would send your mother-in-law to and getting castigated for this for being politically incorrect. I can state as an individual with no axe to grind who has been all over Pakistan that I hope I never have to go there ever again. I am sure there are more relevent reasons for the lack of tours there but I do not blame anyone for not wanting to go in the fsrst place. Just my opinion of course.

- On another blog I made the point that England's ODI and Test Teams are two different animals because, well, they are and the international ratings reflect this. Why does anyone think one format has that much to do with the other? Horses for courses as they say. England could not do any worse in the Tests than they did in the ODIs but anyone expecting to see a repeat performance obviously does not watch much or read much about cricket.

- I am just pleased to see that terrorism has not succeeded in cancelling the tour and I would have been disappointed but not surprised if it had been called off. In this day and age we would not be surprised if any subsequent atrocity causing injury to an England player during the tour led to the ECB being bankrupted by the subsequent legal action. The fact is life goes on and we cannot allow the actions of a fanatical minority to alter planned events like this as we would just be letting them win. To be fair, ace1436 maybe jaundiced in his opinion but money will always help to decide matters like this.

I would just stick to reading the actual articles in future because some of the comments are so bizarre and surreal but then I come across a pearl like post #26 by geraldswine (I hope that it is geralds wine and not gerald swine!) and my faith in mankind is somewhat restored.

Regards, Joe.

Dear joeperriman

I actually have nothing against India, so please keep your petty comments to yourself.

I am as you call it from OVER THE BORDER!

Also thank you for confirming that the only reason England have gone over to India is financial and not bravery, that is all i was trying to say, nothing about how i do not like india or England.

i have nothing against England or India, maybe thats what you want, me to say things about India, so a blog can start with India supporters having a go at Pakistan and vice versa, well sorry to disapoint you, that aint gooing to happen

My comments were simple about how this is about financiual reasons, there was no Dig at any nationality or race, but people like you change a person article to suit your own politcal views.

I personally do not care if you visit pakistan ever again, that is your personal choice, your entitled to it.

Thank you for your lovely comments and i bid you farewell