England versus India: Fielding, Captaincy and Coaches comparison. (Part 2)

So let us begin with where we left in our last post. Let us have a look at the fielding, Captaincy and the coaches of both the teams.

Fielding:

The departure of seniors in Team India has left a sole bright spot. With the arrival of fresh legs, India’s fielding is better if not the best. On the other hand, England, barring Trott, has a solid fielding unit with the usual brilliance of Bell and Pietersen. So it will be a good matchup between Kohli, Bell and others.
I would personally award this round to England as whenever I see Zaheer in the field, I tend to go to depression.

Captains:
Perhaps the most important yet an overlooked department in the field of cricket. On one side, we have Dhoni who is suave, brave and a cool customer and on the other side we have Cook.

Dhoni will be keen to silence his critcs 

 Cook, though inexperienced, is a good package of calmness and a good executioner of pre-conceived plans. But it is not such a rosy picture with Dhoni. He seems to be losing his Midas touch and his revered calmness but it is good for India that even Cook would be a tad itchy of fear of failure. This round goes to Dhoni (despite the recent setbacks) who with his out of box thinking can change the face of the game in a session.

Looking to make history by winning a test series for the first time in 27 years in India

 

Coaches:
This will be a really interesting match up. Duncan Fletcher who is credited for single handedly putting the Poms back on track from their Nadirs, is now coaching India, not with a lot of success though. Andy Flower is a very calculating mind. Keeps to himself and is a dangerous customer. The main advantage India have is that Duncan Fletcher knows England team inside out. So there won’t be any secrets but I will definitely expect a few surprises. Though it is close call, with their experience and man management, I give this round to India (Only by a minute margin but)

So the final scores are 3-1 in favour of India considering the given departments but I think it will be a much closer contest between the two. Should the Indians use the conditions, pitch to their advantage and stick to execute the plans properly, I see India coming out trumps in this ‘Grudge’ Series. But as is always the case with cricket, it does not adhere to the rules of analysis on paper. Many teams which are strong on paper have come out looking like a bunch of baffled cricket kids on the ground. So we have to just wait and watch to see how this series turns out to be.

Happy cricketing!!