BPXI Blues

So, England's first day of serious cricket was only moderately encouraging for them, but brought mucho good news to Indian followers. First a decent bowling workout puts England out for 238 (though its not clear from reports just how comfortable England's batsmen ever were), and then a neat little opening partnership at the end (Jaffer must be kicking himself for having gotten out as he has left his main competitor for the opening slot still at the crease). I have never seen Munaf Patel bowl, and don't know when I will (perhaps in the one-day internationals?) but I'm very keen to hear from other folks on what he is like, what his strengths are and so on.

The one thing that stands out so far on the English tour is their steadily increasing injury/illness count. Pietersen's dodgy back and Vaughan's even-more-dodgy knee are concerns that are far more pressing than the little stomach niggles that have affected their bowling attacks, but even those can be draining and England's fast bowlers are not going to be looking forward to bowling long spells while feeling that the bottom could drop out of their guts any instant. But back to the real injuries. Sports medicine works wonders these days, so I won't be surprised to see Vaughan back for the first test, but given the chronic nature of his injury it must be worrying for England. And the Pietersen injury is also interesting - does he have an old back problem? Does batting in these conditions create cramps in the back (is that possible? spasms of some sort?) Either way, keep a close eye on these two vital cogs in England's cricketing machine.

Of course, the most important piece of news all day was the Indian team selection and it didn't disappoint. More on that later.