If the performance is the parameter then Yuvraj’s 76 runs inning helped India to gain a 500 plus total at Ahmadabad and his ability as a left-arm spinner was not utilized by M.S. Dhoni while on the other hand Harbhajan Singh played a single test match and given only 22 overs to bowl. R. Ashwin is being retained by the team more because of his batting ability rather than his off-spin bowling performance. Our two main spinners R. Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha were not good enough to bowl out England below 400 runs except the Ahmadabad test match. English batsmans have understood their bowling style and variation pretty well in Mumbai and Kolkata.

Sachin Tendulkar; legendary cricketer and a true gentleman, is a matter of debate now a days. He is not being able to score in 2012 and after a lot of expectation and criticism, he resisted and scored 76 runs on Eden Garden but it was a show of playing below pars your reputation and skills. Former cricketers and media is blaming his age for his poor batting display but for me its all about the confidence levels and the luck.

Still I am sure that if he can get a big 100 at Nagpur then all these retirement talks will be silenced for a year again. If age is so critical for the batting performance of a cricketer then why the same thing doesn’t seem applicable for Shiv Narayan Chanderpaul and Jacques Kallis who are among the top class batsmans.   

Team selected for the Nagpur test match exposed M.S. Dhoni’s defensive and negative attitude as he preferred to select part time bowlers; R. Jadeja, P. Chawla and P. Awana, who can bat also. A team playing with 11 top class batsman, cannot win a match which means a perfectly balanced team mostly can win. M.S. Dhoni will be soon known for his aukward decisions. He went with four spinners on a track which has a history to assist pace bowlers. If India could have played two pace-bowlers they could have had 3 or 4 wickets in no time.

But now his favorite player Ravinder Jadeja is in the team, he took the risk to bring him in at the cost of a fast bowler. Ravinder Jadeja, got too many chances in One-day cricket and T-20 Cricket but never got successful in these two formats and because of his superb consistent failure record, he was awarded to be in the test Team and now in final 11. Well making predictions is not easy and for this test match, only one thing can change the fortune of team India which is losing the toss and English batsmans can lose their focus without a target in front.

This match is still open and England have done well to score 180 plus at the loss of five wickets and things will become more clear when Indian batsman will bat on this wicket against quality pace and spin bowling attack. Ashwin and Ojha remains wicket-less and clueless on the first day of the match and the worst thing can be for India is playing with unfit (suspected) Ishant Sharma who barely bowled only 16 overs in a day. All Indian cricket fans are expecting a must win at Nagpur to save the pride and record at home soil.