India vs SL - 1st TEST
started by muchocricket 3 mnths agoFlat
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It looks like this test is heading to a draw.
SL declares 600/6, Dilshan century brings the count to "4", India in trouble, lost 4 wickets with just 131 runs on the board, weather is the only saving grace..
:((
top order crumbles .. last recognized pair on the crease... can't believe its the same wicket where SL piled runs at will.
top order crumbles .. last recognized pair on the crease... can't believe its the same wicket where SL piled runs at will.
one word, actullay make it 2 , "PRESSURE" and SKILL" i.e. the difference in the skill level, especially of the spin bowling between the two sides, if you add fielding woes, this shouldn't be a surprise, read that pitch is helping spinners.
SKILL .. not much difference in both teams when it comes to that. SL has a debutant here for chrissake !!
pressure - we got in on ourselves, i did not watch the match, but the way sehwag was going, looked like he wanted to score 600 today itself. dravid and sachin were out to great deliveries, that's what i read in cricinfo..
pressure - we got in on ourselves, i did not watch the match, but the way sehwag was going, looked like he wanted to score 600 today itself. dravid and sachin were out to great deliveries, that's what i read in cricinfo..
and now 147 for 6 . looks like follow on today itself.
Look at these 2 dismissals, given the situation they shouldn't have attempted these shots..
37.6 Muralitharan to Ganguly, OUT, Forget Mendis, try getting past the old Murali first! From over the stumps, he ripped a loopy topspinner around the leg stump line, Ganguly went for the sweep but got a top edge and Kulasekera came running in to take a sharp and very good catch inches off the turf at deepish square leg as the ball dipped rapidly on him.
41.6 Muralitharan to Karthik, OUT, Murali takes out DK. The doosra on the middle and leg line, Karthik went for the slog sweep and top edged it towards wide extra cover. Murali dashed after it to take a good running catch. The shot selection will be questioned, if not by the captain walking past him and his team-mates, by the media.
37.6 Muralitharan to Ganguly, OUT, Forget Mendis, try getting past the old Murali first! From over the stumps, he ripped a loopy topspinner around the leg stump line, Ganguly went for the sweep but got a top edge and Kulasekera came running in to take a sharp and very good catch inches off the turf at deepish square leg as the ball dipped rapidly on him.
41.6 Muralitharan to Karthik, OUT, Murali takes out DK. The doosra on the middle and leg line, Karthik went for the slog sweep and top edged it towards wide extra cover. Murali dashed after it to take a good running catch. The shot selection will be questioned, if not by the captain walking past him and his team-mates, by the media.
>>>>>Three observations:
1. Seniors have not performed to their reputation. There were no partnerships, no use of the feet, no sheet-anchoring from one end and no initiative at all to put pressure on bowlers. They should better watch old videos of Sidhu and Azharuddin against Murali and company.
2. Murali has taken Mendis under his wings effortlessly. If this is how a debutant performs, be prepared for a 0-3 result. Imagine the consequences......
3 The obsession with T-20 will soon be questioned. Can we survive even a four-day game at this rate? We need a technique like that of Manjrekar, Shastri, SS Das or Gaekwad to block up one end. Time to bring in Badri. Else, be prepared for a 0-3!
1. Seniors have not performed to their reputation. There were no partnerships, no use of the feet, no sheet-anchoring from one end and no initiative at all to put pressure on bowlers. They should better watch old videos of Sidhu and Azharuddin against Murali and company.
2. Murali has taken Mendis under his wings effortlessly. If this is how a debutant performs, be prepared for a 0-3 result. Imagine the consequences......
3 The obsession with T-20 will soon be questioned. Can we survive even a four-day game at this rate? We need a technique like that of Manjrekar, Shastri, SS Das or Gaekwad to block up one end. Time to bring in Badri. Else, be prepared for a 0-3!
>>>>>>I feel vindicated because of these statements:
"Not so for India, where the likes of S Badrinath, a contemporary of Jaques, score runs by the bucketful at the first-class level without any recognition"......
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/slvind/content/current/story/362738.html
And by this:
"Ranatunga slams India's 'Twenty20' approach"
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/slvind/content/current/story/362706.html
"Not so for India, where the likes of S Badrinath, a contemporary of Jaques, score runs by the bucketful at the first-class level without any recognition"......
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/slvind/content/current/story/362738.html
And by this:
"Ranatunga slams India's 'Twenty20' approach"
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/slvind/content/current/story/362706.html
If Dravid fails to deliver in this series, I don't see how he will be picked against AUS, same might be true for Ganguly. Having said that, for the next test, If I were to choose between the seniors and youngsters, I would defintely go with the seniors, as I trust them to bounce back, and raise their game to their potential.
>>> your comments are those of a typical indian fan who always blames our batting. can we talk about how we let them score 600 in the first place? once you let the opposition rack up such a massive total, the batsmen are always going to be under pressure no matter what. instead of lecturing the batsmen, maybe you should ask harbhajan to watch old videos of bedi, prasanna, and venkataraghavan to learn how to bowl finger spin, something i don't believe he has ever mastered despite being labeled one of india's two most attacking bowlers in recent times. useless fellow.
>>>>>>I dont blame the bowlers completely for our performance as the catching opportunities went abegging thanks to DK and others. The sloppy fielding has been discussed here already. Can I add that DK should now watch videos of how Mongia/More kept wickets to Kumble/Raju and Chauhan?
We forgot the basics of test match batting. Remember that a good portion of first day was lost for bad light. There were no partnerships, there was no display of feet, there was no game plan to take the attack to the opposition. All we watched was how a maestro shielded and shepherded a rookie into the big league. Now I would expect Mahela to shield Mendis the same way Arjuna did for Murali. Time to bring in Badrinath.
We forgot the basics of test match batting. Remember that a good portion of first day was lost for bad light. There were no partnerships, there was no display of feet, there was no game plan to take the attack to the opposition. All we watched was how a maestro shielded and shepherded a rookie into the big league. Now I would expect Mahela to shield Mendis the same way Arjuna did for Murali. Time to bring in Badrinath.
2nd innings performance is pathetic though.. hope Kumble is courageous enough to drop the key (non-performing) players.
yeah, If I was Kumble I would drop Karthik, Ganguly and Dravid. Put Sachin on the watch list. Ghambir needs to play to his potential. He has very good ability to dance down the track for Murali, he should be given a free hand to do that. Ganguly has lost all his abilities to play spin, his footwork is not there, he is not behind the ball and his shots are casual. I think its time to break this core. Are we missing Dhoni here? He atleast plays with his heart. Yuvi wouldn't have been bad choice either. he would have done well in these slow pitches...
>>> dhoni et al. are unconventional and iffy talents more suited to the 20/20 or ODI format up one day and down another. where is the next generation of more technically correct specialist batsmen? in short who will be replacing the fab 4? right now only gambhir is in evidence. i've always claimed this fellow is a classy bat and he showed brief glimpses of that. i hope they have the balls to stick with him and give him an extended run this time. but that aside, who are the other replacements?
>>> in this game you should either have monstrous unconventional talent -- the likes of viv richards, pietersen, and chanderpaul or be technically solid with a good work ethic - i'll put tendulkar (despite his god given talent his success basically stems from the relentless practice), dravid, ponting, lara, and VVS here. dhoni is neither.
True, Dhoni may not be as talented as all the people you named. What he brings to the table is the insane hunger to win. He is a great fighter and hates to lose. I think he could have handled the spinners to give some more space for VVS to go on in the first innings. Talent is no good if you can't use it either to win or save matches.
yep, we're doomed unless it pours for the next 2 days..
Wow! on a pitch where 4 SL batsmen have scored fluent centuries, India is struggling to score runs.
Dravid always gets out to great deliveries. Once is an excuse but it gets tiring after a few times.
India can't Bowl and now we know they can't Bat. What a pathetic display!
It is funny to see so much money flowing in India and the way Indian cricket performs at the top level. This is a dichotomy that Indian people should fix by not patronizing the game as much.
At the slightest hint of good bowling, Indian batting seems to get into all kinds of trouble. Against SA, it is fast bowling and now it is SL. How come none of the Batsmen stood up to defend and fight?
>>> indian batting hasn't been much to talk about, but why forgive the bowling that allowed them to rack up such a massive score without taking any wickets? we have one off-spinner who has been consistently ineffective over a long period of time and we continue to pick him again and again. plus, murali on any surface can always be devastating and in his backyard he is always lethal.
Mendis took 8 wickets and Murali 11. We were talking about negotiating 120 or 140 overs, they couldn't even survive 75 overs.
which is why they should schedule 2 tour matches before playing test match, but they (BCCI & ICC) won't and they don't care about the results, they are busy counting bills..
I think the fab 4 is in deep trouble - their reputation, credibility, and self-respect. If they dont learn quickly and recover they will make a forced exit and that will be very sad for the Indian cricket.
Kumble is long past his test level.... I would not be surprised if he is thrashed by some decent players in Ranji these days.
Time that India focus on our inherent stength - that we had. The spin bowling. Great spinners (like M & M) can easily win matches in India, Pakistan, B'desh, SL and half the pitches in SA and windies. That being the case, we are overly focused on Half-baked "fast" bowlers - who are perhaps slower than Mendis and underwood - who can bowl reasonably only in 20% of the world test venues and in them they have only 5% winning chances.
India better sping up some spin bowlers fast or else we will lose the art like we lost Field Hockey.
We used to have a bowler like that in my school team.. That guy could turn the ball both ways sharpely and he bowled as fast as he could and always claimed to be a "fast bowler" so he could get the new ball... The guy was devastating bcz the batsmen could never figure out which way the ball went... and since he bowled like a fast bowler with a longish run up it was hard to pick up from his actions...Used to keep wickets for him and had a horrendous time...but the batsmen had even less time and space to play... I suspect Mendis is that sort of a bowler.
BTW.... what does KV think of Tamilian Murali playing with a Sinhala Army man Mendis...
think eng 1st innings at headingley, played 50 overs, scored 200odd @4. Initially that was India, playing aggressive cricket, but more outta fear - going for a counter, even before lanka attacked. sad bit, at no point did lanka have to use plan b. india has got nuthin outta this test -and that rarely happens for a losing team. when they resume batting in the 2nd test, they will be in the same frame of mind as on the 4th day morning of this test, clueless. scary, but true.