Heartbreak for England, lucky for India
It’s another great escape
Weather denies England win
Rain Check
Rain saves India as first Test is drawn
Lord saves India at Lord'sFlabby in the middle
Monday, July 23, 2007
The negative Indian media
Flabby in the middle
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12 comments:
"A victory for England remained only a matter of time, maybe a few more deliveries, with the entire last session of play left and the Indians tottering at 282 for nine, nearly a hundred runs required to save the game."
Classic stupidity of the media...
Prabu,
Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so..
We are so mired in negativity, it is not even funny.
Cheers,
Ooooh Homer - The Irony in that statement ..... !
For me, the most amazing stat is the following: the Indian bowlers took 20 wickets and dismissed the opposition for less than 300 in each innings. If our batsmen had come through, well, who knows? If Zaheer and Sreesanth can be a bit more consistent, I doubt the English openers will get to 50 this series.
Sorry, forgot to add: its the batting that irks me the most.
Samir,
And yet, the Poms did not dominate us.
Could we have batted better? Yes.
Will the Poms bowl as well as they did this Test? Depends.
Will we get better as the series progresses ? Yes
Plenty of positives for us.. And a lot of heartache and negativity for the Poms..
btw, did you read Simon Hughes' fluff piece today? Its hilarious :)
for all the talks of test merited result...i am happy that it was draw not for our batsmen but for our bowlers who surprised everybody by taking 20 wickets and kept us in game otherwise they would have to carry the burden to get us back in to the series coz i have lost faith in our "flabby middle order"...
sambit bal's article is i think is the most balanced article i have read in recent past and it is the reality check we all must take...
as we all know nothing much will change in terms of team composition in next test but i still would like to see Laxman should come at 3 and dravid at 5...
dravid has too much in his head and seems to be bogged down with none of senior is contributing...it will give him a little breather and he can guide tail and protect against middle order collapse...
laxman being a gutsy and busy player will cherish the new ball coming on and will help scoreboard moving...
anybody with the idea of yovi coming in for jaffer??? i know he was highest scorer in the first innings but just to make a point to him about his shutter down approach after tea...had he not closed the door when we seemed to be in control of the match the story could have been altogether different...
which to me was the turning point of the match as far as india is concerned...
It's all level going on to the next Test and I think both teams will take postives out of this Test. Sure all are hoping that the Indian batting line up fires and along with the improving bowling and wins the day for them.
England cannot be easily brushed aside thou, as they seem to raise their game for a challenge and if their bowlers continue to bowl well, they will be a handful. They also have some batters who need to score some runs and they may well step into the plate.
I know how relieved the Indians were to escape with a draw, as I was near the dressing room and saw the look of relief on their faces as if they had won the Test when the rain came.
I think it is all set fair for Trent Bridge and another absorbing Test match.
My views are already well covered and I agree with most.
Lord's is done, dusted and ready to be stored away...they are Lords no more.
The bowling came through; the question is, is it a sustainable performance? Nottingham and Oval are different pitches. Hopefully, it wasn't a one-off.
Manoj Tiwary and Pujara may be alerted before the year is through IMO.
With the first test jinx out of the way, it remains to be seen if India can repeat history. Will it be another almost repeat like they did here, or will it be a true repeat remains to be seen. Will I dance with joy? I don't know - the future is an uncomfortable truth. They are really Lords no more.
straight point,Rashmika, soulberry,
It will only get better from here on in.
We did not lose despite the fab 4 not turning up ( and I dont blame them entirely. It was hard batting conditions and all of them fell to good deliveries).
And the Poms did not capitalize despite being 217/1 on the first day.
We had to do the hard yards.. We did them. We can only get better. But what of the Poms?
The Indian batting can put in the extra push-ups, maybe Kumble or Powar can chip in with some for the bowling, but Indian seam bowling has done the hard dashes already. If any improvement can be expected, it may be in their opening spells which were atrocious in both innings. With the surprise element gone, and the opp bats knowing what to expect now from them, it might just get a little tougher for them. Of course, Sree still has to come to the party despite the three late wickets in the first innings...
In days gone by, I might have expected a batting revival as the tour progressed...some better performances may be expected even now, from Dravid, Laxman and Sachin, but recent history shows that isn't the trend now. SA, and even the WI series win, which wasn't all that satisfying really...was it? There seems to be a plateau to Ganguly and Laxman's performances.
Sunny Gavaskar said something on air about Sachin, a rare one and certainly the first time I heard him say so, and use that tone, that way about Sachin...it is better understood when heard live because he can be so acidic without appearing to do so, or looking to be discussing a mere cricketing technicality. He pointed out a majoir flaw in Sachin's batting contributing to his increasing spate of LBW's and also hinted at his frail temperament during a crisis situation of late.
Now I'd be very happy if India bounces back and wins convincingly. They too have had a chance to assess the opposition and no reason why they shouldn't perform better. Would be great if the missing bowlers add to their first test performance and batsmen can lift it up a notch. I'd be most thrilled if they can do that.
soulberry, for another take on sachin, check this out... Seniors v juniors? Not really
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