*** Official *** Pakistan in India

[gettingbetter]

Would you guys of believed me if I predicted that Pathan would ton up. I was thinking that when he was on about 30, but after my prediction of Jaffer scoring a triple, I eased off.

Really do hope he can score it...and take some wickets too.

 

[Craig]

I so hate that my cable has just died completely.

 

[haroon510]

i hate this... i don't want kaneria to take wickets... the more he takes wickets and get ride of tail enders right now (now that india is settle to win this much).. the more chancess of him being in the next test much .... i think that both Kaneria and sami should be out of the team ..they are both crappy..

 

[neutralguy]

Congratulations pathan, on your first test century.Well played india to make 626.Game on now.

 

[Fusion]

Well atleast Pathan got his 100 in style before getting out.

 

[Pratters]

At the rate India is going, they should score around 160+ in the next 28 overs. The toothlessness (and Younis's apparant stubborness against introducing Akhtar into the attack) of Pakistani bowling means they can do it without taking undue risks.

Mine was more of a pessimistic target to aim at. My main priority was that India get to bowl an hour, even if means having to bat less or at a lower rate to get around 730. We folded up before 730 though. Let us see if it is enough...

 

[Craig]

Geez your a hard taskmaster Pratyush...

 

[Pratters]

Geez your a hard taskmaster Pratyush...

Aiming for a target doesn't mean you will get it. Aiming for 130 runs from 28 overs looking to bat once is conservative really given India was batting at 5 runs an over in the post lunch session.

 

[haroon510]

i bet Kaneria would retain his position for another couple of test series becuase he took three wickets in this innings... hate this man

 

[social]

If I were Richard, I'd remove all Indian batting stats for this match from a players' record - best bowler by a mile is a debutant, only test quality bowler is injured and the other 2 are in slumps that, injuries aside, should've seen them omitted eons ago.

Seriously, this attack would have to be amongst the worst ever fielded by a major test nation

 

[Beleg]

Pakistan needs to score 500 by the end of play tommorrow to have any semblence of a chance.

 

[Pratters]

1 gone. 19 to go...

 

[Top_Cat]

Hmmmm........ the main purpose this series seems to serve is to fatten up the averages of Indian players. I just hope there isn't a significant dump back to Earth when they hit these shores because I'd hazard that the attacks will be far less friendly and the pitches not quite as good to bat on (aside from pudding pie Melbourne).

 

[honestbharani]

The funny thing abt all this is that India are now left with more questions than answers... Gambhir doesn't exactly inspire confidence that he is a better bet than Karthik at the top, neither does Parthiv inspire confidence that he is a better wicket keeper than Karthik... So picking these two above Karthik would be wrong and also rather inconvenient for the selectors as by picking Karthik, you can get to select an extra bowler, since he doubles up as the second wicket keeper in the squad. That said, Karthik looks like he is a confidence player and at the moment, he is severely lacking in that, so there are not exactly great odds of him doing well in Australia either... With Yuvraj playing the sort of "glamour boy" innings that he has, he is almost going to be a certainty for the boxingn day Test, which means we will have to open with Dravid and Jaffar with Laxman at 3 or drop Dhoni and play DK as the opener/wicket keeper.... Funny how the settled test side at the end of the England tour looks like a distant memory now.


I still believe in my theory that in order to do well, you have to have a settled top 3 and by the looks of things, we won't have that in OZ... So preparing for the worst, tbh...

 

[alternative]

Echo HB's sentiments here, as we have definitely raised more questions than answers. The most obvious answer for me is that they will make dravid open with Jaffer.

Anyway Ganguly simply awesome, remarkable, mind blowing.... hmm words just can't describe the feeling tbh.

 

[social]

Echo HB's sentiments here, as we have definitely raised more questions than answers. The most obvious answer for me is that they will make dravid open with Jaffer.

Anyway Ganguly simply awesome, remarkable, mind blowing.... hmm words just can't describe the feeling tbh.

Ganguly's form is another issue - I wouldnt bet on him to score runs in Australia with your money but he cant be dropped on present form

 

[honestbharani]

I remember similar stuff happening to us before the 99 tour to Australia. Sachin had taken over for the second time as captain and we had the likes of Debang Gandhi and Hrishikesh Kanitkar setting the world on fire.. We all saw how it ended for us in Australia...


Hoping the likes of Jaffar and Ganguly do well in Australia in my heart, but just speaking objectively, I don't see Jaffar, Ganguly and Laxman and even Sachin to an extent being able to play bouncing balls at pace at all. If Australia prepare flat decks or slow pitches or turners or greentops, I think India will go in with a chance. But on a deck with good pace and a lot of bounce, I think India will always get found out... Our batsmen are just a little too slow with their footwork and a number of them are plain lazy as well... Always happy to camp on the backfoot so that they can leave a lot of deliveries outside off, score easily by tucking the ball away on the leg side (a very natural shot for subcontinent batsmen) and simply being able to play with a vertical bat, because they KNOW that the ball won't rise much above the thighs or waist from a normal good length or even short of good length.


It is just a different ball game altogether when the ball can go well above waist high and even above the stumps at pace and you are required to pull out your cuts and pulls. I just think a number of our batsmen are slightly slower than needed with their reflexes and co-ordination to play such shots....

 

[Jono]

Lol, don't compare Kanitkar to frickin' Yuvraj. It doesn't take a genius to see the talent difference between the two.

You guys can be pessimistic all you like, but lets not go overboard.

 

[Pratters]

Lol, don't compare Kanitkar to frickin' Yuvraj. It doesn't take a genius to see the talent difference between the two.

You guys can be pessimistic all you like, but lets not go overboard.

Thanks Jono for putting my sentiments. I thought of replying to all the pessimism but resisted. Was waiting for an apt post from you.

 

[silentstriker]

It's the end of Indian cricket as we know it! RUN FOR THE HILLS!