*Official* Sri Lanka in India

[Cruxdude]

Great batting by Dravid. Haven't seen him play this well in some time. Good batting by Dhoni and Yuvi also. I think there should be a result in this game. The pitch seems to become scruffier as the day went on and should help the spinners further down.

 

[Ikki]

Bravo Dravid. Champ!

 

[Pratters]

UWMBCA <--- looks like sgort form of some Sri Lanklan Cricket Assosiation!

If they have these longer names of individuals then can you just imagine their residential addresses? WOW!

As My friend said, he is an MBA as well as a CA!

 

[Pratters]

Yuviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Keep going son.

I have always backed him as a test player and I hope he doesn't disappoint long term.

 

[Pratters]

Jeez Murali is struggling.

I was watching the highlights and thinking, Murali is not bowling well here.

 

[Pratters]

Dravid is a legend really. What a player.

I must say the decision to play so few tests in the forthcoming future is baffling.

 

[Uppercut]

Yea, definitely. Not a result pitch, but if India keep batting fast and then bowl well, there'll be enough time. A lot of it may depend on the SL batting, and how they go about their innings. Maybe on the 4th and 5th day the pitch may do something, but right now, it's completely flat.

I'd be surprised if it does too much. It'll probably get slower and deader, making it fairly straightforward for the Sri Lankans to stay in and draw the match but hard to score many runs. I think having Anil Kumble in the side for so long has made fifth-day Indian pitches look more treacherous than they were because he was tailor-made to exploit the slow turn and uneven bounce. If it weren't for Mishy (:wub), I'd definitely be backing the draw.

 

[Pratters]

Nah, don't think it will be a draw. Matches in India usually end up having results more than draws. I am sure that stat was skewed by Kumble being in the side and if a stats search was done, more draws might be found post Kumble retirement but India always seems to have decent result pitches IMO despite high scoring games (5 day tests).

 

[JBH001]

Jeez Murali is struggling.

Not entirely surprising. He is not match fit, remember he dropped himself from the ODI series iirc, and has been in sharp decline over the last year for anyone with the eyes to see. His body is finally breaking down and his shoulder and wrist are not putting the revs on the ball it used to, hence the lack of zip and dip.

Pity, it looks like his fourth tour of India will be a poor one. He has had two good tours and one bad tour thus far, and this looks like it will be another of the latter. If he keeps bowling like this there is a good chance he may be dropped, and may not even make 800 wickets before retirement.

 

[Manee]

Watched a bit of the match live and some of the highlights. Yuvraj batted well for his fifty. His dismissal was disappointing, but he scored valuable runs and helped place the momentum back with India. Dhoni's century was superb and I have no doubts that he will become a very able Test batsman, capable of averaging above 40. However, all else paled in comparison to Rahul Dravid - an absolutely breathtaking knock, the way he dispatched Welegedara's big inswingers through midwicket was a sight to see. Speaking of Welegedara, he bowled well, he looks to have lost pace since his debut Test against England and this could have been due to work on his follow through to stop him running on the pitch, but he looks a very handy bowler, as did his partner, Prasad. Prasad's accuracy needs some work, but he reminds me of Siddle in that he is consistently fast and his line is generally very good at or just outside the off stump line.

 

[social]

Dravid is a legend really. What a player.

I must say the decision to play so few tests in the forthcoming future is baffling.

Agree with the former but the latter is hardly baffling - it's down to pure greed because of the disproportionate amount of income that ODIs and T20s bring in

 

[silentstriker]

Pity, it looks like his fourth tour of India will be a poor one. He has had two good tours and one bad tour thus far, and this looks like it will be another of the latter. If he keeps bowling like this there is a good chance he may be dropped, and may not even make 800 wickets before retirement.

Obviously, the selectors and boards have to do whatever they need to ensure the best chance of winning the next match, so he should be dropped if it comes to that. But it'd be a sad way to go, maybe they could have a word for him to retire after the next series in SL, whenever that may be.

Agree with the former but the latter is hardly baffling - it's down to pure greed because of the disproportionate amount of income that ODIs and T20s bring in

Yea, unfortunately, the BCCI made upto $105 million USD from that Australia-India seven match ODI series. It's hard to tell any organization to forego that money for a less popular format, even if us purists would want them to.

I don't know what the solution is. Even if India play 2x more cricket, and we see XI sides a lot, I'd want there to be a English season type rule, where you play a minimum of 4-5 home tests and 4-5 away Tests every year. It's sick that guys like Dravid may only be seen 4-5 times during the course of the whole year.

 

[Pratters]

Agree with the former but the latter is hardly baffling - it's down to pure greed because of the disproportionate amount of income that ODIs and T20s bring in

During the first portion of Tendulkar's career, (1989-1996) India played very few tests. They sorted that out post 1996 but it has come back to being dire again.

 

[IndGunner]

That was Quite epic. 4/32, i have to say Yuvi played quite well and Dhoni was great. no need to say any about dravids class, a really different dravid innings to be honest, very attacking. cheering for him to beat his previous hishest 270 i believe.

Credit to the lankan quicks as well. early on i was dreading the team being all out for under 100...

 

[biased indian]

426 not a bad score with the way we started .

 

[Xuhaib]

Sangakarra is always class but if Jaya and Samaraweera get in on this track then I say watch out for 600.

 

[Raghav]

426 not a bad score with the way we started .

yes...

but the pitch seems to be good for batting. Unless, Indian pacers make SL batsman play the deliveries, the going will get tough for Indian bowlers.

Dilshan is key here for SL & IND

 

[Jono]

Not exactly the best of starts with the ball.

Need to get a wicket after lunch, can't have SL batting on and on. Otherwise the win (for Ind at least) will be out the window.

 

[Raghav]

Not exactly the best of starts with the ball.

Need to get a wicket after lunch, can't have SL batting on and on. Otherwise the win (for Ind at least) will be out the window.

best start for SL. Paranavitana is looking more solid than Dilshan ATM..

 

[Burgey]

Did someone say Yuvraj is playing tests again?