Blaze 18
Banned
I thought Brendon McCullum batted brilliantly today; he has all but saved the match. It would take a Pakistan-esque collapse from New Zealand's batsmen to lose from here. I must confess that I thought they didn't stand a chance of competing against India in India, but they have proved me wrong; full marks to them for that.
India's bowling really needs to improve, though. Zaheer Khan seems to be the only world class bowler we have, and even he isn't close to being one of the five best fast bowlers in the world today. The problem is with India's spinners really; fast bowling has never really been her strength. It does not matter how many centuries Harbhajan Singh makes; if he fails to bowl a match-winning spell tomorrow, and continues to dish up pies in the next test, he should not go to South Africa. I doubt that will happen though with the moronic selectors India have. Ojha has been okay in comparison, but what is disconcerting is that he is struggling to run through a side on a day 4/day 5 Indian pitch. If an Indian frontline spinner is struggling to run-through a side not reknowed for its ability against spin on a day 4 Indian pitch, then it may be time to look at other options. Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla may have to be considered soon.
The issue with the current bunch of Indian fast bowlers is that they lack discipline and application ; it isn't as though they lack talent or ability. Sreesanth dishes up hit-me boundary balls at an alarming frequency, more often that not just after bowling an absolute peach. Ishant Sharma seems to pick and choose when to perform. Why can't we have a consistent, hard working bowler like, say, Dough Bollinger ?
India's bowling really needs to improve, though. Zaheer Khan seems to be the only world class bowler we have, and even he isn't close to being one of the five best fast bowlers in the world today. The problem is with India's spinners really; fast bowling has never really been her strength. It does not matter how many centuries Harbhajan Singh makes; if he fails to bowl a match-winning spell tomorrow, and continues to dish up pies in the next test, he should not go to South Africa. I doubt that will happen though with the moronic selectors India have. Ojha has been okay in comparison, but what is disconcerting is that he is struggling to run through a side on a day 4/day 5 Indian pitch. If an Indian frontline spinner is struggling to run-through a side not reknowed for its ability against spin on a day 4 Indian pitch, then it may be time to look at other options. Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla may have to be considered soon.
The issue with the current bunch of Indian fast bowlers is that they lack discipline and application ; it isn't as though they lack talent or ability. Sreesanth dishes up hit-me boundary balls at an alarming frequency, more often that not just after bowling an absolute peach. Ishant Sharma seems to pick and choose when to perform. Why can't we have a consistent, hard working bowler like, say, Dough Bollinger ?
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