Best innings in a bad pitch.

[abmk]

Yes but Sachin also says his best one day innings is that 98 vs Pakistan, was that the toughest pitch he ever batted on? Of course not. So it depends on the question asked, the Perth knock was one of his best, no doubt, but that doesnt mean it was the best knock on the toughest pitch. More like it was the best knock in toughest match/team situation, but also it was a dead test anyway so you cant give it too much credit, a test is a test for sure, but a 'live' test surely is more important. His 155* in 1998 was phenomenal, but i'd say his 111 vs South Africa in 1992 was his best knock ive ever seen him play, he managed Donald with ease, magic stuff, he didnt hit many 4's off him, but looked really comfortable, and Donald was lightning fast back in 1992, really bloody fast.

eh, recalling from the highlights you've posted, he edged one or two off Donald and scored 5-6 boundaries of Donald .....

agree with the rest of your post ..

 

[abmk]

Sachin's best innings on a bad track HAS to be the Mumbai one in 2004...

put that 2nd behind the chennai 136 vs Pak ... The Mumbai track was tougher to bat on but the Chennai one was clearly the better knock

 

[honestbharani]

put that 2nd behind the chennai 136 vs Pak ... The Mumbai track was tougher to bat on but the Chennai one was clearly the better knock

gotta apply Jono's distinction here.. Chennai 5th day was more difficult to bat on than a usual pitch but it was not "bad".. Mumbai, on the 2nd day, was worse than most 5th day tracks...

 

[abmk]

gotta apply Jono's distinction here.. Chennai 5th day was more difficult to bat on than a usual pitch but it was not "bad".. Mumbai, on the 2nd day, was worse than most 5th day tracks...

it was 4th day and pitch had deteriorated heavily

All scores in that test were below 300 . Not easy to bat on in any of the innings , even more so in the 4th innings

Mumbai pitch was definitely worse though ... What made it even more amazing was that he had just come back from injury and looked out of sorts in the previous 3 innings . He counter-attacked and it paid off . The confidence rubbed off on Laxman too ( who had terrible series till then )

 

[vcs]

Hayden's knock in Sharjah where he made more runs in one innings than Pakistan in two innings put together also deserves a mention here.

 

[robelinda]

Yeah Haydos was awesome in that match, but pitch was fine though. Weather was INSANE, awful conditions, but the pitch was actually pretty flat. Warnie just bowled straight balls, and the Pakistan batsmen just crumbled under the heat, they just gifted wickets to nothing balls from the pace bowlers, was no seam or swing or low bounce etc.....just complete FAIL batting!!!!

 

[abmk]

Hayden's knock in Sharjah where he made more runs in one innings than Pakistan in two innings put together also deserves a mention here.

pretty good innings yeah ... But the fact you raised was more due to inept Pak batting under those hot conditions rather than Hayden's innings itself though !

 

[vcs]

Yeah, watched their 2nd innings live actually. Found the whole thing very funny.

 

[abmk]

This is the Azhar innings in wellington that I was talking about

Simon Doull and co were on fire

YouTube - azhar vs NZ in 99

 

[honestbharani]

it was 4th day and pitch had deteriorated heavily

All scores in that test were below 300 . Not easy to bat on in any of the innings , even more so in the 4th innings

Mumbai pitch was definitely worse though ... What made it even more amazing was that he had just come back from injury and looked out of sorts in the previous 3 innings . He counter-attacked and it paid off . The confidence rubbed off on Laxman too ( who had terrible series till then )

Agree with all that.. Only thing is "not easy to bat on" NOT = "bad pitch".. Mumbai was a bad pitch

 

[Cevno]

Can't believe HB is trying to argue that 4th day chennai pitch where all the 4 scores were in 250 range was not tough to bat on when the spinners were taking the wickets and it was worn out.

But at the same time was arguing that the track in Barabdos where the scores were over 300 in 3 innings and near 500 in one with pacers taking almost all wickets in all the innings constitutes "tough conditions"

I think we had this debate before too..

 

[vcs]

How about Mongia's 150 odd in that one-off Test India won against Australia in 96? Pretty random effort that one, against McGrath and co.

 

[Cevno]

Agree with all that.. Only thing is "not easy to bat on" = "bad pitch".. Mumbai was a bad pitch

Mumbai was a extraordinarily bad pitch.

Not fair to compare that to any other pitch.

 

[abmk]

Agree with all that.. Only thing is "not easy to bat on" = "bad pitch".. Mumbai was a bad pitch

very few pitches are as bad or close to being like Mumbai 2004 was tbh ...

Chennai pitch was a tough one to bat on ....

 

[robelinda]

How about Mongia's 150 odd in that one-off Test India won against Australia in 96? Pretty random effort that one, against McGrath and co.

Yep that was a good knock for sure, but i reckon Waughs 60 odd not out in the 4th innings was amazing. The spinners were turning it a mile, and it was dreadful conditions, the pitch was falling apart. Mongia batted well for sure, but it wasnt too hard against a spin 'attack' of McIntyre and Hogg. McGrath did bowl really well though, there was one spell where he really tore up Ganguly, short balls everywhere and it was riveting viewing, but he didnt pitch it up until the 2nd innings, when it was all too late. The pitch wasnt too bad on day 1 and 2, but grossly underprepared in general, it was never going to last a full 5 days. Didnt the same ground get banned from test cricket later after a SA match???

 

[honestbharani]

Can't believe HB is trying to argue that 4th day chennai pitch where all the 4 scores were in 250 range was not tough to bat on when the spinners were taking the wickets and it was worn out.

But at the same time was arguing that the track in Barabdos where the scores were over 300 in 3 innings and near 500 in one with pacers taking almost all wickets in all the innings constitutes "tough conditions"

I think we had this debate before too..

Cevno in putting words into people's post in a debate about Sachin shocker..



I never said the Barbados track was more difficult to bat on than the Chennai track.. They were both difficult to bat on but they were not BAD tracks.. The debate was about which knock was better and I said Lara's because he was definitely facing the better bowlers on form than Sachin was...


And FTR, Venky Prasad took a 6 fer the day before Sachin got his 100.. Although given his pace, I can quite understand why you don't wanna classify his wickets as fast bowler wickets..

 

[vcs]

Yep that was a good knock for sure, but i reckon Waughs 60 odd not out in the 4th innings was amazing. The spinners were turning it a mile, and it was dreadful conditions, the pitch was falling apart. Mongia batted well for sure, but it wasnt too hard against a spin 'attack' of McIntyre and Hogg. McGrath did bowl really well though, there was one spell where he really tore up Ganguly, short balls everywhere and it was riveting viewing, but he didnt pitch it up until the 2nd innings, when it was all too late. The pitch wasnt too bad on day 1 and 2, but grossly underprepared in general, it was never going to last a full 5 days. Didnt the same ground get banned from test cricket later after a SA match???

It was at Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi. It has always had a dustbowl-ish wicket (see Kumble's 10fer). Slow and low in general.

 

[honestbharani]

Mumbai was a extraordinarily bad pitch.

Not fair to compare that to any other pitch.

very few pitches are as bad or close to being like Mumbai 2004 was tbh ...

Chennai pitch was a tough one to bat on ....

My point is that while the Chennai pitch was difficult to bat on, it was not a bad pitch.. Mumbai was.. And hence Sachin's knock there is more fit to be mentioned here than the chennai one.

 

[abmk]

C

I never said the Barbados track was more difficult to bat on than the Chennai track.. They were both difficult to bat on but they were not BAD tracks.. The debate was about which knock was better and I said Lara's because he was definitely facing the better bowlers on form than Sachin was...

I'd disagree, Warne was bowling sh*t in that series. Forget Lara, even other WI batsmen played him pretty easily ........and they were not renowned players of spin bowling ..Chennai, saqlain was in absolute top notch form, wasim was bowling very well, waqar bowled a pretty good spell late in the 3rd day ( still wonder why he didn't bowl more !)

Aus had Glenn in top form and Gillespie was bowling very well , mcgill was just ok ....

The only reason Lara's knock rates ahead IMO is that WI won ..

 

[Cevno]

Cevno in putting words into people's post in a debate about Sachin shocker..

You have been arguing against Chennai track being tough from the start of this thread ,since i mentioned it and called it just sluggish too.

And at the same time been arguing over the barbados pitch being tough to bat on


Here are the quotes -

reckon Lara's 153* is being undersold here.. It was not THAT difficult a track, but it was a difficult track.

read my first post on the subject.. I never said it was a minefield.. It was on the worser side of the average 5th day pitch though, definitely.. I am not bigging anything up.. It was not juz sluggish as a regular 5th day track but the ball was cutting off the seam nicely and Warney and MacGill got more than their fair share of turn, esp. off the rough created by Gillespie and McGrath..

lol.. The pitch was sluggish, but come on, Afridi got 141 the previous day.. And Wasim, at that stage of his career, was capable of the odd magic ball but not of sustained brilliance.. The very fact that he was nowhere near getting 4 or 5 wicket hauls should show that. Waqar was a shell of himself... Saqlain was on top of his game but that was all...


To me, the greatness of Sachin's knock lay in the fact that he did not panic and go for his shots when all other recognized batsmen were dismissed and even more impressive was the fact that he went in for the grind even though it was injuring his back more and more.. I mean, paddle sweeps with a bad back.. jeez, the guy wanted that win..

gotta apply Jono's distinction here.. Chennai 5th day was more difficult to bat on than a usual pitch but it was not "bad".. Mumbai, on the 2nd day, was worse than most 5th day tracks...

And i am the one pitting one against the other and putting one down and bigging one up?