*Official* West Indies in India

[Daemon]

Poor shot from Bravo.

 

[Cevno]

Chanderpaul is the key for the West Indies.

Seems a sort of typical Delhi wicket. Should get uneven bounce too, as the match goes on.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Haha, interesting quote from Cricinfo:

"Man, it doesn't matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero." - The hilarious welcome Viv Richards gave Sunil Gavaskar, who dropped himself to No. 4 to escape the fury of the West Indies quicks, only to walk out at 0 for 2 after Malcolm Marshall had removed Gaekwad and Vengsarkar for blobs. It's fair to say things have changed since that day in Chennai, back in 1983. The balance has shifted drastically, this time the Indian batsmen will be the bullies. The closest you will come to seeing a real West Indian quick is in the home broadcaster's studio, where Courtney Walsh, the last of the Mohicans, is one of the panelists

To make that story even more awesomer, they should have mentioned the small matter of Gavaskar going on to score 236 in that innings

 

[G.I.Joe]

and then Gavaskar scores 234* out of four hundred odd against that bowling attack. What a guy.

Beat it, ****. I do the smart quips around here.

 

[Burgey]

Has Harbhajan been dropped or is he injured?

 

[Kylez]

Has Harbhajan been dropped or is he injured?

Dropped for the first test. Praveen has been rested, IIRC.

 

[Cevno]

Seems a sort of typical Delhi wicket. Should get uneven bounce too, as the match goes on.

Actually on more viewing seems slightly more flatter than recent times. Probably the Ban having a affect.

 

[Cevno]

Good to see Sehwag bowling again. Been a long while since he last bowled in a test.

 

[Burgey]

Dropped for the first test. Praveen has been rested, IIRC.

Ta. What's Praveen been rested for? Hasn't there only been ODIs since the England tour for India?

 

[Prince EWS]

Good to see Sehwag bowling again. Been a long while since he last bowled in a test.

AWTA. Best spinner playing in this match.

 

[Prince EWS]

Ta. What's Praveen been rested for? Hasn't there only been ODIs since the England tour for India?

He's been playing continuously since the Indian tour of the West Indies and he's had some pretty long spells in amongst all that. I think it's more so that they can have a look at the other bowlers before the tour of Australia though.

Either way it's dire IMO; you don't play a stack of ODIs and then rest from a Test series, and you don't treat a Test series as a selection trial, but there you go.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah that's my point. I'd have thought they would rest him from ODIs. Pretty weird.

 

[SJS]

AWTA. Best spinner playing in this match.

I am so glad to hear that. Few people realise (incuding the much admired great indian skipper) how good a spinner Sehwag is. For a side bemoaning the lack of an all rounder for two decades, it is astonishing we refuse to see under the nose.

By the way, I did not realise Sehwag was bowling since I finally walked off from in front of the screen. It is painful watching. I think India does not just need cricketers in administration, they need bowlers, preferably fast bowlers.

The Kotla wicket is all the things a test wicket should not be. Yadav did not look great (140 kmph is not my aphrodisiac) but one can sympathise with the young man for the terrible terrible low bounce even in the first 15 minutes of the game. This is ridiculous. Just because India has won 8 of the last 9 tests here is no reason why Kotla should be written off as a test venue till something is done about the wicket.

It is a paradox really. Indian money will sustain the world game and indian wickets might ruin the chances of India ever becoming a truly great cricketing nation.

 

[Cevno]

The Kotla wicket is all the things a test wicket should not be. Yadav did not look great (140 kmph is not my aphrodisiac) but one can sympathise with the young man for the terrible terrible low bounce even in the first 15 minutes of the game. This is ridiculous. Just because India has won 8 of the last 9 tests here is no reason why Kotla should be written off as a test venue till something is done about the wicket.

It is a paradox really. Indian money will sustain the world game and indian wickets might ruin the chances of India ever becoming a truly great cricketing nation.

Don't see anything wrong with the Delhi Wicket generally tbh.

It is one of the most result oriented wickets in the world in recent times. And with the Likes of Ahmedabad,Colombo,Abu Dhabi and many other wickets around the world around blaming it is ridiculous.

Also don't buy the argument one bit that high and extra bounce with swing and seam movement is good for cricket, but Low bounce or Spin is bad. Teams need to learn to deal with it. Also they usually put grass on the Kotla wicket and scatter it a little bit to get some extra bounce, but i think because of the recent ban they haven't this time because it can then cause uneven bounce and the teams and the ICC will moan about it.

 

[TT Boy]

Brathwaite was proper owned there but he seemed like he already decided that for the rest of the over he would plant the front foot and just bunt the ball nowhere. Maybe he was tired or something.

Windies will be lucky to make 300 here and going by how gun barrel Yadev is, it will be tough for their quicks.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Brathwaite was proper owned there but he seemed like he already decided that for the rest of the over he would plant the front foot and just bunt the ball nowhere. Maybe he was tired or something.

Windies will be lucky to make 300 here and going by how gun barrel Yadev is, it will be tough for their quicks.

Smart bit of work by Dhoni, but from the front-on camera it looked as if Braithwaite had edged it anyway.

Ironically not convinced Samuels did edge that one tho.

 

[Spikey]

Chanders last five balls - 0, 4, 2, 3, 5. Just needs to get a 6 and 1 off the next two!

 

[Howe_zat]

Chanders last five balls - 0, 4, 2, 3, 5. Just needs to get a 6 and 1 off the next two!

0, 4, 2, 3, 5, 1, break Gambhir's arm.

Less satisfying than a six, but probably helps the Windies just as much.

 

[Spikey]

well still scoring 6 different ways in 6 balls must be pretty damn rare

 

[Cevno]

****ing Chanderpaul doing well against India again. Well Played!!