***Official*** 2014 Asia Cup

[Maximas]

Anyone know whether Matthews will be batting?

Still think this should be a very gettable chase with the quality of Sri Lanka's batting paired with that of India's bowling, even if the deck isn't too easy to bat on knowing the total they need may prove advantageous given it's not that big

 

[Arjun]

Listening to/watching Narottam Puri after an eternity. "Jadeja told Shami something, which Shami may not have followed, and just hit out of the ground twice", and now he's talking about Shami's clean-shaven look.

Anjum Chopra, former opener for India's women's team, has completely denounced Dinesh Karthik's poor shot that got him caught. If Dhoni was Captain Cool, Karthik is a mercurial genius. Hopefully he won't have the same poor form as last time.

Puri is talking about the full-sleeved bowlers, to which Anjum says they're trying to hide the bend in their elbows. Now he's talking about the problem of chucking on account of bowlers bowling the away going delivery.

 

[Arjun]

Those "success factors" shown by DD are hilarious.

Not so funny when Dinesh Karthik concedes yet another boundary, off the edge of a 140k Shami delivery.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Those "success factors" shown by DD are hilarious.

Not so funny when Dinesh Karthik concedes yet another boundary, off the edge of a 140k Shami delivery.

You're honestly going to blame him for that? The ball didn't even get off the turf after the inside edge. Impossible to stop it

 

[smash84]

streaky start from the SLs.........

Shami and B Kumar are not a bad opening combo actually

 

[Arjun]

You're honestly going to blame him for that? The ball didn't even get off the turf after the inside edge. Impossible to stop it

Not quite, except that Karthik was poor last game, and the only thing that will be noted is Shami's high economy rate, even when he's bowled fast, made the batsmen play and has been denied wickets twice.

 

[Arjun]

This pitch appears to be tailormade for Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Low bounce, and Kushal is struggling to get bat to ball.

 

[YorksLanka]

Yes kushal looking streaking today...he needs to chill a bit,I suppose that's the downside of being young..

 

[Arjun]

Kumar is bowling way wide outside off. That's not a wicket-taking line. He's made the most of a rather scratchy opening batting lineup trying to settle. Nine overs down, no wickets taken.

One dropped catch can change the course of the innings. Both batsmen set and hitting sixes.

 

[smash84]

SL making the pitch look pretty easy which it probably isn't

 

[YorksLanka]

That's more like it laddy..kushal showing what he is capable of but I still maintain that he needs to keep his head and put away the bad balls sensibly.50 run opening stand ..nice to see from these two youngsters.. Keep going boys.. Or "boi's" as maximas would say.

 

[Maximas]

Cricinfo commentators are frothing over Lahiru's batting, calling some of his shots 'elegant', and 'effortless', not the impression I got when I last saw him itbt, anyone watching to confirm?

 

[Arjun]

Likewise, too much love showered on Bhuvneshwar Kumar by both ESPN/STAR and DoorDarshan commentators, who's been bowling an innocuous, defensive line, not looking for wickets. Inexperienced, scratchy Lankan openers have somehow saved his economy, profited off dropped catches of Shami and got their quota of sixes from the first ten overs. Most importantly, no wickets have fallen.

Over to Roger Binny Jr. I hope he has a good game with the ball, so that selectors can replace Bucky with a proper pace/seam bowler like ICPandey. He's bowled a tight first over, wicket to wicket, but so slow, he's just ambling down the wicket and rolling his arm over, no threat to the batting.

 

[smash84]

Likewise, too much love showered on Bhuvneshwar Kumar by both ESPN/STAR and DoorDarshan commentators, who's been bowling an innocuous, defensive line, not looking for wickets. Inexperienced, scratchy Lankan openers have somehow saved his economy, profited off dropped catches of Shami and got their quota of sixes from the first ten overs. Most importantly, no wickets have fallen.

Over to Roger Binny Jr. I hope he has a good game with the ball, so that selectors can replace Bucky with a proper pace/seam bowler like ICPandey. He's bowled a tight first over, wicket to wicket, but so slow, he's just ambling down the wicket and rolling his arm over, no threat to the batting.

I hope you are not one of the Duncan Fletcher types who only believes that bowlers with pace can be good bowlers?

 

[Arjun]

I hope you are not one of the Duncan Fletcher types who only believes that bowlers with pace can be good bowlers?

Look at the record of Steyn/Morkel/Johnson/Junaid/Umar and then Bucky's one wicket a game, and then decide if pace is useful or not. Hang on, even bowlers with less pace like Lopsy, McClenaghan, Thissara and Anderson have chipped a lot, instead of merely resting on an economy rate without taking wickets. Why, even Shami, who's played less than Bucky, has had nearly ten wickets more.

It's more about strike rate than pace.

About Binny, he too just ambles down the wicket, and offers balls to pat and fondle for easy singles.

As for the Duncan Fletcher reference, he's not even got runs out of actual run-scoring bowlers, nor has he made any bowler faster- the only thing that's Fletcher in this Indian team is in spinners bowling flat.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I'm no Bhuvi fanboy but care to explain how he's bowled an innocuous line, whatever that's supposed to mean?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ashwin changing his action back and forth. Jesus what a farce he's become recently

 

[YorksLanka]

Fantastic effort from jadeja..tough luck..

 

[Arjun]

One more dropped catch. Surprisingly, the blokes who are India's best fielders- Rahane, Dhawan, Jadeja- have dropped all three. I wouldn't be surprised if Lanka win off these three dropped catches, as a wicket is yet to fall, seventeenth over.

 

[YorksLanka]

Kushals luck is in today.hopefully he will capitalise and score a big un..no matter who you are and how much talent you have you always need a bit of luck too..