*Official* Compaq Cup 2009 in Sri Lanka

[pup11]

Congrats India, well played indeed, and well done SRT, just seems to getting better and better with every knock he is playing nowadays, great to see him stamping his authority over the proceedings all over again.

Anyways, gotta to hand it to the Lankans as well, think they made a good game of it by making as many runs as they did under lights, but on the flip side gotta say that after the kind of start Dilshan and Sanath got them off to, they should have won this, had they showed a bit more application against the spinners.

Good win this for India though, heading into the CT, the batting looks awesome, but the bowling and fielding should really be a big cause of concern, and I know this is not the first time this is being said, but still how the hell did a bloke like Nehra made it back into the Indian side, his bowling is not upto the mark, and he seems to a big liability in the field as well, Dhoni surely was having a tough time hiding him in the field yesterday.

 

[Athlai]

Impressed with Lanka's batting effort in those conditions.

Though win the toss and win the match is pretty much how it went.

 

[Raghav]

confused about NZ batting
crying about NZ recent results
wall bashing for Oram's selection
yucky at NZ 's after match press meets
pissed off with NZ selectors
frusty on McCullum's batting
furious on Ryder
myself completely blow up after the match against Ind

 

[Pratters]

I am sure you are overjoyed India won the tournament too.

 

[Raghav]

I am sure you are overjoyed India won the tournament too.

dont ask about India's win... that adds to my sickness

 

[ret]

I reckon if India would have batted 2nd, they would have chased anything around 300

 

[Pratters]

I reckon if India would have batted 2nd, they would have chased anything around 300

How? Dravid is out of form, Raina is dire. They depended largely on Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Dhoni all of whom fired. It was unlikely that they would fire together, more so in the second inning. I reckon India would have struggled to chase any thing beyond 280. 260 would have been a competitive total.

 

[Raghav]

I reckon if India would have batted 2nd, they would have chased anything around 300

 

[ret]

How? Dravid is out of form, Raina is dire. They depended largely on Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Dhoni all of whom fired. It was unlikely that they would fire together, more so in the second inning. I reckon India would have struggled to chase any thing beyond 280. 260 would have been a competitive total.

How did SL get 270 odd despite Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Sangaraka and Jaya not getting a big score? Because many of their guys chipped in .... And There is no set formula where you can say that Tendulkar, UV and Dhoni wouldn't have fired in the 2nd inning

Obviously, I am backing the line up to fire. If a couple of guys get stuck in and others play around, it's you can chase anything around 300. I rate Indian batting higher than SL 's even when they facing a better SL bowling unit

 

[Lostman]

Wow, amazing innings by SRT.
A win is a win and would give them a lot of confidence heading into the champions trophy.

I reckon if India would have batted 2nd, they would have chased anything around 300

Its a shame India were not able to prove your point, if only there was a D/N game played recently at the premadasa where India had to chase ~300 that we could use as a reference.....

 

[ret]

Its a shame India were not able to prove your point, if only there was a D/N game played recently at the premadasa where India had to chase ~300 that we could use as a reference.....

Even before the game started I was confident that Ind would pull this off so obviously I wasn't depending up on the toss .... here .... It's a better line up and off late have managed to pull things off, which is why they have won 6 consecutive series

And it was also their 3rd consecutive series win in SL, if I am not wrong. Who said that beating SL in SL is difficult

 

[andyc]

Whoooosh

 

[Uppercut]

How did SL get 270 odd despite Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Sangaraka and Jaya not getting a big score? Because many of their guys chipped in .... And There is no set formula where you can say that Tendulkar, UV and Dhoni wouldn't have fired in the 2nd inning

Obviously, I am backing the line up to fire. If a couple of guys get stuck in and others play around, it's you can chase anything around 300. I rate Indian batting higher than SL 's even when they facing a better SL bowling unit

It's pretty impossible to bat there under lights. In a day match you can chase anything.

India don't really rely on anyone to fire. Raina, Pathan, Rohit, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Sehwag... whoever, they can all play seriously breezy knocks. But under lights, you're having a laugh.

Still can't believe they're picking Dravid.

 

[Lostman]

Even before the game started I was confident that Ind would pull this off so obviously I wasn't depending up on the toss .... here .... It's a better line up and off late have managed to pull things off, which is why they have won 6 consecutive series

And it was also their 3rd consecutive series win in SL, if I am not wrong. Who said that beating SL in SL is difficult

you were not depending on the toss, but im sure the way India batted 2nd on Friday they were depending on the toss for the final

Also Dhoni is one lucky SOB.
Going back the last 3 series of India in SL. 9 D/N games have been played @ the premadasa between SL and India. Dhoni won the toss 6 times, and Mahela/Sanga won the toss 3 times.
India won all 6 games and SL won all 3 games. In all cases team that won the toss batted first.

P.S I have been bitching about the toss D/N premadasa issue since the WC schedule came out. One semi is supposed to be played here in 2011, and I really hope its a day game or the game just gets moved to the SSC.

 

[ret]

The thing is some of you guys see at what happened on Fri and make your judgment based on that, on the other hand, I thought it as the worst being over

If you are putting your money on a team chasing 300 there, I reckon Ind would be one of them

 

[Pratters]

How did SL get 270 odd despite Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Sangaraka and Jaya not getting a big score? Because many of their guys chipped in .... And There is no set formula where you can say that Tendulkar, UV and Dhoni wouldn't have fired in the 2nd inning

Obviously, I am backing the line up to fire. If a couple of guys get stuck in and others play around, it's you can chase anything around 300. I rate Indian batting higher than SL 's even when they facing a better SL bowling unit

Sri Lanka have more reliable batsmen compared to the 3 India had in this tournament. More chances of scoring more than failing because you have more players to rely on. If India had Gambhir, Sehwag, it would have been a stronger batting line up and could have had a chance to chase it down. Indian bowling is crap compared to the Sri Lankan bowling. Most important point - chasing under lights is much more difficult here.

 

[Pratters]

The thing is some of you guys see at what happened on Fri and make your judgment based on that, on the other hand, I thought it as the worst being over

If you are putting your money on a team chasing 300 there, I reckon Ind would be one of them

Forget Friday. India had a chance if they had their strongest batting line up but no in this tournament.

 

[Kensashi]

you were not depending on the toss, but im sure the way India batted 2nd on Friday they were depending on the toss for the final

Also Dhoni is one lucky SOB.
Going back the last 3 series of India in SL. 9 D/N games have been played @ the premadasa between SL and India. Dhoni won the toss 6 times, and Mahela/Sanga won the toss 3 times.
India won all 6 games and SL won all 3 games. In all cases team that won the toss batted first.

P.S I have been bitching about the toss D/N premadasa issue since the WC schedule came out. One semi is supposed to be played here in 2011, and I really hope its a day game or the game just gets moved to the SSC.

They are already in the process of re-laying the pitches at RPS at the moment.

 

[Arjun]

There are lessons for the Indians to learn, but are there any solutions? And will they ever learn?

The fielding is one topic that's hotly debated. We keep hearing the same old rant- the Indians are a weak fielding side and they need to improve. That was the case even as late as 2007, and in the early 2000's, when we saw some duffers on the field. The current teams, however, have better fielders, and on their day, they are razor-sharp and lightning-quick. Unfortunately, there are also those days when they all fall flat at the same time. This isn't a weak fielding side, but they have a few weaknesses- inflexibility in positions, struggles with old balls, inaccurate throws. This is too good a fielding side to be plagued with such problems, and the sooner it is fixed, the better.

The part-time bowlers are another area of weakness, even more than the seamers. When the top four bowlers are getting smashed, we never see them, possibly for a reason. Maybe because they're no good. While their figures show decent economy-rates as well as cheap wickets, they don't tell the whole story. They come in when it's easy for them to finish their overs. None of them (except Yusuf) have gone the long haul match after match. Each time the part-timers start bowling, the pressure is relieved and the batsmen build a partnership or two. They're set nicely for a final-overs onslaught. While Yuvraj and Raina may be treated as regular bowlers, it affects their batting, so they can't be pressed into service so often. In addition, the less-burdened Yusuf Pathan is out of form, so they need another regular bowler in the middle overs. Praveen Kumar may return for this purpose, or Amit Mishra may get another ODI cap.

The Indians bowl well when the pitch aids them a little, but when it's a dead, barren pitch, they're all at sea. They don't have the firepower to blitz through or even hold their own on such a pitch. Some bowlers, particularly Ishant and RP Singh, need to bowl some 10k's faster than they are now, so that the batsmen have to play a lot more carefully.

 

[ret]

Forget Friday. India had a chance if they had their strongest batting line up but no in this tournament.

whatever you say .... I would reckon that this Indian line up is still good enough. The top 4 were pretty strong. Once guys like Sehwag return, it would become even stronger!