***Official*** India in Pakistan

[Beleg]

Brilliant catch to get rid of Akmal just when he was getting dangerous.

 

[nehrafan]

Sending in an out of malik malik instaed of dangerous Afridi doesn't make any sense to me

 

[alternative]

Salman Butt playing well, india needs a much needed breakthru.. as BUTT is a very dangerous batsmen.. She showed how good he was in da BCCI Jubilee Match, where he stole da match from INDIA..
so its still a close game..

 

[Beleg]

Batsmen still to come:

Inzamam
Mohammad Yousuf
Younis Khan
Razzaq
Afridi

The game is far from over.

Also, Inzy and Woolmer certainly don't seem to have gotten the hang of the super-sub rule. They got away with it in the England series but a screw up in that regard can put the team at a serious disadvantage.

I have been pretty impressed with the bowling of the Indian young gun. His seam position was excellent - much better than Pathan who seems to have forgotten his role as a strike bowler in pursuit of batting mastery.

 

[Jono]

Nehrafan and Vandematram shut up! Why can't you be sporting, and take the victories and the losses the Indian team goes through with grace like every other Indian cricket fan on this board? Its fools like you that ruin every thread India is involved in.

Pakistani fans, please just ignore them?

 

[shankar]

Maybe we can have a separate India-Pakistan thread just for the trolls?

 

[Prince EWS]

And this Indian attack is a good one with 5 specialist bowlers and an allrounder!

Pathan, Sreesanth, Zaheer, Agarkar, Kartik.

How is that five specialist bowlers and an allrounder? Its five specialist bowlers, or four specialist bowlers and an allrounder, depending on what you class Pathan as.

 

[Jono]

Well the required run rate is over 7 now, but Pakistan are still 1 down with, as Beleg said, Inzamam, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Razzaq and Afridi to come. That is quite frightening. Whether the Indian bowlers will be able to handle the pressure when Pakistan start really going for it will determine the outcome of this match IMO.

 

[Steulen]

Well the required run rate is over 7 now, but Pakistan are still 1 down with, as Beleg said, Inzamam, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Razzaq and Afridi to come. That is quite frightening. Whether the Indian bowlers will be able to handle the pressure when Pakistan start really going for it will determine the outcome of this match IMO.

Not to mention that India will have to get through 8 more overs of Murali Kartik, or turn to Sehwag/Tendulkar/Yuvraj, that Pathan has already bowled his 10, and that Agarkar (legend that he is) seems to be slipping after a tight first over.

I'd be quite surprised if Pakistan didn't pull this off...

 

[alternative]

Duckworth - Lewis system could be a big factor in this game, as the weather forcast predicts RAIN..

 

[luckyeddie]

Pathan, Sreesanth, Zaheer, Agarkar, Kartik.

How is that five specialist bowlers and an allrounder? Its five specialist bowlers, or four specialist bowlers and an allrounder, depending on what you class Pathan as.

AA is so great, he is both a specialist bowler AND an all-rounder, silly.

 

[TIF]

It was nice to see Pathan coming in again at no.3. I feel that he should have opened in the 3rd test match when we got a 600+ target to chase. It is never the best idea to have 2 of your best batsmen open the innings as if one gets out, it puts a lot of pressure on the others and with both of them getting out, it looks as if half of the batting is gone. I cant understand why many people feel that Pathan shouldnt have opened. Mind you, that is the best decision taken by Greg Chappell till now and his 93 proves it. Irfan Pathan, has shown that he is not just a bowler who can bat a bit, but he is one of the best all-rounders in the world we have, besides Flintoff and Kallis.

However, sending in Dhoni wasnt a good idea at all. We missed Dhoni at the end for the big hits when required. Dhoni, batted well, but then we had his innings 20 overs earlier than required.

Also, nice to see Tendulkar, silencing his critics who have been calling him "selfish" by cracking his 39th ODI 100 when he was being called as "End-ulkar".

 

[Beleg]

Three very good overs by the Indian bowlers.

 

[TIF]

Pakistan, are throwing up a strong reply as they are 174/1 after 29 overs with Butt on 95* and Shoaib Malik on 49*. Should be a close finish from here, but I still expect India to win it by 5-10 runs in the end.

But Afridi is still to come.

 

[Beleg]

Pathan has been struck on the temple by something.

 

[Jono]

Brilliant tight bowling by AA and Kartik. Keep it up boys.

 

[Neil Pickup]

"Pathan can't bat". Wow whoever said that surely looks stupid now don't they?

I think what I said was "don't allrounders have to be able to bat?"

Mainly because it looks daft whatever I do now, but also because I don't think you can class someone who is able to play and miss five times in one over as able to bat. Let's see what he does on a wicket which is alive against a top class attack.

Then again, I may have to rephrase it to "don't allrounders have to be able to bowl?"

So I think he may reach A/R status on the grounds that neither skill is sufficiently consistently International standard... a bit like Khaled Mahmud, Omari Banks or Mark Ealham.

 

[Jono]

Something has been hurled at Pathan from the crowd, play has been halted for a while. Meanwhile the light has got darker and there is a possibility of the result of the match being decided using Duckworth-Lewis method. Pakistan are ahead at the moment as they have not lost many wickets

 

[Neil Pickup]

D/L Update - Scores to tie
30 overs: 1/168
35 overs: 1/203, 2/206, 3/211, 4/218
40 overs: 1/240, 2/242, 3/244, 4/248, 5/253, 6/261

 

[Steulen]

Fortunately they're playing again.

Although AA may have wished otherwise...