***Official*** India in Pakistan

[LongHopCassidy]

Just wondering - is Fast-Medium or Medium-Fast more zippy?

It's just that McGrath is RFM and Rana is RMF, and Rana looks a lot pacier.

 

[krishneelz]

it will be pretty hard to get another quick bowler into the indian side instead of AA and expect him to be a shining light. Who could we rely on zaheer is out of form balaji is injured, RP singh aint that good. Maybe its time for salvi to make an impact or just leave it as it is

 

[Jono]

Fast Medium is the faster type, well in cricket anyway. Technically you'd think medium fast would be quicker than fast medium, but hey this ain't grammar school

 

[SJS]

Just wondering - is Fast-Medium or Medium-Fast more zippy?

It's just that McGrath is RFM and Rana is RMF, and Rana looks a lot pacier.

Good point. Fast medium is pacier than Medium fast and yes, Naved is pacier than MacGrath as of now.

 

[Jono]

it will be pretty hard to get another quick bowler into the indian side instead of AA and expect him to be a shining light. Who could we rely on zaheer is out of form balaji is injured, RP singh aint that good. Maybe its time for salvi to make an impact or just leave it as it is

Is Zaheer really out of form, or did he just have a bad practice match? His domestic form is very good. I'm not saying he would have done well on this wicket, as its likely he would have got spanked around too, but I'm sure in that 10-15 over period with the new ball he would have been more threatening.

 

[krishneelz]

dravid opening worries me he averages 16 in that position

 

[krishneelz]

makes sense jono so would you have zaheer in for AA for the next test

 

[PAKMAN]

i reckon dravid opening for india is a good thing as solid a player he is ,plus hez use to come in early on

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Shoaib needs to be more sparing with his slower ball. That's the fourth(?) time he's bowled it in three overs.

 

[Jono]

dravid opening worries me he averages 16 in that position

Yeah true but Ganguly averages 11 there

Hopefully Dravid fixes that average. Its amazing how Ganguly and Laxman average so much more at 3 and 4 then their career average (like there is a huge difference, 20-30 runs) but because we have Dravid and Tendulkar at 3 and 4 (both better batsman) they can't have that position on a regular basis.

 

[Jono]

Shoaib needs to be more sparing with his slower ball. That's the fourth(?) time he's bowled it in three overs.

Agreed. Its hilarious, he's grunting when he bowls it to try and deceive the batsman. My best mate, who is a pretty damn quick bowler, does the exact same thing when he plays club cricket. He grunts loudly when he bowls the slower ball, but not when he's bowling at full pace. He used to always get me out with his slower ball, but now I've faced him so much in the nets and picked up on it, I just pick it everytime.

 

[Pratters]

I thought declaring when Pakistan did was a mistake.

Firstly, on such a pitch you should aim to bat only once. A score of at least 700 is what I said Pakistan should have aimed at yesterday. The way they were going, at one point it looked reasonable to expect them to make even 750.

Now India needs 480 to avoid the follow on.

The pitch has to be understood -

1) The potency of Akhtar, Rana (with speed and variation of Akhtar and variation of Akhtar) and Kaneria on a pitch with variable bounce and cracks is more than that of the Indian attack.

2) The pitch is going to deteriorate in the aspect I mention above. However it is going to become much slower too as the match progresses.

If few Indian batsmen set their minds to it - and the batting line up goes pretty deep - 480 wouldnt be improbable.

Another aspect is Pakistan has scored very quickly. This makes the scenraio all the more interesting. Suppose India is all out for less than 480 - do Pakistan enforce the follow on. If they do it could mean India scoring runs and Pakistan on the back foot because of the time left when they bat in the 4th inning.

If they do not, it would mean they have to decide how much time they need to get India out and they could go wrong in this prediction.

Keeping this in mind, if Pakistan had batted till about an hour before close of play - they could have done it batting a bit slower over the day or adopting a strategy apt enough as the ball was in their court - Pakistan would have been in a much stronger position.

 

[Jono]

makes sense jono so would you have zaheer in for AA for the next test

Yeah most likely. I think he's bowling better than RP Singh at domestic level (correct me if I'm wrong people living in India, look at you Arjun ) and has more experience. Seems the best option.

Zaheer isn't anything special, but he's the best option IMO.

 

[Arjun]

Yeah true but Ganguly averages 11 there

Hopefully Dravid fixes that average. Its amazing how Ganguly and Laxman average so much more at 3 and 4 then their career average (like there is a huge difference, 20-30 runs) but because we have Dravid and Tendulkar at 3 and 4 (both better batsman) they can't have that position on a regular basis.

Dravid can average over 50 at any position, if he puts his mid to it. He has the skills.

NOTE: This is not a pitch to have him as an opener, but just to say that having him opening is not a disaster.......compared to picking a four-man bowling attack led by Agarkar.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Why, oh why, oh why did I have to exchange days with Sudeep on the reporting rota? I did yesterday instead.

What an awesome display of batting from Pakistan. Truly amazing.

 

[Arjun]

Yeah most likely. I think he's bowling better than RP Singh at domestic level (correct me if I'm wrong people living in India, look at you Arjun ) and has more experience. Seems the best option.

Zaheer isn't anything special, but he's the best option IMO.

RP Singh had a fantastic season last year, but has barely played this time. The one advantage he has over Zaheer is his fielding. Zaheer, on his day, can be very fast, not quite the Shoaib Akhtar range, but still enough to push the batsmen on the back foot. He's very similar to Ntini, except that the south Africans know how to handle their pacers, while the Indians don't.

It's been a reality check for the selectors, and to be honest, one too many. When will they ever realise that the available options are not capable of running through teams in groups of four? When will it dawn upon them that pace is needed to force those extra wickets? When will they learn that Agarkar is not a wicket-taker but just a run drain? With Munaf Patel taking wickets and hitting sixes, the selectors should take a risk and select him as a fifth bowler. Hopefully they'll learn from their mistakes in ODI's....if they think they have made any.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

More revealing are his averages v Aus, SA & SL - 29, 16 & 24

I don't get it. The timing of your comment seems strange... Yousuf's a pretty good player, but a guy's not allowed to have bogey teams anymore? More to the point, what does it matter what he averages against those teams?

 

[Dissector]

Personally I thought the declaration was timed nicely. It gave Shoaib about three overs before the tea break which allows him to take a rest and go out and bowl another spell after the break. So he gets more overs with the new ball. Plus he will probably get another spell before close. Having a full session also allows Kaneria to get a decent spell in there in case he gets some turn. It also gives more time to exploit the tiredness factor: the Indian batsmen are no doubt physically and mentally exhaused after the battering they received in the field; they will be fresher tomorrow. The next session is going to be a big test for the top order especially given all the confusion about the batting lineup.

 

[Jono]

I don't get it. The timing of your comment seems strange... Yousuf's a pretty good player, but a guy's not allowed to have bogey teams anymore? More to the point, what does it matter what he averages against those teams?

Exactly, he's basically criticising Yousuf for not being an all-time great, or not being a Ponting, Dravid, Lara, Tendulkar etc.

Apparently you just can't be a fairly good batsman anymore. If you're not brilliant, you're a flat track bully who isn't worth mentioning, and must be criticised when they score tons.

 

[Jono]

Sehwag almost averages 100 against Pakistan. He's playing well right now, and this is a pitch he'll definitely be able to take advantage of. Hopefully he gets a good score and raises that average to 100.