***Official*** India in Pakistan

[adharcric]

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.

The thing I don't understand is this ... Agarkar was bowling in the high 130s (kph) in the earlier ODIs (against Sri Lanka and South Africa). How does he get so pathetic here all of a sudden. Was the odometer off there or is Agarkar this ridiculously inconsistent even with his bowling speeds?

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Agreed. Averages against minnows must be taken with several truckloads of salt as well. There's the not outs, the small numbers of games played, and the strike rates.

In fact, I'd be more worried if a batsman didn't average truckloads against the minnows.

 

[krishneelz]

if india lose dravid or sehwag today it will be a big blow for their chances of saving the match 27 overs to go

 

[luckyeddie]

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?

See Warne v Murali, Ponting v McDravid threads - the lifeblood of Cricket Web.

 

[Arjun]

The thing I don't understand is this ... Agarkar was bowling in the high 130s (kph) in the earlier ODIs (against Sri Lanka and South Africa). How does he get so pathetic here all of a sudden. Was the odometer off there or is Agarkar this ridiculously inconsistent even with his bowling speeds?

He was terrible even against Lanka and SA. The out of form Lankans just made him look a lot better, but against the Saffies, he took wickets at 57 runs apiece. He's not a genuine fast bowler, and just bent his back a lot harder then. If he tries to be accurate, he loses attack power.

 

[Xuhaib]

All that hitting in the game but its the duel between Dravid and Shoaib that has been the most exciting part in this match.

 

[Pratters]

50 up for India. This pitch is SLOW. One ball from Sami in the over, Sehwag mistimed the ball hitting it too EARLY!

 

[adharcric]

He was terrible even against Lanka and SA. The out of form Lankans just made him look a lot better, but against the Saffies, he took wickets at 57 runs apiece. He's not a genuine fast bowler, and just bent his back a lot harder then. If he tries to be accurate, he loses attack power.

being terrible is a different issue. i'm just talking about bowling speeds. how can there be such a big difference in a span of a few weeks.

 

[Xuhaib]

I think Pakistan would enforce the follow-on only if India is somewhere arnd 400 runs behind (highly unlikely).

 

[Arjun]

being terrible is a different issue. i'm just talking about bowling speeds. how can there be such a big difference in a span of a few weeks.

He's not a genuine quick bowler. Not to mention, the angle of delivery can confuse the tracers. He's cut down on pace to be a little more accurate. Not that it helped.

 

[adharcric]

He's not a genuine quick bowler. Not to mention, the angle of delivery can confuse the tracers. He's cut down on pace to be a little more accurate. Not that it helped.

precisely. hopefully zaheer can do better in the 2nd test.

 

[Jono]

Batsman have taken the light. End of day's play, India are 65-0.

 

[SJS]

The thing I don't understand is this ... Agarkar was bowling in the high 130s (kph) in the earlier ODIs (against Sri Lanka and South Africa). How does he get so pathetic here all of a sudden. Was the odometer off there or is Agarkar this ridiculously inconsistent even with his bowling speeds?

I think seeeing the wicket and the complete lack of support from the surface, PLUS the fact that India had just two medium pacers may have made them feel they were going to have to bowl longer spells and decided to bowl a bit within themselves.

I am not saying this is what happened or that this was the right thing to do but its a possibility.

 

[Arjun]

Look at the Indian bowling card (I know it's ugly, but look anyway) and count the overs bowled by each. Irfan bolwed 32, Agarkar bowled 24, Kumble bowled 39 and Harbhajan bowled 34. Not look at Ganguly– he bowled just six overs, while the strikers were struggling to get wickets. Did the captain not miss a trick here? After all, he was included for reasons other than just batting, wasn't he?

 

[Prince EWS]

After all, he was included for reasons other than just batting, wasn't he?

Yes. He was also included to bowl first change, which he did. Once the ball is old there is no logical reason to bowl Ganguly, really.

 

[Arjun]

Yes. He was also included to bowl first change, which he did. Once the ball is old there is no logical reason to bowl Ganguly, really.

Change bowlers are more than just bowlers who take the shine off the ball. If he bowled24 (or so) overs, the load on the strikers would have been a lot less. Looking at the number of overs they bowled, it was no surprise that they weakened in the last few overs of the Pakistan innings. When you have someone who can do a bit with the ball, make use of his bowling.

 

[Xuhaib]

95 % of the batsman have mediocre records against Aus so thats not a major issue for Yousuf and his low average against Sri and Saf is due to different reasons. Some i can come up with

1.Played Saf mostly yearly in his career or at a time when he was returning from an injury.

2.Has a weakness against left arm fast which Vass has exploited and plus handling Murali on spinning tracks is not easy. Since 9 times out of 10 Pak and Sri plays each other on spinning tracks so Murali has got him a few times and thats nothing to be ashamed of since Harbhajan has made Ponting look hopeless on turners.

His overall good record against against Eng, Ind, Nzl and Wi proves he is a real quality.

 

[Prince EWS]

Change bowlers are more than just bowlers who take the shine off the ball.

Not when they are Ganguly.

When you have someone who can do a bit with the ball, make use of his bowling.

Again, that doesnt really apply to Ganguly. I'd take a tired Pathan over a fresh Ganguly with the ball any day of the week.

 

[Pratters]

For people comparing wickets in the England series with the current wicket -

Imran has said a few things -

This pitch is as lifeless as it gets. Its dead. I am baffled. I cant imagine wickets worse than this. If I was in the Pakistani camp, I would make sure each blade of grass watered. This is much poorer than wickets vs England.

Nasser - One of the flattest pitches of all time.

Rudi Koertzen - I wouldnt want to bowl on this wicket. (Kortzen was a mdium fast bowler) Its a batsman's paradise.

 

[Jono]

It's not necessarily a dead track - just a lifeless Indian attack.

It looks very much like the types of track the series against England was played on - and two of those ended in results (grrr).

Pitches where they blew England away for a start.

I reckon this won't be a draw either.

Whilst the English pitches were ridiculously flat, as Imran just pointed out, they weren't as flat and especially as slow as this track.

Sehwag had so much time to pick off Shoaib and Rana, despite them being fresh and bowling with a new ball. Obviously the ball is coming off quicker than when India were bowling, but that doesn't mean much. I mean when the umpires come out and, when asked, admit this is one of the flattest wickets they've seen then you know there's something wrong with this wicket.

Indian fans must remember that India isn't the only team disadvantaged from this. Pakistan, whilst having quicker bowlers, also wouldn't be pleased with this. They want to win this match, and as Sanjay said, Shoaib must be getting sick of bowling on these wickets at home.

That being said I'm not saying Pakistan can't win this match and its definitely going to be a draw. All I'm saying is, this pitch is mega flat and super slow. No matter how badly India bowled, that can't be denied. Claiming its not is pretty much flat out wrong.