**Official** India v Pakistan

[Sehwag309]

..they might shoot me or either hire me after the amount of emails I have sent them

 

[Sehwag309]

The series hasn't even started and the umpires are being criticised

.....coz he IS in the news too

NZ give 'Silly Billy' crooked finger

 

[shoot_me]

Pakistan fans mob special visa office for India tour
Agence France-Presse
Lahore, February 25, 2005

Around 5,000 Pakistani cricket fans on Friday obtained visa forms from a special counter set up by India, allowing them to watch the first tour across the border in six years.
Long queues formed outside the office set up by the Indian High Commission (embassy) at the Pakistan Cricket Board's headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore's Gaddafi stadium.

"We issued around 5,000 visa forms on the first day," said an Indian official at the office. "The interest is more than we expected."

Applicants must submit the forms on Sunday or Monday along with a fee of Rs 2,500 ($65), which includes the price of a single match ticket for the first Test at Mohali starting from March 8.

India plans to issue a total of 10,000 cricket visas to Pakistanis.

The High Commission decided to set up visa counters in Lahore, which borders India, and the southern port city of Karachi to process applications for thousands of fans who are keen to visit India for the historic tour.

The visa office in Karachi will start working in the first week of March.

The special visa offices will remain operative throughout the series.

Pakistan arrive in New Delhi on Monday to play three Tests and six one-day games. The tour ends on April 18.

"In the first phase visas will be issued for Mohali and Chandigarh for a period of nine days from March 6 to 14," the visa official said.

Visitors travelling through the Wagah border, the only land crossing between the nuclear rivals, can enter India on train, bus or by foot, the official added.

"However they must exit India by the same mode," he said.

Pakistani fans were enthusiastic and large groups are expected to cross the border on foot.

"Mohali's close proximity to Lahore gives the Lahorites a golden chance to witness cricket," local car dealer and cricket fan Mohammad Abbas said.

The other Test matches are scheduled for Kolkata and Bangalore while one-day games will be played in Cochin, Vishakapatnam, Jamshedpur, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and New Delhi.

Visas for other cities will be issued later, said the official.

 

[mofo123]

UK television rights?

this is a complete shambles!!! the biggest tour of the year by far, bigger then the ashes the first india tour by pakistan in 6 years and the BCCI havent puled thier fingers out. Who is getting the TV rights, they actually gave the contract to zee then star had to stick its ore in abt experience to b honest i dont care who gets it zee, star, sony, ARY, uncle jamil and his camcorder whoever...as long as i can see it serously come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
(btw if ten sports gets international rights who shows it in england as for as i knw ten sports doesn come here)

 

[vandemataram]

I'm sorry if I sounded kind of hostile but I just felt we shouldn't be that overconfident- what you say may be true but don't believe it until the series begins and it's proven. Otherwise, you're not going to take it well if India loses. Again I apoligize for being a little rude.

And Shahid Afridi- no I'm sure there will be other channels that will broadcast it.

Its cool mate, lets just hope its going to be a good series

 

[GladiatrsInBlue]

Neither Pathan nor Balaji should be in the side. They have been found wanting in the recent past, while Gagandeep, SS Paul, RP Singh, RR Bose, blast from the past NP Singh and a frontline batsman- JP Yadav, have outperformed them.

IKP shouldn't be in the side????? why would anyone not want a bowler of Pathan's potential to not be in India side??

IKP is a one man demolition force, he cast fears into the hearts of opponent batsman. He did well in Australia ( which was probably his first ever tour) and he did great against Pakistan in Pakistan.A guy of Yousuf's class is said to suffer from nightmares of facing IKP!!!!

IKP is great, and i believe he would prove his greatnes in this series and would end up as the highest wkt taker pacer in the series.

 

[Arjun]

IKP shouldn't be in the side????? why would anyone not want a bowler of Pathan's potential to not be in India side??

IKP is a one man demolition force, he cast fears into the hearts of opponent batsman. He did well in Australia ( which was probably his first ever tour) and he did great against Pakistan in Pakistan.A guy of Yousuf's class is said to suffer from nightmares of facing IKP!!!!

IKP is great, and i believe he would prove his greatnes in this series and would end up as the highest wkt taker pacer in the series.

Not with an average of 41 in meaningful Tests, wih less than 4 wickets a match. His FC figures are no so special either, minus the Bangladesh tour. The least he could do is play out fewer dot balls and hit more fours and sixes. On bowling, however, Gagandeep, Paul and RPS should form the attack, with Bhandari/JP as reserve.

 

[Jono]

Are you being serious? Pathan isn't a world class bowler, but you can't possibly claim to want him out of the team. You'll eat your words when he does well this series, and if he doesn't, its not like the others (with absolutely no experience going into one of the biggest series for India) would do much better.

Also, what the hell is Yuvraj doing in the 14 man squad ahead of Mohammad Kaif? Are they frickin' serious? That's a disgrace!

And I'm sick of seeing Nehra in every squad of ours.

 

[Sehwag309]

BCCI’s SK Nair announced the Indian 12 who will represent India in the upcoming curtain raiser Test against Pakistan on March 8.

Team India selectors under the chairman Kiran More, after appointing Sourav Ganguly the skipper for both the Tests and the one-day series picked the rest of the squad.

But before that they met the new physio John Gloster to find out the injury status of various players including Sachin Tendulkar whose career in the past year has been blighted by a tennis elbow injury.

Sourav Ganguly (capt) Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid (vc), Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Kaarthick (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, L Balaji, Zaheer Khan.

Kaarthick pipped the flamboyant MS Dhoni and the previous keeper Parthiv Patel to get the stumper’s job.

However, how and why the in-form Mohammad Kaif was not selected is a big question. He had done everything right filling-in for an injured Sachin against the Australians in the home series in 2004.

The selectors also did not experiment. They have introduced no new names in spite of various good performances by them. The names of Wasim Jaffer and Jadhav were in the reckoning.

 

[Beleg]

wahindiawah posted,

Are you serious? Are you trying to say that the Pakistan side in late 70's and early 80 was weaker than this side?

No and No. I make no claims either way. Quit finding nuances when there aren't any.

 

[Arjun]

Are you being serious? Pathan isn't a world class bowler, but you can't possibly claim to want him out of the team. You'll eat your words when he does well this series, and if he doesn't, its not like the others (with absolutely no experience going into one of the biggest series for India) would do much better.

Also, what the hell is Yuvraj doing in the 14 man squad ahead of Mohammad Kaif? Are they frickin' serious? That's a disgrace!

And I'm sick of seeing Nehra in every squad of ours.

Doing "well" in this series would mean getting over 6 wickets a match, finishing with an average of less than 20- that's what a strike bowler should have at the end of a series against a team that's regularly shot out for les than 200 and has no real class in batting. Last time around, Pathan finished with an average of 28, which is not good.

Moreover, he has to prove himself against teams that are a lot more stable and consistent. He has been sub-par against the Aussies, Lankans, English and SA, considering Tests and ODI's.

Besides, he's only medium-pace.

The selectors also did not experiment. They have introduced no new names in spite of various good performances by them. The names of Wasim Jaffer and Jadhav were in the reckoning.

They should have considered Raina, Venugopal, but not too many openers. Powar and JP Yadav can add balance to the side, and are as good with the ball as two bowlers who will not make the playing XI. And four seamers? What's with the selectors? They're all medium-pace!

 

[Arjun]

Kaarthick pipped the flamboyant MS Dhoni and the previous keeper Parthiv Patel to get the stumper’s job.

Tough call, but Dhoni's a far better batsman, while Mumbai's Vinayak Samant is leagues ahead of both in keeping to spinners. To keep for India, the contender should know how to keep to Kumble, which nobody except the now-retired Mongia and Samant would.

 

[adharcric]

For the first test, the lineups will most probably be as follows:
INDIA
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
VVS Laxman
Sourav Ganguly*
Dinesh Karthik+
Irfan Pathan
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Reserves: Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra, Lakshmipathy Balaji

PAKISTAN
Salman Butt
Yasir Hameed
Younis Khan
Inzamam-ul-Haq*
Yousuf Youhana
Shahid Afridi
Abdur Razzaq
Kamran Akmal+
Mohammad Sami
Naved-ul-Hasan
Danish Kaneria
Reserves: Taufeeq Umar, Asim Kamal, Shoaib Malik, Arshad Khan, Mohammad Khalil

Not much of a surprise here. As far as the Indian squad for the 1st test is concerned, the Yuvraj over Kaif selection was a bit mysterious, but at least Yuvraj seems to be in form at the moment so the selection shouldn't be disastrous. Nehra's six-wicket haul must've helped his chances, but the Balaji inclusion was slightly questionable considering he hasn't done much in his recent domestic opportunities to prove solid form. Ramesh Powar, Shib Shankar Paul and Mohammad Kaif were in my opinion the main unlucky ones, although it's tough to find too many places for them in a 14-man squad. The BP XI is also a talented bunch, it will be awesome if they can defeat Pakistan (although rather embarrassing if the national side encounters more difficulty in doing so).

For the BP XI Team, the starting eleven should be as follows:
Dheeraj Jadhav
Shikhar Dhawan
Suresh Raina
Mohammad Kaif*
Venugopal Rao
Niraj Patel
Parthiv Patel+
Ramesh Powar
Gagandeep Singh
SS Paul
RP Singh

Finally, there remains the enigma of young wicketkeeper MS Dhoni, who was not only overlooked for the test squad, but also for the BP XI squad in favor of Parthiv Patel. This isn't as worrisome as it may seem though, Dhoni will most definitely be the selection for the one-day squad.

 

[Jono]

Doing "well" in this series would mean getting over 6 wickets a match, finishing with an average of less than 20- that's what a strike bowler should have at the end of a series against a team that's regularly shot out for les than 200 and has no real class in batting. Last time around, Pathan finished with an average of 28, which is not good.

Moreover, he has to prove himself against teams that are a lot more stable and consistent. He has been sub-par against the Aussies, Lankans, English and SA, considering Tests and ODI's.

Besides, he's only medium-pace.They should have considered Raina, Venugopal, but not too many openers. Powar and JP Yadav can add balance to the side, and are as good with the ball as two bowlers who will not make the playing XI. And four seamers? What's with the selectors? They're all medium-pace!

Your obsession with pace is almost as bad as your obsession with six hitting.

And Pathan averaging 28 against Pakistan last year may have not been excellent, but it was FAR from poor. It was very solid. And considering he has a whole year's more experience now, I expect him to do much better.

He made an impact against the best team in the world at the age of 19 with no international experience at all. I'd hardly call that sub-par. He's not world class, I'll be the first to admit that, but he is the best pace bowler in India at the moment without question. You may not believe that, but the opposition and experts who have complimented him do. I feel much more confident with Pathan running in to open our bowling rather than some guys with no experience, who are likely to fall to the pressure of a series against Pakistan.

 

[Arjun]

Your obsession with pace is almost as bad as your obsession with six hitting.

And Pathan averaging 28 against Pakistan last year may have not been excellent, but it was FAR from poor. It was very solid. And considering he has a whole year's more experience now, I expect him to do much better.

He made an impact against the best team in the world at the age of 19 with no international experience at all. I'd hardly call that sub-par. He's not world class, I'll be the first to admit that, but he is the best pace bowler in India at the moment without question. You may not believe that, but the opposition and experts who have complimented him do. I feel much more confident with Pathan running in to open our bowling rather than some guys with no experience, who are likely to fall to the pressure of a series against Pakistan.

For starters, the team needs a bit of both- pace and six-hitting.

Pathan's performance was just average in comparison to Kumble and the much-maligned Nehra, who turned up with better averages.

There is no way an average of 66, with just 4 wickets in two matches, can be called an impact. Four good balls get lost in several bad overs. If Salvi was not getting injured so often, he would have been a first-choice seamer, ahead of Pathan, not the most accurate seamer in India. As of now, Pathan has done nothing of not while not one, not two, but as many as six seam/swing bowlers are putting up much-improved performances and all are in good form, enough to challenge the top four semers in the Indian team, Pathan included. The new bowlers may not have any experience, but they don't have a high Test average either, and they could be a surprise element against the Pakistanis.

 

[Arjun]

Abouit Yuvraj's inclusion, he may have been picked because of that one good knock on a bad pitch, but there's little you can do when his team played just one match, but they should have cast the net wider to include Raina, Venugopal, Jadhav and Manhas. Balaji may have been pciked because of the runs he scored (average of 28 in his last match) since his bowling was nothing special- diagonal as ever.

 

[Arjun]

For ODI's, Jai Prakash Yadav should return as a keeper-stand-up medium-pacer who can go for the shots at number 7.

 

[Arjun]

Venugopal Rao
Niraj Patel
Parthiv Patel+
Ramesh Powar
Gagandeep Singh

Niraj Patel a six? He's an opener, and he should bat at the top. But yet again, the selectors have picked one opener too many. An attacking number 7 would be more effective, so a swap between Ramesh Powar and Parthiv Patel is recommended.

 

[marc71178]

For starters, the team needs a bit of both- pace and six-hitting.

No, this is a Test Match - neither are key factors.

 

[Arjun]

No, this is a Test Match - neither are key factors.

It's a key factor for all top Test sides- England have been more effective with an in-form Flintoff and Harmison than they were without them. And who can forget an Australian side with an in-form Gilchrist and Lee?