**Official** India v Pakistan

[Arjun]

laxman just dropped a 50/50 chance

Expect some loud drop calls.

 

[Arjun]

I missed the day's play, but this is what someone had to say about the coverage of the series by the
TWI/Sony/D(p)oorDarshan combination

If this wasn't involving India, I'd have given up and said 'I've had enough'.

Absolute bloody [CENSORED] as far as broadcasting goes from TWI and Sony, both of whom seem to only know two things about telecasting a cricket match - JACK and [CENSORED].

Camera work has been jerky and amateurish (just watch any video clips from ESPN-Star or Sky or Channel Nine or SuperSport-MTN or Foxtel or even TEN Sports) and showed an inability to show the right thing at the right time (e.g., fielder chasing down a shot by Rana a few minutes ago, and diving for the ball - right as the dive took him near the ball, which was approaching the rope, the picture switches to the batsmen running).

Production has been even more pathetic. Plenty of excellent tools out there like Hawkeye or snicko or even the stump cams - nothing whatsoever from these [YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO KNOW!]. But even then, would it be possible to have a decent picture - where for the opening hour, the wicket doesn't look white, and the ball can be SEEN?

And heck, do these people know who's who - showing one batsman's stats next to another, or on a replay, having "Youhana c. Karthik b. Pathan" show up when Inzy's being trapped LBW? I'd wager that most first-year video production students at some of those film schools here could do a far better job.

And let's not even get into the commentary. Arun Lal? Manjrekar? Rameez? Shastri's the only one in there worth listening to.

TWI, Sony and Doordarshan should be banned from making any further cricket broadcasts. Let TEN Sports handle them (at least they do slightly better jobs with replays and production) or Zee (can't be worse!) or ESPN-Star. And they should be sued by cricket fans for wrecking the telecasts of one of the most anticipated cricket series in a long time.

 

[Sanz]

Good Recovery by Kamal and tail. Before the match started, curator of this pitch Daljit Singh said that 350 will be a good score in the first inning and IMO Pakistan have done well. Their bowlers will have a chance to have a go at the Indian batsmen in similar conditions. Pakistan are playing with only 3 specialist bowlers Kaneria, Sami and Rana. It's very unusual for a Pakistani team to be this defensive, Let's see how this move pays off for them.

 

[honestbharani]

Good to see Balaji FINALLY get five, but needs to improve his bowling against non-Pakistani sides. What, and I repeat, WHAT, was he doing against New Zealand? If he got his wickets on a greentop and not another Southern Slider, it's a very good sign. Better yet- just 2 no-balls (only two of the bowlers), but still unacceptable, given he's only medium-pace.

The form of Zaheer is a MAJOR worry for the Indians- he's gone for over 4 an over, bowling on both sides of the wicket, which got the Pakistanis over 300. Asim Kamal is very good at building partnerships- he can stay in the team a lot longer, since they need such players. Razzaq is still dangerous- luckily he was snared quickly.

Hopefully DD Sport will show the highlights later today, not the full recording. Their analysis gets worse each day. Sadly, none of the other channels have footage to show highlights, as they could a few years ago.

Dude, do u watch the matches or what? Zaheer bowled really well and the only reason he went for a lot of runs was that he was trying too hard to get wickets.....Vacant third man, lightning fast outfield and a few scratchy edges and some very good strokeplay by the Pak batters were the reasons he went for quite a few. Actually, few people have rated him the best of the Indian pacers today and those few are pretty knowledgeable about the game. Balaji DID NOT get his 5 wickets on a green top. Sure, it helped the seamers early on, but this was no Headingley. And he is bowling quicker than what he used to. He hit 85 mph quite a few times and was generally bowling at around 83 and 84 mph...


But I refuse to be carried away by Balaji's success. I think he has to put his head down and be consistent to be a part of this team as it won't be easy to displace Zaheer or Bhajji everytime. 11 byes were conceded by Dinesh Kaarthick. 2 of those were off a very high bouncer and I don't think he can be blamed for not catching it (He managed to get his hands to it, though.) A very very poor miss of Zaheer allowed 4 byes. He simply missed a straight delivery, but I guess it happens. Another 4 byes were conceded off a ball that simply shooted through the grass after bouncing thrice and hit Kaarthick's shoes and sped away, so that can be excused to an extent. All in all, not a great day for Kaarthick, but not as bad as it looks either. Hope he puts his head down and works hard like Balaji to keep his place in the side.

 

[honestbharani]

Sorry, didn't read ur latest post, Arjun. But I advise you to draw conclusions after watching the play, because the conclusion you had drawn about Zaheer from the figures was as further from the fact as it could have gone.

 

[Arjun]

Dude, do u watch the matches or what? Zaheer bowled really well and the only reason he went for a lot of runs was that he was trying too hard to get wickets.....Vacant third man, lightning fast outfield and a few scratchy edges and some very good strokeplay by the Pak batters were the reasons he went for quite a few. Actually, few people have rated him the best of the Indian pacers today and those few are pretty knowledgeable about the game.

I have seen him at his best, and he was very good in the year 2002, in Tests and ODI's. That time, he bowled on the stumps and gave little away. If he can repeat what he did that year more often, he can bee one of the team's best pacers for a long time. He is an attacking bowler who hits the pitch hard and if he can swing the ball, he can win more than a few matches for his team.

 

[bhajji24]

laxman is class

Expect some loud drop calls.

i expect laxman to answer yours & other pathetic critic's calls to drop this great player with an outstanding hundred or two in this series just like saurav has predicted

 

[mofo123]

Your observation are very interesting indeed! Just coz his name happens to have remained Saqlain, and coz his action is same means he's still similarly effective!! goiing by the same token Mushtag Ahmad and Abdul Qadir should also be recalled coz not only their respective names happen to have not changed but also because their action haven't altered either

And i wasn't accusing the bowler, i was just mentioning a fact that there is a visible decline in Saqlain's bowling, a fact well realised by Pak selection committee.And Saqlain has been in poor form well before the operation you have been mentioning.The fact that you can't realise the fact that a player has past his best tell alot about you.



LOL!! who said that they are one of the best ??? BTW ur point is still unproven as you still can't differentiate between a true test allrounder and a bit and pieces player.



It just showed how stupid was example was, giving an example of a world class allrounder who can walk into most of the teams in the world to justify the inclusion of less than average atest batsman (malik) who isn't even allowed to bowl!



There is no need for comparison, Yuvraj and Kaif are example of numerous talented batsmen that India have today that will be part of Indian test team tomorrow. There might not be anyone as good as Tendulkar but that doesn't mean that the batting lineup won't be strong!



Its not just me, everyone has given hope on Saqlain. The result of test matches doesn't matter its his bowling that has been very ordinary of late, if still not convinved then go though numerous thread on cricketweb on Saqlain and see what ppl have to say on him. And there isn't any point in waiting coz the guy is not going to get much chances as Pak selectors are clever enough to have realised that the guy is finished!

And lastly the only thing you have proven so far is that you can write very poorly and have a very poor understanding of cricket.The profession i suggested to u might have suited ur skill better, too bad you didn't go for it!

right then coz saqlain has had a bad run of form b4 his injury period he shudnt get a chance, oh and unlike sum ppl im not controlled by other ppls views. saqlain has not lost anything, if ur on abt dropping him co of a few bad test then y not drop every player who has a bad run of form? ... go look at his stats i knw stats rnt everything but they speak volumes.

malik less then average batsmen, and u would knw how exactly? doubt uve seen him play.

SA werent one of the best teams?
really? surprise to me seen as tho its was 1-aus then 2- SA for a constant 4 or years and im talking abt after alan donald. while they still had the same set up.

abt kallis if my stats r correct an they r, for the first 12 games his batting was worse then maliks. FACT. his average after 12 tests was 15.4 ish! whereas maliks is 37.5, hmm yup they shud have dropped his ass!!! man how did they let him become such a good player. oh crap maybe its coz they let him PLAY that he became a good player, coz net all u want kid matches is where u learn things. and therefore at maliks stage kallis was also a bits and pieces player so dont bother with that line!

yea yuvraj and kaif will make a strong line up...but ur point was they were good enough to take over from ur current line...and u still have shown me stats or figures to say they can b, ive seen yuv play and he had trouble against lancashire 2nd change bowler... sorry to say that but its true i was there.

i havent made an remarks abt ur intelligence or ur capabilities in life, y r u making remarks abt mine, i sed have no respect for u ur job to earn respect and ur going abt it the wrong way. as for cricketing knowledge i dont think ive sed anything grossly incorrect so far. if i have state it and state the evidence saying it is. or else dont bother. my speling and typing? thats coz i havent got all day to sit infornt of a computer typing to ur msgs i have 10 mins at most u want me to type faster? sory i cant and mistakes get over it u can understand wot im saying can u...try to b civil in ur next post or i shall then resort to derogatory terms i have given u 3 chances to b nicer, next time ill get insultative...g''bye

 

[Pratters]

The bonhomie between the two countries, the fans and the players has taken away the 'venom' from the contest.

I am glad for that and we need to now appreciate them for what they are sporting contests rather than proxy wars !

It will take some maturing of the spectators/followers for this to happen.

The frequency was decided upon based on the hype that usually prevails these contests. With that gone, better sense will return and we will meet every alternate year in the future, I hope.

For me the reason for being low keyed for the series is purely cricketing as I contemplated in the post.

For the general public, what you said is fairly accurate. Including the frequency of the series.

For me the exciting didnt diminish in England vs South Africa even though they were held in pretty quick succession and had a lot more tests (5). If I find the cricketing contest exciting I am keyed up.

For this series, I am looking forward to Kaneria's bowling, Tendulkar's performance (bad or good) but nothing much more sadly.

I can assure cricket followers that good cricket will be played considering the first two tests are in Mohali and Kolkata. I am a fan of the Pakistan team and they played very well in Australia in the tests but were outplayed.

Without Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan team can only hope that Kaneria is helped by some quality bowling at the other side along with crappy shots like the ones played by Indians in the past few months (starting from the Asia Cup)

When people deny the importance of Shoaib whoever does (not on this forum thankfully like by Kris Srikkanth on tv), they should flashback to Pakistan's last tour of New Zealand and that memorable spell at the Eden Gardens.

Forgetting Shoaib as he is not there, its tough for the Pakistanis to take 20 wickets. Saqlain took back to back 5 fors in 4 innings to make pakistan competetive in 98. But they had Akram and Shoaib as the other bowlers. Kaneria is good. Damn good. But sadly the bowling attack is weak.

 

[PAKMAN]

yep weak bowling but mayb more responsibility would put things right for sami,rana is a fighter and iv seen some improvement in razzaqs bowling plus kaneria

 

[Pratters]

yep weak bowling but mayb more responsibility would put things right for sami,rana is a fighter and iv seen some improvement in razzaqs bowling plus kaneria

I rate Kaneria very highly but its sad there is very little support. Pakistan can hope for the responsibility as you put it, the discipline of not straying which I am sure Woolmer will instill and guys like Sami will follow well.

A bit of inspired performance from atleast one other bowler is also needed though to provide the spark the series needs.

 

[PAKMAN]

true say

 

[Gangster]

Dude, do u watch the matches or what? Zaheer bowled really well and the only reason he went for a lot of runs was that he was trying too hard to get wickets.....Vacant third man, lightning fast outfield and a few scratchy edges and some very good strokeplay by the Pak batters were the reasons he went for quite a few. Actually, few people have rated him the best of the Indian pacers today and those few are pretty knowledgeable about the game. Balaji DID NOT get his 5 wickets on a green top. Sure, it helped the seamers early on, but this was no Headingley. And he is bowling quicker than what he used to. He hit 85 mph quite a few times and was generally bowling at around 83 and 84 mph...


But I refuse to be carried away by Balaji's success. I think he has to put his head down and be consistent to be a part of this team as it won't be easy to displace Zaheer or Bhajji everytime. 11 byes were conceded by Dinesh Kaarthick. 2 of those were off a very high bouncer and I don't think he can be blamed for not catching it (He managed to get his hands to it, though.) A very very poor miss of Zaheer allowed 4 byes. He simply missed a straight delivery, but I guess it happens. Another 4 byes were conceded off a ball that simply shooted through the grass after bouncing thrice and hit Kaarthick's shoes and sped away, so that can be excused to an extent. All in all, not a great day for Kaarthick, but not as bad as it looks either. Hope he puts his head down and works hard like Balaji to keep his place in the side.

What has Zaheer done to earn his spot? Nothing, that's what. I'm tired of everyone being so negative regarding Balaji when Zaheer's poor bowling has been ignored. Yes, Zaheer deserved more than the one wicket, but the fact is he only got one wicket today. Balaji bowled magnificently, and much to my surprise, was by far the fastest of the Indian bowlers. It was disgraceful to see Pathan and Zaheer bowling 77-78 mph, what the hell were they thinking? It was awesome to see Balaji run in and hit 85 mph on that speed gun. It's obvious Sami will be faster, but I bet Rana and Razzaq bowl faster than Pathan and Zaheer too, and I guarantee they never go below 80 mph. I can't believe you're an international bowler who bowls below 80 mph. I know it's not all about pace, but it's a little bit about pace, and there's no reason Pathan and Zaheer can't bowl at least at 82-83 mph every time and still maintain control.

 

[Gangster]

For me the reason for being low keyed for the series is purely cricketing as I contemplated in the post.

For the general public, what you said is fairly accurate. Including the frequency of the series.

For me the exciting didnt diminish in England vs South Africa even though they were held in pretty quick succession and had a lot more tests (5). If I find the cricketing contest exciting I am keyed up.

For this series, I am looking forward to Kaneria's bowling, Tendulkar's performance (bad or good) but nothing much more sadly.

I can assure cricket followers that good cricket will be played considering the first two tests are in Mohali and Kolkata. I am a fan of the Pakistan team and they played very well in Australia in the tests but were outplayed.

Without Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan team can only hope that Kaneria is helped by some quality bowling at the other side along with crappy shots like the ones played by Indians in the past few months (starting from the Asia Cup)

When people deny the importance of Shoaib whoever does (not on this forum thankfully like by Kris Srikkanth on tv), they should flashback to Pakistan's last tour of New Zealand and that memorable spell at the Eden Gardens.

Forgetting Shoaib as he is not there, its tough for the Pakistanis to take 20 wickets. Saqlain took back to back 5 fors in 4 innings to make pakistan competetive in 98. But they had Akram and Shoaib as the other bowlers. Kaneria is good. Damn good. But sadly the bowling attack is weak.

Sorry to break it to you, but Kaneria ain't that good. In fact, he's not too good at all. I think the key bowler will be Rana. He's the kind of bowler who troubles India and he seems the best of the lot. I think Pakistan missed a trick by not opening with Afridi to at least have a 5th bowling option. But, as they say, we shall see the truth reveal itself on the pitch.

 

[Pratters]

Sorry to break it to you, but Kaneria ain't that good. In fact, he's not too good at all.

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/PAK/D/DANISH_KANERIA_07010398/

8 5 wicket hauls in 23 test matches, almost 5 wickets a match. If he aint too good, he must have been extremely lucky.

He bowled some of the best leg spin bowling I have seen in the last series vs Australia too, more as a craft of a leg spinner for me than the stats.

Kaneria is pretty good.

I think the key bowler will be Rana. He's the kind of bowler who troubles India and he seems the best of the lot. I think Pakistan missed a trick by not opening with Afridi to at least have a 5th bowling option. But, as they say, we shall see the truth reveal itself on the pitch.

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/PAK/N/NAVED-UL-HASAN_07019820/

Rana is a mediocre bowler who can bowl to his limits for mediocre results. Nothing more according to me. A pratty good start to his one day international career but I havent found any thing special in his bowling and his one day domestic stats are mediocre too.

I mentioned OD first because there is nothing to speak of for tests. He has played just two tests and I have seen nothing exceptional from the lad. Certainly not when you compare it with a player like Kaneria.

 

[Jono]

Good to see Balaji FINALLY get five, but needs to improve his bowling against non-Pakistani sides. What, and I repeat, WHAT, was he doing against New Zealand? If he got his wickets on a greentop and not another Southern Slider, it's a very good sign. Better yet- just 2 no-balls (only two of the bowlers), but still unacceptable, given he's only medium-pace.

The form of Zaheer is a MAJOR worry for the Indians- he's gone for over 4 an over, bowling on both sides of the wicket, which got the Pakistanis over 300. Asim Kamal is very good at building partnerships- he can stay in the team a lot longer, since they need such players. Razzaq is still dangerous- luckily he was snared quickly.

Hopefully DD Sport will show the highlights later today, not the full recording. Their analysis gets worse each day. Sadly, none of the other channels have footage to show highlights, as they could a few years ago.

You never cease to amaze me. Only get wickets against Pakistan? Just before you said he never really did well against Pakistan.

A lot is being said of Balaji's performances with the ball, where he and Pathan 'comprehensively outbowled' the Pakistanis. Do they know what they're talking about? Against a team that's often skittled out for scores of less than 200, Pathan averaged 28.8, while Balaji averaged over 30, which is not good at all. In comparison, Kumble and the nuch-maligned Nehra got good averges for strike bowlers. What great thing has Balaji done against Pakistan, or at any stage of his career, for so many to be so proud of him?

Remember that? And do you remember this?

If Balaji plays, his batting will be more relevant than his bowling- he's a clean hitter, and batting below 6 batsmen, he can freely swing the bat and look for as many shots as possible. He should bat after Pathan and above KKD, where he will be most effective.

See that ridiculous post? Do you now expect Balaji to get a 100? Because that's what he's going to need to get to be "more relevant" than his amazing 5-for. Oh wait that's right, he's only medium pace

You can only guess why I said it was boring...no AA.

I mean c'mon after all he has done in this domestic season,Balaji & Nehra get the nod ahead of him? Where's justice? Certainly not in the dictionary of Indian selectors panel.

I hope those words you're eating are tasty.

Anyone that wanted Nehra in over Balaji needs their head screwed on properly. You can quote all the domestic figures you like with Nehra, he's a very poor test bowler, and whenever I see him bowling for the Indian national test side, I seriously wonder... Is that all we can come up with?

Balaji ain't no world beater, but he's a much better option.

 

[Sanz]

Jono, Show some respect to our future coach.

 

[Choora]

Good Recovery by Kamal and tail. Before the match started, curator of this pitch Daljit Singh said that 350 will be a good score in the first inning and IMO Pakistan have done well. Their bowlers will have a chance to have a go at the Indian batsmen in similar conditions. Pakistan are playing with only 3 specialist bowlers Kaneria, Sami and Rana. It's very unusual for a Pakistani team to be this defensive, Let's see how this move pays off for them.

Sanz, i don't think they were being defensive, its just that they had no choice. Razzak isn't a specialist bowler but then again Pakistan have not much to choose from.It was always a case of either Razaak or a very ordinary Khaleel, and i thin k they did the right thing by sticking in with an experianced bowler

 

[Choora]

right then coz saqlain has had a bad run of form b4 his injury period he shudnt get a chance, oh and unlike sum ppl im not controlled by other ppls views. saqlain has not lost anything, if ur on abt dropping him co of a few bad test then y not drop every player who has a bad run of form? ... go look at his stats i knw stats rnt everything but they speak volumes.

There is a difference between bad patch and being over the hill. Saqlain is finished, looking at his stast suggest what? that he was a great bowler just like Mustaq, Waqar and Akram were great bowlers, if you wanna bring players on the basis of stats then first bring back Mushtaq Ahmed and even Qadir and Waqar!

malik less then average batsmen, and u would knw how exactly? doubt uve seen him play.

A lot of times and i am of an opinion that they guy is very talented but is NOT yet suitable to be a specialist batsmen in test cricket.When i said he's less than average batsmen, i meant that he was less than average in Test cricket.

SA werent one of the best teams?
really? surprise to me seen as tho its was 1-aus then 2- SA for a constant 4 or years and im talking abt after alan donald. while they still had the same set up.

I said that they AREN"T one of the best team, there is huge difference b/w weren't and aren't, i thought you would have known that!

abt kallis if my stats r correct an they r, for the first 12 games his batting was worse then maliks. FACT. his average after 12 tests was 15.4 ish! whereas maliks is 37.5, hmm yup they shud have dropped his ass!!! man how did they let him become such a good player. oh crap maybe its coz they let him PLAY that he became a good player, coz net all u want kid matches is where u learn things. and therefore at maliks stage kallis was also a bits and pieces player so dont bother with that line!

Thats pretty stupid, in the early part of his career, even Imran's batting was ordinary, but he was still retained coz the guy was a match winner with the ball!! It is the same with Kallis case, if the guy was ordinary in one department of game, he is a match winner in the other department. Malik on the other hand is not a match winner with either the bat nor with the bowl (infact the guy isn't even allowed to bowl) in TEST MATCHES. To compare him with kallis is plain stupid

yea yuvraj and kaif will make a strong line up...but ur point was they were good enough to take over from ur current line...and u still have shown me stats or figures to say they can b, ive seen yuv play and he had trouble against lancashire 2nd change bowler... sorry to say that but its true i was there.

They have the talent to exceed, and those are just 2 example of many talented batsmen in India. You might not see another Dravid or Tendulkar in future but you WILL see batsmen of class of their own in future.There was a time when it was said that if you get Tendulkar out then Indian team was gone, that not the case coz the Indian team is no longer dependent on Tendulkar, Tendulkar is infact even past his best, though he's still good.. An interesting thing to note is that Indian batting lineup was WEAKER when Tendulkar WAS at his prime, and now when Tendular is no longer the batsman he used to be Indian batting lineup is STRONGER!


If you get insulted by any of my comment then i'm sorry, but i would like to point to a fact that you were the one you had started all this by calling me a fool.But anyone its fine and i've nothing against you.

The debate started with whether Asim Kamal or Malik be in Pakistan lineup.You and SRS were of the opinion that Asim should be omitted. Well its on ur face now, he happened to be the best Pakistani batsman in the firts innings, he's avegaring 49 with the bat in test matches even though he has been treated very poorly by team management. One need players like the calibre of Asim kamal in test matches who have the concentration and the temperament to STAY on the wkts rather than flamboyant players like Afridi and Malik. Malik and Afridi might provide more entertainment to the crowd but their essential role are in limited overs game.

The only way Malik can be accomodated in Pakistan team is at the one down
slot at the expense of Younis Khan (if he fails again ).This can be done coz first of all Pakistan don't have any other middle order batsman and secondarily Mailk has a good record against India. However it would be unfortunate if Younis get the axe as he happen to be a contender for captaincy in future but if he fails with the bat then he would never become a skipper.

 

[Choora]

Sorry to break it to you, but Kaneria ain't that good. In fact, he's not too good at all. I think the key bowler will be Rana. .

Alright that must be pretty insulting to Danish, being compared to someone like Rana who has barely played enough test matches and is yet to make an impression at test level!