***Official** Malaysia Tri-Series

[Laurrz]

Bring On Friday Yay

 

[SJS]

WI by 3 wickets. Unless Lara is injured.

Please predict a win for Australia tomorrow.

I beg of you !

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease

 

[R_D]

Damn missed a good finish to the match..... had to go to cousin's party.
I can't beleive i missed the exciting finish
I came home thinking well its confirmed india's otu of the tournament but check on cricket info and it says india won... heheh couldn't beleive it.

Windies obviously handed the game to us with that messed batting order, Lara at 9 what the hell were they trying to do.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Please predict a win for Australia tomorrow.

I beg of you !

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease

I'll wait till something important like the World Cup, ok?

 

[adharcric]

Windies obviously handed the game to us with that messed batting order, Lara at 9 what the hell were they trying to do.

Sure it was messed, but it made some sense. Lara was trying to give the 8 other batsmen in his team a chance to step up, play a mature innings and become the hero.
In combination with some exceptional bowling, they all refused the opportunity and threw it back to him. After all that, he nearly managed to pull it off on his own. Scary.

 

[honestbharani]

It's about time the Indian bowlers got some applause. Agarkar has come a really long way in terms of maturity over the past year or so. The words "Agarkar" and "economical" finally fit together. Sreesanth was very impressive with his bowling today, working up consistent speeds of 88-90 mph. Munaf has sacrificed pace for accuracy and it certainly paid off with his 2 for 33 today. Still, he should at least bowl around 85 mph; I'm sure he could maintain accuracy at that pace. RP Singh's figures got damaged by Dwayne Smith's 3-ball blitzkrieg, but he has become a far more intelligent bowler since his debut last year. Harbhajan was tremendous and got the better of Lara today.

where did u get that bhajji got the better of Lara today? Lara was taking him for runs at will there. Sure, he got beaten once or twice, but you would expect taht given the situation. For me, ho looked very good against everyone, esp. bhajji.

 

[SJS]

where did u get that bhajji got the better of Lara today? Lara was taking him for runs at will there. Sure, he got beaten once or twice, but you would expect taht given the situation. For me, ho looked very good against everyone, esp. bhajji.

Absolutely.

Bhajji was bowling well and pitching up more than usual and picked up a rare caught and bowled doing that. But the moment Lara came in, Bhajji decided to go defensive. He pitched short and it was infuriating to see him cut three times to the ropes by Lara. With field set for the drive and no one to protect the boundaries behind square Bhajji should have known better but clearly he doesnt have the confidence to get Lara to play off the front foot.

This more than anything else brought West Indies back into the game towards the end. It also made the victory look a wee bit hollow since Lara was playing as if there was nothing in the wicket nor the bowling.

I would consider this the one negative note in an otherwise superb show by Indian bowlers.

 

[Pratters]

Bhajji-Lara - one point of view while the game was going on was this - Lara is not coming into bat as he is waiting for Bhajji to come on to bowl so that he can have a go at Bhajji.

When the two did finally come face to face, Lara played defensively in the first over if I recall correctly given the situation of the game and the importance of preserving the wicket. This can partly explain why Bhajji went for the defensive setting as well.

 

[adharcric]

While Lara looked good overall, I think Bhajji did better than he did in the first match against Lara. He didn't make him play on the front foot enough, but he didn't give him much room either. Lara played some beautiful late cuts but one missed Dravid by inches. I'll take the "Bhajji got the better of Lara" back, but I still think he did pretty well bowling to one of the greatest players of spin ever.

 

[SJS]

Sure it was messed, but it made some sense. Lara was trying to give the 8 other batsmen in his team a chance to step up, play a mature innings and become the hero.
.

Thats okay. But after Gayle got out, it was surely time for Lara to come in. Not coming even at number seven with none of the front line-in form batsmen left made it obvious that he was prepared to lose the game.

 

[honestbharani]

obviously, it was better than the last game, but that's about it. And anyon who thinks the Windies willingly messed around their side so that India can win are really clutching at straws. If they were really looking to make sure India would win, Lara could have come down the track and gotten out stumped. They wanted blokes like HInds, Samuels and Smith and Morton to have a go and that is what they did. Given that they were already in the final, there was nothing wrong with that approach. AT least now the top order guys know that the middle order are not good enough, even if they have overs and wickets in hands. Only thing is that I think Lara could have come in ahead of Bravo. That's about it because I don't think Bravo needed any practice, he batted well against Australia anyway.

 

[adharcric]

Thats okay. But after Gayle got out, it was surely time for Lara to come in. Not coming even at number seven with none of the front line-in form batsmen left made it obvious that he was prepared to lose the game.

Why? I'm sure they wanted to win the game, but given that they had already secured a berth in the final they would want to give the out-of-form batsmen a chance to go into a pressure situation and gain some confidence by scoring big runs. Besides, Lara would be waiting in the wings either way just in case all hell broke loose.

 

[SJS]

obviously, it was better than the last game, but that's about it. And anyon who thinks the Windies willingly messed around their side so that India can win are really clutching at straws. If they were really looking to make sure India would win, Lara could have come down the track and gotten out stumped. They wanted blokes like HInds, Samuels and Smith and Morton to have a go and that is what they did. Given that they were already in the final, there was nothing wrong with that approach. AT least now the top order guys know that the middle order are not good enough, even if they have overs and wickets in hands. Only thing is that I think Lara could have come in ahead of Bravo. That's about it because I don't think Bravo needed any practice, he batted well against Australia anyway.

I agree completely.

No way did Windies intentionally lose the game but they were also not too worried if there tactics did not bring a win. Which is okay as far as i am concerned.

While Lara may have discovered, by the failure of this experiment that he does not have people (outside the top four) who will step up in a crisis, the fact that it failed so spectacularly will only make those middle order guys feel worse than they would have if a wine had somehow been eked out.

This can only feel miserable that they let down the team once again (after the opener against Australia).

The only saving grace could now be to tell them, "well done boys you may have ensured we dont have to face the Aussies again"

 

[adharcric]

I agree completely.

No way did Windies intentionally lose the game but they were also not too worried if there tactics did not bring a win. Which is okay as far as i am concerned.

While Lara may have discovered, by the failure of this experiment that he does not have people (outside the top four) who will step up in a crisis, the fact that it failed so spectacularly will only make those middle order guys feel worse than they would have if a wine had somehow been eked out.

This can only feel miserable that they let down the team once again (after the opener against Australia).

The only saving grace could now be to tell them, "well done boys you may have ensured we dont have to face the Aussies again"

Completely agreed about the Windies' intentions, but I think it's better that their middle-order failed in this match and didn't get false hope that the batting is all good. Hopefully at least one of the failures will introspect and put up a better show the next time Lara isn't there to ensure victory.

 

[SJS]

Why? I'm sure they wanted to win the game, but given that they had already secured a berth in the final they would want to give the out-of-form batsmen a chance to go into a pressure situation and gain some confidence by scoring big runs. Besides, Lara would be waiting in the wings either way just in case all hell broke loose.

Well hell did break lose, didnt it? Unless you feel losing after being set 162 to win isnt a big deal.

And Lara had waited in the wings just that little bit too long to be able to stem the tide.

 

[adharcric]

Well hell did break lose, didnt it? Unless you feel losing after being set 162 to win isnt a big deal.

And Lara had waited in the wings just that little bit too long to push it back.

Right, but as you mentioned they had more than just a victory on mind. If the promoted batsmen (well, relative to Lara) had succeeded, it would've been labelled a smart move on Lara's part to give them a chance to strike form.

 

[aussie]

Oh yes. This absolutely dominant Australian team sends quivers down West Indian spines...

well it shouldn't yo, you have a good side.

 

[aussie]

Its time Australia picked the best side possible but they haven't again, but its still looks pretty powerful on paper.

 

[andmark]

im already on

 

[Mister Wright]

im already on

On what?