*Official* Sri Lanka in India

[Jono]

Good on Dravid and Mahela, pity about the pitch | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

SOURAV!

 

[Avada Kedavra]

Zaheer and Ishant are easily better than Welagedara and Prasad. A greentop would have ended the game very quickly - in India's favor. You also have to consider that India's batsmen are far better on greentops than FTBs like Jayawardene and Samaraweera.

 

[Ikki]

Precambrian?

 

[Manee]

4 years later and Dileep has had to write another article on the same issue!

Dead pitches killing Tests in India | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

A fascinating article and one which raises some very interesting points.

When Sri Lanka last toured, the game went to the last morning. There was a superb century from VVS Laxman, and wickets for both pace bowlers and spinners. Mystifyingly though, Clive Lloyd, the ICC's match referee, complained about the surface to his bosses, reinforcing the view that there's a deep-rooted prejudice against spin-friendly pitches.

Absolutely abhorrent decision, looking purely at the scorecards. Moreover, I really doubt that the spin friendly nature posed any physical threat to the batsmen. It is very strange that a country should be lambasted by the match referee for preparing a result surface that goes to the final morning.

The ICC, though, can only issue guidelines. It's the home board that's responsible for pitch preparation. The BCCI has a television deal that's on the basis of days of coverage. The broadcaster doesn't shell out for a certain number of series, it pays for a fixed number of days. Three-day finishes like the one in Mumbai in 2004, or the Kanpur game last year, are terrific entertainment for fans but not good news for the TV companies. To ensure that they don't frown, the paying public has to put up with snore draws.

Surely the BCCI can look at the long term and see that Test viewing figures will decrease if games continue to be so dull and full of runs. Therefore, in order to make more revenue in the long term, you need to prepare more result orientated pitches.

Comments about declining Test-match crowds in India often ignore reality. People talk of the good old days when thousands turned up to watch drab draws all across the country. The England series of 1981-82 was especially devoid of excitement. But back then, entertainment options were few and far between. Most towns didn't even have access to television. You took what you got.

Now, with cable TV bringing every kind of international sport into your living room, why would you stomach mediocrity? When different kinds of entertainment are on offer, why drag yourself to a stadium to watch eight wickets fall in three days, and not one of them to an especially good delivery?

An excellent point, well made. Test cricket needs to raise its game, or viewers will start to turn away in their thousands. It is simply unacceptable that Test cricket has its name tarnished by such terrible matches as this.

 

[Manee]

Zaheer and Ishant are easily better than Welagedara and Prasad.

It is hard to say. Ishant is out of form and needs wickets to boost his confidence. Balls such as the one that dismissed Paranavitana as well as the numerous swinging yorkers showed that Ishant has not totally lost it, in Test cricket. However, in their current state, I'd much rather Prasad in my team. He offers pace and I think he could be a truly serious bowler on a surface which offers some speed and bounce. He reminds me of Pete Siddle - his erratic length can result in him leaking runs but the line is always very aggressive, around and just outside the off stump. On a quick pitch or in bowler friendly conditions, as it does for Siddle, the erratic length problem may be negated somewhat (as the short ball becomes more deadly and the full ball possibly swings more) and he could really run through teams.

Zaheer most certainly is better than Welegedara, imo. Zaheer possesses a cannyness that only comes with years of cricket in the domestic and international circuit and his control of swing and the short length is unrivalled (though I'd like to see more yorkers and less bouncers from him).

However, Welegedara's bowling fascinates me. His style is one which sees the whole body push the ball outside the off stump, with the natural wrist response causing the ball to swing in to the right hander (sort of like a left handed Hoggard). With such a style, he can and has found the most dangerous inswing which can topple some top batsmen. However, I think such a style could result in him being a one-trick pony, as I really do not think he could have an effective away swinger with such a style, as cricinfo picked up on.

While the incoming delivery had succeeded against Sehwag and Tendulkar, Welegedara used it too frequently against Dravid, who clipped the ball effortlessly off his pads. Dravid took 44 runs off 40 deliveries from Welegedara and was beaten only once, when the fast bowler angled one across.

Moreover, his pace can drop quite significantly over the course of a day, I have seen him clock 140kph on occasions, but he spends a lot of time at 125kph, especially after a few long spells and this resulted in him looking quite toothless. His stamina did seem poor and it could harm him, in the long term. He seemed generally quicker during his debut Test against England, and although I could be wrong, I think that this could be the reason...

The glitch for this tall and broad-shouldered bowler was his habit of running on the pitch, which annoyed selectors and prompted a visit to the MRF Pace Academy in Chennai, where Dennis Lillee and TA Sekar fine-tuned his action.

Far be it from me to criticise the work of Sekhar and Lillee, but they may have just taken a yard or two of pace away from Welegadara, perhaps with good reason, but again, it may harm him in the long term.

 

[Uppercut]

Hope your joking

Beating an injury-decimated NZ hardly makes up for being humiliated at 2 major tournaments, being beaten by a B team, seeing your mostpromising player go backwards and fielding an attack with less teeth than a gummy bear

Dhoni's never lost a test as captain, ftr.

 

[Anil]

Its a second innings century, so it HAS to be more valuable than a first innings one!

even a 2nd innings century is valuable only if one remains unbeaten and saves/wins the match otherwise it is a serious manifestation of choking....as for 1st innings centuries, they are clearly a waste of time, shame on dravid and dhoni! to top that, dravid even "failed" in the 2nd innings...i say kick him out of the squad....

 

[Migara]

If the curators prepare a result pitch, they are reported to be bad pitches to the ICC by the match referee. Then ICC comes out and reprimands the concerned people. How can we then expect the curators to prepare pitches as they should be prepared if the curators are punished for preparing a good pitch? Serves the morons in the ICC right for what they did.

Personally I enjoy seeing raging turners myself. Its quite funny sometimes to see the supposedly world's best batsmen hop all around the pitch having no clue of how to play Kumble and other sub-continental spinners.

No one reprimanded curators at Perth for having a hude 2cm wide crack out side off stump, or having near unplayable steep bounce, but comes with all weapons pointed when the ball spins and a team like Aus/ Eng / Saf gets rolled over for a low score. SC needs raging turners. Lara was so good because he could play on those. Greame Smith averages near that, but never played on pitches like those raging turners of 1990s other than in odd occasion. So let Perth and Jo'burg have their bounce. Headingly and Brisbane the seam. Indian pitches, spin. SL pitches slow turn, Pak pitches their belters, and Kandy the swing. No need to make them similar.

 

[Migara]

Zaheer and Ishant are easily better than Welagedara and Prasad. A greentop would have ended the game very quickly - in India's favor. You also have to consider that India's batsmen are far better on greentops than FTBs like Jayawardene and Samaraweera.

They didn't show that they were as such in 1st innings. And this is SLs third line bowling pair! Imagine what Thushara and Malinga would have done on the first morning. And BTW, And Guys like Sehwag and Yuvraj are also similar kind of FTBs.

 

[Shri]

They didn't show that they were as such in 1st innings. And this is SLs third line bowling pair! Imagine what Thushara and Malinga would have done on the first morning. And BTW, And Guys like Sehwag and Yuvraj are also similar kind of FTBs.

I promise to give a lot of thought to that point when I snap out of my shock caused by Yuvraj being selected for tests in the first place.

I guess most people will agree that Sehwag is a ftb. But, he is one of the best ftbs around today and it is handy to have him in the side since the pitches around the world are all flat these days.

 

[Avada Kedavra]

They didn't show that they were as such in 1st innings. And this is SLs third line bowling pair! Imagine what Thushara and Malinga would have done on the first morning. And BTW, And Guys like Sehwag and Yuvraj are also similar kind of FTBs.

Mahela's average in Australia - 34
Samaraweera's average in Australia - 22


Sehwag's average in Australia - 59.50 (More than your great FTBs combined)

 

[Howsie]

Mahela's average in Australia - 34
Samaraweera's average in Australia - 22


Sehwag's average in Australia - 59.50 (More than your great FTBs combined)

When was the last time Samaraweera played in Australia. From memory he played in 2004? but I can't remember him playing when they last toured (he may of though). Point is he has improved a lot since then and those numbers don't really show/mean anything.

 

[Top_Cat]

No one reprimanded curators at Perth for having a hude 2cm wide crack out side off stump, or having near unplayable steep bounce, but comes with all weapons pointed when the ball spins and a team like Aus/ Eng / Saf gets rolled over for a low score. SC needs raging turners. Lara was so good because he could play on those. Greame Smith averages near that, but never played on pitches like those raging turners of 1990s other than in odd occasion. So let Perth and Jo'burg have their bounce. Headingly and Brisbane the seam. Indian pitches, spin. SL pitches slow turn, Pak pitches their belters, and Kandy the swing. No need to make them similar.

Don't disagree that spinning decks do get targeted but as far as Perth goes, when it's quick, it's far from 'unplayable bounce'. Most batters will tell you once you get past the first 20 mins of batting on it, it's great to bat on. And, as far as the infamous deck years ago against the WI (presume that's the one you're talking about), the curator lost his job after that Test.

 

[Migara]

Mahela's average in Australia - 34
Samaraweera's average in Australia - 22


Sehwag's average in Australia - 59.50 (More than your great FTBs combined)

Post Sehwag's averages vs Mahela's in ENG, SAF and NZ, and we'll get back to the discussion.

 

[Migara]

The clear point is India does not make sporting pitches because they fear that there bowlers could not get upper hand over visitors. India in mid 90s were totally different. They gave spinnig paradises for the visiting spinners but tonked them. But there spinner were near unplayable. But there best chances lies with Harbhajan running through SL side, as he did on a raging turner at Galle last time. On lesser spinning pitches Harbhajan was dealt with ease by SL batsmen.

 

[Avada Kedavra]

Post Sehwag's averages vs Mahela's in ENG, SAF and NZ, and we'll get back to the discussion.

Sehwag against England in England : 39.50
Mahela against England in England : 42.5

Sehwag against NZ in NZ : 20
Mahela against NZ in NZ : 27.7

Sehwag against SA in SA : 26.44
Mahela against SA in SA : 31.4

And your point is ? Mahela has failed in each of these countries. Sehwag has at least done well in Australia.

 

[Migara]

Sehwag against England in England : 39.50
Mahela against England in England : 42.5

Sehwag against NZ in NZ : 20
Mahela against NZ in NZ : 27.7

Sehwag against SA in SA : 26.44
Mahela against SA in SA : 31.4

And your point is ? Mahela has failed in each of these countries. Sehwag has at least done well in Australia.

Point is Mahela has done better than Sehwag on testing conditions. And even in Aus, Mahela played on difficult pitches of Darwin, Brisbane and Cairns, not on Adelaide, SCG or MCG where there are run feasts.

 

[Pratters]

Point is Mahela has done better than Sehwag on testing conditions.

'Both have been poor mostly' would some it up more precisely.

 

[Sir Alex]

Mahela is poor on almost all tracks outside the subcontinent. Sehwag is a goner in swinging conditions but is a good player on hard true pitches of Australia. Both players have poor records in SA, NZ and Eng and no wonder. However Sehwag's ability to change matches in hours and his ability to strike fear in the opposition and adding to that the fact that on his day he can demolish (repeat demolish) any bowling attack makes him the better value player of the two.

 

[Migara]

'Both have been poor mostly' would some it up more precisely.

I'll agree with that of course. However Mahela has scored heavily when he's set, and averages more. And currently he's #1 in ICC rankings, and the highest Sehwag ever reached was #2. The following two graphs will tell how they have achieved ICC points and will give an good account on who's better.

Sehwag vs Jayawardene, test batting