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*Official* Sri Lanka in India

Sir Alex

Sir Alex

Banned
Uppercut said:
Newsflash: you're not a colony anymore. You don't have to do what other countries say.

Besides, remember Smith and Arthur being perfectly diplomatic when they encountered that dustbowl last year.
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"There's always something happening on this wicket, it's a day-five wicket on day two," he said. "This has played a little better than expected, but not ideal for Test cricket." - Mickey Arthur after that test match.

I don't think that is diplomatic let alone perfectly diplomatic. MArthur was cribbing about the ground prior to the test match itself. Indian spinners are struggling because they don't get luxury of assisting wickets abroad and now thanks to match referees complaining for any pitch that helps spin they don't get such wickets in India either.
 
Burgey

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Jono said:
To be fair, many Indian test series have ended with 1-1 or 2-0 etc. in recent times.

People underestimate how much an effect good bowling has, even on flat tracks.

Shoaib Akhtar was a wrecking machine (assisted by a Kaneria bowling well and England being dumb asses) at home against England in 2005/6. But those pitches were still flat as hell.
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I think this is so. I wonder though, when we record the increase in batting stocks over the past decade, how much is flat pitches and how much is worse bowling? Moreover, to what extent have the flat pitches contributed to the poor standard of bowling (if at all)?

I don't really have a view on this aspect. Suffice to say if Marshall, Hadlee, Lillee et al were bowling now, I've no doubt they'd be doing a better job than Taylor, Mills and Johnson. But I wonder by how much their skills would be blunted by the featherbed wickets.
 
Cruxdude

Cruxdude

International Debutant
TT Boy said:
So Indian test pitches are not lifeless, Kumble did not whinge, the groundsman was not pilloried in the media for producing a result wicket, India do have good spin stocks, Sri Lanka have a good pace attack, Murali is not finished, Herath is world class and Mendis hasn’t been found out?
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The problem is no about a result pitch. Kumble complained because of a pitch helping the Aussies rather than helping India. That is called home advantage and every team gets it. When some curator plays into the hand of the opposition what do you expect from the captain?

India has perhaps the second best spin attack (maybe even the best considering the way you pilloried SriLanka's spin attack). This pitch is turning and it is only the first day. Give it time.

Murali is not finished yet. You will realize it when he plays England. Herath won the last series for SriLanka against Pakistan.

Though I must agree Mendis has been found out.

The other dumb thing about your last post was talking about an innings defeat if SriLanka had a better pace attack. Considering the condition of that pitch after the first hour I would not bet against India playing till today if the match had continued.
 
Sanz

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Burgey said:
I don't really have a view on this aspect. Suffice to say if Marshall, Hadlee, Lillee et al were bowling now, I've no doubt they'd be doing a better job than Taylor, Mills and Johnson. But I wonder by how much their skills would be blunted by the featherbed wickets.
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Well Imran did bowl a lot on those (real) featherbed wickets and he did alright, so did most of the greats of his era.
 
Athlai

Athlai

Not Terrible
Reckon India should just keep going nuts, you'll need at least 2 and a half days to bowl Sri Lanka out twice I'd say. Thats being optimistic, get as many runs on the board as quickly as you can, even if you collapse before tea today saving the match would still be childs play. Push for a result.
 
Sir Alex

Sir Alex

Banned
I don't understand why India is so defensive today. It is a good 100 by Dravid! A positive I have noted in Dravid's game is that he is playing less defensive shots as compared to earlier and hence has a good strike rate.
 
Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Uppercut said:
Australian pitches tend to bring results though, for whatever reason. It's just as easy to score runs but they're not so painfully slow. There's nothing worse than seeing a bowler take the batsman's edge time and time again only for it to drop short of first slip.

In any case, it's always good to reserve judgment of a pitch until both teams have batted. But I'm not optimistic.
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Here's the thing though, I'm reluctant to judge the pitch harshly because it's India batting on the first day against a bowling line up which has 3 spinners and a part-time seamer (I realise I may be doing Mathews a massive disservice with that description).

Granted, I'm judging by the first session, but Sehwag and Gambhir were kept pretty honest by Weledegara and Mathews - Sehwag edged to slip, and got dropped, and there a few lbw shouts. Herath came on and bowled absolute rubbish to Gambhir, and got smashed for 14. In Mendis' first over, he bowled a full toss to Sehwag, which was smacked into the stands.

The pitch IMO isn't great (while the seamers kept the openers honest, they weren't massively threatening) , but I'd be wary of writing it off as a complete road. Maybe, just maybe, the reason 400 odd runs were scored for the loss of 2 wickets was down to superb batsmanship - after all, India's lineup a) is playing in home conditions and b) contains Sehwag, an in form Gambhir, Dravid and Tendulkar.
 
Sanz

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Well I am just happy to see some test cricket. First people complain that there aren't enough test matches and when we actually do have test matches, people start complaining about how docile the pitch is and how lousy the cricket that is on display etc etc.

To be honest, it is boring to hear the constant whining in almost every series. If you do not like it is okay to not watch the match.

I have seen flatter wickets and yet not seen anyone bat like Sehwag and Gambhir did and it was very entertaining watching them bat on the first day.
 
Sir Alex

Sir Alex

Banned
It is funny how people automatically assumes whatever track on which Sehwag scores well is a flat track. He has scored big 100s at a superlative strike rate on most difficult pitches like Galle.in 2008.
 
Athlai

Athlai

Not Terrible
Sir Alex said:
It is funny how people automatically assumes whatever track on which Sehwag scores well is a flat track. He has scored big 100s at a superlative strike rate on most difficult pitches like Galle.in 2008.
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Did you have a good birthday the other day?
 
Athlai

Athlai

Not Terrible
Sanz said:
That's good man, at least we can watch Daniel complete his Century now. I prefer watching Daniel over Dravid and Laxman. :)
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He looks great when he gets going doesn't he? Slaps the ball all over the ground off the back foot. So strange to see a modified cut going straight down the ground.
 
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