As we saw on the second day of ahmedabad that there is no 'devil' in the pitch as it is made out tobe..SA have proved harbhajan singh wrong whose lame excuse of wicket not favouring the home team came a cropper when we saw the vsitors pile on runs...indians just need to wake up from the chennai mode of batting...even if we say it was a bad session, the fielding of the indians left lot to be desired...look at the body language of the indians..its pathetic, i wonder whether they were hoping tht SA also gets bowled out under 100..indians should work out on the basics first whn they approach the third test at kanpur.
Warne, Murali can spin ball on any track. Our useless spinners require under prepared turning tracks for that. Why Bhajji is crying? Let him start a Bhajiya shop and make "Bhajji's".
I did not believe my eyes, so much so that after my afternoon nap on waking up, I decided to double check the score on the Internet, just to confirm it wasn't a nightmare!
Fk you Team India, you're all in the T20 mode. Only thinking about Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils, idiots! All the hard work and round-the-world appreciation of the Down Under performances is now Down Under the drain.
We are sure to lose this Test, so at best we can now only draw the series. And if our curators would have it their way, the last match would now have a "draw for sure, guaranteed" batting paradise pitch, and hence SA is now off with the series win.
Imagine they have won the series in the first 45 minutes of Day 2 of the second Test. Sheesh, ultra embarassing!
RE:.
by Deepak Bhakoo on Apr 04, 2008 09:43 AM
In T20 mode, the scoring rate has got to be around 8 runs per over, not 3.8 that India got. So, the score should have been in the vicinity of 160 and not the 76 they got (even my 7-year-old son's team scores more than that in their 12-over games). A batsman's real Test is under conditions not conducive to batting. Unfortunately, the Indian batting over the years has regularly failed on such tracks (whether it is Motera, Mohali, Hamilton, Old Trafford or any other ground)although the composition of the line-up has changed. Sachin got out for a "duck" on a featherbed in Chennai. People who say that it would have been better if Sachin was in the team need to be reminded of this fact. All that the top order needed was to stay at the wicket for the first two hours without losing more than a wicket or two, even if that meant playing maiden after maiden. South Africa had a very subdued (cautious is a much better word)start to their innings, but the wayward Indian bowling (repeatedly down the leg) helped them break the shackles & take the scoring rate from under 1.5 runs per over to over 5.5 runs per over. The team seems to be having no plan at all as mentioned rightly by Steyn. If at all there is a plan, it is not being implemented due to lack of capability, lack of application or lack of communication or vested interests. The new coaching regime could be a factor as well. The players do better without a coach. Greg Chappell brought an unprecedented downslide & Kirsten is onto it.
RE:.
by Nirpinder Singh on Apr 04, 2008 06:09 PM
Don't know if the coaches have anything to do with the Indian team's downfall. What we have in the team are a bunch of prima donnas who are all looking out for their own interests i.e. advertisement revenue. Witness Tendulkar getting out for zero in Chennai following Sehwag's knock. How did that happen? Was Tendulkar demoralized by the daunting score put up by a rival batsman? Why was it necessary to send the Indian team for IPL promotions in between Test Matches? The BCCI seems to be more revenue oriented than concerned about the technical aspects of the game. We need more Cricket Strategists i.e. knowledgeable persons at the helm and have to find a way to send the Ministers and Bureaucrats back to the Offices where they belong.
When the curator of the chennai pitch prepared the pitch, everybody cursed him like anything for the pitch not helping bowlers resulting rains of runs and a match drawn. Are you people want any result in the test matches ? AHD pitch is like that.In future also please prepare pitches like this in all the Indian Stadiums because, when we want, we score centuries, but when we want wickets, we are not getting, Because, we are not trained on this type of pitches which equals australian and england pitches. First our people must get experience and practice in this type of pitch.So that they can equal all other International players playing any type of pitches
it seems that mr.baljit singh has got it all wrong.a good pitch is one which encourages the bowlers as well as allows the batsmen to play their strokes and ensures a contest over five days.an ideal pitch should have bounce and carry but not excessive lateral movement.i think too much moisture was left on the wicket which changed the course of the game in one session.kumble's decision to bat first was surprising.the best pitches are in australia.therefore,the curator should be looking to prepare wickets with bounce and carry but without much seam movement.also,playing at home, we should be playing to our strengths at least in the first two tests.but,having said all this,i must say that the indians did not apply themselves.they were too worried about the wicket and were indecisive in their shot selection.these are batsmen who have done it all over the world against all countries.but,it seems that they have hit a mental block against the south africans which is evident from their stats against them.
RE:what's a good pitch
by Prasad on Apr 04, 2008 02:06 AM
Dear Ganguly dada...
you need guts to play in any conditions.. who the hell says pitch is not good for batsmen? Did you see how SA batsmen played?
I'd say BCCI's cricket team batsmen should accept their failure without blaming pitch... u have got opposition team who is good enough on this pitch too...
If players are good enough.. they should play good on any pich.. or rather world class players play on any kind of wicket.. you should blame pitches like Chennai one.. what a boring pitch.. I thought even a club level batsman can hit century on that..
RE:what's a good pitch
by CricFan01 on Apr 04, 2008 07:40 AM
The Indian batsmen lacked skills and guts to play on helpful conditions where there is even a little swing.Jaffer never scores on helpful wickets, he needs dead batting wickets to score tons of runs. Laxman got bowled in similar fashion a number of times, he has real problems in the technique with incoming balls whereas Ganguly seemed to be expecting a short ball and was never into the shot. The less said about Dhoni the better. He is another over hyped player who thrives only on dead batting pitches but against the moving ball he is all at sea, has no clue how to defend. On this pitch India needed someone like Gavaskar and Amarnath to see off the new ball (he has done this countless times) and then batting in the afternoon would have been easier.
RE:RE:what's a good pitch
by CricFan01 on Apr 04, 2008 07:45 AM
Unfortunately there are not enough openers who possess this skill.The closest is Akash Chopra but he is very inconsistent. Under similar conditions in England Sachin and Dravid played out the difficult period (even taking some deliveries on the body) when the ball was seaming all around and then it became easier for other batsmen. But then people criticized them for not playing many strokes. Now we realize the value of technique in test cricket. It is not just bashing the ball around, one should know when to attack and when to defend and when to leave the balls around off stump.
When the curator of the chennai pitch prepared the pitch, everybody cursed him like anything for the pitch not helping bowlers resulting rains of runs and a match drawn. Are you people wants any result in the test matches ? Ahd pitch is like that.In future also please prepare pitches like this in all india level basis because, when we want, we score centuries, but when we want wickets, we are not getting, Because, we are not trained on this type of pitches which equals australian and england pitches. First our people must get experience and practice in this type of pitch
