ANIL KUMBLE BOWLING WITH A BROKEN JAW AND GRAEME SMITH BATTING WITH A BROKEN HAND ARE SIMPLY OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES OF GRIT AND DETERMINATION U CAN ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING IF UR DETERMINED SIMPLY SUPERB
When is india playing and with whom.. India is close to aus...the diff b/x 3rd and 4th team is less than 1st and 3rd. best of luck india.. only 7 more points ur there...
The Sydney test was a really great game to watch. Wow...what intensity and courage from players of both the team, especially their captains. First , Ricky Ponting declared Aussies' second after tea on the fourth day, giving the Proteas 110 overs to get 370 odd runs and making a match of it. Then Graeme Smith, braving a broken hand comes out to bat as the last man to try and save the match, in which he fell short by a whisker.. This is what Test cricket is all about. I wonder what the Indian captain was thinking in the recent 2nd test at Mohali when he didn't let England bat and try to bowl them out on a dust bowl of a pitch on day 5. I remeber what Steve Waugh once said "WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GETS GOING". Hats off to Ricky and his men. This match also showed the depth of Australian pace bowling department Doug Bollinger is a really talented left armer, and Peter Sidle looked a completely different bowler from what he did in India.
Re: Ricky is the best.
by vikram garg on Jan 07, 2009 11:14 PM
Ponting had no other choice to play a gamble of giving the proteas the target and the time to his bowlers to take the wickets.He had to save his face from the australian media which is quite ruthless in critising.The australians bowled really well to take 20 wickets in this match and win a match and save some respect for them
Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Manu Zach on Jan 07, 2009 11:46 PM
You are right Vikram.... Ricky played to win. Aussies always do that. They prefer a loss to a draw. An Indian captain would never do this.
Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by shan mugam on Jan 08, 2009 10:24 AM
Excellent Punch, I have never seen an Indian Captain go with the Brave Declaration
Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by sarathy narayanan on Jan 08, 2009 02:11 PM
hello In the third test there is nothing to lose for both the teams and the series is already decided, So Ricky to save some respect he declared hasn't lost the other two test matches he would not have declared.. Mohali case is different were we are one up and it is ok to have a draw to save the series.. Any captain will look for series one.that is called strategy
Re: Ricky is the best.
by Deepa Sreeganesh on Jan 07, 2009 11:12 PM
Please remember, Ricky was desparate to win the match, and that's why he declared. For him 2-0 or 3-0 didn't matter. In our case our pitch in Mohali was not that bad as the one in sydney. If we had a pitch like syndey I'm sure dhoni would have declared.
Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Manu Zach on Jan 07, 2009 11:43 PM
Hey Deepa, are you saying that Harbhajan, Zaheer and Ishant are not competent enough to defend a score of over 300 in a day on a fifth day track..??
Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Deepa Sreeganesh on Jan 07, 2009 11:47 PM
Are you saying no team has scored more than 300 against India in the past year or 2? That's not it. A lot depends on the condition of the pitch and mindset of the teams. The pitch in Mohali on the 5th day was a minefield as the one in sydney. proteas can be glad they didn't suffer more injuries besides smith
Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Manu Zach on Jan 08, 2009 12:00 AM
I'm not saying that no team has chased 300 against India, but the point is defending 340 runs in a day..i.e for 90 overs. If you can't defend a score of 340 on a last day wicket no matter how batting friendly the conditions are, you should'nt be playing test cricket. Simple as that.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Deepa Sreeganesh on Jan 08, 2009 12:06 AM
That's just your view, Manu. Dhoni played the safe card knowing very well that the team have won the last 2 series. We're not that great a team yet for Dhoni to take the risk. Let this team win for another year or 2, and then we can take our chances. 1 year for now the score card will read 1-0 and very few people will remember the strategy employed. Dhoni seems to know his team limitations and take steps accordingly.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Deepa Sreeganesh on Jan 08, 2009 10:58 PM
You can play with words manu, but remember it's not always prudent to go for the kill. You have to choose the moment for that. Mr.Illo jose, please show some maturity. There's a non-personal discussion going on here. Stay away, if you dont want to show your immaturity
Mr.Pseudos, dont come to a conclusion yet about dhoni's braveness. he has so far (with some luck) taken and employed strategies that has shown courage and wisdom, that we have seldom seen in an indian captain. I'm not saying he's the bravest and the best, but you have got to give leader some time before you call him spineless or a "BOY". If he was a boy (as said by manu in his comment), he wouldn't have executed his strategies which helped us win the CB series and 20/20 WC last year in difficult intimidating conditions.
On a side note I'm glad that most of you have followed the discussion between me and manu and have for the most part given non-personal comments. I'm so glad not to see some comments on hindu-muslim or indo-pak rivalry/south india-north india rivalry and tantrums thrown at each other, showing how "INTEGRATED" we are as Indians.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Deepa Sreeganesh on Jan 07, 2009 11:50 PM
Sorry the line should read "the pitch in mohali on 5th day was not a minefield like the one in sydney" Mohali pitch was still ok for batting.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Ramkumar Murugesan on Jan 08, 2009 12:33 AM
Deepa is Right. Probably putting the words in a different way from my end...
Dhoni had only 2 sessions and not 90 overs that too lot affected by Poor visibility.
One inevitable fact is that neither India nor England could have won that test.
So, there are two sides of argument. One is to declare the innings and make it more interesting for the viewers and in the spirit of the game (as they called it) eventhough Victory is not in the cards.
The other one is give Yuvraj some confidence boost (which he probably didnt utilize it 100%) by giving some time to stay at the crease.
One cannot say one of the above arguments are right. each one is important in their own views. Probably from Dhoni's view the second option might have been a reasonable bet for making him prepare for future series.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Deepa Sreeganesh on Jan 08, 2009 12:19 AM
I meant pitch was ok for batting in Mohali than the one in sydney. Hence dhoni took safe approach. Secondly in this case, Ponting was desperate. Dhoni wasn't really.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Manu Zach on Jan 08, 2009 12:28 AM
One should keep in mind that Ricky Ponting was captaining a team that conceded 415 runs in the fourth innings to loose the Perth test. Given the circumstances - as you say - one must confess that only Ponting or an Australian captain for that matter would show the courage to set such a target for the opposition to chase... The safe card approach of Dhoni seems to be a spineless decision.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Manu Zach on Jan 08, 2009 12:13 AM
That means , Dhoni would'nt have declared even if the pitch was a mine field.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Manu Zach on Jan 08, 2009 12:29 AM
One should keep in mind that Ricky Ponting was captaining a team that conceded 415 runs in the fourth innings to loose the Perth test. Given the circumstances - as you say - one must confess that only Ponting or an Australian captain for that matter would show the courage to set such a target for the opposition to chase... The safe card approach of Dhoni seems to be a spineless decision.
Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Guest on Jan 08, 2009 06:20 AM
No Manu - what she said was so true - the pitch at Sydney was amongst the worst of pitches. Australia barely saved their face - thanks to the groundsmen
Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Nayanar on Jan 08, 2009 06:20 AM
No Manu - what she said was so true - the pitch at Sydney was amongst the worst of pitches. Australia barely saved their face - thanks to the groundsmen
Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Against Pseudos on Jan 08, 2009 07:38 AM
Nayanar:
Australians scored 4 for 257 in the third innings..... and you say the pitch was amongst worst of pitches.... :-)
But you would blame the pitch, umpires, the kid in Taronga Zoo with the icecream cone, Kevin Rudd for wearing a pink tie, too many cars outside the stadium and whatever else comes to your mind to justify that SA should have won... :-)
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by Ravish Gahty on Jan 08, 2009 10:11 AM
One more Important reason for Australians (Ricky Ponting) to declare was Smith's Injury. If Smith was fit to open the innings he would have damaged Australians chances of winning.
Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by vikram garg on Jan 07, 2009 11:34 PM
For Ricky it mattered because the australian media would have got on his head if he had lost the series 3-0 Anyways where from did dhoni jump into this.Moreover if Dhoni had been in his place he wont have even thought of doing so because proteas had already chased a herculean target at perth.
Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by GK on Jan 08, 2009 12:52 AM
Still, if Smith had opened (without his injury), there was a good chance SA would have won this. The Smith injury prompted Ponting to decl on the 4th day tea break. Had it not been for the injury, AUS would have batted the whole of 4th day and set a 400 target for SA on the 5th day......
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by GK on Jan 09, 2009 12:36 AM
I know what 'if' means in cricket.... but there is a difference in not playing due to lack (or presence) or form and not playing due to the injury..... Smith was not playing due to the injury, not bcoz he was out of form.... that had effectively reduced SA to 10 man team... it was 11 vs 10 players match in the last innings....
Ponting very well knew Smith would not bat due to the injury and not becoz of form...... thats the difference.....
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by shan mugam on Jan 08, 2009 10:40 AM
Excellent Punch......
You can not say "If" in sports. It's a mind game. When you are mentally strong you will win any matches and you will chase any Target. Now one would say RSA would have even chased 500 in Perth (By the way they chased 415). But the fact is they are mentally prepared to chase the target of 415. Just look back the history WI chased 426 Against to Aus after loosing the first 3 test, simply because they were mentally strong after the spot between 2 team players on the field. Especially R. Sarwan decided to chase the target and he was well supported by his team mates.
Re: Re: Ricky is the best.
by shan mugam on Jan 08, 2009 10:46 AM
Please find some other reason, we are really board of hearing the same statement again and again.
I heard from some one If you don't forget the bad memories one or other day you will end up become a problem for problem.
Re: Ricky is the best.
by Nayanar on Jan 08, 2009 06:24 AM
Manu ZACH - we all you have a choice - either you follow Cricket or follow Australia. You choose to do the latter. I feel sorry for you down under
Ha ha ha!! only 9 odd nations to play a sport called Cricket in this planet of more than hundreds of countries...and one claims to "WORLD NO 1"..haha !!Wake up all junta, gv fame to those games which is much popular in many parts of d world..
Re: only 9 nations, in the earth !!
by bhaskar on Jan 08, 2009 01:58 AM
Do Gupta's ever understand the Game of Cricket.. that's why they are so few and morose..
Re: only 9 nations, in the earth !!
by siddhartha xx on Jan 07, 2009 11:12 PM
There are actually about 50 odd countries that play cricket. Since cricket is a long game, it is not feasible to include all the countries amongst the top tier. So the segregation of top 8-9 out of 50 is made.
Btw it seems incredible stupid to suggest that just because other games might be more popular else where we should follow them ...
Re: only 9 nations, in the earth !!
by Deepa Sreeganesh on Jan 07, 2009 11:14 PM
Mr.Gupta, we're all awake and fine. In the US they call baseball a series between 2 NY teams as world series. If you follow cricket, be proud of it, else just mind your own interest.
Re: only 9 nations, in the earth !!
by Ramakrishna Samudrala on Jan 07, 2009 10:47 PM
Practically its only 8 nations (Bangla do not deserver test status). Even when we are 3rd in rank, our media is praising and boasting as if we conquered the world.
Re: Re: only 9 nations, in the earth !!
by bhaskar on Jan 08, 2009 02:00 AM
U don't know the pleasure of playing test cricket.. its as good as having s*x day after day with new mates.
