was lucky enough to witness the test win.But truly dissapointed with the attitude of Indian Players. Spectators spent 200 rs daily pass tickets and the team didnt even run a victroy march around the playing area to thank the Indian Supporters. Another dissapointing issue was one related to sale of tickets. The ground authorities suspended selling of east stand tickets which were low in price ( Rs 50 ) and spectators were compelled to buy expensive tickets of North Stand ( Rs.200 ) which finally got wasted as the match finished within the first 45 mins of play. The east stand was much vacant ( Nealry 60%) .. Such a greedy attitude of the authorities is a BIG PUT OFF ...Mr PAWAR - R U READING THIS ?? and Once Again the Indian Players should have been sporting enough to atleast do a victory march and thank supporters -
I remember Tiger Mansur Ali Khan,The great and much admired Nawab of Pataudi,(whom I met on a plane in 1978 when he was editor of now defunct sportsworld 1/- Re mag !) , once scored a double century against England ,in a tied Delhi test way back in 1964, which on a placid track meandered into a draw.It was the only instance of the tiger playing for his statistics. Same thing happened at Brabourne stadium now,when our hero Dhoni also smashed a 100 N.O. against Lanka on a dead wicket, before declaring.
What if the fifth day's play had rained off? Mr Dhoni it is better to try a win as early as possible instead of trying to make personal statistics.Good job done though Mr Dhoni.
I do not fault Dravid's decision to declare against Pak,in Pak , when Tendulkar was 197 N.O.(Must have broken the cricket great's heart) to find himself stranded short of a double ton.This is because it was done with a will to win. And they did win.
The same Dravid squandered a chance to win 2-0 against England in 2007, by a very late declaration ,only for the sake of Indians notching up personal records on way to a plus 600 score.Not surprising that I dont remember who scored what.
Well guys a win is remembered and a winning effort always - a La Sehwag 293 or a Laxman/Dravid combine in Kolkata 2001 against Aussies.Or a great charge of 234 by the tallest bat of all- Gavaskar against Eng.
Nobody remembers a Tiger's 200 or a Sourav(A cricket great too) 200 in ba. TKM
Re: senseless centuries just for personal record
by acharya buddhimaan on Dec 06, 2009 06:23 PM
CONDOMS HELPED INDIAN WIN NO-1 CONDOMS HELPED INDIAN WIN NO-1 CONDOMS HELPED INDIAN WIN NO-1 CONDOMS HELPED INDIAN WIN NO-1
Congratulations Dhoni! Your kitchen cabinet politics with Harbhajan worked so well! Both of you conspired to deprive Sreesanth of bowling opportunities. So at first you began by introducing spinners, and then when Sreesanth got an opportunity and took a wicket and bowled very tight maidens, you quietly replaced him with Zaheer, even though Sreesanth was bowling a tighter spell! Both of you guys - Harbhajan and Dhoni - were worried about Sreesanth repeating his success from the last test. So Bhajji and you came up with the good idea of keeping Sreesanth on the outfield while Zaheer kept on bowling.
Dont worry Dhoni, you and bhajji can conspire all you want. You attitude will only propel Sree to perform even better. Your and Bhajji's (Hayden may have had his reasons to call Harbhajan a 'weed' after all - he really needs being weeded out) games will not be able to keep deserving players out of the team for long.
The introduction of spinners at the end of day 3 to bowl the 3 overs needs serious introspection. I mean, if you are that desperate to win then why not just take 4 spinners and prepare an underprepared pitch? Dhoni should have added 20-30 overs in the last stages, declared at stumps and started fresh with the seamers the next morning with the new ball. The problem with introducing spin early and not letting the seamers to settle down with a good spell or even an extended spell has been around for a while. Using the seamers to just wear the shine out of the ball is an old strategy which should have been abandoned. The idea has always been to give the seamers a chance with the new ball for overseas performance. Even in the last tour of NZ Dhoni has failed to an early declaration and did not enforce a win. India's strategy of a heavy batting lineup and a strong spin attack has to change for a better overseas performance. Can Sehwag score a triple hundred all the time? This batting oriented strategy has really been a problem over the years when our bowling attack never gets tested.
Mr.Dhoni remember why test team are on no 1. Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble have maintained the team at number 2, so you are enjoying the cake by keeping a cherry on the cake. Remember Victory in west indies, England, against Pakistan all have come from Dravid and Kumble...and also remember that you said we need youngsters now the seniors have brought the test team on number 1 not the juniors....!
