It is a pity to see the present Australian team compared to their team few years back. Nobody will have imagined that Watson will open a test innings. Gone are Hayden, Gilchrist days. Compare present Australia's keeper with Gilchrist. Similarly in bowling gone are days of Warne, Gillepsie and Mcgrath. Standard has deteriorated for almost all the teams. Pakistan is almost gone same with West Indies. In India too there is not a worthy test batsman that has come after Sehwag...In 1-2 years when Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are gone...what will be the standard of the test cricket teams ? People too have lost interest in tests..Mohali attendance today is pathetic...If this is state of real cricket..god knows what will happen to the game..with all these fixing episodes on air...
Re: Quality of test cricket drastically going down
by Rajan S on Oct 01, 2010 11:47 PM
Yes, the standard of teams in international cricket has come down. Australians and south africans are not the team they used to be under s.waugh and cronje. Even other teams also have gone down a little bit. I really think, while we talk about the decline in standards, its mainly the bowling standards that has come down. There are no akrams, ambrose, walsh, mcgrath, warne, kumbles or muralis left in intl cricket. Only a dale steyn, a mohd asif or a mohd aamir remains with some quality. But now, as like all, i cannot comment whether there are any back room stories in the case of mohd asif or mohd aamir, if we talk of quality. So that means only a dale steyn is left and that shows the decline in the bowling standards
I'm waiting for 2nd day.. if india will take wicket early, and closed visitor around 300, then chasing would be easy. atleast we can expect result.. if the visitor scored 400 , then it would be difficult to chase.. lets see what is going to happen tomorrow
Re: 2nd day..
by Rajan S on Oct 01, 2010 11:43 PM
Hope they don't score 400 bcoz india usually struggles to get the tail enders out. But the aussie bowling doesn't look threatening, and so if our batsmen doesn't do anything foolish, we can get on top in this test match
This is the biggest worry of Idnian team.Fielding...And Captain has to lead the way..I admire Kapil about it...Kaipl, Azza were good captains who were focused on fielding too....Dhoni is good batsman, Lucky Captain and bad fielder...Thats a worry for WC...Its frustrating on bowlers when fields dropp catches like that...
Re: Dhoni needs to improve his skills behind wkts
by Nostradamus Great on Oct 01, 2010 10:59 PM
Sehwag dropped Watson on 0.. Straight forward catch... and then Dhoni dropped Ponting....!! Both of them accounted for close to 200 runs.. Things might've been different for India had the fielding been good..!
Dhoni's keeping has been a worry that India has been neglecting for a long long time... No efforts have been made and we see no improvements at all... In a test match, a dropped catch might turn the game.... If Watson goes on scoring more runs tomorrow, we are going to be in a mess!
Re: Dhoni needs to improve his skills behind wkts
by Kannan Kameswaran on Oct 01, 2010 06:45 PM
Well said! dont know how much Watson will score 2morow? v dont know V R paying the price (sorry Dhoni is paying the price) for dropping him on 37
Re: Re: Indian Team
by Rajan S on Oct 01, 2010 11:38 PM
Bowling can't be said as the best. Don't take the case of one or two matches. Overall, its an open fact that india doesn't have a good potent bowling attack
SHANE Watson was the batsman on the burning deck yesterday, sticking it out while his team mates lost their heads and squandered opportunities. The opener stuck to the task and scored a century during the gruelling opening stanza of the Mohali Test that began brightly but soon became a grim battle as the Australians slipped from a commanding 1-154 to be 5-224 at stumps thanks to some brilliant reverse swing bowling by Zaheer Khan.
It was Watson’s second Test 100 and follows a pair of centuries in the tour match against the President’s XI.
There were some Indians moaning about India is not a deserved no1, aussies are real champs, ponting is the best and stuff. But today, on an unresponsive pitch, India performed magnificently. Ponting)who scores mainly against weak english,windies or NZ atacks) was dropped twice to reach 70. And others like north, paine are unknown guys with no real achievements. Harbhajan might come into the picture tomorrow, and then we can expect our world class batting line up to bat ozzies out of the match. Great to see india show such determination to protect the no1 ranking, despite not playing test cricket for a long time now.
Re: Re: Now people know why team India is No1!!
by Rajan S on Oct 01, 2010 11:41 PM
Still india doesnt desrve to be the number one side. Bowling well in an indian pitch, doesn't make them exceptional. We really have to prove more, that we are good. not here and there but consistently
Re: Now people know why team India is No1!!
by Sanjay on Oct 01, 2010 06:22 PM
They did okay don't get too excited :-) They would have done amazing if they had managed to hold onto catches. Not a bad day in any case for India.
Re: Re: Now people know why team India is No1!!
by Kannan Kameswaran on Oct 01, 2010 06:48 PM
Cool down guys Let us watch intense battle between bat and ball 2morow May be v amy even have our 1st innings by late afternoon , provided we remove Watson early and knowck off the tail enders
Re: Dhoni's missed catch.
by Dinesh K on Oct 01, 2010 07:26 PM
That was from Paine. Dhoni missed Watson's edge off Ojha. Sehwag dropped Watson off Zaheer.
where r all the fools who were hopping and skipping that zaheer should be dropped after the world t20. test cricket is the real form of the game and this is what matters. not some ridiculous t20 pajama show. And Zaheer has been India's no.1 seam bowler for the last decade in tests. Prime examples of that are the series winning performances against teams like New Zealand,England(2007) and Australia in 2008. Today's performance is yet another feather in his cap.
Re: Re: Zaheer Khan is our numero uno man..
by Kannan Kameswaran on Oct 01, 2010 06:50 PM
but what was it? He had an altercation with Ponting when he was returning to the pavilion
