England in India - Oct to Jan 2012/13

[Gurjot95]

I think to be optimistic, one has to remember this match against NZ where India were 65/6 and Harbhajan and Laxman made 163 runs partnership to save the test match.

Although we don't have 4th innings Legend here and those type of things don't happen too often so unless Bhajji and Gauti plays a blinder, we're screwed .

 

[SaiSrini]

To be fair, England have played quite brilliantly in this test match, and deserved to be where they are. The ineffectiveness of our second and third spinners in crucial situations cost us big time. Seeing the pitch, 327 was a good enough total for us and we should have bowled England out for a total below that. KP and Cook both played defining innings, especially KP who was toying with the bowling on this kind of a pitch where the ball was spinning and bouncing sharply.

And Panesar has been outstanding... But being the eternal optimist that I always am, I am still hoping Gambhir with the help of Harbhajan pulls out a miracle here and take us to a lead of 100 odd, and hopefully we see the typical English collapse that hasn't happened in this test so far. Fingers crossed! But realistically speaking, England have a great chance to wrap this up tomorrow and earn a deserved day's rest. So disappointing!!

 

[SaiSrini]

Just read about the Bairstow catch controversy... Seriously, DOES THE LAW EXIST WHERE A CATCH TAKEN OFF THE FIELDER's HELMET IS NOT OUT??? What rubbish law is this? If you can give a batsman out when the ball touches his gloves and is caught by a fielder, then you should be giving the batsman out if the ball is caught after touching a fielder's protective equipment. A glove is protective equipment too.

What if a fielder wears band-aid to cover up a wound that he has? If the ball hits his band-aid and if he catches it, would you give the fielder not out for that too? TOTAL FRIGGIN' RUBBISH!!! The only rule should be that the ball does not touch the ground before the fielder catches.

 

[1iram1]

Just read about the Bairstow catch controversy... Seriously, DOES THE LAW EXIST WHERE A CATCH TAKEN OFF THE FIELDER's HELMET IS NOT OUT??? What rubbish law is this? If you can give a batsman out when the ball touches his gloves and is caught by a fielder, then you should be giving the batsman out if the ball is caught after touching a fielder's protective equipment. A glove is protective equipment too.

What if a fielder wears band-aid to cover up a wound that he has? If the ball hits his band-aid and if he catches it, would you give the fielder not out for that too? TOTAL FRIGGIN' RUBBISH!!! The only rule should be that the ball does not touch the ground before the fielder catches.

You should have seen the first test between Bangladesh and WI then:

8.1 Sohag Gazi to Powell, no run, second wicket for Gazi. Powell, who was playing mostly from the back foot, decides to charge. But he didn't get to the pitch of the ball, and got an outside edge that flew to point where Rubel Hossain dives to his left to take a one-handed peach. Wait, the ball hit the silly point's helmet along the way. He can't be given out because it has hit the fielder's helmet

Powell has a reprieve. He stood his ground as you cannot be out if the ball has hit an external protective equipment of a fielder before being caught.

 

[SaiSrini]

You should have seen the first test between Bangladesh and WI then:

I don't agree with this one too... That should be out IMO!

 

[ash_2006]

well this match is over, well played england but i am sure we will win 3-1 and not 4-0

 

[MUFC1987]

Of course it should not be out when you hit a fielders helmet. Otherwise you'd just surround the pitch with 8 fielders in Ice Hockey goalie equipment and have one bloke running around to catch all the rebounds.

Bairstow should have been not out. But I don't know if you'd blame him for not knowing or whether it was something more sinister involved.

 

[War]

Of course it should not be out when you hit a fielders helmet. Otherwise you'd just surround the pitch with 8 fielders in Ice Hockey goalie equipment and have one bloke running around to catch all the rebounds.

Bairstow should have been not out. But I don't know if you'd blame him for not knowing or whether it was something more sinister involved.

Yea essentially. Fielding close in is a risk. Before helmets were introduced in the late 70s, fielders close in did it without helmets. So the rule penalizes a fielding team, similarly to how 5-runs are given if a ball hits the helmet behind the keeper.

 

[puddleduck]

@MUFC. I wouldn't waste the time typing mate

Well, wasn't necessarily expecting England to be in complete control after losing the toss again. Nice to see a pitch with something for the bowlers though. Funny though that Indian batsman can't even bat on a turner now. Literally need dead lifeless tracks in every sense

 

[sifter132]

Hard to see any changes to be made to this Indian side.

Yep I agree, and you've laid out the cases pretty well.

MSD hasn't scored runs in Tests for ages. Not including this game, over the last 2 years he has averaged 31.8 in 35 innings with 1 century (144 against the West Indies) and 7 fifties. An interesting point with this is that bulk of those runs have come in the first innings - 467 out of 986, at an average of 46.7. This includes the 144 and 2 fifties. In the other 3 innings, he averages less than 25.
Take out the 144, and his overall average in this period is 28.
If he wasn't the captain, he would be prime candidate to be dropped.
His keeping hasn't been great, he's not scoring a lot of runs, and his captaincy is starting to look tired. MSD looks tired. He could use a break. But you can't drop him in the middle of a series.

A wicket keeper averaging around 30 doesn't deserve to be dropped. Most keepers in world cricket would average around this (some more yes, but 30 is acceptable). Heck even AB de Villiers is averaging 30 since he took over keeping in Tests. Dhoni's got 6 batsmen ahead of him who are meant to be doing the job. Freshening him up or making someone else captain might help him, I'm not sure, but I still think Dhoni is the most talented keeper-batsman in India.

To be fair, England have played quite brilliantly in this test match, and deserved to be where they are. The ineffectiveness of our second and third spinners in crucial situations cost us big time. Seeing the pitch, 327 was a good enough total for us and we should have bowled England out for a total below that. KP and Cook both played defining innings, especially KP who was toying with the bowling on this kind of a pitch where the ball was spinning and bouncing sharply.

Too right mate! Credit where credit's due. Let's not bag India so much as praise what Cook and KP have done, and the England spinners. They've played well and deserve to be ahead, no matter what India have done.

 

[puddleduck]

Dhoni is basically a really easy target. Whenever the much vaunted top 6 fail, he gets the blame for not turning up with a big ton. No Indian pundit is going to say Sachin is failing or Sehwag is a walking wicket unless the pitch is dead.

 

[SaiSrini]

Of course it should not be out when you hit a fielders helmet. Otherwise you'd just surround the pitch with 8 fielders in Ice Hockey goalie equipment and have one bloke running around to catch all the rebounds.

Bairstow should have been not out. But I don't know if you'd blame him for not knowing or whether it was something more sinister involved.

You then put a restriction based on the kind of equipment that can be worn on a cricket field. If this is wrong, then giving a batsman out on gloving the ball is wrong too. Giving penalty runs for the ball hitting equipment behind keeper is logical (because the fielding teams trades the risk of giving away 5 runs for saving the time to get in helmets from dressing room). And that equipment is on the ground in contact with it. Here, its in contact with fielder, and no where in contact with the ground.

I don't have to spell out that it is my opinion. Back to the game, I thought Kohli was very unlucky. His mind probably ditched him. It was a full toss, and all he could do was scoop it to the fielder at mid off. Kohli needs to come higher up NOW, in place of Sachin. If Sachin wants to stay, push him down. When Pujara does well, Kohli can take that forward and drive India further.

 

[MUFC1987]

You then put a restriction based on the kind of equipment that can be worn on a cricket field. If this is wrong, then giving a batsman out on gloving the ball is wrong too. Giving penalty runs for the ball hitting equipment behind keeper is logical (because the fielding teams trades the risk of giving away 5 runs for saving the time to get in helmets from dressing room). And that equipment is on the ground in contact with it. Here, its in contact with fielder, and no where in contact with the ground.

But that only happens when the gloved hand is holding onto the bat, as the rules deem it as part of the bat.

The rules exist because it's unfair that a fielder should be rewarded for something artificial. In case you didn't notice, a ball doesn't bounce off a head half as well as it does off a helmet, so there is less chance of it reflecting and being caught.

 

[s2sschan]

Looks like Indian batsmen just can't play on a pitch that has some life in it.
I have serious concerns about Tendulkar, Dhoni, and Yuvraj contributing in Test Cricket.

 

[SaiSrini]

Wicket No.1 for the day, Bhajji, falls!! Had a good first over of 10 runs, with both looking positive but this wicket has spoiled that benefits of the first over.

If Zak can score 20% of his highest ever test score (of 75), he would have helped India quite a bit today. Gambhir is the key man. Take as much strike as possible...

----------

Gambhir should have been selfish there and farmed the strike... Both Harbhajan and Zaheer are not the same old tail enders who saved games for India in test cricket. Zaheer's batting has seen a rude dip in recent times, and Harbhajan has always been a 'hit and miss' (more miss than hit) character.

With only Ojha left now, hope Gambhir farms it now atleast and tries to add another 20 odd runs to the lead. They showed good positivity in that first over, but after that it has been back to downhill...

Edit: Hopeless from Gambhir! Takes first ball single and lets Ojha handle Panesar for 5 balls!!!

Aleem Dar does another "last wicket howler" this time, though in favor of India!! He has not been having a good time in recent times...