India in Pakistan

[Hariz]

anyways... i reckon this test will end up in a draw unless something like the "akhtar-kaneria" 1 hr show occurs

also, why the hell is ganguly opening ???? he has hardly ever opened in a test match and with akhtar in such a good form.. he is in real trouble :crying :cutit :gundown

Yeah I wonder why he is opening, he is always shaky at the start of his innings and the bowlers are surely going to test him with the short deliveries. Perhaps the team wants to give him confidence and a chance to prove himself.

 

[Indiangod]

well.. we cant completely blame the bowlers.. they had absolutely NO and i mean NO assistance from the pitch whatsoever ! although he could have kept
the scoring rate / score a bit low.

anyways... i reckon this test will end up in a draw unless something like the "akhtar-kaneria" 1 hr show occurs

also, why the hell is ganguly opening ???? he has hardly ever opened in a test match and with akhtar in such a good form.. he is in real trouble :crying :cutit :gundown

Ganguly will be facing extreme fast bowlers bowling to him, its make or break series for Ganguly, I reckon Ganguyls determination to do well will pay off in this series.

 

[cricket doctor]

Yeah I wonder why he is opening, he is always shaky at the start of his innings and the bowlers are surely going to test him with the short deliveries. Perhaps the team wants to give him confidence and a chance to prove himself.

..or perhaps Dravid and Chapell want him in the backseat forever,by exposing him against the likes of Akhtar, Sami and Rana.

 

[ZexyZahid]

I've got a feeling Ganguly got selected for this tour, so Chappell can prove Gangly doesn't belong in India anymore and finish his career. If Ganguly will open I surely think this is just Chappell's way of getting rid of Ganguly by exposing them against the opening bowlers of Akhtar or Rana/Sami.

 

[rahulk666]

Pakistan have started the tour in same way India started their tour in 2004 in Pakistan. Pakistan will look to bat the entire day today and put a 550+ total on the board at least. India will then have to play for a draw. But batting on this pitch from 3rd day onwards will become increasingly difficult. Pakistan are in the driver's seat right now. If India has to make a match out of this, then their bowlers need to pick up 2-3 wickets before lunch tomorrow. Tough ask though.

 

[SaiSrini]

[/B]Great display from Pakistan!

But I would say cant fault India too much! The pitch was terribly flat and didnt offer a smidgen of assistance to the bowlers (the first hour had some turn for Harbhajan but that too evaporated!).

Hey guys, dont underestimate Chappell! He might have a few tricks up his sleeve. The team sheet lists Ganguly near Virender Sehwag as an opener! Since we dont have any specialist opener selected for the test match, anybody can open (Irfan Pathan, MS Dhoni???).

A draw is more likely here! If the prediction of the wicket turning from Day 3 comes true, then India have to bundle Pakistan out for less than 450. They need not worry much! If I remember right in the Chennai test 2001 against Australia, Australia raked up the same score of 326/3 on the first day only to be all out for 391 in the first session of the second day! India won that test match!

Adarsh, I saw what you meant by Ganguly and Dravid in a heated discussion! The important thing there was, when Ganguly was so animatedly discussing with Dravid, Chappell didnt move an eye towards Ganguly! He was staring at Dravid when Ganguly was talking! Was it because he knew the cameras were capturing him or he really doesnt see eye to eye with Ganguly?

 

[USA]

Crowd support is appaling in Pakistan. People just don't show up for the games. Are people there just that dis-intrested in tests or is it that people can't afford tickets? With the economic situation in that country I can understand people being priced out of the game. Can some local enlighten me? I remember the previous tour was also played to empty stands. Maybe they can encourage people by giving away free tickets.

 

[Adarsh]

Maybe they were talking in Hindi! Ganguly was very animated there. Chappel kept quiet, letting Dravid and Ganguly argue.

 

[ZexyZahid]

Didn't know there was such talking. About what were they talking?

 

[PakiFan]

Crowd support is appaling in Pakistan. People just don't show up for the games. Are people there just that dis-intrested in tests or is it that people can't afford tickets? With the economic situation in that country I can understand people being priced out of the game. Can some local enlighten me? I remember the previous tour was also played to empty stands. Maybe they can encourage people by giving away free tickets.

Nops man i think there was a very gud crowd after the first session...... in the first session, the morning was very cool, so crowd gathers late... but there was a gud crowd.........
secondly, i dont think there is any economic problem afterall the pavilions are over populated in the one dayers.... If they ca manage tobuy the ODI ticket, then surely they can manage to buy a test ticket as well...

 

[m_vaughan]

Well I think test matches arent very popular in Pakistan. Thats really bad since test cricket is the real form of the game.

[/B]Great display from Pakistan!
A draw is more likely here! If the prediction of the wicket turning from Day 3 comes true, then India have to bundle Pakistan out for less than 450.

That'll take some doing considering the pitch we have, and India's clear lack of good fast bowlers. Too much pressure on Kumble and Harbhajan, and Pathan and Agarkar are completely ineffective on this wicket.

I reckon Pakistan can score 600 here, and really put India under pressure.

 

[ZexyZahid]

Don't know what you guys are talking about Test cricket isn't popular in Pakistan.

Some explanation:

Most people can't afford to spend five days at a Test match or even some day. Because they will lose a lot of earnings a day if they go there. In other words for them it's very costly to go and follow a Test match. In contrary to ODI's, which is only for one day. And the day-nighters help with that too, so the working people can join in late. But that Test cricket isn't that boring, you will see when you will enter some stores. A lot of people having the TV turned on during their work.

For the poor ones and children who went just out school it helps it they are granted free tickets.

Also there was an article about this during the Pakistan vs England tour. Those who have read this, should already know by this.

 

[USA]

Nops man i think there was a very gud crowd after the first session...... in the first session, the morning was very cool, so crowd gathers late... but there was a gud crowd.........
secondly, i dont think there is any economic problem afterall the pavilions are over populated in the one dayers.... If they ca manage tobuy the ODI ticket, then surely they can manage to buy a test ticket as well...

The economic problem I was referring to was for the rest of the stadium not the Pavilion. And the though the crowd grew it was still sparse considering the fact that this was a Indo-Pak clash.

The series in India last year had much larger crowds than what we saw today and in the previous series here in 2003. Which is what led me to the economic situation comment.

Don't know what you guys are talking about Test cricket isn't popular in Pakistan.

Some explanation:

Most people can't afford to spend five days at a Test match or even some day. Because they will lose a lot of earnings a day if they go there. In other words for them it's very costly to go and follow a Test match. In contrary to ODI's, which is only for one day. And the day-nighters help with that too, so the working people can join in late. But that Test cricket isn't that boring, you will see when you will enter some stores. A lot of people having the TV turned on during their work.

For the poor ones and children who went just out school it helps it they are granted free tickets.

Also there was an article about this during the Pakistan vs England tour. Those who have read this, should already know by this.

Judging by this I have to assume that the Indians are much more well off and I am not surprised since India is becoming an economic power house.

I hope the weekend brings in the crowd. It's makes watching the game that much more exciting for people like me far far away.

 

[MAJID-A]

Generally a great day for Pakistan, you could just sense the way that Younis began his innings, drop and run, him and malik had run India ragged before the day was even half old. Malik's knock was pleasing but its clear he's still not thinking like an opener ie big hundreds. Yousuf looked completely at ease and really nothing from India seemed like an issue to handle.
I was very suprised that India couldn't find some spark, even early on they looked like they were going through their paces like some ordinary game and not an Pak- Ind game. I agree 100% with Imran, those inswingers would be so much more effective if at least 5mph quicker, something that Pathan did consistently in 2004, hence success.
Tomorrow Pakistan must consolidate and find their bearings in the morning session, in Kolkata last year Younis and Yousuf put on a similar partnership but the remainder wickets fell extremely cheaply and India won comfortably, Pakistan must look to bat India out of the game like Sehwag did at Multan.
Here's hoping that Afridi has a free licence to hit out for a few overs at the close of day two.

 

[Sureshot]

Pakistan continuing their fine form from our Series with them.

I tip them for big things in the future, but they must improve form away from sub continent.