India in the West Indies

[kelvinismyname]

Lolz...one more thing...Bravo was jumping all over the place like a kangaroo awhile he was close fielder when Dhoni was facing spinners. Hahaha that was funny. Come on India! And, Dhoni you have showed the Caribbeanhow he can entertain them in the upcoming world cup 2007.

Yea that was funny.....too bad Dhoni didn't come off in the onedayers like he did in this test match

 

[Manohar]

Not comparing Kumble to d.Mohamed or gayle but the westindies spinners did not look too threating,& the pitch seems to be a Dead one..so i dont think kumble will get alot of success also given india inexperience bowling attack westindies have a good chance of creating a upset.......The westindies made 318 in one day in the first innings( with the pitch still havin some life in it) The pitch is dead so 379 in a day looks to be on the cards

If West Indies go for the win and manage to get the runs good for them but I am inclined to bet my money on India. I wish West Indies go for the runs and play shots against Kumble and other spinners which gives more chances for India to get the wickets. I am glad that Dravid made a sporting declaration unlike Ganguly in a few instances against Australia where he wanted to be absolutely safe and got a lot of people including John Wright irritated about the declaration.

 

[SaiSrini]

If West Indies go for the win and manage to get the runs good for them but I am inclined to bet my money on India. I wish West Indies go for the runs and play shots against Kumble and other spinners which gives more chances for India to get the wickets. I am glad that Dravid made a sporting declaration unlike Ganguly in a few instances against Australia where he wanted to be absolutely safe and got a lot of people including John Wright irritated about the declaration.

I wholeheartedly agree with that though! It wil give India chances to get the wickets!

Not comparing Kumble to d.Mohamed or gayle but the westindies spinners did not look too threating,& the pitch seems to be a Dead one..so i dont think kumble will get alot of success also given india inexperience bowling attack westindies have a good chance of creating a upset.......The westindies made 318 in one day in the first innings( with the pitch still havin some life in it) The pitch is dead so 379 in a day looks to be on the cards

Kumble is a top class bowler and is highly experienced. And nowadays, there is this pressure of facing Kumble that adds up to the fear for the opposition. Everyone knows that Kumble is our trumpcard and the pressure of facing him on final day wickets (however dead it might be) fearing that his deliveries might do something off the pitch is there!

In the commentary, I noticed that when Kumble bowled the last over, it said "There is some turn there" and for another ball it said "there is some bounce too". I think thats enough for Kumble to cause problems to the Windies (not underestimating them at all as they are playing at home and are supremely confident after a good showing against India).

Tomorrow should be a really exciting day! Cant wait to watch it unfold!

Lolz...one more thing...Bravo was jumping all over the place like a kangaroo awhile he was close fielder when Dhoni was facing spinners. Hahaha that was funny. Come on India! And, Dhoni you have showed the Caribbeanhow he can entertain them in the upcoming world cup 2007.

Lets see how he goes till that event comes along. he is suspect on lively pitches and is prone to the short of a length deliveries outside the off stump. His temperament is also not fully tested!

I hope he is a lot more matured when the World Cup comes, and is fully ready for the challenges. He is one of our prime players through whom we can think of winning the World Cup!

 

[s2sschan]

I feel the spinners should do the bulk of the bowling tomorrow. I think even Laxman or Dravid can bowl some overs tomorrow. Both are off spinners. Thelast over of today bowled by Kumble suggests that the wicket still has turn in it and should be exploited to its best!

I didn't get to see the match today. But on the third day Bravo was still getting some seam movement and Fidel Edwards was difficult to deal with.
Has the pitch flattenned out so much that the pacers are out of it totally?
Can the ball Swing/Reverse on the fifth day at all?

 

[aussie1st]

Kumble will make this total that much harder to chase for the Windies. In saying that if Gayle or Lara are still there at the end of the day the Windies may well find themselves 1-0 up. It'll take something special though as 370 on the last day with Kumble is one dam hard task. When the Windies made that record 400+ in the last inns they had 2 days to get it.

 

[SaiSrini]

I didn't get to see the match today. But on the third day Bravo was still getting some seam movement and Fidel Edwards was difficult to deal with.
Has the pitch flattenned out so much that the pacers are out of it totally?
Can the ball Swing/Reverse on the fifth day at all?

I dont know abt that, may be some one who watched it can enlighten us.

If there is some help for the pacers, we have Munaf who bowled well in the first innings and can get some help. But Kumble is our prime bowler!

 

[cricket4life]

I think Dhoni can bowl few overs tomorrow.

 

[SaiSrini]

I think Dhoni can bowl few overs tomorrow.

Is that 'sarcasm' to my post that Dravid and Laxman can bowl tomorrow??? If it is, quite STUPID!

I said that because Laxman and Dravid are off spinners, and with the pitch offering some turn and bounce, I think India need to use as much spinners possible to see if they can extract a victory here!

Edit: I just noticed in the ICC test championship table that India gain only 1 point if they win 4-0 this test series? Why the hell? They havent won a test series in the Windies for 35 years and they lost the last one 2-1. Why the hell does the table not credit India well if they win the current series?

 

[blackleopard92]

wonderful, a quick burst by dhoni to silence critics.Now, perhaps people will not talk about his inclusion/exclusion for a few matches.

 

[s2sschan]

I dont know abt that, may be some one who watched it can enlighten us.

If there is some help for the pacers, we have Munaf who bowled well in the first innings and can get some help. But Kumble is our prime bowler!

Even if there's not much in the pitch for pacers, they have to make something out of it. Try reverse swing, bowling in the corridor of uncertainty, bouncers, and a few yorkers.

A team can't have it both ways on most occasions. You either have to bat well on a bowler friendly pitch, or bowl well on a relatively flat deck (not a dead deck like Faisalabad) to win a Test Match.

 

[surendar]

I ve already mentioned that some miracle shd happen for India to stay in the competition.....

It happened!!!! Jaffer's Double Ton is magnificent !!!! But still i didnt watch the match ...

I just saw the scorecard... Dhoni,kaif,Dravid all played well!!!!

Good to see India offering a high ressistance!!!

 

[ronny_kingsley]

That was a mistake made by the boards of the past, not playing Robin Singh and Jadeja more. Balaji is still in the frame, Chappell has mentioned that he isn't completely out of the picture.

Look at Sreesanth's bowling traits:
1) He can bowl from 3 different angles. Wide of the stumps, close, and normal. He can also bowl well from around the wicket.
2) He has a well disguised slower ball.
3) Can bowl a good bouncer
4) Can get conventional inswing and outswing
5) Can reverse swing the ball, and has the ability to hide the ball in his runup.
6) Posses a good yorker

And to top it off, he is usually accurate and can touch good speeds.
Tell me one more bowler, just one, who, in India's cricketing history, was capable of doing all this.
Stats don't reveal everything.

And on Micheal Clarke, yes, I bet the selectors are just waiting to yeild the axe on Mcgill and Warne when they next tour India. And ofcourse, Gillespie is going to replace Hussey and Martyn in the middle order...:

Sreesanth can do all that and much more but he just cant take wickets and restrict runs.

Good speeds ???????? Optimism at its very best.

Bowlers who could do all that :
Sreenath,Agarkar,Zaheer,Kuruvilla (did that for 3 years),Pathan and now Munaf.

See those things which you said ,contradictions are :

1)Angles. Munaf uses it the best and no one can deny that. (Remember Cook)

2)Well disguised slower ball which is usually blasted in the ODI's ?????

3)Bouncer ???????? How many wickets has he taken with bouncer or even ruffled the batsman ????

4)Swing ????????Pathan and Agarkar get it in much more magnitude than him for sure .

5)Reverse ????Couldnt remove the last England wickets in the 1st TEst even when it was reversing.

6)Yorker ????If he would have had a good yorker his death bowling would have been much better than it is what now.

Say whatever but there are atleast 4 guys who should have been in the team ahead of Sreesanth (Pathan,Agarkar,Harbhajan,Zaheer)

Coming over to Michael Clarke well he wudnt be picked over a genuine bowler but surely he would be considered for the allrounders slot ahead of Watson on a dust bowl .

 

[irottev]

Good sportsmanship from Dhoni. A great innings too.

It will be a hard chase. Not over yet though.

 

[aussie1st]

Good sportsmanship from Dhoni. A great innings too.

It will be a hard chase. Not over yet though.

Definitely agree there, he basically gave away a chance to be not out as well as giving the young Mohammed a 3 wicket haul against India.
I'm just surpised they couldn't make a call for a catch that far out in the outfield. It must have been dam close to the rope.

 

[sohum]

Its difficult to get reverse-swing because the conditions are still so good. The field is lush, so the ball isn't really getting roughened up easily. I don't think there has been too much, if any, reverse swing yet, so India probably shouldn't count on it.

Dhoni's innings was magnificent and I'm waiting for the highlights to come on.

400 should be a 98% safe total with one day to go. Very few teams have scored 400 in a day, let alone in the second innings. If India lose this one, once again the focus will move from the batsmen failing to the bowlers failing.

In my ideal world, India would destroy West Indies by tea. Let's see what actually transpires, though.