India in the West Indies

[m_vaughan]

India controlled this game from Day 3 onwards. West Indies couldn't sustain the pressure over India for a lengthened period of time. Dujon's comment about "Test cricket being a test of character and strength" when talking about the Indian bowlers came back to bite him.

Lets face it, it was India's batting that came back to rescue them. 298 runs in the 4th innings isnt a bad effort especially for an inexperienced side like the Windies.

Outside home and home-like conditions, India's bowling still remains a doubt.

 

[sohum]

What did we expect from a bowling line-up that featured 3 rookies at the expense of 2 experienced cricketers?

I take it you were watching the game, and realized that the pitch only got better for batting as the days wore on. There was true bounce and only slight turn even on Day 5, session 3. Getting 10 wickets on that pitch would have been an amazing feat, and we did come pretty close.

And the West Indies batting has the experience of Gayle, Sarwan, Lara and Chanderpaul, 4 cricketers who have been the face of West Indies cricket for a while now. Bravo is an up-and-coming cricketer who has had moderate success (a lot in this series). India's batting is missing the experience of Sachin Tendulkar...

 

[cricket_lover]

Lets face it, it was India's batting that came back to rescue them. 298 runs in the 4th innings isnt a bad effort especially for an inexperienced side like the Windies.

Outside home and home-like conditions, India's bowling still remains a doubt.

well, playing three new pacemen will always make it doubtful. Pathan and Harbhajan would have made the difference here.

 

[Manohar]

Dont compare him with Asif. He is not yet like Asif. Asif bowls with great economy, and at the same time, gets lot of wickets too.

I did not mean Asif the Pakistan pace bowler. I was comparing the postings of "cricket4life" with this guy "Asif" who used post a lot of wierd stuff in this chat group.

 

[Ritwik]

What was achieved by playing VRV Singh here? He bowled 11 overs I think in the second innings. "India's fastest" my foot!

I think Dravid made a hash of things at the end: he should've given the last over to Kumble so that the batsman always felt that they had a "real" bowler to contend with. Sehwag should have been bowled more at the death, he was causing the batsman to make mistakes and was bowling much better than all 3 of the pacemen. And wth is the trouble with Sreesanth ? You don't bowl wide of the off-stump when you get 6 balls to take the wicket of a tailender!

 

[SaiSrini]

What was achieved by playing VRV Singh here? He bowled 11 overs I think in the second innings. "India's fastest" my foot!

I think Dravid made a hash of things at the end: he should've given the last over to Kumble so that the batsman always felt that they had a "real" bowler to contend with. Sehwag should have been bowled more at the death, he was causing the batsman to make mistakes and was bowling much better than all 3 of the pacemen. And wth is the trouble with Sreesanth ? You don't bowl wide of the off-stump when you get 6 balls to take the wicket of a tailender!

I think the bowlers are specifically asked to bowl slower than normal, by some one. VRV was hailed as our fastest bowler, but his speeds were shocking in this test match. Munaf it seems was the second fastest in the whole match after Edwards. And why was VRV huffing and puffing while getting back to his run up? Is he fit or not? Doesnt look like that!

Sehwag for the penultimate over and Kumble for the last over, or Sehwag with the last over would have been a good choice. I am surprised Sreesanth didnt try a slower ball. Even though its a test match and the batsmen were defending to get out wth a draw, a slower ball can even ridicule the best of defences. And there was pressure for the batsmen to negotiate the balls and come off. Could have proved a vital weapon!

I did not mean Asif the Pakistan pace bowler. I was comparing the postings of "cricket4life" with this guy "Asif" who used post a lot of wierd stuff in this chat group.

Sorry! I didnt get that!

 

[Sureshot]

He looked faster than the other bowlers on show.

Paces means nothing without accuracy, but you don't want 2/3/4 bowlers all 80Mph Pathans.

Sreesanth imo has alot of potential for India. Pathan has too come back, he may be out of form, but he is a very good all round player.

Any changes for the Second test for either team?

For me.

WIndies need to replace Edwards, Taylor maybe. Other than that I'd stick.

India.

Bhajji has to come in imo. Probably for VRV.

Will Pathan come back in? If so for who? Munaf?

....Doubt it.

 

[Ritwik]

Pathan should definitely be played, he should be played over Sreesanth any day. Seriously, he is the best paceman (relatively speaking ) India have.

 

[Sureshot]

I'd certainly go with that Ritwik, very good batsman too.

Sreesanth or Munaf?

Sreesanth did more damage in the 1st test.

Tough choice, I think Munaf would bowl well with the new ball to left handed batsman due to his wide approach at the crease.

 

[Manohar]

I think the bowlers are specifically asked to bowl slower than normal, by some one. VRV was hailed as our fastest bowler, but his speeds were shocking in this test match. Munaf it seems was the second fastest in the whole match after Edwards. And why was VRV huffing and puffing while getting back to his run up? Is he fit or not? Doesnt look like that!

Sehwag for the penultimate over and Kumble for the last over, or Sehwag with the last over would have been a good choice. I am surprised Sreesanth didnt try a slower ball. Even though its a test match and the batsmen were defending to get out wth a draw, a slower ball can even ridicule the best of defences. And there was pressure for the batsmen to negotiate the balls and come off. Could have proved a vital weapon!
Sorry! I didnt get that!

I did not watch the game yesterday, just the highlights and so cannot tell for sure. I thought out of the three pace bowlers Munaf had the best chance with the tail enders since he can keep it on the stumps, bowl good yorkers and bowl at good pace. Remember how he got Hoggard and a few other tail enders out of the English team during the last test series. Sreesanth depends a lot on swing to get wickets and if the ball really swings the tail enders are going to miss it completely rather than edging. I guess with more experience the pace bowlers would do better. Overall taking these 9 wickets in a day in this wicket is a feat. According to Micheal Holding, West Indies should not have gone through so much trouble playing out a day in this wicket to save the test. According to him it shows the weakness in the West Indian batting.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Drop VRV! Bring in Pathan, and Bhajji only if it is a spinning wicket. Stick with Munaf and Sreesanth...

 

[Manohar]

I'd certainly go with that Ritwik, very good batsman too.

Sreesanth or Munaf?

Sreesanth did more damage in the 1st test.

Tough choice, I think Munaf would bowl well with the new ball to left handed batsman due to his wide approach at the crease.

I think the problem with Pathan is that he has lost a lot of pace. Even during the England series he was effective only in the ODIs but not in the tests which is mainly due to lack of pace. In spite of that he is a good bowler.

It is also possible that India could go back to 5 bowler theory in which case Harbajan and Pathan could play and drop one batsmen and drop VRV or another pacer.

 

[sohum]

Pathan is important because he does make the new ball talk. Also, he can really cause trouble if the pitch has a bit of help for bowlers (his hat-trick, anyone?). I think Pathan would have been bowled more than VRV if he had been picked. He has also been quite economical in Test matches recently, if I remember correctly.

VRV did get pretty fast, but he is too much of a rhythm bowler. He only began touching 87-88 MPH once he got a wicket or two. It seems he lacks the confidence to bowl faster than that, if he doesn't have a wicket or two. Immediately after he picked up his first wicket, he was up there in terms of speed. His fastest delivery was at least 88.8 MPH, the fastest delivery of the match was 90 MPH by Edwards, I think. The problem with VRV was that he did not show that yorker that he had in the Abu Dhabhi series, and he was really lacking too much confidence to do anything but try and bounce out the batsmen.

 

[nightprowler10]

I'd certainly go with that Ritwik, very good batsman too.

He's definitely got potential with the bat, but I wouldn't call him a good batsman just yet.

 

[m_vaughan]

But I would call him a good batsmen, although I am still not convinced about his bowling. One of those bowlers who can only do well in favourable conditions.