India in the West Indies

[cricket_lover]

Yea, atleast he erased few doubts people had...

He'll still need to cement his spot in the squad but this should help him. Dhoni's taking to settle down, I think India are looking to play beyond tea, get a score of 650 something.

 

[sohum]

The part-timers are keeping it pretty tight. Dhoni/Kaif need to manufacture something instead of blocking balls similar to what they did in the ODI games.

Okay, so what is India's strategy?

 

[rocklara]

well bad light has stopped play here with India at 517/5. Its apparent that rain has fallen for a little while and there are dark clouds around.

 

[sohum]

Perhaps, but the batsmen went off for light... this is a situation where the Monk wouldn't have taken the light.

Dhoni's dismissal was inevitable. I fully expect Pathan to get a century, now.

 

[Sureshot]

West Indies have made a right farce of this with this pitch.

To beat India you have to make them play on a pitch that is hard to bat on, imo.

Not taking anything away from India.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Pathan falls an agonizing 81 runs short of his century!

 

[blackleopard92]

dhoni and pathan out quickly, but kaif has got to get to 600 today, if india are to win this one.

 

[cricket_lover]

He's playing sensibly. Get the twos and singles and odd boundaries. Its hard when the field is spread, and pitch is slow and gayle is keeping it tight.

 

[hondeyho]

Well I think that the Indians may need to speed things up after tea, they may declare but a few slogging overs will just boost their score.

 

[SaiSrini]

Oh my goodness.. Again this pitch has produced 3 hundreds in a single innings for the visiting team's batsmen??? No wonder why this pitch rates among the last of the Caribbean wickets!

Well Anil Kumble can now bowl on any wicket and trouble the batsmen. Our monk is now hitting peak form and the confidence of this 180 must be really high on him. Pathan should be more hungry now that he was dropped in the previous test. And the pressure of a 600 odd total will surely be in the minds of the Windies batsmen.

India can still go for an innings victory here! Seems like they're doing well in the tests so far (touch wood)

Edit: There you go! Cricinfo says "the top soil is starting to loosen up, and already puffs of dust are starting to come out of the pitch". Kumble must lick his lips hearing that comment!

India need to bat out some more time and get more runs, and have Windies bat 30-40 mins today and try to get an innings win!

 

[ZoraxDoom]

India have declared on 588/8, just after Kumble got out.

C'mon innings victory!!

 

[cricket_lover]

The pitch's gone bad, the top soil coming off, i don't think it'll even help the spinners very much. India's first hope is the new ball, if they can get few wickets, they can put pressure even on a placid pitch.

 

[aussie1st]

Doesn't look like the pacemen will be able to do much. The spinners definitely could do a bit after looking and seeing 2 wickets to part time spinners. But the Windies have the king of batting out draws in Lara and with this total posted by India he could well try and break his 400 runs record.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

MP strikes, Ganga out LBW!!

MP on a hattrick! Sarwan out LBW too!! Lara iN!!

Aww..no hattrick...

 

[Adarsh]

Yea, atleast he erased few doubts people had...

He'll still need to cement his spot in the squad but this should help him. Dhoni's taking to settle down, I think India are looking to play beyond tea, get a score of 650 something.

I wouldn't say that he has erased all doubts. With Tendulkar coming back, it's going to be between him and Laxman and that's a hard choice to make. I also feel that Suresh Raina should make it to the Test team. The guy's got good technique and temperament to succeed at the highest level.