India tour of New Zealand - March 2009

[aussie1st]

Wow what a way to end it McCullum almost messed that up. Thought the fielders weren't close enough to prevent the quick single but it seems they weren't far enough for that catch.

 

[King Pietersen]

New Zealand win. Only just over the fielders head, what an innings from Brendon McCullum. 2 unbeaten 50's, 2 match winning fifties. He's going to be a handful in the ODi series with this more sensible approach, could finally start to realise his true potential. What a match.

 

[Harrypotter_fan]

We messed it again. Irfan again proves he is useless.

 

[sohum]

Haha... I can't believe we stretched that out to 20 overs. These are good signs for us because it looks like the Kiwis are just a tad bit too respectful towards Bhajji.

Anyhow, it's about 3am now so time to retire for the night.

 

[McLOVIN]

that was hardly a drop, rather nice try! good game though!

go Kiwi

 

[SaiSrini]

We messed it again. Irfan again proves he is useless.

HEY!!!!! It was Irfan that took the game till the last ball and gave us these moments where we believed India could win this match. As much as I hate him these days, he bowled the last two overs in extremely good fashion.

WELL PLAYED INDIA!!! Very good comeback! Had my money's worth of a game. Harbhajan and Jadeja applied the brakes superbly and were instrumental in bringing this game to such a thrilling end. Rohit Sharma made a valiant effort to catch it off the last ball and take it to the Super over but he just failed by a whisker.... but all in all after a mediocre batting performance, this 2nd innings was a treat. But we got to change our approach to batting if we got to win the ODI series.

 

[McLOVIN]

We messed it again. Irfan again proves he is useless.

dude you kidding? he is the one who brought the game back from 17th over! and did you not see his 1st 4 balls? but McCullum got what Irfan was doing, and thats how he hit 4s on the last 2 bowls, totally douged it out.
you cant blame Irfan, india was 20 runs short!

 

[khalek]

Best T20 match ever!

Whats up with the hatred of these crowds towards the Indian cricketers? Mccullum is a legend, how the hell do you play a sloggish straight drive against a perfectly bowled yorker! Pathan actually got all the deliveries right except the 4th delivery in the final over, Zaheer was fantastic as well. I thought this should have been an easy win for Kiwis, Taylor and Guptill wasted a lot of deliveries. Rohit Sharma, OMG nothing's going right for him. May be he should retire from Cricket already.

 

[SaiSrini]

Best T20 match ever!

Whats up with the hatred of these crowds towards the Indian cricketers? Mccullum is a legend, how the hell do you play a sloggish straight drive against a perfectly bowled yorker! Pathan actually got all the deliveries right except the 4th delivery in the final over, Zaheer was fantastic as well. I thought this should have been an easy win for Kiwis, Taylor and Guptill wasted a lot of deliveries. Rohit Sharma, OMG nothing's going right for him. May be he should retire from Cricket already.

That last ball, it was a fine effort to get hand to the ball. He dived for it.... He fielded well whenever he came onto the field. Thats the only part where he looks good these days when playing for India. Retire from cricket is too harsh. He should go back to domestic cricket and work harder. He is the type of guy from the Bollywood film "Victory" where a few successes sends everything right upto your head and you act as if you're the best in the world.

I think the ODI's will be very exciting now after this thrilling finish. The sides have experienced the energy of having to go down the wire. Hope they carry forward this momentum into the ODI's and make it a thriller to watch! Although I will always back India to win every match they play, I wish for a thrillring series as I am planning to watch most of it live.

 

[irottev]

Well played India. That was quite the turn around. Ever since that Guptill dismissal we struggled a bit. We went a bit late and payed for it. With 8 wickets in hand you should be looking to up the rate earlier than we did. But we got there in the end luckily. McCullum hasn't been dismissed yet. All these people saying Dhoni's a better keeper and batsman, well his keeping has been sloppy and batting has been very disappointing.

The crowd probably doesn't hate India. People at these games drink and end up throwing stuff around more later in the games. Doesn't matter what team it is (they especially love doing it to the Aussies understandably) Not surprised seeing that behavior in Wellington mind you. Had none of it in Christchurch.

 

[Harrypotter_fan]

I just love hating Irfan!

 

[khalek]

That last ball, it was a fine effort to get hand to the ball. He dived for it.... He fielded well whenever he came onto the field. Thats the only part where he looks good these days when playing for India. Retire from cricket is too harsh. He should go back to domestic cricket and work harder. He is the type of guy from the Bollywood film "Victory" where a few successes sends everything right upto your head and you act as if you're the best in the world.

His FC records are good and I can see why he's still in the side. But look at the amount of opportunities he's getting. The only places he hasn't played are may be England and West Indies, except these 2 places I dont think he hasnt played anywhere else in the world. He's gained a lot of experience but look at his average, its nowhere near 30. Forget about the average, he cant even play according to the situation. Fielding, it was really good in the beginning but now its getting worse day by day. This dive effort was a good one but failing to catch it is another woe for him. I dont know how much its gonna help him going back and playing Domestic cricket but may be IPL is going to help him a bit because he'll get to face the overseas bowlers.

 

[SaiSrini]

Well played India. That was quite the turn around. Ever since that Guptill dismissal we struggled a bit. We went a bit late and payed for it. With 8 wickets in hand you should be looking to up the rate earlier than we did. But we got there in the end luckily. McCullum hasn't been dismissed yet. All these people saying Dhoni's a better keeper and batsman, well his keeping has been sloppy and batting has been very disappointing.

The crowd probably doesn't hate India. People at these games drink and end up throwing stuff around more later in the games. Doesn't matter what team it is (they especially love doing it to the Aussies understandably) Not surprised seeing that behavior in Wellington mind you. Had none of it in Christchurch.

I watched the same game too... The keeping didnt look sloppy at all to me. Once where it went for leg byes, the ball was too wide and was lucky not to be called a wide and it was called leg byes. Apart from that, there was nothing to say Dhoni's keeping was sloppy. I agree that his batting was disappointing today. I mean, where is that ease with which he used to deliver those big hits and those unusual shots? He is struggling these days to get the big hits going. He has totally changed his mind and game to be the sheet anchor batsman rather than the big hitter that he started and got hugely popular with.

 

[Amiya]

The 19th over by Yuvraj was the main factor of India loosing, giving 11 runs of it.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Well bowled Pathan and well played Kiwiz. India's strike forces are not used properly at the right time though I am not blaming anyone for that. Indian batting is not living up to their reputation. Indian bowled well in middle overs and McCullum also did not throw his wicket away. Very mature and sensible.
Also we have seen some world class spine bowling in middle overs from both sides. I was expecting that from Vettori and Bhajji but Jadeja truly amazed me by his bowling. Much better prospect than it looks like.