India tour of New Zealand - March 2009

[Dare]

Laxman bowled between bat and pad, what else is new.

 

[Chetan0304]

5 Down

Dhoni and UV the King of T20 on crease


Lead is already 500+ and still time left for Stumps :happy

 

[irottev]

Laxman bowled between bat and pad, what else is new.

To be fair it was probably the delivery of the series. Seamed a long way and hit the top of off. Was great bowling!

India will win unless we bat all day tomorrow and it rains Tuesday. India probably could have declared by now but I guess they're 1-0 up and a draw would do if weather was horrible.

 

[manee]

One more session of aggressive batting should do. I can't see New Zealand ever chasing over 550 to win a Test.

 

[irottev]

One more session of aggressive batting should do. I can't see New Zealand ever chasing over 550 to win a Test.

Or any team at that!

 

[Leggie]

Gambhir is turning into a heck of a player.

 

[King Cricket]

I don't know why MSD didn't declare today when the lead exceeded 530. Surely he doesn't think that our opponents can still win this match by chasing 500+ in just 2 days. Had he declared our bowlers could have started a fresh spell of bowling tomorrow, completely charged up withe exactly 180 overs to bowl the Kiwis out. Taking our innings onto tomorrow is just a wastage of time and overs.

 

[surendar]

Since there is going to be 30 minutes early start, Dhoni would have thought for some quick firing to keep the 600 target(thinking of their 600 innings in 2nd test) for safety sake India have played like champions. I never expected this kind of gameplay to be honest during the beginning of this tour. Gambhir, Dravid, Sachin, Laxman delivered what the team needed in every match.. Those 3 bowlers were in top notch through out! It is something like a dream tour for India

Unless weather interferes, I don't see the chances for Kiwis in this game to prevent from loosing.

And that Laxman's delivery.. to be honest, it was a top notch delivery. Also only thrice NZ bowlers were successful in getting the Indian batsmen bowled in these 3 test matches- Dravid, Yuvraj and now Laxman

Oh well, this should be Sachin's last tour to NZ as well. Anyways, he has had a great tour like Australian tour. I think he should be planning to have one great & last tour overseas in each place before he retires from cricket

 

[shravi]

Why are people asking India to declare? You play until you are all out in such a situation to totaly allay any possibility of New Zealand victory. I know they won't reach the total but even then, draw first, win later. No risks even if it is so very minimal.

 

[aussie_ben91]

LOL @ Sehwag

Comes into the series in astonishingly good form from the ODI's and then produces a mediocre series in bowler-friendly conditions. One must beg the question, how much more poorly would've Sehwag done if he came into the series in bad form? He probably would've averaged under 5.

After 13 innings in South African & New Zealand conditions as an opener, Sehwag has failed to go past 50 once! He has only scored just over 200 runs at an average of 15.69.

Just one more failure from Sehwag and his average will drop below 50!!! :happy:hpraise

The sad thing is that he'll probably go back to the subcontient and smash a double-hundred against the West Indies or New Zealand in lifeless conditions for bowlers, which will furthermore inflate his batting average and prevent his averaging from dropping below 50 for a few more matches. But anyways...

Virender Sehwag - You are a hack!

 

[surendar]

LOL @ Sehwag

Comes into the series in astonishingly good form from the ODI's and then produces a mediocre series in bowler-friendly conditions. One must beg the question, how much more poorly would've Sehwag done if he came into the series in bad form? He probably would've averaged under 5.

No, wrong! ODI is different from Tests. He has already been in such a situation where he rusted and terribly failed in ODIs but used to shine in test matches. Then he got dropped from ODIs and still played in Tests.

There is no wonder even if Sehwag had failed in ODIs with 5 ducks and finished this test series with 3 tons. He has already had a similar situation. So no wonder, and it's completely independent for natural striking players. You never know when he is going to blast and when he is going to go quiet.

Yuvraj Singh(who has been excellent in touch in limited format but struggling in tests) is another example. So your statement is completely invalid!

 

[Chetan0304]

LOL @ Sehwag

Comes into the series in astonishingly good form from the ODI's and then produces a mediocre series in bowler-friendly conditions. One must beg the question, how much more poorly would've Sehwag done if he came into the series in bad form? He probably would've averaged under 5.

After 13 innings in South African & New Zealand conditions as an opener, Sehwag has failed to go past 50 once! He has only scored just over 200 runs at an average of 15.69.

Just one more failure from Sehwag and his average will drop below 50!!! :happy:hpraise

The sad thing is that he'll probably go back to the subcontient and smash a double-hundred against the West Indies or New Zealand in lifeless conditions for bowlers, which will furthermore inflate his batting average and prevent his averaging from dropping below 50 for a few more matches. But anyways...

Virender Sehwag - You are a hack!

A true Cricket fan, admirer and follower will never wish for a failure of a player at least when two other sides than our home team is playing.:

I wish Sehwag hit's a six and the ball comes out of TV and smash your face.

 

[aussie_ben91]

No, it's just ridiculous how 3-4 players can average over 50 with the bat and yet their team isn't even the best in the world.

 

[surendar]

Aus - 128 points
SA - 119 points
Ind - 118 points

I don't think you can rule out India in calling as best team? Can you? Considering that Aussies during Waugh period itself, have had a great gap between no 1 spot and no 2 spot and now, that gap have just gone down to reachable heights of just 10 points.

Who knows, next year by this time we could be number 1 as well.

It's just stupid to tell that India is not best in their business. The way they played in Australia(inspite of many controversies and loss), and the way they played in NZ, it's just so stupid and silly to tell that India are not best in their business.

I do agree that India have had a poor overseas tour( struggling especially in SA and NZ and Aus), but a new revolution has begun. Especially you can never underestimate Dhoni and his team men. If you do, its not our problem as well because we know what we are capable of.

Now, I am only waiting for SA tour(if any), because if Dhoni's men can win in SA, it will be a turning point in our bad historic overseas record. We have done well in Aus.. We are doing well in NZ... We always do well in England.. We did well in Caribbean and only place we keep failing is SA..

 

[manee]

No, it's just ridiculous how 3-4 players can average over 50 with the bat and yet their team isn't even the best in the world.

Not at all ridiculous. Pitches have been flatter this decade than in the 90s, 80s or 70s and subcontinental pitches tend to be, but are not always, the flattest in the world. However, this is not to say that Sehwag is a flat track bully, but someone who favours the subcontinent. He has scored runs on troubling pitches in Asia and Australia and so you are doing him a disservice to reduce him to someone who can not score runs when the pitch offers assistance to the bowlers and it'd be a gross oversimplification.

As for the other two averaging over 50 - well, I'm not sure even you would disagree with Tendulkar and Dravid being in the pantheon of the top batsmen of this generation. The former is obvious but Dravid has strung together an extremely long period of form from 1997-2006, scoring runs all over the world, on flat pitches and lively pitches.