Story India's Journey Post WC Triumph | India score 420 in the 1st inning

[Prats]

Stephen Fleming is a great coach and I'm sure that India will gain a lot of success. Go India!

 

[The Rock]

Good writing. Loving thw news bulletin thing.
Can Fleming really fit into Kirsten's shoes or is it the Srikkanth - CSK link?

BTW who won the IPL?

 

[AbhishekS]

BTW who won the IPL?

I had thought of keeping that part imaginary as I did not wish to mix the two things. Still if you need an answer, I'll say that Delhi Daredevils won the IPL 2011.

 

[AbhishekS]

Vodafone Test Series
India in England, 2011
First test at Old Trafford, Manchester​

​

Irfan gets a game ahead of Ojha

Irfan Pathan gets an opportunity of a lifetime

Irfan Pathan had been trying hard to play for India for quite a while now. Finally, his efforts have paid off as he is selected in the XI for the first test against England. The captain of the Indian team, MS Dhoni was in favor of getting Irfan in the XI, ahead of Pragyan Ojha.

After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, Dhoni said, "Even we would have opted to bowl first on this wicket, but the result of the toss is not in my hands. We wouldn't mind batting first either as we have a strong batting unit." When asked about the team composition, he replied, "Our XI is pretty much like what our test team has been. Ambati Rayudu will be opening with Gambhir as Viru is unavailable, and Yuvraj and Irfan come in the side. Ojha misses out on this game."

India XI: Gautam Gambhir, Ambati Rayudu, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni*†, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

England XI: Andrew Strauss*, Alastair Cook, Jonathon Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior†, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Tremlett.


Team India has decided to go in with 6 batsmen, 1 keeper and 4 bowlers. Yuvraj Singh can be used as a handy spinner, which means that the Indian bowling attack consists of 3 pacers (Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan) and 2 spinners (Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh).
Ambati Rayudu will be opening along with Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan gets a game ahead of Pragyan Ojha and Ishant Sharma will be playing as the in-form Munaf Patel is injured.


What they said...

Irfan Pathan:
This is a great opportunity for me to showcase my talent once again. I had been dropped, or rather ignored for a long time and now that I have an opportunity I would give it my best shot. I am mainly concentrating on my bowling for now, as I was pretty successful with the ball in the IPL even though I didn't begin the season very well.

Ambati Rayudu:
It's a proud moment for me as I will be representing my nation at the highest level for the first time. The pressure is immense but MS (Dhoni) and Sachin Paaji (Tendulkar) have given me the confidence to go out and perform. It's a big challenge to bat in England as the pitches here are very different from India, and I am up for it.



Quiz time!

I will be running a small competition where questions will be asked to the readers. All those who answer correctly will get 500 vCash each per question.

Q1. How much will Ambati Rayudu score in the first inning of his debut test match?
a. 0-25
b. 26-50
c. 51-75
d. > 75​

 

[HawkAussie]

Answer will be A

 

[Gaurav_7]

Option b for me. Fantastic, that's the word. So clean and neat, everything flows in very well. The one thing I'll be looking here for is how you manage with CS. I mean if you go about differently, I'll be happy. Like not just posting the exact scorecards as it is in CS. Trying out some different things which look pleasing.

 

[Aditya]

Excellent presentation. A massive improvement in the writing department and as User mentioned, the presentation is so clean and neat. Keep up the great work, Yudi.

 

[Prats]

Irfan Pathan in squad. Umm..Lets see how he does?

And my answer will be - Option "B"

 

[Aditya]

For the quiz, I'll go with C.

 

[Meet]

Lets see if the new inclusion works for India.
Good to see Pathan return to Int. Cricket after a long span of time.
For Quiz-C
Good luck for upcoming updates Yudi.

 

[riz7khan12]

i'll go with option B

great to see Pathan in the lineup, makes much more sense to have only one spinner at manchester... or anywhere outside the subcontinent really. The fact that he can swing the ball is even more of a incentive for him to be picked over ohja.

 

[AbhishekS]

Guys I have decided to continue this story. Expect some updates soon.

 

[AbhishekS]

Vodafone Test Series
India in England, 2011
First test at Old Trafford, Manchester​

​

India score 420 after batting for around 140 overs
(India: 420 all out - Dravid 82, Yuvraj 73 - Swann 4/123, Broad 3/89)

Rahul Dravid looked good as always and played a major role in the first inning

The debutant, Ambati Rayudu, came out to open the Indian inning along with Gautam Gambhir. The Indians were well aware of the difficult conditions and came out with the plan of battling out the first few overs safely. Gambhir decided to face the first ball. For England, Stuart Broad was given the job to bowl the first over. The first ball Broad bowled was a sharp bouncer, Gambhir just managed to defend it but Rayudu was well aware of where the fielders were and took off for a quick single. Rayudu was on strike facing the first delivery of his international career. Broad bowled a full delivery in the corridor of uncertainty and Rayudu was up for the challenge. He hit a beautiful cover drive to open his account. Getting off the mark on the very first delivery with a boundary certainly took away a lot of pressure off Rayudu. The openers looked rock-solid and were batting slow and steady. India did not lose a single wicket in the first 17 overs, but then Swann bowled a perfect off spinner which took off from the edge of Gambhir's willow and landed straight into Strauss' hands. India lost the first wicket at 49.

Rahul Dravid joined Rayudu. Rayudu was determined and Dravid looked comfortable. They both played some sublime shots but could not manage to put on a big partnership. Strauss re-introduced Broad into the attack and he cleaned up Rayudu with a beautiful inswinging delivery. Rayudu departed on a promising 26 and from 49/0, India had suddenly slumped to 76/2.

The master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar came in and hit a boundary on the 2nd delivery he faced. But the 'Tendulker show' could not last long as he got out on 4. The ball hit straight on Tendulkar's pads, the entire English team went up appealing but the umpire turned down the appeal. Swann straight-away walked towards Strauss asking for a referral. Strauss agreed to it, asked the on-field umpire to refer the decision. The original decision was over-ruled and Tendulkar was adjudged LBW. Things got bad to worse for team India as the scoreboard read 80 for the loss of 3 wickets.

The relatively inexperienced batsman at the test level, Yuvraj Singh joined Dravid. Yuvraj as always looked good against the Englishmen. He was hitting the ball from the middle of the bat and enjoyed batting on Old Trafford wicket. Dravid and Yuvraj put on a hundred run partnership and brought the Indian inning back on track. Later Dravid departed after scoring a well made 82 at a good SR but had done his job to quite an extent as the Indians were now at 200 odd runs for the loss of 4 wickets.

VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh also put on a good partnership of 94 runs. They made sure that India reached a respectable total in these difficult conditions to bat on.

MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh also chipped in well with the bat. Irfan in particular batted beautifully scoring 36 runs from boundaries in his knock of 43 runs.

India has managed to put a good total on the board. After batting for around one and half days, the team has scored 420 which is not bad at all in such conditions. For the Englishmen, Graeme Swann for the standout bowler with figures 44-12-123-4.

The next inning will be crucial and from the looks of things, India has the advantage of having two quality left arm pacers, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan, to bowl to the left-handed openers of England, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. It will interesting to see how things shape up in the match, it looks evenly poised at the moment.


Scorecard - India 1st Inn: 420 all out

INDIA 1st innings

Player              Status                        Runs  Blls  4s   6s    S/R
Gautam Gambhir      c. Strauss     b. Swann        33    51    6    0   64.7%
Ambati Rayudu                      b. Broad        26    85    5    0   30.6%
Rahul Dravid        lbw            b. Broad        82   121   16    1   67.8%
Sachin Tendulkar    lbw            b. Swann         4     6    1    0   66.7%
Yuvraj Singh        c. Bell        b. Anderson     73   178   12    2   41.0%
VVS Laxman          c. Strauss     b. Broad        71   117   16    0   60.7%
MS Dhoni            c. Prior       b. Swann        24    82    4    0   29.3%
Irfan Pathan        c. Broad       b. Swann        43    75    9    0   57.3%
Harbhajan Singh     not out                        30    67    4    1   44.8%
Zaheer Khan         c. Morgan      b. Anderson     13    34    3    0   38.2%
Ishant Sharma                      b. Tremlett      6    28    1    0   21.4%
 
 Total:  420/10       Overs:  140.2        Run Rate:  2.99     Extras:  15 
   
                             Day 2  1:53 PM
   
  
                                     -X-
 
INDIA Partnerships

Batsmen                                                            Runs (Balls)
G Gambhir     A Rayudu     ???????????????                           49 (105)
R Dravid      A Rayudu     ????????                                  27 (62)
R Dravid      Tendulkar    ?                                          4 (12)
R Dravid      Y Singh      ???????????????????????????????????      111 (182)
V Laxman      Y Singh      ?????????????????????????????             94 (155)
V Laxman      M Dhoni      ??????                                    20 (63)
I Pathan      M Dhoni      ??????????????????                        60 (123)
I Pathan      H Singh      ??                                         7 (12)
Z Khan        H Singh      ????????????                              39 (78)
I Sharma      H Singh      ??                                         9 (50)


     Fall of Wickets    49/1      76/2      80/3      191/4     285/5
                        305/6     365/7     372/8     411/9     420/10    

 Total:  420/10      Overs:  140.2         Run Rate:  2.99    Extras:  15   
  
                                     -X-

ENGLAND Bowling

Player               Overs   Mdns    Runs   Wkts      E/R    Wds    NBs
Stuart Broad         31.0      9      89      3      2.87     2      4 
James Anderson       29.0      9      94      2      3.24     0      0 
Chris Tremlett       33.2     11      95      1      2.85     0      1 
Graeme Swann         44.0     12     123      4      2.80     0      1 
Kevin Pietersen       3.0      1      12      0      4.00     0      0 


 EXTRAS          Wides: 2      No Balls: 6      Leg Byes: 4      Byes: 3 

 Total:  420/10       Overs:  140.2        Run Rate:  2.99    Extras:  15

​

 

[AbhishekS]

Oh BTW I just recalled that I had conducted a quiz in the earlier update and I got to distribute some vCash for it. Sorry for not asking any question this time, will surely try and do so in the further updates.

The winners of Q1 are User2010, Prats and Riz7Khan12.

 

[badvintage]

Great story, will be looking at how englan will respond to that high score.