India's tour of West Indies - July/August 2016

[Aalay]

The thing is this has been happening with Pujara for a while now. He will come out and block everything and then suddenly will throw his wicket away just like he did right now. I know I am repeating myself but this is happening against West Indies. The only threatening bowler they have in their attack right now is Gabriel. No one else apart from Gabriel is looking even half threatening to take wickets. When Pujara comes against better attacks of NZ, Australia, South Africa, I am afraid this mentality will lead to his downfall. He won't have much trouble in this season because he will be playing in India but it will be same all over once travels to these countries. When I saw Pujara making that 153 in South Africa, he looked solid in defense but was nowhere near the Pujara that we are watching right now.

The commentators were already talking about next test match and it is very likely that Pujara might get dropped if Murli Vijay is fit since everyone else has got runs. That is disappointing for him since he was looking solid today but he needs to find a way to keep rotating strike.

 

[grkrama]

why is vijay dropped ?

Edit:just saw thumb injury

 

[asprin]

For me, this probably is the first instance where I felt the match is boring even when India is the driver's seat. Usually, I would be content if India is winning but even though this seems to be the case in this match, I'm finding it difficult to garner much interest in the test match. It probably has got to do with the huge gap between bowling units of the two teams.

It looks like WI bowlers are just bowling for the sake of formality. No intensity at all coupled with negative body language.

 

[abhi_jacko]

I think the criticism that Pujara is getting a bit unfair - people are actually calling for him to be dropped. We need someone like him at no.3 who can grind it out, use up a lot of balls, take the shine off the ball and tire the bowlers, so as to make things easy for the batsmen to follow. Usually this job is done by the openers, but in the last 12 or 13 innings we have had only one 50 run partnership. Pujara has had to walk in very early in most of the games.

Here is a guy who is tailor made for test cricket - who has the skills and the temperament to play out tough periods instead of getting impatient and throwing his wicket away when put on the backfoot by the bowlers, and people are calling for his head just because he isn't batting as fast as they would like him to. He is surrounded by stroke makers all around him - we can make do with a mini-WALL.

I guess people have forgotten about the Rahul Dravid, who consistently had Strike Rates in the 20-40 range even at his peak - and it was invaluable to us in most of those games. He too would usually have to come out earlier than usual for majority of his career, because of our inconsistent opening combination and play the unattractive, thankless job of a no.3

 

[aditya123]

Its perplexing that we continuing to bat at this pace with a tropical storm approaching. We should be backing ourselves to get them out in 2 sessions today and go for the bowling in this session. Why is Saha batting as if his place is in question? This is poor.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Looks like they are bowling the 6th stump line repeatedly with a packed off side field ..

 

[aditya123]

Looks like they are bowling the 6th stump line repeatedly with a packed off side field ..

We are close to 200 ahead. Even if we do something funky and get bowled out, it would`nt hurt much. We need to do the bulk of the bowling today. Tropical storms in the Carribean can wash whole days away.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Apparently weather forecast has improved for the next two days

 

[shravi]

I would still declare right now. We should have been more aggressive in the first session as there were already quite a few runs on the board, but 260 is still enough. Maybe give Rahane a few overs to get his 100, but the time is right.

 

[abhi_jacko]

now would be a great time to declare. 260 run lead. wicket might be spiced up with the rain - try and knock over a few early wickets

 

[aditya123]

Apparently weather forecast has improved for the next two days

Why do we need any more than this against a side struggling to get to 200, in a match where we might lose 2 days to rain.

How do you explain playing on at less than 3 rpo with a dominant lead? We should`be bowling by now even if the lead was only 180. We are playing on even now, with 260 runs in the front! Bizzare.

 

[abhi_jacko]

How do you explain playing on at less than 3 rpo with a dominant lead?

Agree with the rest of the points. But this one, it seems has been due to some very disciplined, negative bowling from West Indies on a pitch where it is not easy for the batsmen to force the pace of the game (based on what I have read on cricinfo). And Rahane/Saha are just not the wham-bam style batsmen you would want at this juncture.

 

[aditya123]

Agree with the rest of the points. But this one, it seems has been due to some very disciplined, negative bowling from West Indies on a pitch where it is not easy for the batsmen to force the pace of the game (based on what I have read on cricinfo). And Rahane/Saha are just not the wham-bam style batsmen you would want at this juncture.

For a side looking to force the initiative, its not an excuse I take. Its not as if we needed the runs on the board. I would rather declare for 80 runs less than lose out on 2 sessions. These two sessions could even be the last of the game. Baffling that we continue to bat even after the rain stoppage. What are we achieving here? Its like we are playing for the WI. No attempt to score at all. Its like we are battling for a draw. Its not like Rahane does`nt have strokes either.

For a side that is on a winning streak, we should be looking at being ruthless. I would`nt be surprised if WI bat a lot better in the 2nd dig and save this. Well done to Rahane on a match-saving innings.

 

[zwarrior]

Rahane got his century. We got 300 runs lead. It's enough. Just declare. Even if isn't enough that's fine. But we should declare now !

 

[Aalay]

Good to see Rahane getting another century and we are so nice to let Chase get his maiden five-fer and declaring afterwards.