Reviews and Analysis/articles on the India-Pak series matches

[aditya123]

I have started a new segment I would be posting reviews/analysis of the India pak matches and would like other members to contribute too

HONOURS SHARED AT THE END OF THE FIRST TEST
As far as Indian supporters and the Indian team are concerned , day five of the first test might have seemed to be an anticlimax . The first 4 days were dominated by India but they must be cursing themselves for missing a great opurtunity to win the first test .
Having said that , one must appreciate the fantastic knocks by Kamran and Razzaq who played a very subdued innings to compliment his younger partner well. The have given the Pakistan team who looked down and out after day four a new lease of life . They have come to India with limited bowling resources and Inzamam and his team would have been delighted to go to Kolkata 0-0 . India , on the other hand had their heores in this game too
Laxmipathy Balaji was superb in his comeback game and seems to have a knack of troubling the neighbours . He bowled with great accuracy and superb swing to demonstrate his talent . Virendar Sehwag played a kind of an innings only he can play --- fabulous . Sachin Tendulkar started off well but slowed down on reaching the 80s . Him getting out for 94 disappointed many supporters . Laxman and Dravid got runs too indicating that the Indian top order was back to full form though it must be said that they were helped by some poor fielding by the Pakistanis who seem to drop more and more catches each time I see them field ,
Pakistan must feel that they have found a great bowler in D.Kaneria who trouble all the Indian batsmen with his variety and managed to keep Sehwag quiet which in itself is a great achievement . He has earned the respect from the Indian batsmen which S.Warne did not earn in the last 3 trips to India !
India have themselves to blame for wasting quite a few overs on day three after Sehwag`s dismissal when they scored just 114 runs of 53 overs !!
Asim Kamal showed great grit and detrmination suggesting that he might be a good No.3 batsman for Pakistan . Inzamam too looks in good form and his partnership with youhana on Day 4 brought Pak on track after being 10/3 .
The Pak top order has to do some serious rethinking . No.1,2,3 did not contribut anything to the total and if it had not been for the middle and lower order Pakistan would have been in trouble .
The pitch at Mohali was an ideal one for test cricket and had something in it for everyone except on days four and five when it really was great for batting .
It has been a great start to this eagerly anticipated tour and people of Chandigarh proved to be worthy of hosting the neighbours first up !
It was great to see Indian and Pakistani fans behave in such a friendly manner . The hospitality too was great .
On to Kolkata Now !!!!!!!

Report Card of the Indian Team
L.Balaji 10/10
V.Sehwag 9/10
S.Tendulkar 7/10
I.Pathan 6/10
V.Laxman 6/10
A.Kumble 6/10
R.Dravid 5.5/10
G.Gambhir 6/10
Z.Khan 5/10
Ganguly 3/10
D.Karthik 4/10
India Overall :: 7/10 -- Performed consistently except on Day5
Pak Report Card
S.Butt 1/10
T.Umar 3/10
Y.Khan 0.5/10
Y.Youhana 6/10
I.Ul Haq 8/10
Kamal 9/10
Akmal 9/10
Razzaq 7.5/10
Sami 4/10
Kaneria 10/10
Rana 3/10

Pak Overall :: 5.5/10 :: Looked indisciplined except for their performance on Day 5

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I think you are basing this on numbers only.....
Z.Khan bowled with a lot of heart and found the edge several times(along with beating the bat and swinging the ball both ways) 7/10

Rana bowled to his best, but didn't get movement off the pitch and was creamed by Sehwag.
5/10

Sami- Same story as Zaheer....7/10

Y.Khan-Got a wicket didn't he 1/10

Y.Youhana- His 68 was very vital to the draw and surly was worth more than 6....
7.5/10

A.Kumble-6!!!! What were you thinking!!!
7.5/10

Gambhir-Batted pretty well in both innings, 7/10

These are much more fairer.......

 

[icyman]

You seem to have rated tendulkar very highly there.it was becoz of him that india "lost" the test.
Lost in the sense ,they let slipped down from a winning position to a draw.
Its not the first instance that this has happened with tendulkar .
Remember the sydney test-241 off 700 odd balls.

 

[aditya123]

Review Of Second Test At The Eden Gardens

For 5 days the fortunes swung both ways before finally resting firmly towards India but not before we had a great game of test cricket . India began superbly with sehwag and Dravid scoring quickly along with Sachin but Pakistanis pulled the score back to 407 when it threatened to take the game away from Pak when th score was 278/2 . Rahul Dravid was superb and showed signs of getting back to the form of 2003 and early 2004 . Pakistan too were is a position of strength with well crafted centuries by the 2 `y`s Yousuf Youhana and Younis . Both set the platform for th Pak middle and Lower order to Take the Game away from India with a lead of 150+ but the Indian bowlers had other ideas on day 3 . Kumble ran through the lower order while Pathan and Balaji made huge breakthroughs of Youhana and Inzy . India ended up with a surprise lead of 14 runs . Indian 2nd innings looked to be in trouble at 23/2 but Sachin an Dravid - The heavyweights of Indian batting came good at the right time before sachin`s promising innings was ended on 53 by a dubious decision by M.Bucknor who does not seem to be a popular umpire in India !! The game was on an even keel when it began on day 3 and when India lost Ganguly early and Laxman through an injury it all looked to be going Pakistan`s way .
Dinesh Kaarthick the young Indian wk batsman who had not played an innings of substance till now in tests showed what he was all about and justified his selection with a superb 93 which helped Rahul Dravid to notch up a second hundred in the innings for the second time in his career . The declaration looked to be late but in hindsight after Afridi`s quickfire 53 showed how well timed it was !! The final day began with both all three results a possibility .. A dream start for India with 3 wickets in the first half hour set it up for an Indian win . It always has been an enourmous task for visiting teams to face A.Kumble on a fifth day track and again turned out be the same this time at Eden . Another great performance by the 2nd best leggie in the world in my opinion who never gets the accolades he deserves !
All in all a great team performance with everyone contributing . The Indian captain must be happy with the result but not his own form but as far as the results come he would not be complaining !!

Let us have a look at the Report Card ::

G.Gambhir 4.5/10 ------ no notable performance but helped India to a good start in 1st inns
V.Sehwag ------ 7/10 his quick 81 set the game up nicely
R.Dravid 10/10
Sachin Tendulkar 8/10
Sourav Ganguly --- 3/10 ----- 3 pts for captaincy
VVS.Laxman 5/.10 a gritty one eyed performance in 2nd inns
D.Karthik 8/10 good contributions in both inns
I.Pathan 6/10 an odd good spell but still lacks the zing
L.Balaji 7.5/10 Bowled superbly but was a bit unlucky not to have more wickets
A.Kumble 9.10
H.Singh 7/10


For PAk

Taufeeq 4.5/10
Afridi 6.5/10
Younis 6.5/10
Youhana 7/10
Inzy 5/10
Kamal 6/10
Akmal 3.5/10
Razzaq 5.5/10
SAmi 5.5/10
Kaneria 5/10
Khalil 1/10

 

[ravigoteti]

i would give sami more than that. infact, 6.5 or 7, he bowled very well. Kumble also should have a perfect 10, 4-5 points for ganguly and yes only for captaincy.

6.5 for sehwag and 8 for balaji.

 

[sohum]

Kaneria doesn't really deserve 5. He only managed to get wickets when the batsmen were trying to smash him around.

 

[Ritwik]

You seem to have rated tendulkar very highly there.it was becoz of him that india "lost" the test.
Lost in the sense ,they let slipped down from a winning position to a draw.
Its not the first instance that this has happened with tendulkar .
Remember the sydney test-241 off 700 odd balls.

Wish you'd stop talking that BS about 241 off 700 balls. As a matter of fact, Tendulkar took 415 balls to score 241.

 

[sachinisgod]

he's been fed a huge no. of sachin stats ritwik...hope that makes him forget the weird 241 off 700 thing...

 

[Stephen Bailey]

436 balls on cricinfo Aus v Ind 4th test

Either way Iceman, you are proved to be wrong. What is your fascination with it being Tendulkar's fault all about?! Is it not possible Pakistan actually bowled well during that period that Tendulkar S/R slowed? Do the Pakistani batsman (Akmal and Razzaq incase you've forgotten) who were in at the end of the match not deserve credit for doing that extraordinary rescue job when their team was severely on the backfoot?

Howabout you stop blaming one person and start praising other player's performances?

 

[sohum]

I personally put the blame on Ganguly. Ganguly has a tendency to first neutralize any scoring momentum that India has developed and then top it off by playing an utterly stupid shot to get himself out.

 

[Ritwik]

lol about the "utterly stupid shot".

And thanks for the correction, stevie.

 

[sohum]

He's such a freakin idiot. The pull shot is the one shot he cannot play and instead of improving it in the nets, he gets out to it in the game.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

lol about the "utterly stupid shot".

And thanks for the correction, stevie.

No problem! I'm still looking forward to Iceman's response.