Tournment Ends

[shirazu]

Not declaring now is seriously awful. Why waste 4-5 overs with the innings break, just declare now and bowl right away. India has no chance to win the match so why not give yourself as much time as possible? SL has also been poor, the run rate should have been higher at the end of this first session with 5 wickets in hand. Even if India scores at 120 a session again they would only force SL to bat 30 overs to draw and no way does this happen anyway. It might take 4 sessions to bowl India out, give yourself a chance to make a chase of 150 or so in 30 overs.

 

[aditya123]

Another 700 to Sri Lanka, and ironically the highest ever Test total is SL against India.

That highest total of 952 was on a pathetic track, really poor one for test cricket and that was a time when India-Sri Lanka matches were invariable drawn tests. That game did not even have 2 completed innings in 5 days. India had declared on a 550 odd total with 3 centuries in their inning and Sri Lanka knew there was no interest left in the game and piled it on. Poor advert for test cricket.

I hope a game like that never ever happens again.

 

[CaptainOZ]

Sri Lanka did not declare! Here we go....

CaptainOZ added 4 Minutes and 4 Seconds later...

Only 6 runs until they break Bradman and Fingleton's record partnership.

CaptainOZ added 1 Minutes and 42 Seconds later...

They've tied the record!

CaptainOZ added 0 Minutes and 42 Seconds later...

And now it's broken! 73 years has gone by and now Sri Lanka have broken this long-standing record. Amazing stuff.

 

[SaiSrini]

I guess they are going for Mahela's 300 milestone. Subcontinent teams tend to do that a lot! If I was Sangakkara, I would have declared in the first session and would have let India bat for atleast 30 mins in the first session.

If India dont bat well on this pitch in the second innings, I would consider them 'national criminals' who should be hung and executed in front of the whole nation.:laughj/k . Seriously we need our batsmen to sit down for breakfast, lunch and dinner on this pitch. Dont give even a single wicket to the Lankans.

 

[shirazu]

I'm sure Bradman and Fingleton set the record with a top-edged reverse sweep also!

The most pathetic thing about this right now is Sehwag coming out to bowl. Anil Kumble would be out there bowling right now, but I guess Harbhajan doesn't want to go 1 for 200 today.

 

[CaptainOZ]

Interestingly, Mahela Jayawardene was involved in the highest ever Test partnership of 624, which he did with Sangakarra.

And there's the wicket! Fine innings from Mahela.

 

[aditya123]

Even if India manage to lose this test, it won`t take away from the fact that this is a horrible test match pitch. India managed 425 runs with 2 collapses which says the tale of the track!

Curators must be punished for this. Noone wants to watch this run feast. I`d take the minefield tracks any day over these pancakes. The media crucifies the curator when pitches are minefields but noone asks a question when these dead tracks are laid out.

 

[CaptainOZ]

The declaration should come. Why is Prasad coming out to bat

 

[icyman]

The fact remains that the pitch at the Motera has been horrible over the last 4 days. This is not at all good for Test cricket, and especially it comes at a time where Test cricket is fighting for survival.
Records and all are fine,but there is a limit to it.

Sri Lanka probably feel that they cannot get 10 Indian wickets on such a track. They are quite right. Let the match continue as it is.

 

[aditya123]

The fact remains that the pitch at the Motera has been horrible over the last 4 days. This is not at all good for Test cricket, and especially it comes at a time where Test cricket is fighting for survival.
Records and all are fine,but there is a limit to it.

Sri Lanka probably feel that they cannot get 10 Indian wickets on such a track. They are quite right. Let the match continue as it is.

I`d rather see a fighting draw than have this drag on, the way it is right now.

The problem with pitches throughout the world is that with all the standardization of wickets crap that the ICC has laid out. Test cricket was way better with pitches in each country having a characteristic nature. The pitches in India (subcontinent in general) in the 90s were not dead tracks by any means. People like Srinath,Akram and Vaas were all lethal in the subcontinental conditions. They used to help spin later in the game and it all made for good viewing and you saw huge test match crowds in India in the 90s and early 2000s. However in the past 5 years or se, it has gone horribly wrong with people trying to make pitches with something in it for everybody and thus making them batting paradises, be it in the Indian subcontinent or the Caribbean or even Lords, Perth, Adelaide or Sydney! Its become pathetic. I don`t think there is anything wrong with the wickets being turners in India, seaming tracks in England/SA/NZ and bouncy at the WACA. ICC must not enforce the `standard pitch` crap as it is ruining test cricket. You cannot prepare a wicket with something in it for everybody. If you try to please everyone, you`ll end up with these dodos and players with swollen averages. I can see tailenders averaging in the mid-30s in a decade or so if pitches continue to be like this. I have been complaining about this each and every time a test like this happens.

They`ve ruined Indian pitches. BCCI is ruining test cricket in India by scheduling games at venues like Ahmedabad. Keep it to the major centres for Gods sake where they have a tradition of test match cricket (Mumbai,Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Kanpur and Delhi)! One of the reasons why the 1998 and 2001 India-Australia series were so exciting was the pitches in that series. They were the characteristic Indian pitches and produced gripping cricket. Kolkata has`nt hosted a test match for years and so has Mumbai! What is wrong with these people at the helm of affairs at BCCI! Will you ever see MCG and the SCG not hosting a test match during the Australian season? Please do not come up with the rotation policy crap as an answer. There need not be any rotation of venues for Tests. We only play 5-6 tests in a home season. If we rotate venues in tests, we`ll end up with no tests at major venues for years like with Mumbai and Kolkata. The last time we had a test match at a major test venue in Chennai against England on a good wicket, we witnessed a classic. Keep the rotation of venues and smaller centers for ODIs. We play tonnes of them each year anyway.

 

[shirazu]

If they are really just giving up and conceding a draw because they don't think they can bowl India out, that's just terrible. Why even come to the match. India were 4 down for like 40 at one stage and SL have the best bowler on flat tracks in history.

 

[pcfan123]

What is Sangakarra doing! Don't think of him as someone who plays for records or stats.

 

[shirazu]

Why does India have a slip?

 

[icyman]

India were 4/40 on the first morning of the test. Obviously there was a lot of moisture and juice in the track then. As of now,the pitch is as dead as a dodo.

I feel that SrL may have missed a trick or two by not declaring early today morning. A lead of 200 would have been enough to pressurize the Indians and it would have given them[Lanka] more time to try and bowl out India.

 

[CaptainOZ]

Well at least we haven't seen an 800 total in a while :sarcasm