India v. Sri Lanka, Second Test kicks off
Right. So, Ishant Sharma and Mishra are the victims of the call for bowler's heads to roll. Ojha and Sreesanth are the lucky entrants. I won't pretend to be too knowledgeable about Ojha's recent form but as far as Sreesanth goes, he's lucky to be in there. Not that I mind excessively; Sharma has been as blunt as a roadside barber's razor for a while. But Mishra's dropping is painful. He bowled on a dead pitch and his captain didn't know how to set fields for him. Not a very good way to groom a young leggie. But hopefully the Gavaskar-Shastri combine in the comms box will be pleased with this particular pound of flesh.
Sri Lanka have dumped a quick (Prasad) and brought in Mendis. Three spinners is a lot, even in India, and in a strange way, its an acknowledgment of the first test mistake and a selection forced by injury
India win the toss and bat. Here we go, with a single off the first ball.
Sri Lanka have dumped a quick (Prasad) and brought in Mendis. Three spinners is a lot, even in India, and in a strange way, its an acknowledgment of the first test mistake and a selection forced by injury
India win the toss and bat. Here we go, with a single off the first ball.
Labels: Ajantha Mendis, India, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Sreesanth, Sri Lanka
posted by Samir Chopra at 10:56 PM
11 Comments:
its really unfortunate... wristy leg spinners are anyway rare breed and this is certainly not the way to treat them...
but now that they have set the precedent of dropping a player on one bad outing i hope they show consistency...
i also hope G&S will be as vocal as they were about some other non-performers specially bhajji...
SP, Eureka! The way it is going, Bhajji must really go wicketless for 10 tests in succession to be dropped. If only Mishra was smart enough to enter into a business partnership with his captain...
Quite a strange first session, no? First hour of boredom and caution, then a Sehwag-sponsored blitzkrieg that sends the run rate over 4.
Looks like the 'S' shaped population growth curve, this. (Sorry; been reading some old high school textbooks.)
I am not too down on the non-selection of Mishra. I understand it was a flat, dead pitch in Motera but he was far too liberal with loose deliveries and did not maintain ANY pressure at all. Far too many long hops for my liking.
At any rate -- looks like we are back to the M.O. of India wins in the 90's in this test match. Pile up a huge total and let the spinners loose on the 3rd & 4th day!
SP: I'm not sure I want that precedent to be followed! :) Lets hope it is an anomaly.
Raj: Bhajji is beyond reproach. Its odd; I've really struggled to think of a recent time when he was consistently threatening.
DB: It was a drastic acceleration for sure, but not so strange I guess, given some of the early life and the drop off Sehwag?
Subhash: Lets hope the Lankans don't pile on 700 in response to our 800.
Samir -- you only have to look to our last test series in NZ for a match when Bhajji was consistently threatening. Oh this short term memory loss that the die-hard fans have! Isn't it funny how quickly we forget?
Coming to the point of SL scoring 700 to our 800 -- Let's look back to the 2003-04 test match in Adelaide. Aus scored 550 odd and we scored 530 odd in response but the match turned on its head during one session. We were still completing our first inning on 4th day morning (If i remember correctly). So, if the pitch were to take turn from 3rd day on, a result is definitely on. However, SL - for whatever reason - have not shown the intent to accelerate beyond a certain point to force a result.
And the day ends with a "4" by Dravid!
Only if the man was more open minded all his career he could have exceeded his achievements.....but still...I likes:)
Another road of a pitch..........sigh................looks like another draw awaits.
Brendan -- you are wrong. This pitch is very different from the one in the 1st test. This one is breaking up and bounce is low and inconsistent.
Thank you for your posting. I really enjoyed it.
Bathmate
Send our gifts and flowers to Brazil and present a lasting symbol of your heartfelt appreciation to your dear ones. Floresbrazil.com is a website of your choice for sending flowers and gifts to Brazil.
Please visit:
www.floresbrazil.com
Post a Comment
<< Home