Jun 8, 2006

What a match !!


Who said that test matches are boring .. Like the third test of last year's Ashes, the just-concluded Ind-WI test was a humdinger.. the fortunes swung wildly from one side to the other.. and in the end, 1 ball out of some 2600+ could have changed the result.. All hopes of a result were lost during tea time, when we could get only 3 of WI wickets.. and when I checked the scorecard a little later, we only needed 3 more!! We almost got them, but the history would tell that the test ended in a draw.. it wont tell how it would have been different if Mohd. Kaif, again and again infamously plaecd at the crucial short-leg position, was jumping in the air when an edge flew towards him. Damn.. too much of 'human element'..

Anyway, another of those painfully close victory slipped out.. Some stats, which you would find elsewhere:

* In the first innings, all the proper 'batsmen' of India scored below their career average.. And, all the 'bowlers' (except Patel) scored above their average.. what does it mean? A below-par first innings total..

* In the second innings, all the Indian batsmen scored more than their first innings numbers.

I thought that instead of Kaif, Dhoni should have been sent to open up the match with his lusty hits.. The match situation was safely in our control.. even if he had failed, we still would have had no pressure, since Kaif et al. can do the damage control.. Nevertheless.. a great test match.

9 comments:

tt_giant said...

I hereby decree that those who say "test matches are boring" must be subjected to 25 beamers from brett lee...

amazing match!!

Anonymous said...

i thought the match was great, kumble always comes through in testmatches, and wassim jaffer and dhoni played well. I think Brian Lara should be fined for his behavior on dhoni's catch, he needs to chill. more than this test match, srilanka vs england match was amazing, muralidharan just killed england's batting lineup. I doubt there is huge gala for football (soccer) in NY. there are not that many fans for soccer in US, unlike other countries, but cannot wait to see Ronaldinho play.

Raju said...

Nag, no fever here.. here, 'football' means American football.. nobody cares about Soccer..
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Deepak, 25 beamers? LOL.. worsht punishment.. :-)
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Prasanna, welcome here.. yeah Aussies score at such a high run rate that a result is usually inevitable.. we scored so slow even on a strong position in day 4.. one of the reasons why we could not win..
Bowling was surprisingly more than OK.. to pick up 6 wickets in a session is great.. but '0' wickets in the penultimate session? unacceptable..
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Nitin, Sehwag was fined for 'overappealing' whereas Lara went scot-free.. When I saw the incident on TV, I thought Lara committed Level 3 of offense.. which, if repeated within 12 months, should lead to suspension from 1 test or 4 one-dayers.. His act was childish..

I was following the other match too.. It was almost a foregone conclusion, after SL lead crossed 200, that they would win.. Murali on any last day wicket would be simply unplayable..

tt_giant said...

Maybe your next post should also be What a match - part 2..

on a side note, aren't you glad that you were nowhere near alberto?

Raju said...

Deepak, well.. this was totally an one-sided match.. so frustrated at the rain.. I think it is very unfair to assign 'DRAW' status to this match, when more than 100 overs were lost.. I am thinking about how to get results out of such drawn matches which were highly dominated by one team.. I have an idea.. which would be out in a post very soon..

Raju said...

Deepak, and, about Alberto.. forgot to mention.. Univ. Florida was closed on Monday since he crossed from nearby.. Thankfully he was still a TS..

Mudhal puyaley naattukkulley ivvalavu seekkiram vandhuruchunnaa innum B to Z enna enna panna porangalo.. God Bless Florida!!

Anonymous said...

yeah, hopefully this year Hurricanes go easy on Florida. I hated that the test became a draw, Sehwag truly performed well both with bat, and ball.Brian Lara's hundred also ruined our chances of winning, it was still a close match. Hopefully, India win the test series for its week performance in odi. Brian Lara is really starting to get on the nerves of many people, with his arrogant behavior

Raju said...

Nitin, yeah.. I really hope the beautiful Florida gets the least possible damage by the hurricanes, which are in a pipeline this year..

About the series, the next game at St. Kitts hopefully produces a result..

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