Official Thread: India In Pakistan 2006 Options

[tracknest]

Sewags 200 is the second quickest double hundred in test cricket . What a treat watching him play....its like an entertaining Shammi Kapoor film packed with super duper songs of Rafi.

Keep going Sewag I am enjoing every bit of it.

[princeali]

This wicket is totally flat, I hope the pitches for the next two matches have something in it for the bowlers, then we'll see an interesting contest.

The batting has been great to watch but a result would have been better. India-Pak tests are known for their exciting and tense periods, but this is just a nightmare for the bowlers.

The wickets against England weren't that seam-oriented either, yet the pace bowlers did well from both teams, because it did have something in it for the bowlers at certain times in the game and it spun as well. Even the bounce was pretty good so if you bowled on target you could get wickets as Shoaib proved so well.

I think the PCB was looking to adopt a similar strategy in this series but the wicket in the first test backfired, hopefully they will learn from this.

[vishwa88]

Sehwag can gun for 400, that can be only positive that can happen. This pitch reminds me of the one where SL scored 900+ runs against India.

Hopefully 2nd and 3rd test matches have better surfaces...

Ur absolutely right. This pitch is a shocker . Sehwag has rightly said "what is the purpose of comin all the way here to play on a pitch like this, if it is gonna produce no results?" after the 4th day's play.
I hope the other matches have better pitches. On that SL match Jayasuriya and Mahanama batted for two consecutive days, if Dravid and Sehwag can hang on tomorrow it wud be very much close to that. By the way they will surpass a hell a lot of records and set new ones in the process.

Bob Woolmer: Sehwag is a "Sophisticated Slogger".

Sehwag shud use this situation to his fullest advantage. He wont have a better chance to surpass Lara's record. Only if the weather stays good and allows him. It is jus another 154 runs away as for as Sehwag is concerned. He is a kind of batsman who dosent apply any sort of pressure on himself. His style is jus free flow. If he comes out tomorrow and looks for a fresh hundred, that will be end of Lara's reign at the top. It is mainly cuz of the pace at which he normally scores, which is no different from this inning.
Man he is an exciting batsman.

GOOD LUCK Sehwag!!!!!!

On Pak's point of view, even getting 1 wicket tomorrow looks bleak. If at all they get, they might get 2 wickets utmost.

Vishwa

[Akhtar]

Really poor pitch by the PCB. Not smart going at all. Hopefully the remaining wickets will be prepared with some JUICE.

[ashgupta3]

Here r some stats on current test in Lahore. Even though the tests like this seem to be the waste of time, they result in lots of records getting broken. Here are some of them.

– This is the first time ever in test cricket that 2 triple century partnerships were scored in the same test.
– Sehwag’s last 7 centuries (195, 309, 155, 164, 173, 201, 247*) are all scores of above 150. He has now broken Bradman’s record of 6 consecutive 150+ centuries.
- Sehwag is only the 3rd player who has scored 1000+ runs against one opposition with average of 100+. As of this inning(247*), his stats against Pak is 1229 runs at average of 122.9. The big surprise is that Bradman is not in this list. Only Hammond against New Zealand and Weekes against India has done it before. But it is very likely that Sehwag will be out of this group by the time his career ends.
- The 27 runs scored in Harbhajan’s over by Afridi is the 2nd highest in one single over, the record is 28 by Lara during his inning of 400.
- Sehwag scored the 2nd fastest double century in terms of balls in 182 balls. The record is 154 balls by NJ Astle of New Zealand in 2001. Considering that the 3rd fastest took 211 balls to complete double century, these 2 performances r quite remarkable.
– Not sure abt this, but it could very well be the highest partnership between a captain and vice captain.

The following records may get broken soon
– Only 11 runs shy of breaking highest opening partnership records of 413 by Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad which was done more than 50 years back.
– Sehwag has scored 46 boundaries and 1 six till now in his inning. Currently he is tied up at 2nd position with Bradman for the number of boundaries in an inning. JH Edrich leads the list with 52.
- Sehwag is also tied up at 3rd position with Inzamam and Hayden for max number of boundaries (4s and 6s combined). He has 47, same as Inzamam(38 4s and 9 6s) and Lara (43 4s and 4 6s). Only JH Edrich 57 (52 4s and 5 6s)and Hayden 49 (38 4s and 11 6s) are ahead of him.
- If Sehwag scores 10 more runs in boundaries, he will become only the 4th player to score 200+ runs in a single inning in boundaries only. Edrich (238), Hayden(218) and Inzamam(206) are the only 3 batsmen who have done this before.

Ashok

[NATURE]

Did anybody watch the Cricket Match ? Well, I watched the Re-play. 1 thing was very remarkable.
Both Teams played well till now ... but have u noticed the "Silent Conversation" of Shoaib Akhtar and
Rahul Dravid ? ... Man, it was different .. they were talking/fighting through their Eyes ...

Let's see if I get a video, I am going to upload it for sure ...

[princeali]

Hope the next match has some what of a seaming wicket, then we'll see a contest on our hands.

[bawlachintu]

Idhar bhi wahi haal hai

Pakistan were 516 for 7 in their first innings at lunch on the second day of the second Test against India.

[tracknest]

Although this wicket is flat all credit to the Pak team for scoring the runs quickly and I am confident the Indian team will give a formidable reply.

I am disapointed at the lacklustre capatincy of Dravid. He is burning his strike bowlers unnecessarily. He should be using Sachin and Sewag to get at least 25 overs between them per day. Set up a defensive field and let the Pak batsmen take the risks to take them on.

His field placements are also very disappointing. Too many boundaries have being given away. He should be setting an in and out field similar to what Michael Waugn had placed in the Ashes that England won.

Pedestrian capataincy......disappointing. Although the wicket is flat, Kumble is bowling his worst and so is Irfan. Their bowling lacks imagination, they are bowling everywhere. All credit to youg RP Singh to bowl so well under such hard situation, maybe the other bowlers can take some motivation from him.

[balajigade]

Although this wicket is flat all credit to the Pak team for scoring the runs quickly and I am confident the Indian team will give a formidable reply.

I am disapointed at the lacklustre capatincy of Dravid. He is burning his strike bowlers unnecessarily. He should be using Sachin and Sewag to get at least 25 overs between them per day. Set up a defensive field and let the Pak batsmen take the risks to take them on.

His field placements are also very disappointing. Too many boundaries have being given away. He should be setting an in and out field similar to what Michael Waugn had placed in the Ashes that England won.

Pedestrian capataincy......disappointing. Although the wicket is flat, Kumble is bowling his worst and so is Irfan. Their bowling lacks imagination, they are bowling everywhere. All credit to youg RP Singh to bowl so well under such hard situation, maybe the other bowlers can take some motivation from him.

It is disheartening to hear comments by leading cricketers like Imran, Sanjay Manjrekar etc. justifying preparing of the pitch to suit the home team. I feel that standards should be laid down for the specifications of the pitch which all the cricket playing nations should adhere to. What is the fun in making 500+ scores at home and cutting a sorry figure abroad?. We don't know how many Imrans and Shoib Akhtars in India are becoming extinct only for the silly reason that we still believe in our spin power (sorry, we fail in this department also nowadays).

[vishwa88]

Another dead rubber

Vishwa

[vivekpm]

Although this wicket is flat all credit to the Pak team for scoring the runs quickly and I am confident the Indian team will give a formidable reply.

I am disapointed at the lacklustre capatincy of Dravid. He is burning his strike bowlers unnecessarily. He should be using Sachin and Sewag to get at least 25 overs between them per day. Set up a defensive field and let the Pak batsmen take the risks to take them on.

His field placements are also very disappointing. Too many boundaries have being given away. He should be setting an in and out field similar to what Michael Waugn had placed in the Ashes that England won.

Pedestrian capataincy......disappointing. Although the wicket is flat, Kumble is bowling his worst and so is Irfan. Their bowling lacks imagination, they are bowling everywhere. All credit to youg RP Singh to bowl so well under such hard situation, maybe the other bowlers can take some motivation from him.

It is disheartening to hear comments by leading cricketers like Imran, Sanjay Manjrekar etc. justifying preparing of the pitch to suit the home team. I feel that standards should be laid down for the specifications of the pitch which all the cricket playing nations should adhere to. What is the fun in making 500+ scores at home and cutting a sorry figure abroad?. We don't know how many Imrans and Shoib Akhtars in India are becoming extinct only for the silly reason that we still believe in our spin power (sorry, we fail in this department also nowadays).

While I am not supporting Pak making such flat pitches, I think test cricket will be boring if we have same pitches everywhere. The most interesting aspect of cricket is that we have fast and bouncy pitches in Aus, Pitches and condition supporting swing bowling in England, spinning tracks in India and so on. I think I am with the experts on this. And that is why you have home and away tours.

Cheers,

[tracknest]

If this series is a draw it is a feather in the cap for the Indian team. This wicket suits no one, its a disgrace. They are taking cricket back to the dark ages. We dont want green tops but at least have a decent wicket where both the batsmen and bowlers have an equal advantage.

All it is doing is increasing the average of certain batsmen who would not enter double figures if you make them play on a balanced wicket or make them play in Australia or England.

This is why I always say that averages are vague it is not about how much your average is but it is about against whom and what sort of pitches it was made.

[YaarMere]

Not really that updated on the whole thing but I hear that Afridi was dynamite. 150+? Thats respectable man considering his style. Respect goin out to him man, big time!

[ashgupta3]

Anyone interested in watching 2nd day's highlights of the second test, here is a link to that
mms://server4.khajoortv.biz/samplex

Its abt 40 minutes long (and no commercials either ) and it only works with media player. This link will only stay alive for few more hours, so watch it ASAP.