Should be quite the series. Both teams looking strong and feeling confident, but who will win ?

Who'll win? Good question...
Now my experience of watching the Pakistan team says that one thing should be kept in mind while trying to predict the outcome a series involving them... And that is, just don't try no predictions!
The Pakistani team always has had some of the most amazingly talented cricketers, and thus their inconsistent performances have been jarring. They've been dogged by indiscipline, but their new coach seems to be doing a good job of focusing them on the task at hand... the wins over a strong English team were very impressive indeed.
So, despite India's good wins over Sri Lanka, I think it's going to be very tough for them to do a repeat of their last tour of Pakistan.
India has decent spinners, decent pacers. Pakistan has great, if raw, pacers, and a great spinner... though I've always maintained that Indians are the best players of spin, especially legspin...
I'd actually think that the series is likely to be drawn...
But if pushed to name a clear winner, I think I'd vote for Pakistan...

I would also put Pakistan as favorites but then the fact that they would be playing at home in front of their home crowds, would mean that they would be under some pressure. If India has to win their batting has to click as that's what won us the series last time around. Of course we have to find a way to get Inzy out since he's in the form of his life and what a delight it is to see him bat in such form.

The bowling is going to be crucial but the batsmen must fire and should start working on Shoaib's slower ones. He decimated England with that slower one and India needs to be prepared. This though is going to be a tough series since both sides are quite well matched and are in a great mental frame!

Can't wait for the series to start, its going to be a cracker !

Its sad Shabbir won't be a part of the Pak side, last time he did well against India at home. Good to see Ganguly back in the side, he still has some cricket left in him and will want to show that on this tour.

Again, the strong point for India is their batting, their bowling will have to reach a new standard if they are to do well in Pakistan. Pakistan on the other hand have the better bowling attack and they will have to bat as good or better then how they did against England.

Pakistan is a much better side now then the last time India toured and are fresh off an excellent series win against England.

India is also coming of wins against SRL in the tests and one dayers as well as a good series against SA. This will be a tough challenge for Chappell's boys and it will be interesting to see how Dravid leads his side.

As a Pakistani supporter, I feel it's my obligatory duty to nominate the Indian team as favorite before the start of the series.

Thats an interesting comment but the fact is Pakistan start as favorites as they not only have beaten a good team like England but also playing at home.

Its going to be a cracker an a close, and I really mean a close series. Bring it on....

IND vs PAK, this very phrase brings a sense of excitement (leave alone the players) to the fans. Players from both the sides will be under pressure.

More so for PAK cuz they lost the HOME SERIES against IND last time around. They would be looking to erase that memory. No question they have a rejuvenated Shoaib Akthar and gifted leggie Kaneria. Apart from these 2 i don see any threat in the bowling which can actually rip thru the battin line-up. Gone are the days when Akram and Waqar, with aid from Shoaib, would tear apart even the best battin line up on their day. I don get that feelin seeing this bowling lineup. They have to play as good as they did against ENG to win.

India on the other hand has been puttin up team performances rather than lone individual ones. If Mr.X is not performing, there comes Mr.Y with an outstanding show. So as long they keep their morale, i don see any problems for them. The conditions in PAK are no alien to India, they are very much similar. Seeing the team's confidence, i tip INDIA as favourites for the series.

No excuses if they loose.

I wudnt say they are gonna win outrightly, matches might be close, but IND wont succumb this time.

Vishwa.

Things going well for Pak so far.

That is an understatement

What a knock from Afridi. Not to take away anything from Younis Khan or MYK or Kamran Akmal, but Afridi was devastating...

Hope India bat well too...

Cheers,

Although the wicket is flat, all credit to the Pak team for scoring the runs at such a brsik pace. I would be shocked if the Indian team does not perform well too.

If the Indian team too can score at a brisk pace then we still have a match on our hands if and only if the wicket begis to turn or disintegrate.

Lets wait and watch.

for the weather to clear up so play can begin and some Indian players can also get their centuries.

A disappointing start to such an exciting series I would say

Cheers,

Vivek

True!
What's the point of holding a Test on such a batting surface, I fail to understand.
First Pakistan scored 679 at a crazy pace, and now India is 260/0 at over five runs an over! No chance of a result on such a pitch!
Sehwag and Dravid now smashing up Kaneria and Naved.

Rom

I am shocked that the Pak Cricket board had such a flat wicket when they have better pace bowlers than the Indian team. It is a negative move and will not do cricket any good.

Such dead wickets were common in the 80's and 90's but since then wickets in India are more balanced. I hope the other 2 test match turfs are not like this.

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...

Cheers,

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.

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.

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

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

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

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 ...

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

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.

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).

Another dead rubber

Vishwa

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,

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.

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!

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.

Add to that if you win a match for your country and what situation you made runs in. However, a consistent and good overall average throughout your career can mean you're a good batsman but not necessarily a match winner.

They're saying the pitch may do something in the remaining days, the ball that Razzaq got Sehwag out on bounced a little more then expected, we'll just have to wait and see if it holds true.

The Pak board has managed to ruin the series with these two flat pitches. Now to put the icing on the cake, I won't be surprised if they tilt to the other extreme and provide a pitch for the third Test on which batsmen will tremble to bat on...
Instead of this farce, they should have sat down before the series and allotted each other 15 centuries and 20 wickets for the three matches.

Beyond doubt they have, some of this blame must also go to the coach and captain of the Pak team.

It was pathetic to see Afridi and Shoaib behave like spolit brats, instead of displaying their unwanted emotions at the Indian team, they must direct that to the PCB.

It is a shame that all the effort to win the game is coming from the Indian side. They dropped a batsman for a bowler and in contrast the Pak team replaced a bowler with an all rounder. It seems the PCB is just trying to draw the series.

The ICC must penalie the PCB and warn them of dire consequences if they ever resort to such kind of pitches. Infact they must declare this series null and void.

This is a lesson for othe cicket boards too, for some egoistic reasons do not ruin this great game of cricket.

If there was any justice, the Indian team should win the last game, that would be the biggest punishment for the PCB.

So far cricket is the greatest looser in this series.

Inzi or Woolmer should not get any blame, I don't think they would resort to such tactics, it is entirely the Board's fault that they created such wickets.

The reason why Razzaq was brought in is for two reasons, Rana has a small shoulder injury and secondly because Woolmer thought his bolwing would suit this wicket, he's a bolwer who can cut the ball off the pitch. Asif was brought in as a change for Sami.

I think the PCB didn't expect the pitches to turn out like this, against England they were mostly batting pitches with something in it for the bowlers and everyone expected something similar but it did not turn out that way.

Talking about bad pitches, the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi is also a disaster, it is always full of cracks and what not, that the visiting team always finds it difficult to bat on. Such pitches (as well as the ones in this series) should be banned.

What a sensational start of Third Test Match

Pathan's Hat-trick.

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2006/jan/29india.htm

This test match must provide a result. It is a balanced wicket which we were looking for some time. It was becoming a joke to see average and mediocre batsmen scoring hundreds as if it is like drinking a cup of tea.

India started in a dream manner buthave more or less given away the initiative due to some rank bad bowling . This is by no means taking any thing away from Kamran who is playing the innings of his life. He is gutsy, skillful and mentally tough.

Anything over 250 and we have a match on hand. The Indian blowers got carried away with the wicket which has no demons. The fact is all wickets were a result of ball moving in the air than on the wicket. They have bowled several poor deliveries and hence could not sustain the pressure.

Dravid again gave away too many boundaries. He has over attacked rather than maintain pressure and saving boundaries at the same time. Well he has also being let down by his bowlers.

Pakistan is no way out of the game and the innings by Kamran may be the crucial factor….well only time will tell. India in the mean time have to close the Pak innings ASAP.

Wow...after the first over who would have thought Pakistan would end the day well on top

What a match we have on our hands right now.

Tommorow morning will be very crucial, the ball is still pretty new and the pitch is still doing something, if you bowl in the right areas anything can happen.

Its going to be a very interesting contest.

Watch Pathan's hat-trick on this link

mms://server4.khajoortv.biz/pathan

India has lost the advantage of winning the toss. From my experience of playing and being involved with the game, Pakistan is in a commoanding position to force a win.

Even 250 would be a task to chase in the 4th innings. The only way India can come back is to get Pak team out for less than 250 and it seems the chances of that look slim.

Let me quote what the legendry WG Grace had to say about winning the toss

" If you win the toss, bat first"

"If you are not sure think but bat first"

"If you are still not sure, think twice, seek opinions from others but bat first"
Well that sums it all....

It does not matter what Pathan did in the first over, what matters is that Indian scored less than Pakistan and that Pak is 60 for no loss and looking good.

Cricket is indeed the greatest game due to its unexpected nature and there are very few who actually understand it and this also includes several former and current players.

Thatz a rather bold statement!

Well.....I think India had the advantage.....the pitch was seaming like crazy....so the natural option would have been to bowl first......and then Kamran, Razzaq and Shoaib all batted well.....India could not go for the kill and skittle out Pakistan for a low total.

The pitch is getting better as the days go on although there is still something in it for the bowlers.....and India could have overtaken Pakistan's total but credit should go to the Pakistani bowlers for bowling well....although Ganguly's hook/pull was not needed at the time when India were building a very good partnership......Pathan batted quite well too.

I think Pakistan need atleast 400 + to set India a good target to chase....anything less than 300 will be easy for the Indian batsman.....we saw Salman and Farhat play some excellent shots, and although usually a Day 4 or 5 wicket tends to break up, it shouldn't cause that much problems for the Indian batsman.....the pitch should hold itself together and be good for batting.

We will most likely see a result on our hands !

Yeah India could not go for a kill . Reason for this is simple, we still need a bowler who can rip through the opposition's batting line-up. Initially, when conditions were bowler-friendly, Pathan was deadly and Zaheer and Singh bowled well too. But once the initial fizz was gone (and now in second innings), our bowlers had to struggle (nothing to take away from Akmal's extraordinary innings though). This is why Kapil Dev, Waqar, Wasim(and more recently Vaas) were great bowlers. They knew how to bowl on sub-continent wickets - with conditions not favouring bowlers.

Anyways, at this point of time, Pak is on the top. Tomorrow's first session will hold the key. Whoever does well in first session may end up taking the cup.

Cheers,

Chasing 400+.....only a miracle can see Pak loose the game. The wicket is still a balanced one and the Pak bowlers have bowled better than their Indian counterparts.

The Pak batting so far has being superb. They are looking for runs and scoring them as if thet are playing one day game.

Here are some intersting stats from ther game so far:

1. The score now is 200 for 2 in 45 overs, a run rate of 4.4

2. In 45 overs Pak batsman have hit 35 boundaries. Hence they have scored 140 runs by boundaries. I wish i could speak to Dravid and give him these stats. It seems Greg Chappel is busy playing golf.

There is no plan at all to bowl to the Pak team. The bowlers are bowling everywhere. If Dravid had used the deep cover fielder and a deep mid wicket fielder and asked bowlers to bowl on one side of the wicket, more than 26 boundaries could have being saved, the Pak team then had to work harder fr these 104 runs which would have meant more pressure on them which in turn would translate into more risks taken by the Pak batsmen.

3. All indian bowlers are giving runs at an average of 4 or more, which is not good enough at this level.

This match is more like the cricket we want to see from these 2 rivals.

It come no surprise to me that Pak has comprehensively won the test match. I was surprised that they waited for 600 odd runs to declare as even 350 odd would have being enough.

They were a better team and displayed more mental toughness than the Idian team that crumbled under presssure and to that to a deplted bowling attack of Pak.

Mohd Asif is very impressive and if things go well for him then we will see another legendry bowler from Pak.
Razak is superb, he with Akmal and and Afridi are an asset to the Pak team and if Younis and Yousuf can continue with even half of this form then the Pak team will be very hard to be beaten

Dravid's captiancy was mediocre right through this tour and hopefully he can learn from this.
I feel for Ganguly as he looked to get into some runs but could not. I hope the selectors can give him another chance.

All said and done congrats to the Pak team, they were the better team specially when the chips were down.

Well done!!!!

Nice to see a result in the end, credit to Pakistan for recovering well and taking the Test.

Good to see Yuvraj score a hundred, he has a bright Test future ahead of him.

I am with Track on the Ganguly issue, I hope the selectors give him another chance to prove himself.

Now on to the ODI's.....hopefully we will be in for some very exciting cricket !

Yeah baby yeah!

We woon.......woooooooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Full marks to the PAK team. They came back well and batted well in the second innings. There were two advantages for them.

1) The Indian bowling lacked the sting and
2) Indians displayed some poor technique barring Yuvraj yesterday.

Neeways a win is a win and it was at the right time. That guy Mohammed Asif was impressive. He looks to be an exciting prospect. He is signed up for Leicestershire I believe, boy he is gonna be a handful there.

Looking forward for the ODIs

Vishwa

Well played Pakistan!
On a wicket that's assisting bowlers, especially pace bowlers, we have no really dependable batsman apart from Dravid.
A few pictures from the match... Indian batsmen after their dismissals. Their expressions tell all...
Dravid here takes a sad walk.

Ganguly...