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Sight Screen

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Super Test Day 4 - open thread

So...can they pull it off? Nope. Not in my opinion. As I said yesterday, 350+ is a tough ask for any good batting lineup (of any top team)...and this is not even a team...and they are up against Warne and McGill(who is as potent as Warne for half the world). McGrath may still have a bonus wicket or two hidden somewhere.

Anyways...open thread for you guys...

On another note, most of you might have noticed the Discussion Group linked from the main page. Some of you may already have registered. Well...the activity there would start once Prem is back and gives it some direction. It was Prem's idea, with help from Arjun, in having a forum for more focused discussion on topics, rather than the using the not very convenient way of comments section, as we do now.

For those who haven't yet visited it, check it out...create an id...maybe familiarize yourself with the basics. And then, lets see how it goes when Prem is back.

posted by worma at 1:34 PM

165 Comments:

  • This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger worma, at 14:12  

  • geoffrey: it was named 'Super' without the advantage of hindsight :-)

    Although some can still say they expected Aus to win....but still the WXI batting could have been better, even while losing.

    By Blogger worma, at 14:13  

  • @worma
    very tuf but not impossible. A certain Brian CHarles is overdue for runs and he can very well take the game away in a session ... if RD gives him company

    Or else, he has the ability to hold it together like he did at Barbados 1999.

    Now it is up to the batters to perform - at least once in the series. From here on, I dont think that being a team (or not) will be an issue for the WOrld X1 - it depends on the individual brilliance of the batters.

    Full marks to Murali, Freddie and Harmy for keeping the World in the game.

    Honestly bowling aus out for below 200 was a great effort and u cud not have expected anything more from them

    By Blogger Gaurav, at 14:16  

  • geoffrey: well the Aus batting failed only in a minor way. Most teams dont make too much in their second innings against good bowling. They maybe 50-70 runs less. Thats all. Anyway they had a good match so far...and thats all that counts

    gk: ofcourse its not impossible :-) This World XI has enough miracle workers in their ranks....one of them can come up with a gem.

    And btw, I do agree that they bowled well in second innings. Small consolation, that.

    By Blogger worma, at 14:50  

  • they're starting

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 20:51  

  • Agree with TheChowmeinWarrior and gk! BC Lara... fingers crossed to see another gem from him today. He is overdue for a good innings.

    By Blogger anantha, at 20:55  

  • and he just left an incutter. not a good sign. OTOH you always need a bit of luck at the beginning.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 20:57  

  • I am still hoping to see a repeat of that backfoot on drive from RD (off one of the leggies)

    By Blogger Toney, at 20:57  

  • possibility of inside edge as per Holding... there was a huge edge

    By Blogger Toney, at 20:58  

  • well how many cracking shots have we seen the Aussies turn into wickets? countless. Mainly when Mark Waugh was fielding, true, but still.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 20:59  

  • ashwin, thankfully no problem for me. And my laptop is on wireless conn

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:00  

  • like the red bull ad

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:00  

  • yeah, it's a way of saying "Hey, look behind you! made you look."

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:04  

  • was that for lbw or caught behind?

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:07  

  • didn't touch, AFAICS

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:08  

  • caught behind, must be. missing for height if it was lbw

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:08  

  • Whats AFAICS?

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:09  

  • as far as I can see

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:10  

  • Did anyone notice, 5 tests for 733 runs this year for BCL, not exactly in bad form

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:11  

  • I`m guessing its "as far as i can see"..

    By Blogger NaReN, at 21:11  

  • thanks roublen, something new for me :)

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:11  

  • losing now, tough ask

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:13  

  • lee doesn't seem to pitch it up very often. or does he just get lots of bounce?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:14  

  • toney:

    If Lara can reduce his shuffle, he can ride out McG and Lee. RD is looking set too. First hour or hour and half is crucial. If these two can ride it out, maybe we can see another Eden Garden here!!

    By Blogger Unknown, at 21:15  

  • wait till the ball gets old, Warnie will show why this is next to impossible. Of course, I do hope these guys prove me wrong, which is why I am watching

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:16  

  • if inzi moves his feet:)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:20  

  • lnow, not sure IH has a great time against SW

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:21  

  • is it just me or have these 2 decided to forget the singles and rely on the occasional boundary?

    By Blogger NaReN, at 21:21  

  • jiet, the batters might be hazing the bowlers when they shout NO for obvious non-runs.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:22  

  • losing now, rahul dravid has a known problem against warne.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 21:23  

  • lnow, BCL is the best option. If he can maul Murali, then why not MacGill or even SW

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:23  

  • Boycott averages 47+ against the best of WI pace bowlers, thats handy

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:26  

  • jiet, Holding supposedly bowled the greatest over against Bocott, so he shouldnt mind

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:28  

  • come on yac, he;s playing well.

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:29  

  • naren, I think they're running singles when they come, they're just not trying to angle the bat to create singles.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:31  

  • If (and its a big if) BCL gets into Watson, the Aussies will have a few headaches when the WI tour soon because they are on the lookout for that Aussie Freddie and Watson is said to be the next big thing

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:31  

  • what are the rules for wides in tests?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:34  

  • roublen, think the rules are same. A delivery which is beyond a batsman (in his crease) to play a normal shot or something, the umpires though dont enforce it as strictly, something I feel they dont have to be sympathetic to

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:35  

  • well, the longer this match takes, the harder its gonna b to get runs , so IMHO they shud cash in as much as they can now.. at least on lee !

    By Blogger NaReN, at 21:37  

  • Law 25: Wide ball. A ball is a wide if the batsman can't hit it from the normal standing position or from where he is actually standing.

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:39  

  • didn't mcgrath used to come around the wicket to Lara?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:39  

  • The event of a ball being delivered by a bowler too wide or high to be hit by the batsman, and ruled so by the umpire.
    A run scored by the batting team as a penalty to the bowling team when this occurs.
    To be ruled a wide, the umpire at the bowler's end must judge that the batsman is unable to play a normal batting stroke at the ball from his normal batting stance. The umpire signals a wide by holding both arms out horizontally.

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:40  

  • Roublen, always. BCL slashed at deliveries and got caught at point, even when McG bowled around the wkt

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:41  

  • I remember I was once umpiring a street match, the batsman grew wild with fury because I didn't call a really slow ball bowled wide of leg.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:42  

  • toney, do you know why Mcgath stopped?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:44  

  • damn

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:44  

  • ok, thats one less guy to watch

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:44  

  • just like in the 1st innings, seemed like he played too early. also didn't really move his feet much.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:45  

  • roublen, I guess McG and the rest want to find new ways to dismiss him :) I mean, whats with that prodigious shuffle of his? No matter how could a player you are, I think you'll struggle against these guys with that

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:46  

  • super shot, the second one

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:49  

  • I never really understood what Warne's drift meant. I though it meant he just angled it in.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:49  

  • roublen, its kind of like swing (though not the same thing). What I havent understood is, with the drift, the effective amount of turn decreases a bit. So, shouldnt the batsman find it easier to negotiate the turn?

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:51  

  • OK one more

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:54  

  • well, if a batsman tries to cover the line before he plays a shot, with the drift, the line changes. So Dravid had to bring his bat in a little bit to cover the drift, then he had to change direction and bring it back out to cover the turn.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:54  

  • So, is Inzi to defend the honour of Pakistan?!

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:55  

  • the kia woman's voice is annoying, yet oddly irresistible.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:56  

  • jiet, disagree with you on that. I think you see more drift for the big turners in cricket (not MacGill though), something to do with the extra revs you give the ball which gives it life in the air. I would love it if someone could give the real scientific explanation for drift, like for swing

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:57  

  • roublen, LOL irresistible?

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:58  

  • well, not irresistible, maybe hypnotic is a better word.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21:59  

  • Drift 1. n. sideways movement of the ball through the air on its flight towards the batsman when bowled by a spin bowler, may be caused by differential airflow around the spinning ball and/or the wind.

    By Blogger Toney, at 21:59  

  • missing leg

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:00  

  • Ha, Inzi gone. Well done, hope he keeps his mouth shut from now on. And so should Imran Khan, the guy who keeps saying Inzi could play pace better than SRT (about 10-12 yrs ago).
    Play against McG, Brett etc in Aus, then speak mate.

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:01  

  • Oh yeah, missing leg

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:02  

  • I think one of the problems is that umpires might have some macho desire not to use the third umpire

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:03  

  • well, perhaps the reasoning is that the money he's making will be good for the Pakistan economy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:05  

  • white men's burden: kallis, flintoff, boucher, vettori

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:06  

  • roublen, abt 700 militants are said to have died. Things happen for a reason, though I might sound very insensitive when I say this

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:07  

  • off cricket, but it seems this was the reason why they declined help from Bade Bhaiya, according to a JKLF person

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:10  

  • and still those people hail allah...

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:11  

  • the earthquake? no way, way more indians died than 700, kids, innocents. besides, as kush tandon says, earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:11  

  • roublen, this was in PoK, not talking abt proper J&K

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:12  

  • i wish tendulkar was in the middle, he would rise to the occassion and show the world his class

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:12  

  • I believe in karma, also believe in free will and that god isn't up in the clouds somewhere plotting whom to hurt and whom to help. God lets the order of the universe run its course, including the order of dharma and the order of karma.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:14  

  • SRT, and VVS, yes. Especially VVS playing some of those unbelievable shots against the spin

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:16  

  • had this been somewhere in the subcontinent, the aussie would whin about the quality of the pitch.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:16  

  • T Chappel,
    President Mushy himself went on record (on the Washingotn Post?) saying that women found this to be a shortcut to Canada !! Then, cant blame the rest of those "men" in Pakistan

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:18  

  • lol even navjot singh would be better against warne n macgill

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:18  

  • ruchi, nothing wrong with this pitch. Bit in it for the bowlers, bowling is v good.

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:18  

  • losing now, ;) just wanted to clarify that I do believe in prayer. Prayer is an action like any other action.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:20  

  • toney, isn't that the case with most subcontinent pitches?

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:20  

  • a religion that includes a festival when a goat is slaughtered by people of all ages n sex cannot possibly promote peace.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:22  

  • ruchi, I dont have a problem with subcontinent pitches at all. In fact, I am all for making them in favour of the home team, else where is the challenge? Would Eng prepare good batting beautys for us when we tour?

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:22  

  • ruchi, yeah I saw a bit of the mumbai match, didn't seem like the pitch was that horrible.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:22  

  • toney, you're assuming we have an advantage on a spinning pitch.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:24  

  • losing now, wont comment on Islam (for that matter any religion) to avoid bad vibes here :). I could guide you to a very good site though.

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:25  

  • roublen, we do. There's no other team, with such good players of spin. Take VVS & SRT, there's no one with better technique to cope with spinners.

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:26  

  • Manjrekar having a jab at the fake 18 year olds (from our dear neighbour??) when discussing 18 yr old SRT's century at SCG

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:27  

  • toney, that's actually been something that disappointed me on the last Australian series. VVS got out 3 times to McGill. didn't seem like he was using his feet and playing spin like he used to.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:28  

  • if the ICC intends to make the super series an annual fixture it has to be hosted by sme other country, 11 players should not have an unfair unadvantage, but all said and done Aussies have shown what they are made up of.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:28  

  • OK, at the risk of revealing my feelings, I do read http://www.jihadwatch.org/ often. PLease do remember, I am not against any religion, I have lots of friends with very diverse beliefs, so hopefully no one judges me on this

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:28  

  • ruchi, good point, But if they hold it in India, guys like Kallis and Smith will continue to struggle

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:30  

  • LOL about the fake 18 year olds. used to run into these guys at tennis tournaments.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:30  

  • toney, the motive of the ICC is to get more people to watch cricket, what better than India, but just a thought they could hold it in some desi majority US state.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:31  

  • yacrik, somebody's got to field at short leg, and it has to be one of the batsmen. who else is there but Dravid or Sehwag? I suppose Smith could do it, but he seems big and quite slow.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:36  

  • t chappel,
    you read a bit of Rajeev Srinivasan? Seems to be very similarily aligned. I kind of agree, though.
    You know what, I used to be frustrated with this whole ally business by USA wrt Pakistan. But the recent reports which state that Pak is still a target state mean that USA is trying a bit of appeasement there, on the lines of what Hitler received. USA seems to be trying to pacify Pak so that they arent hurt. This could lead to very bad consequences

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:36  

  • yac, another thing I noticed was that Katich keepps looking at the ball rather than taking evasive action, no wonder he takes some sharp catches too

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:37  

  • indcric, did you get sportingstreams sorted out?

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:40  

  • tc, I dont like Shekar Gupta in that list. I do like the interviews he does though

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:40  

  • http://www.kushtandon.squarespace.com/

    He's warning that a BIG earthquake is going to happen for the Himalyan region at some point and will cause havoc unless the buildings are modified

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:42  

  • Iran is, IMHO not as big a threat as KSA and Pak. And Pak is very wary of Shia Iran, they dont exactly see eye to eye with the Sunnis

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:42  

  • j, Oh, I agree, but for some reason, I havent taken to Gupta at all, cant really define the reaosn though :)
    By the way, as long as communists continue to get elected in INdia, they remain our biggest threat (or at least in my home state of Kerala)

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:44  

  • yacrik, I am a person of STATURE & RESPECT. Besides, it's against my religion to sweep the floor. (agree, BTW)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:46  

  • j you do get to vote, i think you have to go talk with the indian high commission or something not sure.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:48  

  • ruchim you sure? I thought you had to be in India to vote.

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:49  

  • former pm Gowda?

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:49  

  • Deve Gowda used to be PM, right?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:50  

  • he was a retard when in power too. Dod nothing much other than sleep in Parliament. Whats his problem with Murthy?

    By Blogger Toney, at 22:51  

  • even more pathetic than the Indian team is the way the Janata Dal fell to pieces.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:52  

  • I should have said "BCCI" rather than "Indian team". I like the team itself.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22:54  

  • ah, dewe gowda, isn't he the guy who could not even speak proper hindi when giving his independence day speech.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:56  

  • i m sorry guys wrong info, you cannot vote unless you are serving as an employee of the govt of india (does not matter if you are abroad)

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 22:58  

  • guys do you know what's disappointing, people of my generation (18-20 yr olds) dont take an interest in politics, and now city blokes are also not really interested in cricket (the reason i come onto this blog)

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:00  

  • t chappel, if you say that honour killings number only 50 in a decade, you are nowehre close. They are much more, at least as per BBC.

    By Blogger Toney, at 23:02  

  • well, neither could Rajiv Gandhi. not even sure how good Nehru's hindi was. To say nothing of Sonia Gandhi.

    Deve Gowda was a nice man actually, honest & not corrupt, which is one reason he doesn't seem to have very much resources these days. But as toney pointed out, not much point working 18 hours & sleeping 4 hours a day if you're going to doze off whenever you're in public.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:04  

  • the craze for f1 racing and english league, back in india there was always competition for tv between me and my brother, he wanted to watch f1 or soccer while i wanted to watch cricket.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:04  

  • watching these wickets fall again, depressing.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:05  

  • roublen, not sure Gowda was a straightforward person. I think his son(s) gained a lot, especially real estate

    By Blogger Toney, at 23:07  

  • roublen watch f1 racing instead ;)

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:07  

  • thanks chappell, yeah, it's like watching all these white people vote for Bush because "he looks like one of us".

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:08  

  • toney, why is he so angry & bitter these days, then?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:09  

  • what else would they think when we send paheli as our official oscar entry, i m so looking forward to the reaction of the oscar jury to the movie.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:09  

  • no idea, roublen.

    Paheli is supposed to be something like a fairy tale (didnt likle it). If people are ignorant to believe that life in India is similar to such stories, thens o be it.
    Abt snake charemers - well dear madam Sonia Gandhi thought India was a land of snake charmers and forests till she came to India. Now she knows, there are lots of "foot-lickers" too

    By Blogger Toney, at 23:12  

  • bob willis rubbishing rudi koerzen

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:13  

  • thanks chapell, for me it's the deficit. before you could raise taxes and have high spending, or cut taxes and have low spending.

    The genius Bush comes up with a bright idea: cut taxes, increase spending. Why didn't anybody think of that before?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:18  

  • no idea, man

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:24  

  • flintoff has never had much patience, I guess.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:26  

  • stadium is empty

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:29  

  • the commentators seem to be past caring too

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:31  

  • when you think about it, really pathetic. batting's had 5 chances, hasn't clicked once.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:38  

  • so which of the ROW players do you think has performed even decently?

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:40  

  • probably one thing they did wrong was pick a lot of older players.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:40  

  • sangakkara, murali, harmison, flintoff did well in patches.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:42  

  • Ian Chappell felt that the selectors should have picked Pathan over Pollock.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:43  

  • who's the manager of WS, losingnow?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:43  

  • yeah roublen i agree with you, you can add flintoff to the list too

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:43  

  • first WS since 1918, right?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23:47  

  • i wonder what the yankees must be doing at the moment.

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 23:58  

  • kallis looking good against spin here. probably the spinners should try pitching it further up.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:00  

  • Boucher gone

    By Blogger Toney, at 00:02  

  • do you think vettori bowled badly this test, or just bad luck?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:05  

  • shane watson hasn't got a sniff of the ball in the 2nd innings.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:08  

  • when is SL coming to India?

    By Blogger Toney, at 00:08  

  • first ODI Oct 25. guess we could follow the duleep matches;)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:10  

  • Wonder if Duleep trophy is televised, MacG on a hatrick

    By Blogger Toney, at 00:15  

  • cant get a better batsman to face

    By Blogger Toney, at 00:15  

  • great ball

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:15  

  • Even if MacG gets 250 more wkts, he is nowhere close to SW

    By Blogger Toney, at 00:18  

  • indcric, losingnow, LOL. re Duleep being televised, no way. The BCCI is like this only.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:18  

  • c u guys soon, got to catch some sleep and then get to wokr, yuck on a Monday

    By Blogger Toney, at 00:19  

  • whoever said under 200, called it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:20  

  • right, later toney.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:21  

  • sahir, no idea. been a while since I've been in India.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:24  

  • i used to watch mumbai vs tamil nadu games about 6 years back on DD Sports

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 00:24  

  • were the indians in the stands booing Ranjan Madugale?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:31  

  • mos = gilchrist

    By Blogger Ruchi's, at 00:33  

  • My man of the series would be Aalu. He played exceptional innings of 1 and 0 for the betterment of PAK cricket. I don't matter whether he played ODIs or not. These 2 innings were enough, more so his display in the field trying to stop balls on the boundary.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 00:37  

  • now bob willis rubbishing shane watson. poor guy, he didn't seem that bad. results weren't there, but he did bowl consistently at 138-40

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:43  

  • bob willis hammering sunil gavaskar. saying the ICC thinks SG is god, he was the one behind the "rubbish" supersub idea. also saying rudi koerzen is not a good umpire.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 00:49  

  • chowmein, not sure about the idea of ratings points; playing for ratings points would seem a litle artificial. I think one problem is the guys they selected were too old and accomplished, didn't seem to have anything to prove. rather than Australia versus ROW, maybe "World Seniors" versus "World Juniors" would be interesting? World Seniors would be over 25, World juniors under 25?

    Crazy idea, but maybe worth an experiment.

    we were talking earlier about VVS and spin, in the last Australia tour of India, VVS was dismissed cheaply thrice by Warne and once by Hauritz; Pakistan tour of India, dismissed twice by Kaneria, once by Afridi, once by Razzaq; and in India's loss at Melbourne, VVS dismissed twice by MacGill.

    Definitely an indication that VVS is not playing spin as well as he used to. Perhaps some problems of mindset or technique have cropped up?

    The most interesting thing in the match for me was how much better Kallis seemed than everybody else in playing Warne and Macgill. Perhaps because 1) he played shots mostly along the ground rather than in the air. 2) He played late, and let the ball come to him, rather than commiting early and trying to lunge his front foot forward. 3) when moving forward, he didn't extend too far, and he led with his bat, not his pad.

    Perhaps the lesson is that in playing spin you either have to take the chance of stumping and move both feet forward, trying to meet the ball early and smother the spin. Or you have to let the ball pitch, allow the ball the spin, and play late.

    The players other than Kallis often tried the half-way technique of keeping their back foot behind the crease and lunging the front foot forward as far as possible. They were unbalanced, they looked uncomfortable, and they got out quickly, often from edges to slips.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 02:39  

  • k-slice: Its about a story in Deccan Herald (or Deccan Chronicle) which someone posted a link to, in the comments of some other thread(a few days back). I checked it out myself at that time (although someone recently also said that its been removed). It basically said that all's not well between Sachin and Saurav and that K. More recently went to Sachin asking if he would like to be captain. He refused and also said that he had reservations about playing under Saurav. And More took this feeling from Sachin back to other selectors also.

    The report also said that the root of this problem was when Sachin was in the dressing room during his injury layoff during Aus visit...Saurav called him a 'tourist' for going with the team everywhere but not playing.

    So...this press statement from Sachin and Saurav is a combined response to that. And I was also shocked at seeing them respond thus. It seems that this time the media has really crossed the lines. They have been writing so much in recent times...attributing so much to player x or y....it looks like this time they bit more than they can chew. And I am happy for that :-)

    By Blogger worma, at 04:09  

  • Full article from Asian Age...and coming from R Mohan...it is very odd

    Sachin spiked Sourav
    - By R. Mohan


    Chennai, Oct. 14: Sachin Tendulkar’s private feelings on the matter of playing under Sourav Ganguly may have had a lot to do with the big shift towards Rahul Dravid, according to sources close to the selection committee.

    There has apparently been a lot of bad blood between the two seniors after Ganguly called Sachin a "tourist" in a crowded Chepauk dressing room during the series against Australia when Sachin, before quite realising his elbow problem was getting serious, skipped the Test matches in Bangalore and Chennai after travelling with the team to the venues.

    Ganguly, who was captain, felt his star was letting him down in a vital series. Ironically, he too then pulled out of the Nagpur Test, a move that was later interpreted as chickening out of an encounter with the Aussie seamers on a greentop provided at the Vidarbha Stadium thanks to BCCI politics.

    The chairman of the selection committee, Kiran More, was reported to have sought out Sachin to find out if he would like to become the captain again, but Sachin refused while also expressing his apprehensions about playing under Ganguly. More conveyed to his colleagues at the meeting that Sachin had expressed his refusal to captain. More is also said to have revealed Sachin’s reservations about playing under Ganguly.

    The selectors then decided by consensus on a different approach that has given Dravid a longer run as captain than he has ever had when he was deputy to Ganguly. The selection committee is now serious about Ganguly proving his fitness before he stakes his claim for a place in the team.

    The selectors have also noted Virender Sehwag’s poor form over the last 15 ODIs or so in which the swashbuckling opener fired just once when he had New Zealand running for cover in the tri-series final in Zimbabwe. They may have named him vice-captain, but they have decided among themselves to scrutinise his one-day form minutely.

    Harbhajan Singh is another whose one-day record has been taking a dip of late and the selectors have decided to place him under the scanner while converging on R. Ojha of Hyderabad as a possible replacement if the Turbanator continues to disappoint in the limited-overs game.

    The "tourist", Sachin, returns to strengthen the Dravid-led team and the consensus in the committee is that a more cohesive Team India will be on the field than the Ganguly-dominated squad that began sporting too many divisions and cracks and was also split vertically over the Ganguly-Chappell drama being fought in public.

    By Blogger RR, at 04:44  

  • The threesome were always united..SG,SRT and RD...the media wants to create the rift and get some mileage out of it.How else will they survive??

    By Blogger RR, at 06:37  

  • Politics...has been the bane of Indian Cricket for a long,long time...Read this

    http://www.sportstaronnet.com/tss2603/stories/20030118003003700.htm

    By Blogger RR, at 06:53  

  • bulchee...agreed that the team management of WXI (not selectors) were greedy in assuming Kallis is the backup seamer...and thus went in with one batsmen too many(in the end that didnt prove enough, ironically :-) They should have given Flintoff that role, and taken in another bowler(maybe Akhtar, who was made to sit out?)

    Boucher's selection was a shocker...no one remembers the last time Boucher played a test innings of any value...and certainly no one can remember any time he kept to a good spinner ;-). Although I'm not sure how much harm did this wrong selection cause, in the end. Going with Kallis as a backup bowler did harm them in first innings.

    And as to your comment on Vettori...can you tell me what exactly is the basis of your feeling that Aussies 'fear' Kumble more than Vettori? Are you aware of Vettori's records against Aussies in test and ODIs...both home and away? Kumble, meanwhile, has had just one 'good' test match in Australia. Although I am not saying that Kumble couldn't have been picked over Vettori...one could have justified that by Kumble's recent test form overall...but not agree with you about Vettori and Australia. And forget Kaneria.

    ODI team had a few 'stars' I think. But do you even know how Fleming fared as an ODI opener against Australia when they last played? He just looked like a sitting duck out there in the middle! Sure Sehwag did not do great...but he's played a few good knocks as an opener against Aus(Wc final was one of them)

    And Bond was not selected because at the time of selection...no one was sure if and when he was going to make a comeback. But maybe like SRT he could have been drafter as a 'conditional' contender...sure would have fared better than Akhtar.

    By Blogger worma, at 08:24  

  • rajesh...probably Arjun(who has setup the discussion group for Prem) has chosen a different time zone there? Or probably it doesnt even allow that option and just takes the system time of the server location?

    By Blogger worma, at 08:25  

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