Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
Wait til India play Australia in the Outback…we’ll see who’ll be doing the face saving dance!
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
And how about india’s face saving draw at lords last summer due to rain.
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
Saeein you are absolutely right, we should be doing face saving.....wait wait wait when was the last time India won the series against Pakistan in India? Can you please elaborate...
Also can you please tell me the full record of victories India have against Pakistan?
Who needs face saving.........Your team could not beat our half team mate. I know call it managementor captains stupidity but Shoaib sick Sami Sick, Umar Gul not playing because of sickness, Asif not playing.......You had no RP sing and Sreesanth, we would have loved Sreesanth for sure as you loved our Sami .....
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
Saieen what happened? When I left for work this morning Pakistan were in all sorts of trouble at 84/4 an hour or so before tea…I was seriously fearing the worst when I connected to the net at work but to my pleasant surprise Pakistan did not lose any further wickets. kyon *kya hua how come Kumble and Bhajji itni jaldi thuss ho gaye and that too on a deteriorating last day pitch? *
And Kumble has the nerve to come out and say that Pakistan did not win a moral victory because they struggled to pick up 5 wickets in both innings (knowing full well that our bowling resources were severly depleted) when he himself and Bhajji could not impress much on a tailor-made 5th day pitch. A few kind words for the opposing batsmen would have been greatly appreciated by everyone.
How many times for instance do you see sides escaping with a draw after collapsing to 150/5 in reply to the opposition’s huge first innings score of 600? And then not losing any further wickets in the last three hours or so on a deteriorating 5th day pitch required real grit and determination. Thankfully the two Y’s batted like the highly talented and experienced players they are. This was infact Younis Khan’s third hundred on a 5th day pitch in his last 4 tests! :k:
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
Pakistan fans should cheer ourselves that we didn’t lose this game. I am pretty sure, on 3rd day it seemed almost obvious that we’ll lose, before an extra-ordinary effort by Misbah and Akmal rescued us. Last day’s hero is our stand-in captain who refused to take responsibility for team selection (his oldest gripe). But Younis and Yousaf were both amazing. Three cheers for them. :k: :k: :k:
Having said that, no denying that India pretty much dominated this test match, right after their 600 runs first innings, which made an India loss no more than a distant statistical possibility alone. Pakistan think-tank should try to figure out how in heaven’s name will we get 20 Indian wickets with the rudderless bowling attack that we have right now. If we had both Umer Gul and Asif supporting Akhtar then it would be a straight-forward equation. With pathetic Sami bowling from the other end, Akhtar’s effectiveness is also reduced because batsmen don’t have any pressure from the other end. Kaneria is doing very ordinary stuff and our fielding has never done well. So, we have a real problem on our hands. We can’t win a game, unless we have the bowling resources to get 20 Indian wickets, and with the present lot, I am not sure how we will do it. We actually need Indian batsmen to commit harakari on a mass scale to level the series.
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
pakistani batsmen gave away their wickets. our bowlers did their best to contain indian batsmen.
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
The batting, bar the opening pair, has been defensive to the nth degree. You mentioned about keeping a check on the score by at least 3-4 runs per over, and half the balls that were blocked so far, could have easily been put away for the purposes of collecting runs. The decision from the upper management has been a shocker, putting your guard down without as much as an ounce of a fight from the top-order world-class batsmen. Why not just walk off the pitch and forfeit this match altogether, what is stopping from doing that? The decision from people-in-charge needs a bullet in their mouths.
Not moaning but just making a point here. I think we are lucky not to lose this game esp. after collapsing to 78/4 but could we have actually won it?
I think Pakistan had a good strategy to chase those runs but the execution was n't quite there.
Kamran Akmal came up the order, he is a stroke maker, and Pakistan wanted him to score fast. Misbah ul-Haq was also promoted because he is a no-nonsense player who always puts away the bad balls.
Butt had probably been asked to drop anchor (just in case Pakistan lost a couple of wickets quickly) and let other people score around him but he took it to a whole new level. Anchoring an innings does not mean you slow down so much that your so called anchoring becomes a burden on the rest of the players. Butt's quite breath-taking knock of 11 off 91 balls typified that ultra-defensive approach. Akmal was playing good but he was forced by Butt to play shots that he would not have played otherwise. Maybe they should have let Salman Butt play his natural game.
All in all, Pakistan wanted to quietly chase the total and had both Akmal and Misbah clicked it could have been a different result.
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
india had harbhajan and kumble. two experience spin bowlers, pakistan only kaneria. india had zaheer, patel, tendulkar and ganguly. pakistan, sick akhtar, sami and tanvir. we came out with a mentality that one of the bowlers will take atleast 5 wickets. pitch was flat and batsmen got the time to adjust. than our batsmen like dhobi mentioned came out with defensive mind set. if sami can stay on the wicket for so long and build a record partnership than any player with patience could score runs at will.
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
GA: do you think it is good idea to promote misbah up in order? i know akmal has failed as an opener, but do we need misbah at top order to bring more stability? imran always said, you have put your best players up in order.
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
*Butt batted beautifully. Blocking is an art in itself, and he read Kumble and Harbhajan really well and ate up 15 overs.
Whether Kumble is too bitter to admit it or not, this is a moral victory for Pakistan and I hope we can square the series in Bangalore due to the confidence gained here.
*
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
MWP: No I think Misbah should continue to bat at 5. I still rate Yousuf as our best batsman followed by Younis and Misbah in that order. Although you have to say that Younis has been our best test batsman over the last 4 tests (three second innings hundreds all on the last day just proves how much he relishes batting under pressure!). I think Malik should seriously give opening another go. After all he did score a match-saving 140-odd against Sri Lanka in Colombo only last year
If I had my wish, my team for the next game would be
- Open with Butt and Malik
- Middle order of Younis, Yousuf, Misbah and Akmal (yes Akmal)
- Sarfaraz (wk) about time we gave him his test break
- Sami (by default) reluctantly
- Akhtar
- Sohail Tanveer
- Kaneria (If Afridi was in the team, I would drop Kaneria and open with Butt and Afridi with Malik dropping down to 6 or 7)
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
its a great line up, i agree. problem with our batting line up is openers. we have great middle order and improving lower order, but our openers have always found a way to put us at back foot. after hafeez, hameed has learned nothing. he is another failure. so far it is nazir, hafeez and hameed. let's see who is next.
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
i hope we dont see another pitch like this one
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2007
A combo was worth waiting. Fourth day after tea. Aamir Sohail out-pontificated Arun Lal with his whispering. Batman stands no chance.
:D
I cant believe I missed this. This is what should be posted on you tube and archived for posterity rather than the standard batting bowling nonsense that gets on there.
Just saw the Zee TV 20/20 adds - that is the natural stopping place for this jodi. These guys are wasted on test matches - the test match watching crowd doesnt have the right IQ to appreciate their gems.
Re: 2nd Test: India v Pakistan at Kolkata - Nov 30-Dec 4, 2
And Kumble has the nerve to come out and say that Pakistan did not win a moral victory because they struggled to pick up 5 wickets in both innings (knowing full well that our bowling resources were severly depleted) when he himself and Bhajji could not impress much on a tailor-made 5th day pitch.
I wouldnt read too much into Kumble's comment beyond the standard PR posturing. Will be tough to argue that Pak didnt bat their way out of trouble on their own merit in both innings.
Overall Kumble's captaincy so far has been very impressive IMO. Sort of went unnoticed, but his declaration was highly unusual in the context of Indian declarations. Typical policy (even with Ganguly) had always been to play safe and bat on to set ungettable targets, even though it left us less time to dismiss the opposition.