The daily diary has returned. For this series LahoreMunda will write his review from Pakistan’s point of view while Rahul67 has very kindly agreed to write the reviews from an Indian point of view.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's pre series review:
India team just finished first match with Pak A and it must have left the team a bit confused. India was suppose to bat well and they did. This is nothing more than the match practice and no guarantee that they will do well against full Pakistani attack. The bowling at best was pedestrian against a much depleted batting lineup. That’s the concern, what will happen to this bowling lineup against full Pakistan batting lineup.
The writing is clear if Pakistan backs themselves up and create pitches for bowlers negating India’s batting advantage they will win. NewZeland did exactly the same some time back by creating very hard pitches. Matches were very low scoring; still NZ won the series clean and square.
Lets leave the gut feel behind and look at team and its strengths a bit. First test is important and drawing first blood is important since both teams are under tremendous pressure and any further pressure can just buckle the team and its management, having foreign coaches should help to keep the tempers and stress in control.
The biggest strength India has is its batting. The batting of Irfan and Dhoni has clearly added two more batsmen coming at number 7 and 8 to this team in comparison to Parthiv Patel or Karthik and Irfan (of 2yrs back) while playing test matches in earlier series in Pakistan or India. This team bats till last with Harbhajan Singh coming at number eleven, it’s never over unless its over when India is batting lately.
The bowling if given a good wicket can be effective. All the bowlers are coming out from good performances. Still performance in Pak A match doesn’t give much confidence. India doesn’t have a bowler how can create something out of nothing and others ride that wave. Pakistan has rediscovered Shoaib Akthar in that role. Only factor India can look at is that fast bowlers know that there are Balaji, Ashish Nehra, S Snath and VRV Singh waiting back home. While for the first time after long, spinners will know that there is some 17 yr old, who had Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Dhoni while bowling to them first time in challenger trophy and has just taken 3rd five wicket hall in 6th Ranji match is touted to be as good as any of them. So bowlers better perform or whoever gets out of team could be out of team for some good years.
It’s a team with intensity and can take tough situations, we all need to see, can they face the passion and raw talent of Pakistan team.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's pre series review:
Pakistan and India square off yet again for the 3rd time in less then two years. A question that no one ever thought would be asked when two sides play is being raised. Are we playing each other too often? The rivalry is no doubt the biggest in the world, much bigger then Ashes. But personally I also believe playing each other as often as this would take the edge off. I am not so sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing though. With the emotional public of both countries taking extreme steps when their side loses maybe playing too often is a good thing and it will calm the nerves of fanatics who make this a matter of life and death.
Pakistan and India are both on a high after solid show in their previous series. While India can take heart from humbling Sri Lanka in their previous encounter there is no doubt Pakistan’s last series was a much bigger achievement. The England team was on a high after winning the Ashes, and was flirting with the thought of being the number one team in the world for which they had to beat the South Asia giants. Pakistan humbled them both in ODI’s as well as Tests and emerged as a team to watch out for in the coming days.
Perhaps the only advantage Pakistan holds at this time is that our team is settled. Everyone is well aware of their role in the side. India on the other hand are making their first foreign tour under a new captain, they have a new coach and the dressing room atmosphere is uncertain with the presence of ex captain Ganguly. Rahul Dravbid will have his hands full in this series. His class as a batsman is undeniable, the sublime touch makes him perhaps the most attractive batsmen in the world but his credentials as a captain are still unverified. His seems to have a good cricketing brain and it would be interesting to see how he deals with the pressure in this series.
Pakistan is beaming with confidence, our two trump cards, skipper Inzamam and Shoaib Akhtar are in great form and the confidence of the whole team is sky high. I don’t know if Inzi was being modest of just didn’t want the nation to have high hopes when he termed India starting as favorites. Maybe the fever crawled it’s way up to the head as the bookies are also putting their money on Pakistan to clinch both series. I am not saying we start of as out right favorites but keeping the recent form and performance in mind I do think we have a slight edge over India.
India’s batting is way superior there is no question about it. Our dependence on Inzi is getting a little too much during the past couple of years. He has been scoring all over the world, against everyone we have played which sometime makes it hard to look at the fact that apart from Inzi none of the top 5 or 6 have scored on a consistent basis. Younis was great in India, decent in West Indies and downright horrible against England. Yousaf didn’t make much impact in India, was out for a couple of games in West Indies and started poorly against England before getting back on track. Salman Butt scores the odd half century or a century but overall is not getting big scores on a regular basis. The other opener is not even decided so it’s a waste to talk about that. Our lower order on the other hand is very useful. Razzaq, Akmal and Afridi make an explosive and most of the times a dependable lower order. Afridi has been scoring useful runs in the lower order, Akmal is more or less treated as a regular batsman now with his batting improving with each passing day and Razzaq is also a very useful lower order batsmen. Following them is Akhtar, Sami and Rana who are all good enough to stick around more often then not when there is a batsman on the other hand.
India on the other hand has an explosive batting line up. Sehwag Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman are all world class and all seemed to be in good knick in the only side match they played (apart from Sehwag who flew in late)
Pakistan has the upper hand as far as bowling is concerned. In Shoaib Akhtar they have a bowler who is capable of unsettling any line up on any surface and with his changed attitude and improved fitness he is a bigger threat now then he ever was before. Sami has to perform in this series otherwise the doors should be opened for another bowler. Sami has got the pace but he just doest take enough wickets to warrant a place in the side as a strike bowler. Let’s see if the tips from Imran Khan helped him or not otherwise he should be kicked out. I understand the great Khan Sahib sees the enormous talent in Sami and that’s why he came to help the youngster but sometimes you need more then just talent to succeed at international level. Mansoor Akhtar also had a lot of talent but despite numerous chances given to him by Khan Sahib ha failed to make an impact internationally. Rana bowls at a lively pace and is fast becoming a threat to international batsmen in Test cricket. His usefulness is ODI’s was no secret but he bowled really well in the last test series as well. Kaneria is again going to handle the spin obligations and he is regarded as the second best leggie after the legendry Shane Warne. He has more variety then Warne and has the talent and determination to pass Warne one day well. He will also play a major part in Pakistan’s plan as he is an attacking leg spinner who can bowl that magical spell at any stage where he can turn the game on its head.
India’s only trusted seamer is Irfan Pathan who is now regarded as an all rounder after some fine batting performances in the recent games. Kumble might not be spent force yet but he is definitely past his prime. Harbhajan is good but not consistent and the rest of the Indian bowlers are still trying to settle down in the team.
All in all it promises to be a closely fought series and will provide great entertainment to cricket crazy public of both sides. May the best side wins.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's day 1 review:
Day 1, Test 1, Jan 13
Dravid must be thinking what’s wrong with his luck. He gets captaincy for most important tour of life and starts on a wrong foot. The TV footage of Ganguly, Dravid and Greg Chappel before the start of the play was as bad as it was Inzy talking to Pakistani team during last tour. There is very thin line between a motivated single unit and de-motivated unit. The performance on the pitch was that of a de-motivated captain trying his best to come in terms with situation he is in.
Pakistan looks more solid on other hand, it started day with a disaster due to peach of fielding from Yuvraj. Immediately we have Yonus putting his head down and building up the innings. Even Malik went into shell for some time, that’s tribute to new found team spirit. Once there were enough runs on the board, Malik played false stroke when team was out of danger. That’s the difference a motivated team makes, Malik of past may have played this shot early in innings and putting Pakistan in trouble. That was not to be this time. After Malik was gone, Y & Y just milked Indian bowling. Yusuf seems to be playing one day, the way he could toy with Indian bowling showed his class when in flow and flatness of the pitch. As I earlier said India doesn’t have bowler who can create something out of nothing. They needed somebody in that role today, sometimes Kumble does play that role. Though today shoulders were down, it wasn’t the team that defeated SL or squared series with SA. It was a team that’s very aware of politics of Indian cricket and knowing that a politician on the top has been replaced by another bigger politician.
Both the wickets were gifted by Pakistan, Indian bowlers doesn’t look like taking wickets. Yunus had enough time to change his strokes mid way on Kumble, who is suppose to be fast through the air, that clearly indicated the dominance of Pakistan batsmen.
Pitch is a good test match wicket, there was turn for Harbhajan which he couldn’t exploit.
India had Ganguly, followed by Sehwag as most economical bowlers at the end of day. That clearly indicates that on a flat pitch bowling effort was not disciplined. There were enough too short, too full and on the leg deliveries from bowlers giving away easy runs to Batsmen. Dravid ran out of ideas was clear since he didn’t try Tendulkar in bowling at all, hence not trying all his options on this day.
Going forward India has task cutout, Y & Y on the crease to be followed by Inzy, Afridi and Akmal still to come isn't good picture for this bowling attack. Another 200 runs and Pakistan will be in a good position to win the test. There are two options, pitch may crumble or it can stay true. If it stays true we are heading for a draw. If it crumbles, India can bank on the fact that Pakistan has gone with one specialist spinner and on breaking pitch of day 3, they have to reckon only with Danish, and upto some extent Afridi. So may be India can think of making Pakistan bat on a crumbling pitch on day 5 to make 150 runs. Another 300 runs and India will be in for fighting for three days to save the test, and with pitch crumbling they will need all the so called batting resources to do that.
Indian batting with Ganguly not fitting anywhere looks brittle. If he opens, there are good chances that India will be two wickets down before 50 on board. If he doesn’t open than we have Dravid opening, and that leaves middle order totally on Tendulkar’s shoulders. In both cases it makes Indian batting brittle, however strong on paper.
This was a day full of increasing Pakistan dominance on the field. Indian think tank better get the act together quickly they have a series to play, let them start playing before they think of winning.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's day 1 review:
Finally the much hyped first test got underway in perfect playing conditions and a placid batting wicket. There were no surprises in the team selected for this match though it does the great depth available to Pakistan when a player like Razzaq could not find a place in the playing XI.
Inzamam won the toss and had no hesitation in deciding to bat first. Although Salman Butt got himself run out after a lazy display of running between the wickets, that was as good as it got for India. Younis Khan came to the crease and picked up right where he left off when he last played India. Shoaib Malik playing for his position in the side batted patiently for a well deserved half century.
Although Malik and Younis provided the much needed platform at the top of the order it was after the dismissal of Malik that Pakistan completed took charge as Mohammad Yousaf thrilled his home crowd with yet another classy knock. At the end day 1 Younis was batting not out at 147 and Mohammad Yousaf had 95 to his name. Pakistan was comfortably placed at 326 for two wickets.
Pakistan now has the opportunity to bat India out of this test match. India will need to make early inroads tomorrow if they want themselves to have a chance of winning this game. If Pakistan scores beyond 500 runs, which very much looks a possibility, then India would have no choice but to play for a draw which would then give Pakistan the chance to attack all out and put the India batsmen under pressure.
Although one could be satisfied with batting performance but getting a result on this pitch looks highly unlikely. Indian bowling looked pedestrian yesterday and only time will tell how Shoaib Akhtar and co will bowl on this dead track. One thing is for sure, for any side to win this game the bowlers will have do something special to get the other side out twice.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's day 2 review:
It was another horrible day for the bowlers. Pakistan continued their run fest as 4 batsmen ended up with 3 digit scores. Yousaf played beautifully and elegantly before rush of blood got the best of him. He really didn’t need to come down the track to hit Kumble out of the ground as he was playing beautifully while staying at the crease.
Younis also continued his great form against India and was very unfortunate to be run out for 199. I do believe Afridi did not see him coming out of the crease so far as Afridi’s vision was blocked by Kumble. By the time both Afridi and Younis realized a run was not there for the taking it was too late and direct hit from Harbhajan saw the end of a great innings from Younis Khan.
Afridi more then made up for it though as he belted a fine century to justify his place in the side ahead of Razzaq. His 4 successive sixes off of Harbhajan were a treat. He does have a habit of giving it up right after getting to the three figures though as evident by his centuries in ODI, I don’t believe any one of his ODI centuries are more then 110.
Kamran Akmal also continued his great form and yet again thrilled his home crowd by a century that was as quick as Afridi’s. Pakistan declared right after that to have a go at the Indian batting.
Shoaib tested the batsmen in his 1st over as an edge from Sehwag’s bat flew for a boundry and another top edge from Dravid landed in no man’s land. Other then that there was no threat for the Indian batsmen. Dravid and Sehwag played confidently and pushed the score beyond 50 without a loss of a batsman. This pitch still looks like a batting paradise and unless a bowler from Pakistan bowls a miracle spell or the pitch all of a sudden crumbles, Pakistani bowlers are in for a long day. The match at this stage looks very much headed for a tame draw.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's day 2 review:
Had it not been to last 13 overs of the day, we had a day of absolute mayhem for Indians. It’s just the last 13 overs played sensibly and without any trouble makes Indian team go back and get some sleep.
Lets get back to start of the day, both the Y&Y continued as there was no break at all, and again it took a Pakistani batsmen to gift his wicket for a wicket to fall. Than finally India took a wicket with Kumble sending Inzy back and Yonus’s wicket seems to bring Indians somewhat back in Match. Than started the most entertaining part of the game. Finally it took Afridi and Akmal to nail down undoubtedly, what all have been saying that this Indian bowling doesn’t have teeth of its own. Hence a wicket which didn’t give any assistance, Indian bowling became fodder, where batsmen could just play shots as desired and wherever they wanted. Pakistan ended day at 679 for 7, with four centuries within span of an innings. The innings of Afridi and Akmal just didn’t set the stage for this match, also set the stage for rest of the series, since this gives more depth to Pakistani batting lineup. None of the Indian bowlers made any impact, they were toyed by most of the Pakistani batsmen. Butt and Inzy should look at it as missed opportunities to score centuries.
Despite such a big score on the board, India should be more worried about Shahid playing with caution at the start of the innings. That’s something they haven’t seen earlier. That means his wicket has to be earned on this tour and with his destructive powers he becomes a very threatening proposition for the series.
Can’t finish Pakistan innings roundup without looking at two incidents on the field. Yonus’s runout as unfortunate as it was, it also raises a question about runners role in cricket. The situation was Pakistan coasting at comfortable position. What will happen when you had a tight match and such a runout happens, that will not go down as peacefully as this one did. I don’t see anybody’s fault in whole episode, it’s just that it happens and one of the improvements cricket can do with, and you don’t expect Harbhajan Singh to hit direct.
Four sixes from Afridi, it was matter of time when it was to happen. As it is matter of time we will see six sixes from him in an over and most probably against one of the minnows, though he is capable of doing it against any bowler. You need that bit of madness with daring to do this, and you have it in Afridi.
That brings us to Indian batting; it was a controlled display of batting by two much tensed openers. It’s good to see India’s technically most accomplished and courageous batsman captain to take a call and come to open. This also shows what politics can do to a team’s composition. We have a player batting at a position with an average of 57+ for years being shifted from his regular position to open the innings. Sohaib and Naved bowled fast and increasingly hard still there were no alarms. India scored 65 runs in 13 overs, that’s the average of 5.00 runs, an over. This is when they are defending, few overs before tea and followed by few overs after tea. This is hardly any time for batsmen to settle down to find rhythm. Clearly this pitch is playing true, as well as out field remains lightening. The simple nudges are racing to boundary. With option of roller with Indian team on 3rd day morning, I don’t see this pitch breaking on 3rd day. Hence India has full 3rd day and may be on slow turning track on 4th day to save this test. Runs will come if you put bat to ball due to lightening outfield. Hence only demons Indian batsmen need to fight is there own mental demons. If they can manage those, we have this match going for draw.
The pressure of 679, that’s what Pakistan, has to use to and pressurize Indian batting, if they have to win this match.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's day 3 review:
Pakistani bowlers lucked out since they only had to bowl less then 20 overs today on a lifeless pitch. The match is certainly heading for a draw and with more rain in the forecast it seems like the bowlers won’t have to toil all day in the field trying to get something out of this pitch.
Sehwag played some spectacular shots today which took him only a stroke away from a well deserved century. It seems just like Younis saves his best for India, Sehwag saves his best for Pakistan. Rahul Dravid on the other end is playing only in the 30’s, but more importantly he is still there. It was a brave move by him to come as the opener to counter the attack. He also sent a clear signal to the oppositions that he is will not come under pressure by their big scores and fast bowlers and will the challenge head on.
This match is certainly heading for a draw now with even more weather problems expected in the coming days. India will just try to get some batting practicing in to get their players in the groove; god knows their bowlers have had enough practice for this tour as they toiled for the first two days.
We will need to have a sporting wicket for the next test match to make this series interesting. The crowd was good for this test match but if they keep on seeing tame draws with both sides managing to bat with ease they will go back to their shell and we will again see empty stadiums for test matches.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's day 3 review:
I am not sure what’s bigger pain, a Sunday wasted sitting at home while looking forward to a good days play, or harm to game of cricket that this match has done. The pitch made a very decent Pakistani attack look pretty simple. The weather, as feared earlier played its part and chances of any further game looks bleak in this match, with rain predicted for next two days, and bad light anyway stopping the play now and than
Whatever play happened belonged to Sehwag, though somehow one tend to reduce the credit to him and to Pakistani batsmen in earlier two days as you look at the pitch and lightening outfield. There was this one delivery that was wide outside offstump, Sehwag literally stretched every muscle to reach and put bat to it, and ball literally raced to boundary, explains the mayhem bowlers have faced in this match till now. Score of 145 for no loss with run rate of 5+, doesn’t look threatening in the back drop of 679, otherwise this is an indication of massive score and will give headache to any opposition captain. This match is heading for a draw, since pitch hasn’t shown any signs of breaking up yet and with no play today the wear and tear will be less. Hence even if play is possible chances of batsmen facing any trouble are remote.
Let’s put sometime on Rahul Dravid and his mental ways of playing his cricket. He was asked about pressure of being captain of India and stress added with this. Dravid’s reply was that for playing in India team, you should know how to take stress or you can’t stay in team. This innings he has shown the courage to take the stress and decisions and stand by it. If he can pick up some more captaincy skills, India would have answered its captaincy issue for long time to come.
Only hope of result in this test match remains, in case it rains heavily during night enough to bring moisture to pitch and it doesn’t take away time from the game. That’s a long shot and will that deteriorate pitch enough for Pakistani bowlers to take 20 wickets in two days is doubtful.
I said earlier, if Pakistan has to win this series they need to back up the strength of bowlers. Such pitches will not make them win these matches. Despite mayhem of first innings, I will hazard to say, the chances of Pakistan batting line collapsing are much higher than Indian batting lineup; hence it makes more sense to give bowlers a chance by Pakistan.
Let’s hope there is some game left and atleast it will give one or other team to show some superiority on other team. In current state India won’t feel really down by getting hit so badly cause they came back and did the same to Pakistani bowling.
All this match has done is giving some good records to some players and boosted some careers.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's day 4 review:
One more day left in this boring test match and Pakistani bowlers would be hoping for rain to avoid them some undue fatigue. There is really nothing left to play for in this game except perhaps more batting records. Sehwag would be eying a triple century or beyond. This is a good chance for him to overtake Brian Lara’s record. At the rate he is playing he wont need a whole lot of time. Dravid has anchored the innings well and played second fiddle to Sehwag but his contribution was equally as important.
Pakistani bowlers toiled hard for the whole day after a delayed start. Sehwag played majestically for his second double century in successive matches against Pakistan. He was lucky to be still there as a couple of chances were spilled by the Pakistanis and an umpiring decision going I his favor but other then that he played beautifully against every bowler.
Dravid was more conventional in his approach. He is one the best players in world cricket and showed he has the guts as well to bat at any position if the team needs him.
The pitch was pathetic to say the least. I had maintained right from day one, even when Pakistani batsmen were busy piling runs, that it would be very difficult to produce a result on this pitch. The bowlers from both sides have tried initially to get something out of it and then pretty much gave up on it. There is nothing in the pitch and the outfield is lightning quick so you get good money for your shots.
One would hope that we start planning things to our advantage for home series and make lively pitches that would help our bowlers. This match might as well have not been played since apart from batting records it never looked like producing a result.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's day 4 review:
Records and records and records, this test should be known as test of records. I am sure every single batting record in the book on this test ground would have been broken or should be under threat. It’s a wicket where Kaneria and Harbhajan Singh will complaint to captains for not allowing them to bat so that they can improve the batting averages. Infact that will be a good solace to bowlers if India can let them come up early to bat tomorrow and get some runs and feel better emotionally after the assault they had faced during Pakistan’s fist innings.
Though India scored at the rate of 5+ somehow India’s reply will be more grinding and fatigue inducing to Pakistani team, rather than the battery with which Pakistan finished its innings.
Sehwag has capitalized the pitch and situation best to own advantage and for India, he is on door step of another triple hundred and if achieved, he will join a select group of people who have scored two triple hundreds. Now there is absolute contrast in two big centuries he has hit against Pakistan in first test of the series. The first one during last series had immense value; while this one is of value since atleast for first century he was under pressure of 679, after that it’s been just another day in the park. Rahul Dravid has played like a captain and true to nick name wall. On this pitch once he decided that he will not lose his wicket, he will not. Credit is due to Sehwag for the pace he scores his runs that demoralize the opposition. If there would have been two batsmen grinding runs like Dravid, Pakistan would have had time to think. Somebody like Sehwag just demoralizes the opposition and bowlers and he does this with an average of 54+ in test cricket, is tribute to his powers and importance to team India in test cricket.
Less said about the pitch the better it is, I was ready to give some credit to curators earlier till day 3 for not getting sun before the match to create a sporting pitch. Pitch still playing absolutely flat at the end of third day isn’t good sign for anybody. It’s surely not good for cricket and it’s not good for money cricket needs.
Going forward on fifth day, I wonder, what will keep motivating players to play three sessions of play tomorrow. There may not be any spectators in the ground, except the grounds men. Grounds men deserve to watch day 5 play, for the work they have done.
All the advantage Pakistan had achieved after scoring 679 is gone, infact at the end of day 4, if any team can take moral advantage, its India. I remember a banner during India Australia series; even my GrandMa can hit a six on this ground. (I think that was a ground with very short legside boundary). We can show a placard here on this ground “Even my Grandma can hit a century”. If I don’t count Rana Naved and Sami, 10 batsmen stepped out to bat on this ground and 6 scored century and only Inzy’s wicket can be attributed to bowler.
At the end of the day, what this ground has done is bring Sehwag back in form and mental shape of playing long innings, which was missing for sometime. That will be biggest disservice the grounds men would have done to Pakistani team for this series. They have also allowed the ghost of Ganguly controversy to take backseat.
This was a pitch by home curator, where it has taken away psychological advantage from home team.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's day 5 review:
So Test 1 is over, though last thing I want to call it is a test. If it was a test, it was test of patience of audience. It was more or less practice session for batsmen and for bowlers it was more or less good bowling exercise.
To cover the 14 balls of the day, Sehwag perished to his streak of madness and with hopes of getting the record, that’s the streak of madness that has brought them so close to the record. So nobody can be complaining. He is back with runs and big scores. Anyway, beyond that this was a wasted day and another mockery of test cricket and mockery of the people who run the game.
Looking at the test, somehow I feel that Indian bowlers would have been more scarred mentally on this pitch since they were trying to take wickets and stop bastsmen all the time during Pakistan’s innings. While after third days play, Inzy’s interview made it clear that he had given up on the pitch. Hence Pakistani bowlers knew that what’s happening is none of theirs fault. Indian bowlers can take solace that they took 7 wickets, though point is clear that Pakistani batsmen were throwing bat around to speed up the scoring while Indian batsmen were content in defending, they were in no hurry.
Sehwag being man of the match was foregone conclusion, since he was batting second, though Ganguly as best fielder is funny.
The experts will do analysis till paralysis, since they are paid for it. Still I don’t see any team taking out any points from this game after washed out fifth day. In retrospect it was a very bad advertisement for test cricket.
Looking afresh on both the teams, from what’s coming out from statements and feelers we are getting during five days of this test match. Pakistan seems to be taking India lightly and there seems to be a strong feeling among Pakistani establishment that Indian bowling can’t bowl us out and our bowling can bowl India out. I agree with second assumption that Pakistan has bowling to bowl India out. The first assumption is hazardous that India doesn’t have bowling to bowl Pakistan. Pakistan has a longer tail i.e. Naved (17.6), Sami (11.7), Shoaib (9.27), and Kaneria (5.8), hence a burst of three, four wickets can put Pakistan on back foot in any innings. On a pitch helpful to bowlers, Pakistan has only three accomplish batsmen Y & Y and Inzy. Hence Pakistan has to be careful in pitches they make, it has to have just right support to bowlers, and shouldn’t become a landmine where Indian bowlers can have feast on its batting lineup.
In contrast India’s last four batsmen Pathan, Kumble, Harbhajan, and Agarkar have averages of 26.71, 17.19, 15.29, 16.79. Just to put things in perspective, if you had from Pakistan side Razaq coming at 6 down followed by Naved for all 7, 8 and 9 down. Hence even in case of a collapse there are players who can hang around and add another 100+ runs. This had been happening with Indian team lately. This gives this team much more resilience and that’s the contribution of Greg Chappel to this team.
Faisalabad will be another test, we have to see whether establishment provides a good cricketing environment for both teams to excel.Pakistan seems to be hungrier while India seems to be more determined after the first test.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's day 5 review:
The end of yet another uneventful day of test cricket and finally this game is done and over with as only 14 balls were bowled on the final day saving Pakistani bowlers and fielders another miserable day in the outfield.
Sehwag’s marathon innings finally came to an end, agonizingly close to the world record opening partnership. Indian’s fell just 3 short of breaking the world record, on a personal front Sehwag also missed out beating Bradman’s record of most boundries but he equaled the record with some graceful and some not so graceful but equally effective shots all around the ground.
On to Faisalabad now where the latest news is that due to no sun shine in the past few days we can expect another pitch like the one we saw in Lahore.
The biggest disadvantage Pakistan got from this ground was that Sehwag who has been struggling to score big runs finally scored big and that will surely give him a lot of confidence in the coming matches. But on the same note Kamran Akmal and specially Shahid Afridi would also have gained confidence after scoring blistering centuries. Yousi Khan seems to relish playing against India and has a terrific record against them as is Sehwag’s record against Pakistan. Inzi missed out the opportunity to score some runs and get a little practice but he is a class act and when needed the most by his team he would surely respond with the bat. Yousaf seems to be in fine nick, his innings was a master piece lost in so many other centuries scored in this game. He played effortlessly all around the park and didn’t seem troubled against any Indian bowlers.
Shoaib Malik will open again for Pakistan as Woolmer is insistent on giving him a good run to establish him self at the top. Pakistan’s batting looked solid in this game but the bowling looked below par. Even though it was a placid track but the bowlers still need to be a little more aggressive and effective. Without taking anything away from the Indian batsmen for their brilliant show one must say Pakistani bowlers did not bowl to their full potential. Inswinging yorkers at a blazing speed are effective on any surface but we rarely saw something special tried by the bowlers. They will need to list their game for the coming matches if we stand any chance of drawing first blood.
The first test of a hyped up series ended in such a tame draw that I wont be surprised if the attendance for the next games would go back to what it use to be before the England series. Let’s hope we have a better pitch to play at in the next matches. I’d rather have one team win, even if it’s not Pakistan then watch boring games like the last one.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's 2nd test day 1 review:
Both the teams made two changes. This was a refreshing change from past, it clearly indicated that both the teams are thinking. It’s a good change from past where we have 5 passengers in the team of 16, which were used more as favors for political bigwigs. Though changes indicated the mindset, at one side India went with 5 bowlers and shown aggressive intent, Pakistan added one more all-rounder and shown defensive intent. Pakistan may have shot themselves in foot, by going for lesser bowlers, in a sense a series which was Pakistan’s easily to won if they had created fast and bouncy pitches may be heading for draw, due to the selection policy. While India clearly seems to be showing the aggressive intent and saying lets see how we can get 20 Pakistani wickets.
Messages given by teams in selection apart, finally, what matters is what happens on the field. It’s another belter of a pitch and Pakistan has taken full advantage of it, as they did during first test first day and pressure will be back on India to repeat its performance in Lahore, since Pakistan has repeated it. India was in the match till 216 for 4 and infact on this pitch if they would have got decision against Inzy against Kumble in there favor they had Pakistan in trouble. To give credit to bowlers they had Afridi playing like a proper batsman for more than an hour. This is most interesting aspect of Afridi and if he is building this, he can be most potent force in world cricket in times to come that bowlers are going to dread. Inzy and Afridi batted sensibly to take the pressure off.
Than came the India’s worst session of the day, Indian new bowler attack bowled like armatures in last session and not only gave away the advantage which was so painstakingly build after a great catch by Yuvraj on this flat wicket, also took away from team management the credit of playing five bowlers. There is a strong question mark on India nurturing fast bowlers; the list of Indian fast bowler’s not living upto potential is too long. Irfan tends to follow the list, I understand his not taking wicket, though the way he bowled short pitch and wayward stuff at the speed of 125km/ hr was hilarious and very frustrating for Indian cricketing loving public. If he doesn’t want to be another Zaheer, or Nehra he better get his act together fast.
Pitch is still a belter with something for bowlers, though it looks that this pitch has more into it than first test. Hence it may break on day four, with rain predictions and due to which losing of one day’s game with belter of the pitch, we may be looking at another draw.
Though again, it’s India which will be under pressure and Pakistan will have advantage of mass of runs to back it self up and knowledge that India is one batsman short. Though India should back itself up with 5 bowlers if pitch started giving some assistance Pakistan can be in trouble in second innings, though that will depend on whether we will see Pakistan’s second innings. May be its good time for Rahul Dravid to take some tips regarding how to rotate its five main bowlers. There doesn’t seem to be any creativity in use of five bowlers, no point having ammunition if one doesn’t know how to use it. The impression one gets that he is still learning tricks of the trade, though he better does that fast before knives are out for him.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's 2nd test day 1 review:
The second test between India and Pakistan finally got under way with both teams making two changes. India decided to play with three specialist bowlers as they replaced Ajit Agarkar and Ganguly with Zaheer Khan and giving RP Singh his test cap. Pakistan replaced Sami and Rana with Razzaq and Mohammad Asif.
I personally thing India made the right choice, on these batting pitches they really didn’t need a 6th specialist batsman specially when they have two good all rounders in Pathan and Dhoni after their specialist batsmen. Pakistan on the other I think went on a little defensive replacing Naved with Razzaq. While Razzaq’s inclusion does provide us with a longish tail but he is not the same bowler he once used to be when he first burst on the scene. At that time he was a bowling all rounders, over the years though he has more or less developed into a fairly dependable lower middle order batsman who could be used as an extra bowler. He just doesn’t have the same nip he once had as a bowler. I am hoping he proves me wrong here in Faisalabad and bowl aggressively.
Although India went with 5 specialist bowler the most disappointing thing for me so far in this series has been the way Irfan Pathan bowled compared to the other two left arm seamers India was playing. Both Zaheer and RP Singh bowled well and bowled a lot more potentially wicket taking deliveries compared to Pathan. RP Singh opened the bowling for India along with Pathan and was swinging the ball both ways. Irfan Pathan on the other could only generate out swing for the right handers, which is the natural away movement the left arm bowlers get.
I am convinced now that Shoaib Malik is not cut out for opening at the test level. His 50 in the last game was tentative, he has minimum feet movement, he doest get to the pitch of the ball and likes to play away from his body, he takes his eyes off the ball, he rarely comes on front foot and likes to stay either in his crease or go on the back foot. On these pitches if he can’t assert himself that he wouldn’t be able to do it any where else in the world either. He is a natural stroke maker and he is pretty good at it as evident from the runs he scored at the one down position in the ODI’s last year but at the test level he has failed to convince his usefulness. He is hard worker, a very good fielder and good bowling option but his batting leaves a lot to be desired.
All the Pakistani batsmen got stars but failed to concert them into big scores. Malik and Butt got 19 and 37 respectively and then the inform Younis and Yousaf made confident half centuries before being out to excellent fielding by the Indian fieldsmen. Inzi and Afridi were still there at the end with Afridi showing maturity not normally expected from him as he made 85 not out with only 3 sixes. Normally you would expect Afridi to hit out a lot more in a score of 85 but he made sure yesterday that he won’t gift his wicket away like he use to it in the older day. With this approach he could soon become a throne for opposing teams and captains.
The pitch still looked good for batting and India must have been pleased with their effort when at one stages they had Pakistan in a bit of a worry at 65-2 and then again at 216-4 but Afridi and Inzamam took the momentum away from the Indians with a solid partnership and guided Pakistan to a commanding position as they closed the day at 379-4. Indians will look to get an early breakthrough tomorrow, if not they can give up hopes of stopping Pakistan to score less then 500. Pakistan still has Kamran Akmal and Razzaq to come and would be eying a big lead once again. I don’t know if this pitch has enough juice to produce a result though, it is a little better then Lahore as it is a little more rough so the ball would reverse and also help the spinners as the game progresses but if Pakistan takes a big lead I don’t know if either Shoaib or Kaneria would be able to making dents in the Indian line up before they also pile up a truck load of runs. I think today’s play will give us a pretty good ideas if a result is possible on this pitch.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's 2nd test day 2 review:
Pakistan would be reasonably satisfied by their efforts on day two. We managed to score almost 600 runs in quick time, thanks mainly to Afridi’s brilliant effort in the morning. And then we managed to pick up the danger man Sehwag before he could pile the same misery on our bowlers that he did in Lahore.
The day started off with a bit of a shock for Pakistan with the news that captain Inzamam would not be joining Afridi to resume his innings due to a back injury. Afridi was joined by Razzaq as they started off the day. Razzaq made a well composed 37 but I wasn’t very impressed by his inability to rotate the strike especially when he knew Afridi was seeing to ball so well.
Afridi started off right where he left and started swatting the ball all over the park, in the process also passing 150 and reaching his highest test score. Afridi has matured immensely in the past couple of years, not just as a batsman but also as a cricketer. He has always been a brilliant fielder, he worked hard to improve his bowling and added more variety to his arsenal and also started using his head while batting. He is growing in stature with each passing game and is now an integral part of the Pakistani line up.
After Afridi’s blitz came to an end some sanity returned to the proceedings as Inzi finally also came in to bat to complete his 3rd century in as many innings on this ground. Pakistan finally were all out for 588 runs which included a brilliant 47 by Shoaib Akhtar who all of a sudden developed himself into more then a useful tailender.
India started off in the same fashion as they did in Lahore with Sehwag scoring two back to back boundaries in the first over but Shoaib came back hard and almost picked him up in slips only to see the chance put down by the substitute Imran Farhat. Thankfully it didn’t cost Pakistan as much as the other times we dropped Sehwag as Razzaq picked him caught by none other then Farhat who hung on to the chance this time. Laxman and Dravid negotiated the rest of overs without any more hiccups but Pakistan should still be satisfied with this effort. There are only two more specialist batsmen waiting to come for India, Dravid and Laxman are the quieter ones of the Indian batsmen as Sehwag, Tendulkar and Yuvraj all play attacking shots, which in turn give the bowlers and fielders more of a chance. With Laxman and Dravid there Indian run rate will slow down and a loss of a wicket will bring in the stroke makers which will give Pakistan some chance. At the end of day two there is still a possibility of a result but I think Pakistan have shielded themselves pretty well with a mammoth total and the wicket of Sehwag. We definitely need early wickets tomorrow morning to force the issue of victory.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's 2nd test day 2 review:
Finally it took a Mr. Woolmer to make batsman out of Afridi. Whether new Afridi will be successful on bowler friendly wickets or not is a long shot. We all knew somebody gives him temperament and he will become devastating. We all are seeing that it took time for him to realize this, he seems to have realized this and is building innings now, as Sunil Gavaskar used to say put money on your wicket. Afridi's getting sensible is great for Pakistan cricket, as much as it is scary and scary to death to rest of the teams visiting Pakistan.
Team India has shown lately that it can take tough situations. It has another one facing it second day in row. Though if experts are thinking that it’s only Indian first three and four batsmen, who are key to the batting lineup. They may be in for a surprise, it come to facing that wall, India’s lower order lately have shown amazing resolve to come out of situations.
Day started with Afridi show, and followed by some good Pakistani batting again. Though it seems that India’s ploy to play five bowlers worked did pay some dividends. It would have been R.P Singh sitting on the bench if India would have gone with four bowlers. That would have made it another Lahore for Indian bowlers. Indian bowlers should feel happy that they showed resilience of taking Pakistan all out despite getting such a beating from Afridi in particular. They stuck to task and kept pegging all the time on an unforgiving pitch and finally got Pakistan out on day 2 itself, that gave Indian batsmen atleast three sessions of Day two post tea, Day three lunch and pre tea, where pitch should still be good for batting. That gives India a chance to get its teeth back in this match.
Indian batting was more of less on predictable lines, with Sehwag trying to take battle to opposition camp; it was not to happen today. That leaves the Dravid, he is doing what he knows best, defend the fortress and he has done it admirable in past and India would expect him to do this in tomorrow as well. Pakistan has three crucial wickets to take Dravid, Laxman, and Tendulkar. All three can play long innings and there is enough support till the last person to take India to safety. India’s first target will be to save follow-on. On this pitch it would be trying task but with in reach of these batsmen. India should feel lucky if they get any runs from Dhoni, if he gets to bat before score has crossed 350, since he won’t know how to play a sensible knock on a pitch that is doing something. Hence all the work has to be done by top order or lower order.
At the end of day 2, Pakistan has tails up more or less in similar fashion as they had at the end of day 2 in Lahore. It leaves all the work of India to do tomorrow day 3. If Indian batsmen are able to stuck to task we have a very boring third day in offing, since sure there is no Sehwag, it will be more of a grind rather than grunt.
There is one point that should have been made at the end of day 1. Still valid, is that despite such big scores on a bowling friendly pitches this Pakistani batting looks suspect with only Y&Y and Inzy having showing the batting caliber. What will Afridi do on a bowler friendly pitch is still to be seen? Butt, and Malik or Kamal doesn’t look like batsmen for bowler friendly pitch. Pakistan needs to find answer to this before Inzy retires.
Finally, may be use of Afridi word in this article shows, the phobia he can create and also why whole Pakistan claps when he comes to bat.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's 2nd test day 3 review:
It was a fun day of cricket today. India started off cautiously, a few quick wickets giving Pakistan a sniff to draw first blood and India again fighting her way back into the game, much to the disappointment of the local crowd.
The day started rather slowly as Dravid and Laxman ensured they don’t loose any wickets and scored at a very slow run rate. In the process Dravid recorded his second successive ton of the series, while Laxman just missed out a century I thought he deserved for all the pressure he sustained.
In the first session when the going was slow for the batsmen Pakistan found it extremely difficult to get anything off the pitch. The second session saw a flurry of wickets with Kaneria striking the first blow by sending Laxman back and soon after Dravid was run out by a direct hit leaving India with two new batsmen on the crease.
Yuvraj might be in great knick but the shot he played when he got out I think was not of a specialist batsman of a team that was playing only 5 specialist batsman. Pakistan had taken the new ball, they had placed fielders for the hook or pull shot and he still went after Asif, didn’t get a hold of it and Kaneria took a fine catch just inches inside the boundry line.
Tendulkar who was looking dangerous gloved one from Shoaib down the leg side and Akmal picked up a regulation catch leaving India in all sorts of trouble. Pakistan sniffed they had a chance then with all 5 specialist batsmen back in the dressing room but Shoni and Pathan played out of their skin, particularly Dhoni who made a well deserved century as he took the Pakistani bowling to the cleaners. He was greeted by some hostile short pitch stuff from Shoaib Akhtar but instead of going into a shell and let the bowlers dictate the terms Dhoni replied to aggression with aggression. He played some fine shots all around and park. The impressive part is his hand eye co-ordination and balance is just fabulous. The first 6 he hit off of Shoaib, the ball was coming right at his rib cage, yet he picked it up beautifully with great balance and hoiked it for a big six.
Today would be another interesting day. Pakistan would want to run throw the Indian batting line up as quickly as possible and to try to leave our batsmen some time to set a target for Indians. Indians would plan on getting as close to Pakistan total as possible for starters and then maybe see if they can get a handy lead. Pakistan would be short two batsmen with Inzi out due to injury and Shoaib Malik visiting his ill father. I am guessing Afridi would open the innings for Pakistan when they come to bat and try to quicken the things a little to get out bowlers some chance in the second innings. Although on this pitch I don’t know if Pakistan would be able to get the remaining 5 wickets in India’s first innings, set a target and then get them out again in two day but stranger things have happened in cricket and only time will tell if either team will have enough time to force a victory. For the time being though I think we are starring at a draw, not as tame as the one in Lahore but a draw nevertheless.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Rahul's 2nd test day 3 review:
Pakistan had India on the mat and than India took to counter attack and got out of trouble on day 3, though they are clearly not in any case out of trouble yet.
Dravid and Laxman ensured that India doesn’t have any blushes, though all the prediction on Yuvraj came true. It was again proved that if you are made bigger than life every body goes after you. Sachin is going through this, everybody wanted him out from Pakistan side. Shoaib bowled him dream spell. As well he walked while not out since he has reputation to keep. That brought the trouble for India, and cheer for Pakistan. First time in this series we looked close to walking towards to a result. Than came a partnership, that proved the think tank right of picking up 5 bowlers. They proved that faith reposed to them and played first out the skin and than like mature batsmen to take India out of trouble. They still need atleast 50+ runs from this pair, infact if India want to breathe easy they have to come close to Pakistan’s innings score. Since pitch is doing something. As well with Pakistan as of now short of two batsmen will feel jittery going to bat second time.
I will like to spare a thought or two for Shoaib, who I watched for sometime and clearly he is bowling well, he is bowling his heart out. It’s just that he has pitches those aren’t giving him much as well batsmen who are more accomplished or he could/ can have a spell to making an impact on this series anytime. New bowler Asif looks accomplished, its his start and Pakistan establishment need to preserve him, they have done better job of this than Indians, though lately that’s not be the case. So watch out and nurture him once they have got one.
At the end of the day Dhoni showed why he is rated so highly. Dhoni played an inning that could compare with best of Afridi, followed by another session of batting during close of the play that can compare with resilience of Dravid.
Fourth day is very crucial for this test, Indian’s are crawling back and another one good session can make them pressurize Pakistan. As well a good session for Pakistan and India will be back in trouble.
Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's 2nd test day 4 review:
Yet another test match heading for a tame draw. Pakistan’s only chance of making a match out of it was getting Indian’s out before lunch of day 4 and then score quickly to give their bowlers a little time to go again at the Indian batsmen. It was not to be as after a brilliant partnership between Dhoni and Pathan the lower order also provided admirable support and took India’s total a whisker past Pakistan’s mammoth 588.
The bowlers toiled hard for another day. The wickets so far in this series have been a nightmare for them. None of the bowlers have gotten anything out of these dead tracks. The batting averages have blossomed and the strike rate for bowlers has gone down. One can not blame the bowlers on these unforgiving pitches where there is no assistant for them whatsoever.
Pakistan came into bat slightly under pressure as two top order batsman, Inzi & Shoaib Malik were missing due to different reasons and Kamran Akmal was sent to open the innings along Salman Butt. Although Akmal did just fine I think the Pakistan team must start getting a little worried about Salman Butt’s form. On these batting paradises he is perhaps the only batsmen who don’t have a big score next to his name. He has made starts but failed to convert them into anything substantial. Younis continued his prolific form against the Indians as he racked up another half century.
Pakistan have an overall lead of 137 runs with 9 wickets in had, for all purposes they actually have 7 wickets in hand but I am not sure if the plan is to hit out tomorrow till lunch and declare to give India a sniff so they can go for it or if Pakistan will just play it out for a draw. I think the batsmen have given up any hopes of victory and taking 10 Indian wickets in less then a day on this wicket is pretty much impossible. It might be good batting practice for some players and another day of fatigue for the fielding side. One would hope there is something on offer in Karachi in the next game since the first two tests pitches left a lot to be desired.