Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
Even though I am no Jaffer fan, I am pleased that he is scoring some decent runs here.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
Tendulkar gone LBW Anderson 37 106/3
Darn...just when things were starting to look good for India.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
106/3....Not a bad effort for both India and Eng...Match quite evenly poised....i think India need Dhoni to fire to get quick runs after fall of next 2 wickets...if he does...since Harmi and hoggard are not playing....it is not Unlikely that India can get a 40-60 run lead
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
18 Overs remaining...India need not to lose more than one wicket and be 150+ on end of the day then they shouldne be feeling too bad...
2 wickets for End and their day wasnt so bad!
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
Has India started playing their usual negative and defensive cricket yet?
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
Current partnership 28 runs, 17.5 overs, RR: 1.57 
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
And JAFFER is GONE.
It hurts you both ways when you go into a shell. Now you have lost a wicket and there haven't been many runs scored either. Only time wasted.
Sometimes it is easier to get to totals like 298 if the innings is played ODI style.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
Whats wrong with you???
If it wasnt for Jaffer's inning the score would have been 127/6 at best...he held up an end, scored runs slightly slower than sachin.......Did the best job for his country IMO at the end to me 145/4 looks better than 127/6
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
^Did I say anything about Jaffer ? Pehle mera post theek se padh lo.
All I am saying is when you are scoring way too slowly like Gangu/Jaffer combo were doing - the danger is that if at the end of the day you lose wickets - it hurts you twice over - not many runs and too many wickets down.
But the situation isn't that bad...RP Singh managed to defend his wicket for the remaining overs. Match is evenly poised at this stage I think.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
I dont have too good feeling about Night watch man......tomorrow when he is going to get out that is eng one wicket closer to getting India out....but it is a tough decision and i guess it was qs. of risking Out of form Laxman or some tailender....but slightly + move would be to send Khan who to me is much better hitter and after surviving tonight can hit out tomorrow morning....a quick 20-40 runs in first 6 over be good for india's chances of making a result ouuta this game
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
India, anyways, has a longish tail....RPS, Sreesanth, Zaheer and Kumble.
If RPS goes early tomorrow (which he most probably would), it would not create much of a difference.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
How was this incident....anybody saw it Live?????????????
""Khan to Pietersen, no run, madness! Pietersen was beaten twice in the over, then gets one fuller outside off stump, drives hard, gets a thick edge, which replays clearly indicated hit the turf before Dhoni snapped it up! They all appealed, Simon Taufel raised the finger, Pietersen had already started to walk...then with the tv showing what happened - the ball did hit the grass just before going into Dhoni's gloves - Pietersen is called back from near the ropes. The third umpire is referred to and NOT OUT is the verdict. Pietersen was almost home when he looked up at the balcony and saw his mates waving him back. People will have their views on this, I'm all too sure...
""""
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
It hurts you both ways when you go into a shell. Now you have lost a wicket and there haven't been many runs scored either. Only time wasted.
Spot on. I was watching the game and Jaffer getting out towards the end of the day was always on the cards. After the dropped catch he started off pretty well but as wickets kept falling and the day progressed he kept going into a shell. I mean he was getting half volleys and he was just placing those to mid-on fielder. I understand the need to preserve wickets when wickets are falling from one side but if you are not going to score on bad balls either then the bowlers would be right on top of you.
Perfect example was that of Ganguly in a Sidebottom over, he was dropping in short just outside the off with a packed off side field and waiting for Ganguly to make a mistake. Finally Ganguly went after one that was a little too wide and got a boudry out of it. Granted it would have been out if Ian Bell wasnt standing with his hand on his knees but Ganguly hit that with a lot of power so it would have been difficult to catch anyway.
Counterattack would serve dual purpose for India as England is not bowling with 500 on the board. They have less then 300 runs to play with and if they attack a bit too much and start going for runs they will have to back off a bit as they wouldnt want India to race away towards the 300 and start building a lead. So counterattack would have gotten India some runs and the Englismen under pressure. Unless a miracle happens tomorrow I dont think India would be getting a whole lot of runs tomorrow. Ganguly is the only specialist batsman remaining, Dhoni has been out of sorts in this tour and then all bowlers. England would want to strike early and keep it right up there to the tail and they should be able to finish off the job. It is swinging and swinging lot atleast today. Sidebottom bowled some outswingers that pitched on middle and off and Matt Prior collected them almost infront of first slip. In anycase I think the game right now is pretty evenly poised.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
^^ Short square boundries of LORDS and VVS Laxman's Beautiful Wrists.....good enough factors to make a difference
Wouldnt it be great if he pulls off an Azhar like Wristi 100 (same as 1990) tomorrow.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
^ LM is the man*...*at least he understands what I was trying to convey
Like I said before, scores like 298 should be chased in an aggressive semi-ODI manner. If you go into a shell, you only bring on the pressure and the opposition will pile on further. End result - You have wickets down and at the same time not too many runs scored. However, if you start to score briskly (even if you have lost a few wickets), you can easily put the bowling team (since they dont have much score on the board) into defensive mode.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
^^ No Love for me??????
I got ur Point...and i totally agree that one needs to bat more positvely ....but here is a qs....put urself in Dravid's position...u know that historically ur team has not done well abroad....on top of that u know that on this particular ground ur side has played poorly since forever(even tough condition at Lords and Oval are more sub-continent team friendly than elsewhere in UK).....On top of that u have seen the hosts slip away and lose 8 wickets for less than 50 runs.....all things considered...how are you going to be brave to start batting like in Semi-ODi way....??????
what if they did go after the bowling...on a shorter day its easy for things to slip away coz the opposition is all fired up as they do not see themselves infield for whole day...so they give slightly more than they do on a regular day..........i am pretty sure if someone was to give option to dravid to be 4 down at end of 2nd day's play and have deficit of <150.........dravid would have taken it...and he is well placed for that today....so the way i see it...slow cricket...yes...but it got the Job done.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
^ LM is the man*...*at least he understands what I was trying to convey
Like I said before, scores like 298 should be chased in an aggressive semi-ODI manner. If you go into a shell, you only bring on the pressure and the opposition will pile on further. End result - You have wickets down and at the same time not too many runs scored. However, if you start to score briskly (even if you have lost a few wickets), you can easily put the bowling team (since they dont have much score on the board) into defensive mode.
LM has good point. But his point of agression doesnt mean that it has to be ODI like inning. It just means that one doesnt have to go in shell like Jaffer did. A runrate of 3-3.5 would have worked. Many a time Indians have suffered a lot for being too cautious. But this idea of plaing test like OID is BS. Your goal is not to score 298 but go far beyond it if you can.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
^Jaffer/Gangu got into the "Lets play out the day" mode even when more than 25 overs were remaining in the day.
My point is that when you are few wickets down...its better to keep accumulating runs (esp when you are targetting a low score like 298)...instead of "oh...we can't afford to lose anymore wickets...pull down the shutters" approach. This, my friend, is one critical difference between the Indian and Australian school of batting psychology.The way Jaffer was playing, it was only a matter of time before he got out anyways.
I just hope that your hero, Mr Dhoni, does not disappoint you tomorrow.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
The amount of pressure these batsmen are playing under, no wonder they are cautious. Every player wants to get in his 50 so he is not kicked out in the next game. It's hard to win matches in that state of mind.
Re: India vs England: 1st Test Match Lords
^Jaffer/Gangu got into the "Lets play out the day" mode even when more than 25 overs were remaining in the day. My point is that when you are few wickets down...its better to keep accumulating runs (esp when you are targetting a low score like 298)...instead of "oh...we can't afford to lose anymore wickets...pull down the shutters" approach. This, my friend, is one critical difference between the Indian and Australian school of batting psychology.The way Jaffer was playing, it was only a matter of time before he got out anyways. I just hope that your hero, Mr Dhoni, does not disappoint you tomorrow.
To be emulate Australia you need to have talent like Australia. Seeing the day off is not a bad strategy. Only mistake was that they became too cautious. They could have been cautious and still score 3 per over rather than 1.5 per over.
No... Dhoni is not my Hero. But then I dont hate him either unlike others here. ;)