Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

I'm shocked that a team like India, when given the situaion, would go for a draw. They had eight wickets in hand, but were playing as if down eight. I don't know why the defensive mindset? I mean Dravid could have stand there till the end while advising everyone to be aggressive. He lacks the killer instinct, which translates into India's wretched performance during the tour.

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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

Ofcourse... India didn't fly all the way to Windies with the aim to DRAW the series, did it? atleast this is how it turned out in the end! I would certainly have felt down had it been our team in the same situation... and if they had settled for a draw...

I mean thats the rate the Aussies have 90% of the times :) Why can't you go for it if that can present you with a chance to WIN!

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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

Another shocker from India. Neither side is interested in winning, not "we must learn to draw games first" Lara or "play it safe" Dravid. What a yawn.

Remix Urdu....
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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

To be fair to Dravid, let us see how many team have chased more than 350 runs on 4.5 sessions on last day. There is a reason why it is considered difficult. To a typical ODI fan it would look easy target because run rate was 5 and we are used to seeing run rate of 6 in ODIs. In case you dont know, rules in test matches are much different and much bowler friendly than ODIs. Some examples are

  1. There are no strict rules on wides. So you can easily bowl outside the leg stump or wide outside the off without being called wide.
  2. There is no restriction of maximum number of fielder you can put on either side of wicket. *]Fielding captain is not obliged to bowl a certain number of overs that he is supposed to. In worst case scenario he can slow down the game and bowl 5 overs less. They will be fined but it will save a test match. This is exactly what West Indies did. They didnt have to go to point 3 but they did exploit point 1 & 2 discussed above. Dhoni was sent with the intention of hitting and making those 135 odd runs in 20 overs. Problem is that , West Indies packed the off side and kept bowling outside the off stumps. On 5th day wicket where odd bowl kept low one has to be very precise to hit it through offside. It is not easy to score under those circumstance. Dhoni got out doing exactly that and with option 3 still in Lara's hand , India knew it was not possible.
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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

F & B yaar at one stage India needed 208 runs from 39 Odd overs with 8 Wickets in hand and Dravid + Laxman at the wicket and set-in ...... suddenly Laxman cracked 2 4's from nowhere (something only he is known for) so i really thought they would go for it ..... but then i watched Dravid dealing the next few overs of Gayle+Samuels like Murli and Saqlain r bowling in their prime form ..... so i switched to football only to see the swiss and Ukraine offering really no intressting alternative

I mean come on .....even if both fell there r Dhoni, Kaif, Yuvi to save the proceedings ..... but oh' well

maybe on another day

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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

and with all that, India joins ranking with Pakistan :D...

If India manages to win last Test they India will be co-ranked at 3rd spot with Pakistan, if WI manages to draw or win the last test then India will go to 4th spot with either 107 or 105 points :)

India 107

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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

As I said if you pack one side with fielder and bowl wide of that side then it becomes difficult to score on 5th day wicket.

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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

I will agree with F&B. There is something about final innings, final day and the associated pressure and thats why we always have heard from everyone that how tough it is to chase even a target of 250 runs.

Add one more example which will make things difficult for the batting side. No restriction on the number of overs from a particular bowler. Your best bowlers can bowl several overs unlike ODI where they can only bowl 10.

Overall it is almost impossible to chase 400 runs in the finals innings. India atleast tried and when they thought that chasing will become risky and will jeopardize their chances of saving the match, they stopped, There is nothing worng about that. Dravid is not an idiot like Lara.
The only person who should get his A$$ kicked should be Brian Lara for making a stupid move on day 4.

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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

‘Indian team too frightened of losing’

** NEW DELHI:** Former Indian coach Madan Lal has accused the national cricket team of becoming too scared of losing after the first three tests in the current series against the West Indies ended in draws.

India were expected to win their first Test series outside the Sub-continent since 1986 against a team who have beaten only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in their last 10 series. The fourth and final Test starts in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday.

“We should play more positive cricket,” Lal said on Wednesday. “I believe we are playing a lot of negative cricket.”

Lal, a member of India’s 1983 World Cup winning side, said the West Indies’ captain Brian Lara was happy to avoid defeat. “Lara has got the results he has wanted,” he said. “He doesn’t want to lose and in that sense he is winning.”

Lal joined former skipper Sunil Gavaskar in calling for India to field five bowlers. All-rounder Irfan Pathan and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh have played only test so far.

In his newspaper column after the second Test, Gavaskar speculated that Harbhajan’s omission could be for reasons other than cricket. “By picking a raw, inexperienced new-ball attack, with all of them bowling pretty much the same way, there was no variety in the attack,” Gavaskar wrote.

“This is India’s best chance to win a Test series in the West Indies after 1971. But to do that, they have to pick guys who can take 20 wickets, even if they don’t always say politically correct things,” Gavaskar added.

The News

Every single word has hit the bull’s eye. Every single word!

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Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre

Yeah right.. you may want to go back to 1982 and check the Eng-Ind series http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1981-82/ENG_IN_IND/ to see what Mr.Gavaskar did in a 6 test series. He scored the slowest ever 100 recorded by an Indian.. they drew 5 test matches after winning the first one. Of particular interest may be the scorecard from Test 4 http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1981-82/ENG_IN_IND/ENG_IND_T4_01-06JAN1982.html

where they scored 170 for 3 off 83 overs chasing a target of 306