**Official** India v Pakistan

[Arjun]

Again, when will the day come when GANGULY sacrifices his spot for Yuvraj,...man, comes and goes so quickly.......

he's lucky he is captain. Razzaq gets him for 12 this time.

The weight of being a captain with not too many tournaments won is now showing- he's struggling in his only skill.

Anyway, it's a good finish for both teams- 344 runs in a day is not too bad, but losing a few quick wickets may bring the opposition back in the game. The Indians must respond by attacking the bowling right from ball one on the next day- it's called the counter-attack, a concept almost alien to the Indian team these days.

 

[Arjun]

From Fourth Umpire
MOHINDER AMARNATH: You talk about the lack of a genuine all-rounder, the likes of Irfan and Balaji can bat, and have the potential to become all-rounders, but not overnight- maybe in a few years. However, one instant hope as an all-rounder is Sehwag- he bowls regularly for his state side (Jimmy doesn't know he cleverly avoids bowling when he's captain!) and has done well when bowled for long

SRIKKANTH: Exactly- you talk of playing five bowlers, so why not make Sehwag the fifth bowler? IF he gets one or two wickets, the load on the four bowlers is reduced and it boosts the side a lot.

Regarding keepers:

AMARNATH: For every wicketkeeper, he has to improve his wicketkeeping first, then his batting. You have to have your best keeper in the side.

SRIKKANTH: Let's not forget, Karthik's a regular batsman for his State side.

Most sensible talk there in a long time. Sugarcoated Roshni still moans of Sachin not getting his 35th Century.

 

[Mecnun]

Honours on stumps at first day 60-40 in India's favour. Alot would depend on Karthik/Pathan and Pak bowlers. I predict Danish to take another 2 and India to get anything between 410-450.

Butt should not have been dropped and really hope Afridi does not open....

 

[Sehwag309]

Stumps score - 6/344. Dravid out in the last over for 110.

I can't understand the Pakistan team selection policy. Two of the players who did so well on the recent tour of Australia have been dropped - Rana and Butt. How are your players supposed to gain any confidence and security about they place in the side if they keep being dropped?

Rana is Injured

Butt- well, I feel for the guy, newcomer needs some time but match wise afridi did get 2 wickets and will open I assume so he can do a sehwag for Pakistan or do us a favour by getting out early

 

[PAKMAN]

Rana is Injured

Butt- well, I feel for the guy, newcomer needs some time but match wise afridi did get 2 wickets and will open I assume so he can do a sehwag for Pakistan or do us a favour by getting out early

hel be looking for another 141*

 

[PAKMAN]

Aktars GHOST in Eden Garden

2 balls, 2 wickets

hehehehe

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Congratulations to Sachin on becoming the 5th (and the youngest) to 10,000 runs. Amazing that before the 5th Ashes test in 2003 we only had two batsmen with over 10,000 runs and one bowler with over 500 wickets, and now five batsmen are there and McGrath will be the fourth bowler to 500 within a few matches.

 

[Arjun]

Is anyone in India watching the highlights on STAR Sports? The footage is a lot clearer and of course, it's a highlights package- Doordarshan doesn't believe in showing any.

 

[Arjun]

Boycott- "Gambhir's off-stump play is good, but he's got problems on the leg side. He gets his leg across the wrong side of the ball so often. He can get into trouble with the ball coming in from outside the leg stump that can stifle him. I would persist with him, but he needs to iron out that flaw".

 

[Anil]

The weight of being a captain with not too many tournaments won is now showing- he's struggling in his only skill.

Anyway, it's a good finish for both teams- 344 runs in a day is not too bad, but losing a few quick wickets may bring the opposition back in the game. The Indians must respond by attacking the bowling right from ball one on the next day- it's called the counter-attack, a concept almost alien to the Indian team these days.

these days??? since when has india ever been a consistent counterattacking team? they have done it on isolated occasions that's about it...

 

[marc71178]

I can't understand the Pakistan team selection policy. Two of the players who did so well on the recent tour of Australia have been dropped - Rana and Butt. How are your players supposed to gain any confidence and security about they place in the side if they keep being dropped?

Isn't Rana injured?

 

[marc71178]

The Indians must respond by attacking the bowling right from ball one on the next day- it's called the counter-attack, a concept almost alien to the Indian team these days.

I don't agree.

The Indian batting left is not the greatest, and I think they need to look to settle in before attacking, or 360 all out is a possibiliy thanks to that late wicket.

 

[Sehwag309]

Ya, Get to that 400 mark, its the figure which mkes the difference

The way India Played Kaneria, will Pak go after Balaji???

 

[vandemataram]

Shouldn't you appreciate the weak Pakistan bowling attack instead of criticizing it? You guys can't handle a few players (Akmal, Inzamam, Youhanna, Razzaq), and I wonder if you would be any competitive at all if all of the 11 players could bat consistently enough and if all injured Pakistani bowlers came back.
.

Appreciate what?? As an observer noone can appreciate crap bowlers, but yes Indian batsmen certainly did appreciate Pak bowlers friendly attitude and piled up big score!

If 4 guys played decently with the bat in 2 innings then its no big deal, tell me a test side that didn't allowed the opponents 3-4 players to bat well??

Clearly your bowling is so great it didn't win your team the match it should have one. Now this stands out be a sick joke

Never said its GREAT, but its way better than that of Pak. If drawing a match with India is a sick joke for Pakistanis then what can i say.

 

[vandemataram]

Stumps score - 6/344. Dravid out in the last over for 110.

I can't understand the Pakistan team selection policy. Two of the players who did so well on the recent tour of Australia have been dropped - Rana and Butt. How are your players supposed to gain any confidence and security about they place in the side if they keep being dropped?

Rana was injured so he had to be dropped, Afridi was requied for the second test match to have a 5th bowling option for a very weak Pak attack , therefore someone had to be droppped out, and that guy happen to be butt.

 

[vandemataram]

India seems to be in command at the close of play though Pakistan did stike back and got two crucuial wkts including that of Dravid towards the end.

The men that stood out for India... Sewag (he probably loves Pak bowlers )
Dravid
Tendulkar

For Pakistan.... I think all the opening bowlers were pathetic , particulary Sami.
Danish wasn't as impressive as he was in first match(the guy need to stop
making big claims before matches

Razzak... he did very well with old ball.
Afridi.... Not bad effort by him.


I think India can score anywhere from 450 to 500, considering that Pathan and Balaji are very capable batters, but much depends of Karthik.


Would be interesting to see how Pak bats, i don't think thgey will be able to score more than 300 in firts innings .

Hopefully India will beat Pakistan here and will go one up.

 

[vandemataram]

. Balaji bowled well but come on....we all know that he is not going to take 5 wickets again.

And why is that? Is it because you think Kumble will do a 10 again or you think Bhajji will destroy the Pakistanis this time?

I forgot India also has Pathan, atleast 2 of the 4 bowlers will definately shine.

 

[marc71178]

I think India can score anywhere from 450 to 500, considering that Pathan and Balaji are very capable batters,

Obviously your definition of capable differs from most peoples then.

 

[Duncan]

India's in command here. They will make another 100 runs and Pakistan will be lucky to make 300.

 

[shoot_me]

A lot depends on Dinesh Karthik at the moment. He's a very talented batsman but his mindset is the problem. I think he made the mistake of making drastic changes in his technique when he came into international cricket and the pressure got to him. He batted extremely well against the pacemen but he has an obvious vulnerability to the spin of Danish Kaneria.

India need 400+ to make sure Pakistan's on the backfoot.

By the way, what the hell is Ganguly in the team for? Two of the fours he hit in his innings of 14 were thick edges and I haven't forgotten his 76-ball 22 at Mohali. If this man has any dignity left in him, he will drop himself for Yuvraj.