*Official* Sri Lanka in India

[Jono]

Scorecard certainly suggests a dodgy wicket granted, but nothing in the scorecards of the 2nd & 3rd tests suggest particularly flat decks to me

2nd test deck was not flat, it had bounce. Good test wicket.

3rd test was most certainly flat. So much so that Graeme Smith at the toss said it looked like he was in India and not South Africa.

India choked in that test. They were 1/100 or something.

I watched every day of that test, one of the worst moments of recent years to be an Indian fan.

My point is that Dravid (less-so actually), Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman each got important runs in that first test match, when the South African batsmen bar Prince struggled.

 

[Xuhaib]

BCCI in a clever ploy to destroy test cricket.

 

[Jono]

Lol

 

[Pratters]

Lots of criticism of Dhoni's captancy in the press - mainly how defensive he is

He is obviously worth his place in the side but much of 2009 has been pretty horrible for the Indian team and it wouldnt surprise if the murmurs become a rumble if they lose this series

Nah, Dhoni's captaincy is pretty safe.

 

[masterblaster]

If I were in charge of selecting an Indian team, the first person I'd gladly get rid of is Harbhajan Singh. He's been useless for the better part of 5 years and he has an ego bigger than any player in the team. There are plenty of young, upcoming spinners who would do a better job than this overrated, egomaniac. He's only in the team because he's tight with Sachin, Dhoni and Yuvraj. I'm tired of him living off 2001. That was 8 freaking years ago!

 

[Xuhaib]

If I were in charge of selecting an Indian team, the first person I'd gladly get rid of is Harbhajan Singh. He's been useless for the better part of 5 years and he has an ego bigger than any player in the team. There are plenty of young, upcoming spinners who would do a better job than this overrated, egomaniac. He's only in the team because he's tight with Sachin, Dhoni and Yuvraj. I'm tired of him living off 2001. That was 8 freaking years ago!

was an integral part of atleast 3 Indian test wins in the past 12 months this pitch is a road even Syd Barnes and Charlie Grimmet would struggle while bowling in tendem on this.

 

[Jono]

If I were in charge of selecting an Indian team, the first person I'd gladly get rid of is Harbhajan Singh. He's been useless for the better part of 5 years and he has an ego bigger than any player in the team. There are plenty of young, upcoming spinners who would do a better job than this overrated, egomaniac. He's only in the team because he's tight with Sachin, Dhoni and Yuvraj. I'm tired of him living off 2001. That was 8 freaking years ago!

Yes, you're right in ODIs.

Not in tests.

No spinner is getting wickets on this pitch.



Btw, Sehwag out in idiotic fashion.

 

[Jono]

If I were in charge of selecting an Indian team, the first person I'd gladly get rid of is Harbhajan Singh. He's been useless for the better part of 5 years and he has an ego bigger than any player in the team. There are plenty of young, upcoming spinners who would do a better job than this overrated, egomaniac. He's only in the team because he's tight with Sachin, Dhoni and Yuvraj. I'm tired of him living off 2001. That was 8 freaking years ago!

1st test in NZ - 1st Test: New Zealand v India at Hamilton, Mar 18-21, 2009 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

3rd test in NZ - 3rd Test: New Zealand v India at Wellington, Apr 3-7, 2009 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

Harbhajan taking wickets on flat pitches, including 2 of the last 3 tests India played before this one.

 

[masterblaster]

1st test in NZ - 1st Test: New Zealand v India at Hamilton, Mar 18-21, 2009 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

3rd test in NZ - 3rd Test: New Zealand v India at Wellington, Apr 3-7, 2009 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

Harbhajan taking wickets on flat pitches, including 2 of the last 3 tests India played before this one.

Granted he did well there but then again, the New Zealand batting lineup isn't exactly the strongest going around is it? Also I really do think that Zaheer performing so well in both of those games assisted Harbhajan in getting those wickets. He has the odd brilliant game but it's more his inconsistency that is frustrating.

 

[marc71178]

333 unbeaten for the 6th wicket must be getting close to some sort of record....should really check on cricinfo, but can't be arsed

I often think that, then if I do check, the partnership tends to end before breaking the record, so I to tend to bother.

 

[honestbharani]

Disagree with this. I've seen nothing over the years that suggest India suit sprightly wickets in anyway whatsoever. Of course the classic example going back a few years was their tour of NZ in 2002 (admittedly 7 yrs ago) when they had that supposed million dollar batting lineup & were all at sea against an relatively average NZ attack on those green decks.

Of course you may point to their series against NZ earlier this year, but NZ test pitches have generally been flat for around 4-5 years now, and that series was no exception.

Also, as far as I remember, their test wins in Aust in the last few years were played on flat-decks.

All that said, I haven't followed the Indian test side that closely over the last 2-3 years, so happy to be corrected if you can point out when they've done well on green/seaming/dodgy pitches against decent opposition

They have definitely gone better than they did back in early 2000s. And those NZ wickets in 2002 were as disgraceful as any of the stupid turners we produce often.. So that really cannot be taken to show anything.

 

[silentstriker]

They have definitely gone better than they did back in early 2000s. And those NZ wickets in 2002 were as disgraceful as any of the stupid turners we produce often.. So that really cannot be taken to show anything.

No they weren't. One team won, and it wasn't India. Sour grapes. Indian turners aren't disgraceful either.

It's wickets like these that are. No wonder no one gives a crap about Tests in India.

 

[Uppercut]

Didn't the ICC say they were going to start pushing sanctions for flat crap?

 

[silentstriker]

Didn't the ICC say they were going to start pushing sanctions for flat crap?

They were too busy chiding India for producing a wicket that actually produced an exciting match with a result.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Using the 2003 NZ series as a basis for claiming that India fold under green conditions doesn't make sense. NZ didn't handle the conditions well either, and it was simply a case of which team would make 120 ao rather than 90 ao, neither of which are great. If the series was replayed 10 times, I'd back India to win atleast 3 to 4 times.

 

[Uppercut]

It's conventional wisdom to some extent- it's certainly true of the teeming millions batting in domestic cricket, as was shown in (for example) the World Twenty20 and IPL. Superstars like Tendulkar and Dravid, not so much.

What's happened a lot recently is that their bowlers have stepped up on the greentops- Sreesanth in South Africa, Zaheer and RP Singh in England. It's still a tiny sample size though. We can't really tell for sure either way.

 

[Notorious1]

SL in with a chance to record their first ever Test win in India.

 

[Pratters]

They have definitely gone better than they did back in early 2000s. And those NZ wickets in 2002 were as disgraceful as any of the stupid turners we produce often.. So that really cannot be taken to show anything.

No they weren't. One team won, and it wasn't India. Sour grapes. Indian turners aren't disgraceful either.

It's wickets like these that are. No wonder no one gives a crap about Tests in India.

You didn't see the series, did you Manan? Those wickets in the series in NZ were disgraceful regardless of whether India won or not.

 

[Uppercut]

You don't need to have seen the series. If the umpires deemed it safe and it brought a result, it was a decent pitch. Maybe there have been better ones in the history of test cricket, but it's certainly not "disgraceful".

 

[silentstriker]

You didn't see the series, did you Manan? Those wickets in the series in NZ were disgraceful regardless of whether India won or not.

Yes I did. It's Test cricket, sometimes you're tested on your ability to play on those wickets. One team won, the other didn't. The wicket was the same for both teams. You gotta deal with it, or restrict yourself to snoozefest 600 run ODIs.

I am perfectly fine with a result wicket, even if sometimes Tests last only 3 days. There is no 'ideal' Test wicket, ideal Test wickets are those that test all manner of different skills at various levels and various times. Yes, that means sometimes everyone scores a double century, while others no one gets past 50.

Bring on the sticky wickets.