South Africa And Sl In India Options

[tracknest]

As I expected, a thumping win by the Indian side. Keep it up guys. On a good batting wicket, Irfan and Harbhajan bowled beautifully.

Good to see Sewag playing to his potential. I love the balanace of this Indian team and credit must go to Chappel and Dravid.

Well done boys and keep making us proud.

[Anil4]

It was a low scoring match, but Team India played well, and won by a huge margin with 14 overs to spare. That stopped South Africa's winning streak of 20 consecutive matches.

Track, do you think Sachin should play lower down the order?

Anil

[tracknest]

It was a low scoring match, but Team India played well, and won by a huge margin with 14 overs to spare. That stopped South Africa's winning streak of 20 consecutive matches.

Track, do you think Sachin should play lower down the order?

Anil

Good question Anil bhai. I am seeing Sachin play since he was 14 and I strongly feel that he has to open the innings. Thats the best place for him.

Ok he has had a few failures lately but he has being out from cricket for some time. He will fire and when he fires it will be a feast. Wait and watch.

T

[princeali]

Great batting performance by Smith and a good win for SA, all credit to them for restricting the Indian's to 188 on a good batting wicket.....Pollock's opening spell was a treat....off to Mumbai for the final one-dayer....hope its a good match !.

[tracknest]

Yes it was a comprehensive win by the SA. I like the recent exrementations by Chappell but I thought sending Gambhir and Pathan to open on a swinging wicket was asking too much.

Chappell must realise that all indian wickets are nor similar and also the crowd. There is always an extra pressure at Eden Gardens and specially now when the crowds were concerned more about Ganguly than the Indian team.

The Bombay crowd are not like that and they will be 100% behind the team. I am confident that the Indian team will come back very strongly.

Go boys Go...

[princeali]

Why was Pathan sent in to open in such a crucial match, even the idea of thinking he could give them quick runs was wrong, it should have been the regular combo of Shewag and Tendulkar or even Gambhir/Shewag, a left-right opening pair. Pathan is good down the order where he can score quick runs and that is where he should stay, he shouldn't even come at # 3, he needs to improve his technique if he wants to bat higher up the order, and this idea of him coming up the order should only be restricted to pitches in India because outside of India its a another story. I like Shewag better up the order, he's not a middle-order batsman who can stabilize the innings, that's just not how he plays, but I guess the Indians wanted to try something new.

[vivekpm]

Why was Pathan sent in to open in such a crucial match, even the idea of thinking he could give them quick runs was wrong, it should have been the regular combo of Shewag and Tendulkar or even Gambhir/Shewag, a left-right opening pair. Pathan is good down the order where he can score quick runs and that is where he should stay, he shouldn't even come at # 3, he needs to improve his technique if he wants to bat higher up the order, and this idea of him coming up the order should only be restricted to pitches in India because outside of India its a another story. I like Shewag better up the order, he's not a middle-order batsman who can stabilize the innings, that's just not how he plays, but I guess the Indians wanted to try something new.

I agree on Pathan not opening the innings. However, I think there was nothing wrong with Sehwag coming at no. 4. This Indian batting line-up is quite flexible. Sachin/Sehwag/Gambhir can take turns at no. 4. So next thing that I would love to see is Gambhir coming down the order and playing a big knock (He has been there once/twice but not successful). At #3, Dhoni is a good bet. Or if stability is required, Kaif/Dravid can come in there. Pathan should not be used too much at #3. Instead Dhoni should be given more exposure at that position, specially against tougher oppositions like SA.

Cheers,

[Anil4]

I dont know what role, if any, the pitch and the toss played in this big defeat for the Indian side. I do agree with the views expressed by Ali and Vivek about Pathan opening the innings as an over the top experiment.

I hope the body that controls cricket in India took note of the disgusting behaviour by the crowd in jeering their team and cheering all the boundaries scored by the South Africans. The only appropriate response to this is not to have any international matches in Eden Gardens for the next two years !!!!!!

Anil

[princeali]

Why was Pathan sent in to open in such a crucial match, even the idea of thinking he could give them quick runs was wrong, it should have been the regular combo of Shewag and Tendulkar or even Gambhir/Shewag, a left-right opening pair. Pathan is good down the order where he can score quick runs and that is where he should stay, he shouldn't even come at # 3, he needs to improve his technique if he wants to bat higher up the order, and this idea of him coming up the order should only be restricted to pitches in India because outside of India its a another story. I like Shewag better up the order, he's not a middle-order batsman who can stabilize the innings, that's just not how he plays, but I guess the Indians wanted to try something new.

I agree on Pathan not opening the innings. However, I think there was nothing wrong with Sehwag coming at no. 4. This Indian batting line-up is quite flexible. Sachin/Sehwag/Gambhir can take turns at no. 4. So next thing that I would love to see is Gambhir coming down the order and playing a big knock (He has been there once/twice but not successful). At #3, Dhoni is a good bet. Or if stability is required, Kaif/Dravid can come in there. Pathan should not be used too much at #3. Instead Dhoni should be given more exposure at that position, specially against tougher oppositions like SA.

Cheers,

True, at times Shewag can come down the order but he isn't a stable batsman, he'll always keep on trying to hit the ball, at # 4 you need someone to stay at the crease.....experiments are always good though....yeah Dhoni up the order would be interesting.

[princeali]

I dont know what role, if any, the pitch and the toss played in this big defeat for the Indian side. I do agree with the views expressed by Ali and Vivek about Pathan opening the innings as an over the top experiment.

I hope the body that controls cricket in India took note of the disgusting behaviour by the crowd in jeering their team and cheering all the boundaries scored by the South Africans. The only appropriate response to this is not to have any international matches in Eden Gardens for the next two years !!!!!!

Anil

Remember the WC96 match against SL where they stopped the match and also the ATC Test vs Pakistan when Sachin was run-out, and when Pakistan was about to win they stopped the match and everyone had to leave for the match to finish, totally crazy......the atmosphere is amazing in Eden Gardens but the crowd needs to be put under check.

[princeali]

On another note, I liked the Ganguly-Tendulkar opening pair, they were very good together until it had to be broken up. Similarly the Sohail-Anwar combination which worked wonders for Pakistan had to be broken up with the introduction of Afridi.

[vivekpm]

I dont know what role, if any, the pitch and the toss played in this big defeat for the Indian side. I do agree with the views expressed by Ali and Vivek about Pathan opening the innings as an over the top experiment.

I hope the body that controls cricket in India took note of the disgusting behaviour by the crowd in jeering their team and cheering all the boundaries scored by the South Africans. The only appropriate response to this is not to have any international matches in Eden Gardens for the next two years !!!!!!

Anil

Less said the better about the crowd behavior. Cannot imagine our own countrymen booing our team. Watching India play at Eden Gardens will never be the same. Sad part is how people forgot great victories that our team has achieved at Eden Gardens in past. Dravid, one of the main reasons why India were able to beat Australia after following on in a test at Eden Gardens, was ill-treated to put it mildly. His dismissal was applauded. Dravid deserves much better respect than just being stand-by captain. Thankfully he is a mature cricketer.

Cheers,

[vivekpm]

On another note, I liked the Ganguly-Tendulkar opening pair, they were very good together until it had to be broken up. Similarly the Sohail-Anwar combination which worked wonders for Pakistan had to be broken up with the introduction of Afridi.

Agreed. I guess selectors erred in picking him for test team. He could have been picked for ODIs instead. But again it would have been difficult to make either Gambhir/Yuvraj/Kaif to sit out to accomodate him.

Cheers,

[gin_ger_ale]

Less said the better about the crowd behavior. Cannot imagine our own countrymen booing our team. Watching India play at Eden Gardens will never be the same. Sad part is how people forgot great victories that our team has achieved at Eden Gardens in past. Dravid, one of the main reasons why India were able to beat Australia after following on in a test at Eden Gardens, was ill-treated to put it mildly. His dismissal was applauded. Dravid deserves much better respect than just being stand-by captain. Thankfully he is a mature cricketer.

Cheers,

I agree. I watched the the Indian batting and was so disappointed to see the crowd cheering when Dravid fell. I thought it was probably Dhoni coming out to bat. But it was not that!! Hope Eden Gardens isn't given any game for the next six months. It is also sad that one of the best stadiums in India does not deserve a match!

Loved Rahul's reaction to the whole issue. Wish Saurav had behaved more mature than he has.

Ginger

[rom]

Very sad indeed.
Really disgraceful behaviour by a large number of 'fans' in Kolkata.
As Princeali pointed out, too many disgraceful scenes have been created by crowds at the Eden Gardens... disruption of matches, insult to players.
Yes, Eden Gardens doesn't deserve to hold a match, only because boorish crowds haven't been checked...