The Adelaide pitch

[The Outsider]

From what I saw, it is not the road we batted on 4 years back or the one England played on last year, the two matches I've watched substantially at Adelaide. It's not a pitch where wickets are going to come easily for sure but it's distinctly slower and getting the timing of the strokes correct is a challenge. I recall some puffs of dust flying out a couple of times in the last session yesterday and Tendulkar reckons the pitch will crack. I reckon 450 is a very good score here and 400 is par in the first innings as chasing anything above 250 in the last innings is going to require one hell of a chase. The key of course is for Tendulkar to bat and battle it out tomorrow against the new ball. If he doesn't get out, the tail will also wag around him. The danger is Tendulkar getting out early tomorrow, in which case we might end up around 75 runs short.

[Mandrake]

450 would have been definitely on with VVS still around with Sachin. Dhoni and the tail don't inspire much confidence. All depends on how long Sachin lasts tomorrow.

[Ram]

I agree, this pitch is definitely on the slower side. A very good indication of that was the number of balls that were stopping short of the boundary after finding the batsman's edge. 450 will be an excellent total, but the challenge is to get there first. I dont see Sachin getting out at all, I have seen him play like this before and he is now in a zone of his own, doesnt generally get out from this situation. A lot depends on Dhoni though. If we can go into lunch tomorrow having lost not more than wicket and our total near 400, that would be a good morning's work, IMO. However, I see Aus scoring big in their first innings. There isnt a lot of pace and swing for our bowlers, their batsman, esp that road-roller Hayden must be licking his lips in anticipation.

[sandeep]

agreed that its slower, but that doesn't necessarily mean its any less easier to bat on. A 450+ total would really help our bowlers as it will shift presssure away from them and onto the oz bats, anything below 400 will do the opposite. We have to win the first session tomorrow to win this test.

[kabira]

tomorrow game plan should be simple..australia will have new ball and I reckon this is new ball pitch, brett lee will be charging in..What Sachin has to do is to take most of the strike for 30 mins...once we do that, Dhoni can unleash himself. The batting will be easy between 10-60 over old ball

[fineleg]

tomorrow game plan should be simple..australia will have new ball and I reckon this is new ball pitch' date=' brett lee will be charging in..[b']What Sachin has to do is to take most of the strike for 30 mins...once we do that, Dhoni can unleash himself. The batting will be easy between 10-60 over old ball

Even if MSD gets out early, SRT will not want to take most of the strike for first 30 mins. He believes in the batting of the great tailenders :giggle:

[The Outsider]

Even if MSD gets out early, SRT will not want to take most of the strike for first 30 mins. He believes in the batting of the great tailenders :giggle:

And why shouldn't he? They are repaying the faith invested them in every match.

[Ram]

I suppose the only use of playing 5 bowlers would be to lengthen the tail.... :giggle:

[Shehezaada]

I agree, this pitch is definitely on the slower side. A very good indication of that was the number of balls that were stopping short of the boundary after finding the batsman's edge. 450 will be an excellent total, but the challenge is to get there first. I dont see Sachin getting out at all, I have seen him play like this before and he is now in a zone of his own, doesnt generally get out from this situation. A lot depends on Dhoni though. If we can go into lunch tomorrow having lost not more than wicket and our total near 400, that would be a good morning's work, IMO. However, I see Aus scoring big in their first innings. There isnt a lot of pace and swing for our bowlers, their batsman, esp that road-roller Hayden must be licking his lips in anticipation.

hope so too! I don't see Tendulkar getting out either but, I can't believe i'm saying this, I hope Dhoni doesn't big him down. Kumble and Bhajji can be depended on for 50 runs between them, and RP and Ishant I guess 20, that makes 45 runs. If Dhoni can get a 50, that's 95. Which makes the total around 400. If Sachin can get to 200, we cannot lose the game. Which is not unrealistic, as he has only 76 runs to go. By the way, what does a slow outfield have to do with the quickness of the pitch?

[Ram]

hope so too! I don't see Tendulkar getting out either but' date=' I can't believe i'm saying this, I hope Dhoni doesn't big him down. Kumble and Bhajji can be depended on for 50 runs between them, and RP and Ishant I guess 20, that makes 45 runs. If Dhoni can get a 50, that's 95. Which makes the total around 400. If Sachin can get to 200, we cannot lose the game. Which is not unrealistic, as he has only 76 runs to go.[b'] By the way, what does a slow outfield have to do with the quickness of the pitch?

The edges werent flying off the centre, because of which the ball slowed down by the time it reached the boundary. And one of the main reasons why the edges were dying was the slow nature of the pitch, IMO.

[MundaPakistani]

There wasn't much seam movement for S Clark so from that you can kind of assume that 400 is a par score.

[Gambit]

Even though two teams on the trot have lost after making 550+ in their 1st innings, I don't think 350-400 will be a bad score. Our bowling is in good form and I back our bowlers to do well if we get 350(min). And if we get a lead in excess of 75, we are on silk.

[dial_100]

Gambo, we definitely need above 400 to be competative. Only advantage we have this time is Aus batting will be under pressure if we manage to take 2-3-4 wkts with 100 on board. They will start to feel pressure as 3 of their last 4 innings, they have been cornered with 5 down for less than 150 runs. Which is amazing performance if you take into consideration the fact that this team has been winning every game they played in last 2 years. So they aint used to seeing 5 down for a low score. Bajji needs to take few wkts this time around... at least 3, kumble 4... rest others... There is no hurry because it is Aus who wants to win this game so they are going to be cautiously aggressive this time which they have not quite confortable with. Interesting game ahead if we put pressure with 450 on board.