I liked what happened yesterday...

[Holysmoke]

That does not mean I’m not pissed. Or irritated. Or angry. Or frustrated. We’re in deep sh!t, and need to play out of our skins to save this game. The reason I’ve started this thread is, if you thought that this test was going to be boring, watch yesterday’s last session. It was one of the best instances of test cricket I’ve seen in a long time, specially when the spinners came on. Dravid was groping about, his strategy to play Mendis being to play the ball as late as possible, off the back foot. He did play a few forward defenses, but by and large he was trying to read the ball off the pitch and play back. There is one thing about Mendis that impresses me a great deal, and its his accuracy. If you saw the Asia cup, he got a couple of wickets, which hit the top of the stump. By the top of the stump, I mean the top couple of inches. I passed it off as a fluke. But he keeps doing it again and again. He did it against WI too. Pitches the ball at a perfect length, where the batsman doesn’t know whether to go front or back, and then the ball hits the top of off. Dravid had absolutely no clue whatsoever about the ball that got him out. Sachin walked in, and looked good. Very good in fact. It was riveting stuff. His strategy to Murali (who switched to round the wicket the moment SRT walked in) was to play him as late as possible, and off the back foot, because the ball was generally going to pitch outside leg. Against Mendis, it was a completely different ballgame. He came down as far forward as he could, and just plonked the bat there. Whenever Mendis erred, Tendulkar capitalized. It was almost as if the batsman was testing the bowler. Couple of slog sweeps, a drive, and a paddle later, he got out to an unforced error. He will be kicking himself. Ganguly’s strategy against Mendis was to play the ball very late as well. In fact, sometimes I thought he was playing it a bit too late.. A couple of times it scared me.. how late the bat came down on the ball.. I’m sure the ball was past him at that point. This was riveting stuff. I was just telling Salil the other day that I didn’t really care for this series, except for the small matter of Sachin reaching 11954. I’m so glad I saw the game yesterday, very rarely do we see people like SRT, SCG and RSD being tested by spin from both sides. Each of them had different approaches, and no-one was successful. This makes today even more riveting. They will be fiercely determined to make wrongs right. Do yourself a favor, watch the game today.

[umpire]

excellent analysis. I thought Gambhir, Sachin looked very assured against Mendis. Hardly got beaten. Ganguly was intially was getting beaten by pace of Mendis, but he sorted that out. Laxman was looking his usual self playing late. It was riveting stuff no doubt. Sachin wanted to attack Mendis and Ganguly was not far behind. Our scoring rate was really good all day. Thats good sign. All we need is one big partnership.

[punjabi_khota]

I sure will.

[Holysmoke]

I didnt really watch Laxman bat, so havent really commented on that.

[putrevus]

see playing well for half hour to an hour on dead pitch on which Indian bowlers took 6 wickets in two days hardly qualifies as batting with assurance,the point being if our batsmen are so adept in playing spin which they are supposed to have how would you explain this collapse. let them play at least 90 overs then we can talk about their abilities.

[umpire]

Lankan Batsman made some errors but we did not catch them Cricket is always about thin line. How much Warnapura was struggling intially but he scored 100 and in contrast, Gambhir was rock solid and made only one error and he was goner. Same is the case with Sachin, looked more assured than Jayawaradane/Dilshan combined. But one error he was goner. Only thing I liked about our batting was all of them were eager to play strokes. That will hold us good in 2nd innnings.

[The Outsider]

Yeah, typical of the IPL fan boys to not give a hoot about test cricket and a series in a country where we are playing after 7 years. Times sure are changing.

[putrevus]

Lankan Batsman made some errors but we did not catch them Cricket is always about thin line. How much Warnapura was struggling intially but he scored 100 and in contrast, Gambhir was rock solid and made only one error and he was goner. Same is the case with Sachin, looked more assured than Jayawaradane/Dilshan combined. But one error he was goner. Only thing I liked about our batting was all of them were eager to play strokes. That will hold us good in 2nd innnings.

no they played one too many shots , they are still in ipl mode, they need get out of it or it is going to be long series.

[King]

Mendis did not look that menacing. Sure he did cause anxious moments but didn't look like running through the batting order. I don't reckon the ball to Rahul was great or anything but it was good to beat Rahul's bat on the back foot with just a gentle turn and with fair bit of pace. Reminded me of Anil Kumble's zooters. Rahul Dravid will learn to play him on the front foot and play him like a slow medium pacer. Mendis bowls at 90+ k and is to be treated like a slow medium pacer. There's no point playing him like a spinner. Tendulkar realised that very quickly and milked him for runs. As ever in Sri Lanka it is not that menacing "MURALI" that India needs to be guarded against. Not for nothing he's the top wicket taker in the world right now.

[fineleg]

ravi, I think u were predicting we'll win this series...sticking to it? :D