India very much alive

[goose]

India find it near impossible to string back to back test wins together. Whatever it is that ails them is hopefully out of their system and done with on the first day, leaving them with 4 full days to show uninhibited fight at the business end of the test. Still backing India to win this one.

[The_Black_Prince]

Yuh mean.....Alive like a dying maan !

[goose]

as Prince Akeem once said, please refrain Black Prince, or i shall be forced to thrash you.

[veer]

ofcourse we are IN.. question is -- will Lanka be able to pull this off? :--D

[King Tendulkar]

We are in driving seat with runs on the board. SL lose early wicket. We are winning this!

[beetle]

Sunshine boy dsr!:--D

[Ram]

The first two sessions of tomorrow will decide the result of this match, Absolutely no doubt it. If Lanka win both those sessions, we can kiss our chances goodbye, irrespective of what happens after that.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Ishant Sharma seems to have control over things.. ony worry is that pitch should not turn into belter after baking under the sun for a day.. I still think India can win this one but Sehwag will have to show up this indian batting line up can;t afford two back to back failure from sehwag........

[satishg]

Ishant is the key if he doesn get wickets v can say bye bye to this series..man our batting order y do they have to bat like this :((

[fineleg]

Ishant is the key if he doesn get wickets v can say bye bye to this series..man our batting order y do they have to bat like this :((

We dont need to beg our batting order to perform. Either they perform, or they will be dropped. That shud be the mantra.

[satishg]

We dont need to beg our batting order to perform. Either they perform' date=' or they will be dropped. That shud be the mantra.[/quote'] ehh dropped for not performing in one series :hmmmm: sorry finey thats not the way to go abt it..

[Rajiv]

Sangakarra due for a big one but with big fabs falling, maybe its not his time as well But I think ts nicely posied so far, ishant looks on fire

[cowboysfan]

jai hind!!!!!!!!!

[Fontaine]

The first session is ALL important will likely decide the test in my opinion. India still have a new ball, with a fresh start tomorrow for the two seamers for 12 overs. Zaheer needs to contain a very tight line, don't try to pitch the ball up too much because of the lack of swing, just focus on his line and length and try the angles around the wicket to induce and edge or bowl leg cutters. Sharma needs to continue his good form and bowl 6 overs of hostile aggressive pace and try to surprise the batsmen with his bounce as he has done so far. Occasionally throw in a slower ball but keep that tight line just around off stump to force the batsmen to play instead of letting it go which is what all the Sri Lankans will be instructed to do. We cannot waste the new ball and first session as Harbhajan can't do anything on this surface as it won't take much spin and the Sri Lankans look to have figured out Kumble. The odds are against us as it looks a good fast batting track and at some stage our batsmen are going to have to score big to put us back in the match or save it and I don't have much hope in them right now.

[SachDan]

This test has long way to go before deciding the winner.From an Indian perspective they would like to bundle out SriLanka for as small a total as possible.Even if the Lankans manages a lead it should not hurt the Indians as the time factor is not that importannt. Though a lot will depend on our famous middle order clicking atleast once in the series and wat better time than scoring to help us clinch the series.They are due big time and m putting my money on them to emerge as victorious.

[Brainfade]

The first session is ALL important will likely decide the test in my opinion. India still have a new ball, with a fresh start tomorrow for the two seamers for 12 overs. Zaheer needs to contain a very tight line, don't try to pitch the ball up too much because of the lack of swing, just focus on his line and length and try the angles around the wicket to induce and edge or bowl leg cutters. Sharma needs to continue his good form and bowl 6 overs of hostile aggressive pace and try to surprise the batsmen with his bounce as he has done so far. Occasionally throw in a slower ball but keep that tight line just around off stump to force the batsmen to play instead of letting it go which is what all the Sri Lankans will be instructed to do. We cannot waste the new ball and first session as Harbhajan can't do anything on this surface as it won't take much spin and the Sri Lankans look to have figured out Kumble. The odds are against us as it looks a good fast batting track and at some stage our batsmen are going to have to score big to put us back in the match or save it and I don't have much hope in them right now.

Nice analysis. I have a related comment. I haven't seen our fast bowlers bowl effective yorkers in a long time. Zaheer Khan seems to have lost the knack. Ishant Sharma too does not seem to have it in his armory; it's a pity because he has the pace to make it an effective weapon. It would be fun to see them bowl a couple of deadly toe-crushers every now and then.

[Predator_05]

India will be fine as long as they restrict SL to a 50 run lead. The openers can wipe that off easily. If the lead is closer to 100 than 50, winning will become much more difficult.

[DravidDaBest]

Nice analysis. I have a related comment. I haven't seen our fast bowlers bowl effective yorkers in a long time. Zaheer Khan seems to have lost the knack. Ishant Sharma too does not seem to have it in his armory; it's a pity because he has the pace to make it an effective weapon. It would be fun to see them bowl a couple of deadly toe-crushers every now and then.

I was thinking the same thing. When Ishant makes the batsman hop with his bounce, the yorkers will become very effective. If he bowls couple of yorkers, then that puts a doubt on the batsman's mind.

[King Tendulkar]

We dont need to beg our batting order to perform. Either they perform' date=' or they will be dropped. That shud be the mantra.[/quote'] I assume the same criteria should go for Lankan batters, so no doubt you feel Sangakara should be dropped?:D

[umpire]

India has to get out Jaya and Sanga cheap, without them they can't cross 250.