Well done Dravid

[rahulrulezz]

i was a big fan of Dravid but watching Dravid now bores the Eff out of me... 200 Balls for that 60... other than those 2 coverdrives, none of his shots had any class or elegance....some of those runs came as a lucky escape... wonder if he makes an odd 120, the Test match will surely be a draw...

[graphic23]

It is unreasonable to call this knock slow - he is in a huge rut. Also, the pitch was seaming and swinging. The one thing that was very good though. His defense (apart from very late in the day, when the ball was swinging lately) was rock solid. Some of his shots were top-class. There were a couple of bad ones (the miscued pull shot, the defensive shot that led to the ball going past the stumps, etc.) but that was understandable. Plus, a S/R of 32 isn't terrible. His S/R kept fluctuating between 45 (it had reached that when he kept hitting boundaries between like 20 and 35) and like 30 (when he played out a couple of maidens). At anycase, I am hoping that this will lead to a few more consistent scores. I don't want to start a debate, but Sachin, when he was in an indifferent form (right after the '07 WC), we played 2 tests against Bangladesh and in the first test on a completely dead pitch, he scored his 100 from nearly 225 balls or so. And he wasn't even in such a big loss of form. Given that this English attack is more capable than the Bangladeshi one and that the wicket was seaming with relatively good bounce, I would say his innings is very valuable for us here. I didn't mind watching his 65* (205) today - I thought it was quite elegant (relatively). He struggled in that 111 against SA and he looks more comfortable here.

[satishg]

headingley 2002 all over again just that the roles have been reversed..Gauti has taken Dravids role and Dravid has taken Bangars role..anyway a good innings from him considering the pressure he was in..

[Lord]

i was a big fan of Dravid but watching Dravid now bores the Eff out of me... 200 Balls for that 60... other than those 2 coverdrives' date=' none of his shots had any class or elegance....some of those runs came as a lucky escape... wonder if he makes an odd 120, the Test match will surely be a draw...[/quote'] n we will win the series.what did the exciting sehwag do?had two wild swings edging one to the keeper.it was a difficult pitch to bat on,so u needed solid players with lots of patience.u needed to get the shot selection right.eleven sehwag or yuvraj like 'exciting'players n we would have surely lost this game.

[Guest Hiten.]

n we will win the series.what did the exciting sehwag do?had two wild swings edging one to the keeper.it was a difficult pitch to bat on' date='so u needed solid players with lots of patience.u needed to get the shot selection right.eleven sehwag or yuvraj like 'exciting'players n we would have surely lost this game.[/quote'] Dude, you have to go easy on your support and bias towards RD. Sehwag won us the damn game in chennai which even 11 RD would have never made it possible. Eleven RD would have ensured India draw the game 'securely' enough for us to score 100 runs in the entire day. I understand you are a grateful man for RD's services to India, which you should be. But that does not mean you demean any other player who has been rising in rankings in the upcoming years in which RD failed miserably. Had it not been for Sehwag, India would have lost 3-1 in Australia and would have lost 2-1 to SA in India. Respect the 'noobs' who are exceeding your expectations.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Predator_05]

His innings was a good one, but come on, 179 runs in a day is slow even by the 1970's standards. Gambhir's innings was well paced but Dravid's was just painstakingly slow. His start wasn't anything out of the ordinary but normally he would pick up the pace as the day went on. Even at Headingley, India finished about 50 runs ahead on day 1 then they did yesterday. I was expecting 230/1 or thereabouts when i went to bed. This kind of run scoring puts more pressure on the other batsmen to make up for lost time.

[Online]

^^^dude there were 20 fewer overs today....in the next 20 overs if they had made 60 runs we would be at 240 which is not bad on day1. I admit they were slow but not as slow as people are making it out to be.

[Online]

Those who are supporting RD based on the fact that he usually scores around a SR of 40 ... take a look at some of his top innings ... almost all of them have had a SR of around 50 as the list below suggests. that is the minimum necessity in modern day cricket. You cannot potter around at a SR of 32 given that you are bound to lose about 2-3 sessions of time over 5 days. This is the reason why stroke makers will be always ranked above RD as he more often than not puts extra pressure on his team mates. But I hope this inngs gets him back into a more fluent form even if it means a draw

Runs  Balls   SR
103	136	75
129	176	73
146	234	62
200	350	57
222	387	57
128	233	54
270	495	54
162	301	53
190	354	53
233	446	52
160	304	52
180	353	50
107	218	49
110	222	49
148	307	48
115	244	47
135	283	47
103	220	46

Boss, you rock :hatsoff: Please don't leave us and go

[Predator_05]

^^^dude there were 20 fewer overs today.....

Thanks, I didn't know that.

[Guest Hiten.]

Holy smokes (no! not you) RD was stumped :| in that game

[Laaloo]

^^????

[Sachin_Rulez]

What's new? he did score odd 50s (painfully slow though) here and there. This doesn't change the fact that he's a weak link in our batting line up occupying all important no.3 position. He may produce 50s here and there once in 10 innings (if we continue having him in our batting line up) keeping his fans satisfying that "He's just one good innings away getting back to the form". That's what he has been doing for the past 2 years. I can understand keeping him for one year when he was not in form, based on his past laurels but 2 years...give me a break!!! No INDIAN player received this kind of comfort and assurance. Amazing to see kind of support he's getting here on ICF as well. Gambit, I'm with you on this :--D

[Guest Hiten.]

^^????

India vs Engand, Leeds 2002

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Guest Hiten.]

Greatly appreciate that sentiment although I dont deserve such rich accolades. I get trolled off now and then rather than me walking away. Free speech is of paramount importance to me and Iam extreemly sensitive in that regard. :((

You don't need to indulge yourself with non-cricketing talks. Cricket should be main priority on this site and we should stick to cricket only, if 'freedom of speech' is not allowed while discussing other topics :--D Aata tumhi cricket che visai stats dayal tar kauni tumhala toknar nahin pan padosi chiya biddal facts denaar tar tumchiya vichaara var pabandi di jaatil let's see if I made sense there..im trying to keep in touch with marathi :D

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[cochise]

Well Done!!! Good ton Dravid...now quickly make it a double!

[Sachinism]

didn't see him bat yesterday, but today he's looked superb quality boundaries. there have been some edgy moments, but he's tackled them well

[cochise]

Yes...and whats more...showing intent to get on with it.