No Longer The Underdog?

[Dhondy]

After India's romp to victory yesterday, I waited for the denouement of the NZ-SL match this morning. I knew Pakistan could lose...and I wanted to see the reactions on the biggest cricket site on earth. No, it's not ICF I allude to- we have no journalistic pretensions to speak of- I am referring to Cricinfo. I was not diasppointed. Siddharth Monga was back on the beat, again- he hasn't married the proprietor's buck-toothed daughter, has he?- with the rather gushy "Test Cricket at its Finest". http://www.cricinfo.com/nzvpak2009/content/current/story/437128.html He goes into raptures on the "quality of fast bowling" seen in the match from returning quicks-"And the relief at watching Bond and Asif in their national whites, and realising that they still had it. That the Asif wrist still controlled what the ball did. That Bond could still bowl bouncers at 150kph, and yorkers, and quick legcutters". Umar Akmal's debut apparently gave him as much joy as Ajanta Mendis'. Oh dear! As a creature of Monga's affections, Umar better be careful. Look what happened to Mendis? But then he bursts into form, incandescent tracers into the night sky and all, with what he imagines is an explosive piece of writing that would set him apart from nationalistic riff-raff, "This hasn't been a good year for Test cricket. ...... India didn't bother to play one for more than seven months, and when they finally did, they did so on flat roads". Really, Siddharth? Flat road? The losing side scored 550 runs in two innings at Dunedin. The corresponding tally was 498 runs at Kanpur. How inconvenient! Monga was blown away by the quality of fast bowling at Dunedin. This on a pitch where 34 of 40 wickets fell to seamers. Of the 6 that were accumulated by spinners, 4 were tail-end scalps. Even Umer Gul, who had a shockingly poor match, had 5 dismissals to his name. This may not have been a green top, but it was no fast bowler's graveyard. Kanpur, by all accounts, was. Didn't Monga just call the track a highway? Of the 29 wickets that fell to bowlers, only 8 were claimed by seamers. Six of those, claimed by another returning maverick of a fast bowler, changed the course of the match. Yet Sreesanth goes unheralded by Monga. No fast bowling joys there then, Monga? A match that began with a 600+ team total and looked destined for another bore draw, was transformed by one man's brilliance. Not even a passing mention of his herculean achievement on an "autobahn", where he conjured up a result, where one had no right to eventuate? There was a time when such feats would have had the pundits purring, the Indian section of Cricinfo agog with excitement. That was when india were the perennial underdogs, and fans and scribes had to cling to insubstantial positives to sustain themselves through yet another bruising season of self-flagellation. How times have changed! we have lost our underdog status. The hobnailed shoe is on the other foot. Now, scribes try and gee up the nouveau bottom seeds, the new losers on the block, by magnifying every little achievement they can summon up, trying to salve over the wounds of their myriad grieving fans, still incredulous and firmly in denial at the turn of events (as Osman Saimuddin's piece on the same match shows- Pakistan's hitherto stellar record against NZ has all to do with just one little happenstance- they have never had to face Shane Bond in his backyard before this- remember India's pain?) while relegating our achievements to the middle pages. It's nice to be taken for granted.

[Guest Hiten.]

I usually ignore this moron's article but because you opted to give him a bit of stick, I read it to understand your reasoning behind it. People who called Kanpur pitch a flat deck really have to revisit their Pitch for dummies book and understand that India played attacking cricket and took away any chance that SL had to win this game. If the pitch was really this easy to bat on, SL should have at least scored 400+ in either of innings because TBH they boast world's best FTB after all :winky:. I did not follow Pak-NZ game so won't be able to comment on the pitch conditions. But going by the history, NZ always had a deck that propelled seamers' confidence and chance of picking up wickets. I will always rue the missed opportunity (thanks to dumb selectors) for not being able to see Sree in NZ conditions.

[The Outsider]

Dhondy, I make it a point to avoid this moron's articles but read it after you posted on it - "Test cricket at it's best". I watched quite a bit of the NZ-Pakistan test match and it was a contest of mediocrity. Dropped catches, inept batting, bowlers made to look good by dumb batsmen - it had it all. These hyperbolic headlines get on my nerves - if this was test cricket at it's best what was the '01 series between India and Australia? At best it was an evenly competed match between two poor teams. Nice comparison of Sreesanth's achievement with the characters featuring in the match in NZ - it was simply a superb spell of fast bowling, better than anything Asif and Bond dished out. But why blame the journalists - look at the supposed fans of Indian cricket on this site who have been after the guy for what he has done off the field. I am still a proud man for having made the prediction that Steyn, Johnson, and Sreesanth are going to be the great test bowlers for the future. Each has something that is almost impossible for others to replicate - Steyn's swing in even arid conditions, Johnson's ability to steam in at 145 kmph at the end of the day and bang the pitch hard, and Sreesanth's immaculate seam position coupled with a never tiring heart. Going back to your post though, I don't feel it has anything to do with our status in world cricket - the belief that India wins and score on flat tracks is too deep rooted to change overnight. Maybe these maadarchods will change their tune after India is anointed the best side in world cricket officially, but I won't hold my breath on that one. There will always be the apologies extended by Indians and excuses by foreigners for India's cricketing success, something which was so far away from the realms of reality 10 years back that it seems the only thing to do for these chaman chewtiyas.

[Guest Hiten.]

Going back to your post though, I don't feel it has anything to do with our status in world cricket - the belief that India wins and score on flat tracks is too deep rooted to change overnight. Maybe these maadarchods will change their tune after India is anointed the best side in world cricket officially, but I won't hold my breath on that one. There will always be the apologies extended by Indians and excuses by foreigners for India's cricketing success, something which was so far away from the realms of reality 10 years back that it seems the only thing to do for these chaman chewtiyas.

Prof edit kar de apni post. You seem to be super pissed off about "scoring/winning on flat tracks" :hysterical::hysterical:

[punjabi_khota]

:lmao: @ swear-abh

[Dhondy]

Going back to your post though, I don't feel it has anything to do with our status in world cricket - the belief that India wins and score on flat tracks is too deep rooted to change overnight. Maybe these maadarchods will change their tune after India is anointed the best side in world cricket officially, but I won't hold my breath on that one. There will always be the apologies extended by Indians and excuses by foreigners for India's cricketing success, something which was so far away from the realms of reality 10 years back that it seems the only thing to do for these chaman chewtiyas.

Yup. It is also politically unfashionable to praise an Indian fast bowler. India and fast bowling? Heavens above! Go carefully through match reports when India do well, and it's always, "Defeated side spun out by India". The stereotype that india can only win through spin, doctored tracks fully implied, is very much set in stone, and these guys never fail to default to the stereotype. Thus, at lunch on third day, with SL on something like 138 for 5, the headlines on Cricinfo read, "Sreesanth and Harbhajan rock SL". Sreesanth had taken three of the four to fall, Bhajji just one. Of course, it suits Monga to completely ignore the fact that the two worst batting sides in the world, bar none, were squaring up at Dunedin, and blind men throwing darts would have picked up one or two without trying. That Sreesanth's achievements came against an exponentially stronger batting side, boasting the top two ranked batsmen in the world, on a track that Monga himself called a highway, is just a typical example of how these guys take a phallic route to journalism.

[The Outsider]

Prof edit kar de apni post. You seem to be super pissed off about "scoring/winning on flat tracks" :hysterical::hysterical:

Yaar tu mod hai, edit kar de - at least give me a few minutes to post as I want to without carrying the guilt of abusing my admin status!

[Watson87]

We were never the underdog bro, sorry don't have time to read the rubbish article from cricinfo. Anyway I don't think for the next 2 years any teams are going to bother us in the top ranking. Aus and Saf seems like minnows compared to our dynamic batting line up.

[Bumper]

It was Test cricket at its finest Dhondy, didnt you notice ? It was Pakistan upholding its rich traditions as a Test nation. Its only fair that a nation built around suicide bombers, stages yet another successful "suicide" on the field ? With the legends Farhat, Manzoor opening & Alam manning the no. 3 slot, Pakistan had its rear firmly planted on the "self-destruct" button, until Moyo & Umar tried to unsettle them a bit. But no worries. With the arrival of Shoaib and Duckmal they ensured that the job was done as it was intended. I watched the game only in highlights. I cannot begin to understand how this Fawad Alam who shuffles across like a toad is worthy of a test spot. And Khurram Manzoor & Imran Farhat ? Hullo, is this a Test team or a bunch of suicide bombers on a mission ? These idiots who masquerade themselves as test batsmen, keep playing their shots with no regard to the conditions, quality of bowling or the match situation. You could have driven a truck through the gap between the bat & pad of Imram Farhat. In some cases he went chasing after deliveries outside the off & missed them by a foot. Moyo was done in by the pitch. The rest got out because of sheer incompetence. Oh yeah, test cricket at its finest. Entertainment to die for! Following this epic test match, I sacrificed my sleep and spent two hours on either boards to catch up on some much needed entertainment.

[flamy]

Going back to your post though, I don't feel it has anything to do with our status in world cricket - the belief that India wins and score on flat tracks is too deep rooted to change overnight. Maybe these maadarchods will change their tune after India is anointed the best side in world cricket officially, but I won't hold my breath on that one. There will always be the apologies extended by Indians and excuses by foreigners for India's cricketing success, something which was so far away from the realms of reality 10 years back that it seems the only thing to do for these chaman chewtiyas.

:isalute:

[flamy]

It was Pakistan upholding its rich traditions as a Test nation. Its only fair that a nation built around suicide bombers, stages yet another successful "suicide" on the field ?

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[The Outsider]

Yup. It is also politically unfashionable to praise an Indian fast bowler. India and fast bowling? Heavens above! Go through carefully through match reports when India do well, and it's always, "Defeated side spun out by India". The stereotype that india can only win through spin, doctored tracks fully implied, is very much set in stone, and cricket scribes, who after all, became cricket scribes because they couldn't find anything more productive to do in life, never fail to default to the stereotype. Thus, at lunch on third day, with SL on something like 138 for 5, the headlines on Cricinfo read, "Sreesanth and Harbhajan rock SL". Sreesanth had taken three of the four to fall, Bhajji just one. Of course, it suits Monga to completely ignore the fact that the two worst batting sides in the world, bar none, were squaring up at Dunedin, and blind men throwing darts would have picked up one or two without trying. That Sreesanth's achievements came against an exponentially stronger batting side, boasting the top two ranked batsmen in the world, on a track that Monga himself called a highway, is just a typical example of how these guys take a phallic route to journalism.

And the ironic thing is our future lies in fast bowling - we have quite a core group who become deadly in slightly helpful conditions and then some like Sreesanth who have the heart and the guts to take even the deadest pitch out of the equation. Frack Akhtar and Lee - we don't need a 150+ kmph bowler to rip sides apart on flat tracks. To Dunedin again - did you see the dismissal of former kaptaan Malik? Even Harbhajan would have been able to negotiate that short ball! When you have jokers like him in the batting line up and scribes calling such cricket as "test cricket at it's best" it makes you wonder if these gaaandus have even watched any test cricket? Not that I am complaining about test cricket once again being in the headlines - it's still infinitely better than the wh...orefest inflicted by Modi!

[Guest Gunner]

^^ There was a comment to that article by Monga where someone said it was the finest test match he / she had seen in their lives. Say enough doesn't it? The quality of the viewers encompasses the quality of the game. The overall standard of the test match watching crowd is nowhere close to what it used to be even 10-15 years ago we don't have to go searching further in the past. Hariharan the singer once said in his interview that people at large listen to average music these days and consider it to be great. I have begun to form the same conclusions on cricket. The abilitiy to discern quality has been lost in the white noise of platitudes.

[ludhianvi]

The Pakistan NewZealand Test match was pretty exciting for me :dontknow: Although, the comment by the author India didn't bother to play one for more than seven months, and when they finally did, they did so on flat roads was uncalled for. I think he got confused with the 'flat' bowling of the Lankans on the first two days added to the fact that they went in with one frontline pacer. On the other hand, Indian bowlers bowled well. Sreesant was bowling with the usual beautiful seam and getting outswing. Bhajji bowled a brilliant ball that spun in sharply and went through the batsman and castled the stumps.

[The Outsider]

The Pakistan NewZealand Test match was pretty exciting for me :dontknow: Although, the comment by the author India didn't bother to play one for more than seven months, and when they finally did, they did so on flat roads was uncalled for. I think he got confused with the 'flat' bowling of the Lankans on the first two days added to the fact that they went in with one frontline pacer. On the other hand, Indian bowlers bowled well. Sreesant was bowling with the usual beautiful seam and getting outswing. Bhajji bowled a brilliant ball that spun in sharply and went through the batsman and castled the stumps.

Well, nothing to be surprised about. Play three spinners against India and say they bowled well after being slaughtered for 650 runs! How can you justify that kind of stupidity - easy blame India's flat tracks for not having a brain that would make an amoeba proud! Indian flat tracks offer an all coming excuse for Sangakkara to keep his job and escape criticism for the dumbest decision taken on this planet since Hitler invaded Russia in the winters. But how all this escapes the eyes of supposed cricket followers, writers, and critics is the surprising thing. You fracking drop catches, you play Mathooze as your opening bowler, and then blame the pitch when you are owned - no worries you can easily get away with it with the self apologizing media and fans that India has!

[Malcolm Merlyn]

we have three of ICFs finest posters in this thread Dhondy Professor and Bumper.....good to see dhondy and bumper back. Monga's article is seriously to gather some netizens to cricinfo.why to praise a bowler who reverse swung a team of dilshan jaya sanga and samaraweera on a flat track when you can sing praises for bowlers bowling on a helpful track bowling out khurram manzoor farhat fawad malik redmond flynn fulton etc. Test cricket between mediocre teams ranked 7th and 8th in tests....yes simply brilliant

[Dhondy]

It was Test cricket at its finest Dhondy, didnt you notice ? It was Pakistan upholding its rich traditions as a Test nation. Its only fair that a nation built around suicide bombers, stages yet another successful "suicide" on the field ? With the legends Farhat, Manzoor opening & Alam manning the no. 3 slot, Pakistan had its rear firmly planted on the "self-destruct" button, until Moyo & Umar tried to unsettle them a bit. But no worries. With the arrival of Shoaib and Duckmal they ensured that the job was done as it was intended. I watched the game only in highlights. I cannot begin to understand how this Fawad Alam who shuffles across like a toad is worthy of a test spot. And Khurram Manzoor & Imran Farhat ? Hullo, is this a Test team or a bunch of suicide bombers on a mission ? These idiots who masquerade themselves as test batsmen, keep playing their shots with no regard to the conditions, quality of bowling or the match situation. You could have driven a truck through the gap between the bat & pad of Imram Farhat. In some cases he went chasing after deliveries outside the off & missed them by a foot. Moyo was done in by the pitch. The rest got out because of sheer incompetence. Oh yeah, test cricket at its finest. Entertainment to die for! Following this epic test match, I sacrificed my sleep and spent two hours on either boards to catch up on some much needed entertainment.

Granted. Although, this would seem to be the only way you and I get to talk to each other these days, Bumps.:haha:

[Guest Hiten.]

The Pakistan NewZealand Test match was pretty exciting for me :dontknow: Although, the comment by the author India didn't bother to play one for more than seven months, and when they finally did, they did so on flat roads was uncalled for. I think he got confused with the 'flat' bowling of the Lankans on the first two days added to the fact that they went in with one frontline pacer. On the other hand, Indian bowlers bowled well. Sreesant was bowling with the usual beautiful seam and getting outswing. Bhajji bowled a brilliant ball that spun in sharply and went through the batsman and castled the stumps.

I don't think anyone over here is questioning the "excitement level" of this match but calling it "cricket at its finest" has a certain apathy in it. It's like saying Bangladesh had an "upset" victory over the West Indians when the last they toured there because we all know who actually showed up instead of the front line soldiers. Both the teams lack genuine top 3 batsman (not talking/worried about technique here), they plainly suck.

[varun]

Oh c'mon guys, you can't be looking for objective journalism from Cricinfo these days. They are a business. In order to increase their viewership, they aim to please. Cricinfo is obviously gearing the article towards the Kiwis and Pakis (mostly Pakis), and what better way to get more eyeballs than by headlining it "Test Cricket at its finest" and taking slight digs at the recent Indian win.

[cowboysfan]

when the best fast bowler in the test match in Bond calls the wicket flat then you better believe the wicket wasnt all that.I agree the top order of both teams are shocking inept and made the matches closer then it could have been if even one team could have established some top order solidity.