Sanjay Manjrekar: Harbhajan and spinners could have done better

[Ranjha]

AR: One of the stars for India was of course Harbhajan Singh. He looked lacklustre in Nagpur but was on song in Kolkata. What was it that he did differently that made the difference? SM: The first thing that went right for him was that South Africa for a change was under pressure. In Nagpur, South Africa batted really well on a good pitch and that is when the Indian bowlers were under pressure. Here, in Eden Gardens, the pitch was rougher and there was more turn for the spinners and also South Africa were under pressure. Harbhajan is great when his team is on top. He is one guy who will keep going after the batsmen then. I believe the win is purely because of the India's batting effort. Although Harbhajan got five wickets in the second innings and the spinners did the job in the end, I thought there was still some room for improvement for them. Let us not forget that the last-wicket partnerships lasted for more than 20 overs and who knows, another three to four overs and South Africa would have drawn this Test. And then the spinners would have got criticised for their performance. So Dhoni and Gary Kisrten would, deep down, believe that the spinners could have done better in this series especially when bowling in home conditions. http://www.cricinfo.com/talk/content/current/multimedia/448922.html

[Online]

Completely agree, but time to savor the win and leave the post mortem for later

[vvvslaxman]

yup. Our huge totals really melt the opposition down psychologically.

[Ranjha]

Couple of points: 1. Manjrekar said that SA were under pressure in this test. In fact, it was the Indian team and spinners that were under pressure after the drubbing in the first test. So to say, Harbhajan performed well when SA were under pressure is a gross misrepresentation of facts. THE 3 STRKES by Bhajji in the first innings, SA Had no pressure and they were cruising along. 2. How did SA spinner Harris performed in this test? 3. The wicket was not really a 5th day wicket but essentially a 4th day wicket since 4th day was almost washed out. Spinners took 8 wickets which is what we expect in Indian conditions, what is Manjrekar talking about? Plus this wicket was not a turner as Manjrekar points out. It was a patta.

[Guest Hiten.]

Was he watching the game or not ? RSA were actually in commanding position when they were 220/2. Bhajji and Zak bowled tight bowling spells (with a tiny bit effort from Ishant) to put a lid on RSA scoring. It's a given that any team (mostly RSA) do not fare well when the runs are dried out, and then the RSA started playing false shots resulting in a collapse. Sure our batsman showed up this time around but I think bowlers have to be credited for getting 20 wickets when SA struggled to get 6 of the Indian wickets. And also do not forget that Indian bowlers were under pressure because their responsibility for the 5th day was to not only get 7 RSA wickets but it was without the spine of Indian bowling (for couple of years) Zak. I can confidently say India would have batted out very easily had we been in same situation. And this is ridiculous sense of reasoning going around by the Indians. When Steyn and co. do the same they are world beaters and when our bowlers do it then we were saved by the batsmen.

[Ranjha]

yup. Our huge totals really melt the opposition down psychologically.

Well, ofcourse. But wasn't Bhajji crucial in SA not putting up a similar score as well because of Bhajji's triple strike? I don't understand , how SA was under pressure in the first innings at the very start of the game.

[Ranjha]

Btw, I am intentionally leaving Zak's spell in the first innings out of the conversation since we discussing about the performance of the spinners in this test. Make no mistake, his 3 wickets were crucial in the first innings as well.

[vvvslaxman]

Well' date=' ofcourse. But wasn't Bhajji crucial in SA not putting up a similar score as well because of Bhajji's triple strike. I don't understand , how SA was under pressure in the first innings at the very start of the game.[/quote'] First innings.. it was some stupid shot selection from SA. They just performed an epic choke without realizing they had 2 completely out of form batsmen in the middle. It was much like how we made a mess in the first innings of first Test. If India had put up only a total of 350 or 400 I would not have backed us to win the Test.

[Ranjha]

First innings.. it was some stupid shot selection from SA. They just performed an epic choke without realizing they had 2 completely out of form batsmen in the middle. It was much like how we made a mess in the first innings of first Test. If India had put up only a total of 350 or 400 I would not have backed us to win the Test.

No one is saying that India's big score wasn't instrumental in the win. But to say SA were under pressure in the first innings is pure garbage as the reason why Bhajji performed and to not really appreciate the 8 wickets by spinners in the second innings is nonsense. On this pitch, this was a phenomenal effort.

[graphic23]

Agreed with Ranjha on this matter. Manjrekar is an idiot. Both our spinners did really well for the track they were bowling on. Yes, the huge score helped create pressure, but you still had to bowl the good balls to take the wickets.

[Guest Hiten.]

First innings.. it was some stupid shot selection from SA. They just performed an epic choke without realizing they had 2 completely out of form batsmen in the middle. It was much like how we made a mess in the first innings of first Test. If India had put up only a total of 350 or 400 I would not have backed us to win the Test.

Umm, let's see India's first innings at Nagpur:

1) GG - could've left 2) Sehwag - senseless batting cost his wicket 3) Vijay - shouldn't have left 4) SRT - got a cracker from Steyn 5) Badri - again false shot....never phucking flick when the short midwicket is on his toes 6) MSD - Bad judgement of the bounce

So 5 out of 6 batsmen fell for a poor shot or bad judgement, yet we praised Steyn and co. like there was no tomorrow. P.S: I do hope you get my reasonings in the way I want you to understand

[punjabi_khota]

Same can be said about Steyn and co, isn't it ? He couldn't perform when his team were in dire straits after getting shot out for <300. :dontknow:

[yoda]

Same can be said about Steyn and co' date=' isn't it ? He couldn't perform when his team were in dire straits after getting shot out for <300. :dontknow:[/quote'] You can't cause he is Phaaast.

[Ranjha]

You can't cause he is Phaaast.

lol

[putrevus]

Manjerkar is complete idio*t , this pitch had no turn in it and still spinners bowled beautiful if there was any turn and more bounce their tailenders wouldn't have survived that long period. This is the same guy who said SA won first test due to their great bowling and India won this match due to its batting what a load of crap. Didn't they score 550 odd and that was the reason why they won.they batted first there here everything was against India still they won and Idio*ts like him never give credit when it is due. Vengy and Harsha were also chiming in about how India were lucky to win were they watching the match at all before making those statements There were no footmarks like in Nagpur where Harris thought he is a spinner,Indian bowlers didnt bowl badly in first test they just weren't lucky there, if not for ball change which produced reverse swing I dont think they would won that match even with our fragile batting lineup in the first test.

[Ranjha]

Manjerkar is complete idio*t , this pitch had no turn in it and still spinners bowled beautiful if there was any turn and more bounce their tailenders wouldn't have survived that long period. This is the same guy who said SA won first test due to their great bowling and India won this match due to its batting what a load of crap. Didn't they score 550 odd and that was the reason why they won.they batted first there here everything was against India still they won and Idio*ts like him never give credit when it is due. Vengy and Harsha were also chiming in about how India were lucky to win were they watching the match at all before making those statements There were no footmarks like in Nagpur where Harris thought he is a spinner,Indian bowlers didnt bowl badly in first test they just weren't lucky there, if not for ball change which produced reverse swing I dont think they would won that match even with our fragile batting lineup in the first test.

+1 I have noticed that Manjrekar always get orgasms talkin about the opposition's bowling.

[akshayxyz]

Yes, why not - they should have taken 30 wickets to make the win as comprehensive as it can get!!!!

[akshayxyz]

btw, better bowling attack took 6 wickets and our sub-par spinners/bowlers on not-so-turning track took 20 wkts.. if not for Saffies' mercy - we would not have won ..

[Ranjha]

btw, better bowling attack took 6 wickets and our sub-par spinners/bowlers on not-so-turning track took 20 wkts.. if not for Saffies' mercy - we would not have won ..

haha Manjrekar must be on crack if he can't see that.

[Gunner_Mania]

sree_india is Manjrekar in disguiseB-> Screw Manjrekar, he is just talking sour grapes. He is singing from the same hymn sheet as Chappell after joining ESS that Indian bowling isn't/wasn't good enough. History will say ndia took 20 wkts while SA took 6 wkts. Nobody will remember what Manjrekar says.