Board President's XI v Australians at Chandigarh - Sep 25-27, 2010 - Match Thread

[Chandan]

Gambhir blames flat track for poor show Chandigarh, September 25, 2010 Board President’s XI captain Gautam Gambhir defended his unimpressive bowlers and blamed a flat track for their lacklustre show on the opening day of the warm-up match against Australia. “Bowlers did a good job. There was not too much in the wicket. Our bowlers were up against a quality side and they had to bowl on a flat track. Still, they did a decent job,” Gambhir told reporters. All the Indian bowlers proved quite expensive at a lifeless Sector 16 stadium pitch as Australia piled up a huge 319 for one on the first day, with the openers Shane Watson (115) and Simon Katich (104 retired hurt) producing a 232-run opening partnership. Gambhir also defended pacer Sreesanth, who failed to impress, giving away 41 runs in his 13 overs without any success, saying fast bowlers take time to rediscover the rhythm after an injury lay-off. “He (Sreesanth) is coming back after an injury. You have got to give some leverage to him. He tried his best,” Gambhir said. Australians had acknowledged that reverse swing played an important role when they toured India two years ago and now Gambhir said quality bowlers such as Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma’s ability to move the ball would be crucial in the upcoming Test series. “Zak (Zaheer) is going to be a big threat (for the Aussies),” Gambhir said. On Aussie plans to restrict Virender Sehwag during the series, Gambhir said every side comes up with their own strategies. Gambhir, who is also coming back after an injury lay-off, said he was looking forward to getting some practice in this match before the Mohali Test. Asked about the young bowlers in the side, he said, “When a bowler bowls against a quality opposition, it’s always a good learning curve for him even if he fails to get a wicket.” Meanwhile, centurion Watson said their strategy was to spend as much time in the middle as possible and get some runs under the belt before the first Test. “Big partnerships can always change the course of the game,” he said. Praising Katich, Watson said, “He set up the scene for the whole tour.” Watson also said that the wicket was “fairly flat” and “there was a softer area in the middle.” -------------------------------------------------------------- So Gambhir reckoned that Unadkat, Yadav, Sree and Chawla (I'll cut Ojha the slack) bowled quite well on a flat deck and it was only because of the lifelessness of the track were they unable to take wickets of the Australian batsmen. What will he say now when the entire top and middle order of Board President of India XI has been dismissed so cheaply by the Aussie seamers on the same lifeless track?

[The Dark Horse]

:(( At least Chawla did well. Every time i see him bat- I get reminded of Lara

[diegovegaz]

chawla saves the day

[Karan114]

When the home team batsmen came out to bat, the Australian pacers put up a better performance than their Indian counterparts. Suddenly the track that was termed “lifeless†by Gautam Gambhir looked like having a lot of pace and bounce. By the 15th over, Board President’s XI were reduced to 53 for five. Then it was Piyush Chawla (64 batting) and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha (14) stemmed the rot with a 37-run sixth-wicket partnership. Then Chawla along with S Sreesanth (6 batting) added 53 runs for the unbroken seventh-wicket stand. Chawla hit nine fours and two sixes in his 73-ball knock. Skipper Gautam Gambhir would have liked to get some serious batting practice before the first Test but was out scoring only eight when he edged a short ball from Hilfenhaus to wicketkeeper Tim Paine after scoring only eight. Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for nought when he was caught by Shane Watson off Hilfenhaus’ bowling. Gambhir’s Delhi teammate Shikhar Dhawan hit three boundaries in his knock of 17 before he edged a George delivery to Paine behind stumps. Saurashtra youngster Cheteshwar Pujara (9) who has made it to the national squad for the Test series was cleaned up Johnson as he couldn’t handle the pace. Pujara’s 42-minute stay at the wicket was sheer struggle as he faced 28 deliveries during this period. Saurabh Tiwary, who has enjoyed lot of success in the Twenty20 format scored 15 before he became George’s second victim handing Paine his third catch of the innings. Then Wriddhiman and Chawla steadied the ship for some time before Wriddhiman edged one to Paine off Hilfenhaus with the scoreboard reading 90 for six. Then Chawla hit a few lusty blows off spinners Nathan Hauritz and Steven Smith to take the score to 143 for six.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article797235.ece

[ZodiaC]

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article797235.ece

:nervous:

[Sachinism]

Wow. The best batting prospect we have in waiting can't handle pace :((

[achilles]

Wow. The best batting prospect we have in waiting can't handle pace :((

And another can't play bouncers. We have a lot of work to do. Instead of grooming the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, we could consider grooming Virat, Manish or even instill some confidence in S.Badrinath.

[Sooda]

Well it is a huge step up, a proper test class attack and the first time he facing genuine pace. Worrying that is was a'sheer struggle'... but onwards and upwards, lets hope he learns from the experience.. :nervous:

[Karan114]

Well it is a huge step up, a proper test class attack and the first time he facing genuine pace. Worrying that is was a'sheer struggle'... but onwards and upwards, lets hope he learns from the experience.. :nervous:

Yeah, let's hope it was just the sheer superiority of quality of bowling being faced for the first time that caught him out and that he improves in time. The alternative, of our most hyped young batsman turning out to be a typical Indian flat track bully hopefully doesn't materialize...:((

[Sooda]

He has scored on emerging players tours and A tours, admittedly vs A team attacks...whichs suggests he should be more than an FTB. But yeah, he is the next great hope so a bit more is expected ...Rahane got out for a duck too, Dhawan didnt do much...all this on a supposed flat track... not a good sign at all...and our bright young bowling stars got caned.... Chawla took a 5-fer for the BP XI when the Aussies toured in 08 (Virat and Rohit made tons that game IIRC, the BP team was solid), so this is a bit sad as I thought he has improved since. I guess its hard to say without watching if he bowled crappily or was just becuase it being a slow track might have negated his variations.

[ViruRulez]

Just checked the scoreboard and WTF is this .. did anyone watch the match on TV and did the pitch conditions change significantly .. who is this North... I thought Tiwary and Gauti would have at least made good runs but this is really pathetic .. did anyone watch on TV and did the pitch conditions change or was our A side playing crap

[Karan114]

He has scored on emerging players tours and A tours' date=' admittedly vs A team attacks...whichs suggests he should be more than an FTB. But yeah, he is the next great hope so a bit more is expected ...Rahane got out for a duck too, Dhawan didnt do much...all this on a supposed flat track... not a good sign at all...and our bright young bowling stars got caned....[/quote'] Yeah, the hype around Pujara is why the expectations are so high - Rahane and Dhawan as you say failed too but there hasn't been as much talk about them. Hopefully it is only the increase in speed which caught him out for the first time and that he improves...as you say he has made runs away from home at least at 'A' level. As regards the bowling, to be fair this is only Unadkat's first FC game in India and Yadav ought to be behind Mithun and Munaf in the pecking order (not that either of them is great of course). Agree about Chawla, though - two years ago there is no way Ojha would have been in front of him in the spin queue (at the time Kumble was still playing of course) but now Ojha is pretty much the second Test spinner (Mishra's complete disregard for fitness is deplorable) while Chawla is nowhere.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

relax, its probably just nerves. none of them have played a good test team before.

[ZodiaC]

And another can't play bouncers. We have a lot of work to do. Instead of grooming the likes of Ravindra Jadeja' date=' we could consider grooming Virat, Manish or even instill some confidence in S.Badrinath.[/quote'] Nailed it, but where did Manish come from? :hmmm:

[Gunner_Mania]

yeah I'll wait to see how Pujara does if he gets opportunity in the 2nd innings. It could just be a mental thing as well playing a proper test team as M_P says. He is just 22, I still believe Pujara will come trumps.

[achilles]

Nailed it' date=' but where did Manish come from? :hmmm:[/quote'] Thanks. I think Manish can be a potential test player. With his technique, which invites a lot of criticism, I believe he scored about 900 runs-ish the past Ranji season and was one among the top 10 scorers last year.

[ZodiaC]

Thanks. I think Manish can be a potential test player. With his technique' date=' which invites a lot of criticism, I believe he scored about 900 runs-ish the past Ranji season and was one among the top 10 scorers last year.[/quote'] But Ranjis alone won't do, he didn't do well in the A tour did he? He didn't look convincing against pacers (yet) IMO. :hmmm: Talented for sure, but miles to go before he makes it to the intl team

[The Dark Horse]

Thats the reason we should have lively pitches, at least it would encourage the bowlers to bend their backs a bit:wall:

[asterix]

End of twanty-twanty.. Back to boring cricket now..

[ina_jawaan]

It's really sad that not one of the young players chosen was able to grasp the opportunity. It just goes to show how big is the gulf that separates Indian domestic cricket from international cricket. How about spending some of the BCCI's millions on attracting some top international players to play for some of the domestic sides? And preferably some international fast bowlers - and give them some lively pitches to bowl on as well - that would be interesting. Also, how about at least forcing our international stars to play some domestic cricket to be able to guide some of the up and coming players? Curiously I always thought Chawla had batting potential (averages nearly 30 in first class cricket including one hundred) so glad he is at least doing well on that score - as for his bowling wasn't it only last year Sanga at Kings XI was calling him "the best legspinner in India"?? He has youth on his side so let us hope he comes good - i certainly like his attitude.