Thoughts on Day 2 and going forward to Day 3

[kabira]

When we lost toss, I am sure our team would have surely taken Aussies getting 400 odd runs. But when they were 290 odd for 6, we should have folded them around 360, so we gave 60 runs extra. Those may turn out to be crucial. The game is nicely poised. Pitch has no demons, only way to get batsman out is LBW and Bowled. I think Australia will bowl straight at Dravid and Tendulkar. Both are prone to LBWs. Dravid holds the key, He has to go and score 100, he looked in great touch, 21 runs off 29 balls is very good start. All he has to do is rotate the strike, and keep going, does not matter if he scores slow. Other batters should play positive cricket unlike Hussey. The key is to keep scoring runs, if you get bogged down here, its not easy to come out of it We have to maintain the run rate of 3.5 and score 300 runs tomorrow, easier said then done. All in all, test is nicely poised, even steven. Both teams have chance to force result. But seems pitch will be the winner and it might just be dull draw.

[Andy]

We must make sure one thing that we keep playing strokes. Dravid has a Tendency of getting into his shell and that will lead to our downfall on a pitch like this.

[Fontaine]

This team has played like a bad joke apart from one or two players. Drops and fielding mishaps that would be more suited to clowns in a circus show and then Sehwag getting out just minutes before close of play. No wonder no one takes us seriously with our 1 ranking.

[Andy]

This team has played like a bad joke apart from one or two players. Drops and fielding mishaps that would be more suited to clowns in a circus show and then Sehwag getting out just minutes before close of play. No wonder no one takes us seriously with our 1 ranking.

FACT!!

[bulbul]

^ even oz also pathetic. I doubt we will never going to a series lik 2001 in future:((

[Karan114]

Dhoni's keeping is becoming a real worry...he wasn't great in Lanka but here he has just looked completely out of sorts. Non stop cricket (even when off India duty) and that injured finger have made for a bad combination...it is difficult enough being a keeper and key batsman but he has captaincy responsibilities to boot. Ishant's dreadfulness continues too...he was OK on the NZ tour in 2009 but since then it has been mediocrity in all formats. Only positive was Zaheer Khan who continues to show what a magnificent bowler he has become in Test cricket over the last few years. Disappointing to lose 2 wickets in 20 overs as well...Gambhir's poor form continues after the failures against SA and SL. All in all, we are living up to our dreaded "slow starters" tag yet again.

[Deleted_User_1]

India is so gonna lose! I am feeling it in my privates every second..................

[kabira]

^LOL your privates must be 60 years old now, you have this feeling for every single test match :hysterical:

[cowboysfan]

imo the lower order and the tail has to score 150 runs for us to get the lead,its possible but unlikely.

[Lord]

under the pump,with Sehwag out ,win is very minimal now,we'd have to bat till end of day play to even get equal.lets hope we get out it somehow

[Manny_Pacquiao]

difficult day of cricket for india it's easy to say this now, but i think dhoni might have made a mistake by not taking new ball earlier. the old ball wasn't reversing much anyway, and there were no wicket taking opportunities being created with that ball. we need to keep our bowlers fresh. its impossible to bowl teams out with a 3 man bowling attack. so with that personnel shortage, i think holding them to 428 was a decent effort. india will probably match that with their batting australia batted really well, what tim paine did was something haddin could never do. i dont think this pitch is going to stay flat for all 3 days, they are gonna put the heavy roller on and its gonna wear out by day 5. its going to be a one inning shoot out like the 3rd test vs SL

[Sir john]

we need to play whole day tommarow at any cost.

[Guest Gunner]

imo the lower order and the tail has to score 150 runs for us to get the lead' date='its possible but unlikely.[/quote']

under the pump' date='with Sehwag out ,win is very minimal now,we'd have to bat till end of day play to even get equal.lets hope we get out it somehow[/quote'] One would think we were 110/4 and not 110/2.

[Gunner_Mania]

What if Sehwag was out first ball tomorrow morning? Would it have been any different? Like I said in another thread, we have the capability of batting the day out tomorrow - certainly between Dravid, Sachin, Laxman, Dhoni & Raina - we should be able to add another 350 runs and there is still Ishant tomorrow morning :winky:

[Manny_Pacquiao]

australia definitely had the best of the batting conditions. only gets more difficult from now on.

[kabira]

^I don't think they had any better conditions, even if they had it, we neutralize them, they scored very slow. We just need to play sensible wicket, Johnson seems most difficult bolwer, but we have right handers coming in, and he doesnot bring the ball in, so he may not be big threat. all his stuff will slant unless he bowls over the wicket. I think our lower order can add 100 odd runs, so we just need 200 odd runs between Dravid, Laxman, Tendulkar and Raina, that means one of them have to score 100 and other guy 80 odd.

[kabira]

Austrialia All out; 151.4 overs; 646 mins) 428 (2.82 runs per over) ROI Scored all out; 165.5 overs; 719 mins) 668 So ROI batting > Australia :hysterical:

[Pak_Forever]

I honestly suspect two results, either a draw or Australia win. Win toss, win game is the ultimate ritual in sub-continent.

[Fontaine]

What if Sehwag was out first ball tomorrow morning? Would it have been any different? Like I said in another thread' date=' we have the capability of batting the day out tomorrow - certainly between Dravid, Sachin, Laxman, Dhoni & Raina - we should be able to add another 350 runs and there is still Ishant tomorrow morning :winky:[/quote'] That's not the point though. We lost the initiative on day 1 because of the drops and Ishant. Now we're playing for a draw at best. You can't force the opposition to lose, but you sure as hell can make the most of your opportunities and we didn't do that. THAT'S why we're talking about batting out the entire day for a draw instead of being in a winning position. We can't manufacture world class bowling, but we should be able to take simple chances to help our bowling. Dhoni, Sehwag are the culprits in their drops for this match but it happens in almost all tests we play, whether it be Dravid, Lax etc etc.

[jibranpatel15]

well dhoni has scored 89 of watson 92 of Paine and 47 of johnson in total 228 runs which could prove vital at the end but no worries india need to take score as close as possible by day3 end of play to get a result of this test in our favour. i dont see any chances of this test ending in a draw . And tailenders scored a lot more than we anticipated so our tail also needs to wag.