Batting was good but not great

[King Tendulkar]

Re: Batting was good but not great

aaargh, stop complaining about the damn run rate ! India @ Headingley in '02 - 236/2 at stumps. India @ Sydney in '03 - 280/3 at stumps. It's not about how you begin an innings - rather, it's how you FINISH it, which matters. If India step up a gear and hit out after lunch they will comfortably finish with a 500+ total by tea. That is a very conceivable possibility provided that one of Tendulkar or Laxman gets his eye in. Ganguly and Sehwag down the order will be lethal on this pitch. India did superbly on day 1 and it's their performance on day 2 which will determine whether they can set themselves up for a win.

Good point. It also gets on my nerves the obssession with run rate in tests. There is more then one way to skin a cat. The aussies have their way, we have ours. Our way had them begging for a draw in last tour to oz where only the umpires saved them

[veer]

Re: Batting was good but not great We Indian fans dont have patience.. we were 153/0 and they are 141/1.. but we still get frustrated to highest level..

[Dhondy]

Re: Batting was good but not great You can tell when players are playing to steer the criticism away from them, but are not really pulling for the team. A 40, 50, 60 or even a 100 should reserve their places for a while, but really, nobody cared enough to go on. You'll see the difference in hunger with Smith and Amla.

[yoda]

Re: Batting was good but not great Dhondy, you are sounding a lot like Master minus the profanity.

[Parth]

Re: Batting was good but not great

I agree with Shwetabh....having a new opening combination the first task was to achieve stability and build a platform for a big score(500+ hopefully). This was achieved splendidly.Dravid did show positive intent later but I guess his wicket put the brakes a bit...still very good first day overall.

Dravids wicket was crucial, he got of to a good start and if he batted on and got a century it would have lifter us to 500+

[Anakin]

Re: Batting was good but not great yeah, we all know who is selfish and wimp and who is not

[Parth]

Re: Batting was good but not great

aaargh, stop complaining about the damn run rate ! India @ Headingley in '02 - 236/2 at stumps. India @ Sydney in '03 - 280/3 at stumps. It's not about how you begin an innings - rather, it's how you FINISH it, which matters. If India step up a gear and hit out after lunch they will comfortably finish with a 500+ total by tea. That is a very conceivable possibility provided that one of Tendulkar or Laxman gets his eye in. Ganguly and Sehwag down the order will be lethal on this pitch. India did superbly on day 1 and it's their performance on day 2 which will determine whether they can set themselves up for a win.

Good point. It also gets on my nerves the obssession with run rate in tests. There is more then one way to skin a cat. The aussies have their way, we have ours. Our way had them begging for a draw in last tour to oz where only the umpires saved them

Its true India are renowned for the strowke makers but whats the point if we cant score more than 300 in a day

[King]

Re: Batting was good but not great

looks like i was pretty much on the money... what say' date=' ravi??[/quote'] I wouldn't think so mate. Clearly on day 2 batters that played positive cricket excelled. Ganguly and Sehwag played positive cricket and put on a good partnership so did Ganguly and Tendulkar. I still think the reason for the current situation is clearly the defensive mindset of the Indian batters. Only on day 2 Smith and the Saffie bowlers were put under pressure. I thought under pressure they struggled to hit the right areas. It was very disappointing the last 4 wickets fell in a jiff :shrug:

[Inside_edge]

Re: Batting was good but not great Aggresive bowling got be countered by generally aggressive batting (read '+ve batting') and vice versa.Extra defensive play only boosts bowler's confidence and increases yr chance of failure. 'Take the attack to the opposition' the good old cliche can't be more appropriate!

[Rahul]

Re: Batting was good but not great

looks like i was pretty much on the money... what say' date=' ravi??[/quote'] I wouldn't think so mate. Clearly on day 2 batters that played positive cricket excelled. Ganguly and Sehwag played positive cricket and put on a good partnership so did Ganguly and Tendulkar. I still think the reason for the current situation is clearly the defensive mindset of the Indian batters. Only on day 2 Smith and the Saffie bowlers were put under pressure. I thought under pressure they struggled to hit the right areas. It was very disappointing the last 4 wickets fell in a jiff :shrug:

i did say around 400. events proved so. i did say, this batting side cant do an Oz, to paraphrase. so they did. i also said, this game is completely evenly poised at end of D1. so it is. maybe i misunderstood yr point. but, unfortunately, am a realist who has been observing/writing abt this team for way tooo long. call me a cynic, mate. but i was spot on.

[King]

Re: Batting was good but not great

looks like i was pretty much on the money... what say' date=' ravi??[/quote'] I wouldn't think so mate. Clearly on day 2 batters that played positive cricket excelled. Ganguly and Sehwag played positive cricket and put on a good partnership so did Ganguly and Tendulkar. I still think the reason for the current situation is clearly the defensive mindset of the Indian batters. Only on day 2 Smith and the Saffie bowlers were put under pressure. I thought under pressure they struggled to hit the right areas. It was very disappointing the last 4 wickets fell in a jiff :shrug:

i did say around 400. events proved so. i did say, this batting side cant do an Oz, to paraphrase. so they did. i also said, this game is copletely evenyl poised at end of D1. so it is. maybe i misunderstood yr point. but, unfortunately, am a realist who has been observing/writing abt this team for way tooo long. call me a cynic, mate. but i was spot on.

Not questioning your predictions there at all, of course everything was spot on. You are one of the top guys here that knows ins and outs of the game. No doubt you got most right. Also you have been there and done that. You have followed the team, written on cricket and quite honestly your knowledge about the sport is unquestionable :wtg: I was referring to the defensive cricket that was played on day 1 by India that you defended. I thought the Indians should have played a lot more positive cricket if they were looking to win the series. Most Indian batters barring one or two are stroke makers. When they constrain themselves to playing a different role they struggle was my opinion and also if you want to win the series then you should do the running. Look now despite a good start Saffies aren't out of the game yet.

[theguyinallblue]

Re: Batting was good but not great its because of of the high run rate that australians are in a winning position now in this last test match..they scored 391 in 93 overs... i like the approach of australians..winning at any cost...and they just don't buckle down under pressure.. although they get enormous help from umpires...still.. on a flat wicket....after our openers were in and set...they should have accelerated after lunch... poor display of skills and application...

[veer]

Re: Batting was good but not great

We Indian fans dont have patience.. we were 153/0 and they are 141/1.. but we still get frustrated to highest level..

bola tha na patience rakho.. tum saale log samjte nahi.. :duh:

[King]

Re: Batting was good but not great

We Indian fans dont have patience.. we were 153/0 and they are 141/1.. but we still get frustrated to highest level..

Good stuff and all the doubters are made to eat their words now. Good stuff Veer. BTW not trying to have a dig at the Indians but you clearly saw what defensive mentality of the Saffies did to their final score. As long as they were playing positive cricket on day 2 they were doing quite well. Out came Prince and Kallis and played like the ball was seaming a mile, spinning square. After having wasted a lot of time and not showing positive intent they lost their way. I think both teams' batters are very defensive in their approach. I also think either team don't want to lose this one. Clearly you can see Rahul set defensive fields (it worked wonders of course and was the right thing to do) and Saffies didn't want to take a little risk even after being only 2 or 3 down. Both teams are trying their best not to lose and fans from both side should buckle up for a roller coaster ride for the next couple of days.

[veer]

Re: Batting was good but not great as someone mentioned Ravi, we were playing like good old days.. slow and steady.. we were little careful at the beginning because we had very bad openings all series long.. once we got that, dravid came in with blazing guns.. imagine RD playing with 100 strike rate to reach his 20 in test.. wahhh.. that tells me that we were playing according to plan.. we just gotta be patient..