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West Indies A tour of India, 2013

Chandan

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zaqw222222 Enthusiast

zaqw222222

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Any reports on Zak?
Those looking for a quick verdict on Zaheer Khan's comeback will have to wait. On his first day of first-class cricket since he injured himself playing in the Ranji Trophy around the last New Year, Zaheer was neither exceptional nor awful. He didn't create a bundle of opportunities, but he didn't concede free runs either, except for the seven no-balls, as clear a sign as any of a bowler just coming back to competitive cricket. He bowled four spells of 5-2-6-0 (at the start of the match), 5-0-22-1 (either side of lunch), 2-0-15-0 (looking for reverse with a 60-over-old ball), and 4-3-1-0 (with the old ball after the 80th over). The big danger sign - his holding on to his groin, which had become a common sight on Indian Test fields - was absent. The pace looked similar to when he left, slower than colleague Mohammed Shami's. Some old positive signs were there, but not for long enough. With the first ball he bowled, Zaheer squared Kraigg Brathwaite up. He beat the West Indies A opener outside off later in the over, but the first spell didn't contain any other menace. Brathwaite became tighter in defence, kept leaving outside off, and once had to wait for a short ball to arrive and cut it in front of point for four. The slowness off the pitch wasn't doing Zaheer any favours. In the first spell, Zaheer didn't bowl much to Kieran Powell, a left-hand opener, Zaheer's favoured prey. He had Powell on strike for the first time in the fifth over, and let him off with an easy single. The next time Zaheer saw him, he was in his own fifth over, and was driven on the up and then tucked away off the hip. There was no indication of the ball moving away from the batsman. Just before lunch, Zaheer came back with West Indies only one down. He continued after the break, and got Narsingh Deonarine with one that seemed to have moved sharply into him. Finally, the left-hand batsman taken. However, this one was not a typical Zaheer set-up with one coming in after a few going away. This was a reckless shot across the line by the batsman. He was taken off immediately. The next time you saw Zaheer was just after the 60th over, which is when he has turned many a lukewarm start to a Test interesting. This time he bowled only two overs, and didn't seem to get any reverse. The day was now building up to the second new ball, Zaheer came on to bowl after the 80th over, but didn't ask for the new ball. This spell had the only signs of the old Zaheer. There seemed a semblance of setting the batsman up. The effort increased. He bowled bouncer after bouncer to wicketkeeper-batsman Chadwick Walton, but none of them so short or so high that the batsman could leave them easily. You could see Zaheer was onto something. That old sense of anticipation that accompanied Zaheer with the old ball returned. After a few bouncers, he slipped one length, and beat Walton outside off. Walton was caught on the back foot. After a spell that gave nothing away, but promised a bit, he was taken off with only one over to be bowled from his end. It is hard to know if Zaheer was satisfied with the day's work: one wicket in 16 overs, seven no-balls, but still going under three an over. Sometimes, for a bowler coming out of injury, going through a day's bowling without much discomfort is in itself a big win. And Zaheer famously starts coming into his own when coming back from a break only after he has bowled about 100 overs. There was clear re-affirmation, though, that the road back to the India Test team is a long one.
Source : http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/676245.html?CMP=chrome
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Cricketics Contributor

Cricketics

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Cant believe it is played in Shimoga' date=' it is my home district and a small town, I dont think there are good hotels too :--D In the history, very few Ranji games have been played in Shimoga and they are playing A match there:cantstop:[/quote'] You can commend bcci for this. It's something they have really done well off late by giving matches to not so popular venues. Even in IPL.
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Chandan Newbie

Chandan

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Test 2 Day 1 West Indies A accumulate on day of attrition Wisden India staff | Shimoga | 2 October 2013 Zak2-341x512.jpg Zaheer failed to fire the imagination on a sluggish pitch. © Wisden India If awards were given out for outstanding performances at the end of the first day’s play in Shimoga, the organisers would have needed about 10,000 medals. Players from West Indies A and India A did their bit on a slow day, but even in still and balmy conditions, the spectators, who took every vantage point at the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering ground and stayed the course, were the stars. West Indies A, after choosing to bat, ended the day on 283 for 6. Wednesday (October 2) was a day of dour cricket as India A’s bowlers simply could not get enough from a pitch that was on the slower side. While the bounce was even, there wasn’t enough carry for the quick bowlers to force the pace, even when they bent their backs, and on a first-day pitch, the spinners did well to mop up four wickets. Once the result of the toss was known, spectators trained their sights on watching Zaheer Khan on the comeback trail. Zaheer was accurate to begin with, but bowled a touch within himself in a first spell that read 5-2-6-0. Kraigg Brathwaite was cautious, as is his wont, and Kieran Powell did not get much in his hitting zone. Zaheer returned for a second spell that was bisected by the lunch break, and struggled for rhythm, overstepping frequently. His second effort, 5-0-22-1, included four no-balls and the wicket of Narsingh Deonarine, who was trapped in front of the stumps. In the second session, Zaheer’s involvement was limited to a two-over spell that went for 15, in the course of which he overstepped on two more occasions. Zaheer returned for one final fling as they wound down. The lower order was subjected to some short-pitched bowling, but most of these were easily left alone in a spell that read 4-3-1-0, taking Zaheer’s workload for the day to 16-5-44-1. With West Indies A having taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, beating India A in the first game in Mysore, their batsmen had no need to be overly adventurous. Cheteshwar Pujara was forced to turn to spin in the 14th over, introducing Parveez Rasool, whose bustling action ensured that the ball came through at a brisk pace. Bhargav Bhatt, the left-arm spinner, tossed the ball up a bit more, and was rewarded with the first wicket of the day, when Powell was tempted into the big shot but picked out Mohammad Kaif at wide long-on. Kirk Edwards was then lured forward by Bhatt and Uday Kaul completed the stumping. With Zaheer accounting for Deonarine, Assad Fudadin and Brathwaite bedded down for the most significant partnership of the day. Batting in a fashion you don’t associate with men from the Caribbean, the two accumulated runs through dabs, flicks, pushes and nudges, running the ones and twos hard and not really looking for the big shots. With the pitch, which failed to mirror the bounce the players got used to on the practice surfaces on the outfield, taking the edge off the bowling, Brathwaite and Fudadin had little trouble in putting on 117 for the fourth wicket. Fudadin made the most of India A’s hospitality – he was dropped on 12, by VA Jagadeesh at wide gully, and again on 27 by Kaif at point – and Brathwaite looked in no visible discomfort. It was against the run of play that the fourth-wicket stand was broken, when Fudadin attempted to sweep Bhatt and missed. The finger went up, and Fudadin (63) shook his head in disappointment on the long walk back to the pavilion. As is so often the case, when one half of a long partnership falls, the other follows in quick time. Brathwaite, who had reached 82 with the help of 13 fours, and looked good for a century, fell off the 202nd ball he faced, feathering a nick to the ’keeper off Rasool. The arrival at the crease of Chadwick Walton, the wicketkeeper, and Leon Johnson, livened up proceedings as the spinners came in for some tap. Johnson’s first four scoring shots were all boundaries, and Walton was unafraid to throw his bat when there was width on offer. It was, however, this tendency that proved his downfall when Mohammed Shami got a ball to hurry through and Walton (30) was caught behind. At the end of the day, with West Indies A on 283 for 6, neither team will be overly happy with how things went. Then again, it was that sort of pitch where spinner, fast bowler and batsmen all went away unsatisfied.

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hhunaeh Newbie

hhunaeh

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Cant believe it is played in Shimoga' date=' it is my home district and a small town, I dont think there are good hotels too :--D In the history, very few Ranji games have been played in Shimoga and they are playing A match there:cantstop:[/quote'] All part of bcci's master plan to make us like the nba :weights: and say faak you to ecb and other boards. then no 8-0 loss will have financial implications :cantstop:
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