The Day 1 Post Mortem and Day 2 Projections Thread

[The Outsider]

Missed most of the live action, but caught up with the highlights on Rajeev's blog. This was a superb performance on a pretty flat track where the first innings par score would be in the 450 range. To knock over as good a batting line up as Australia's for something substantially less than that is special. Though I did not watch it ball to ball, but would I be wrong in saying this was Kumble's best performance since the Chennai '04 Test against Australia? He really drove home the advantage of Jacques and Hussey being unfamiliar with his bowling while Zaheer's delivery to get rid of Ponting was a gem. If Indian batsmen were told that they would be confronted with a score of around 350 in the first innings, they would have jumped on it. Now it's up to them to drive home the advantage. Remember, this is a side which can run through you given the smallest opening and solid batting like at Nottingham and the Oval will be required over the next couple of days to get into a winning position. The up side is that the pitch is pretty placid and will be at it's best for batting on Day 2 and 3. The opposition attack does not have a reliable spinner to put in long overs on this wicket and India should be aiming to score 500 runs here. Time is of little consequence, just grind out the Australian bowlers with rock solid cricket and make merry later on.

[Chandan]

Track is not exactly that placid, Shwetabh. The ball is not exactly coming to the ball as beautifully as it generally does on most of the tracks in Australia, which makes the timing a bit tough. The only plus is that the Australian bowling line is not an experienced one. And here our experienced batsmen should use it to their advantage. Australian fans think that Clark is going to be an ace on this track. So we should not get very excited just now.

[veer]

only one thing to say .. . play BIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG FIRST INNING... got plenty of time..

[Online]

Still need to get the last wicket folks, hope they dont wag wag wag

[Lurker]

Post-mortem: 1) India needs to hold on to its catches. Indian fielding was not up to mark and Kumble let go Hayden at 68. It was a sharp chance by Kumble standards but most other fielders, even Indians, would have taken it. 2) Kumble is going to be a success on this tour. Contrary to all the popular notion of - Aussies dominate visiting captain - he used all his guile to come out triumphant. Specially loved the way he changed the angle of his delivery. 3) The wicket is decent. There would be a bit of help for pacers early on but no hidden tricks. Dig in for a long haul. Plus the sheer size of MCG would ensure that Aussies fielders, if made to parade properly, would be really tired. We need a VVS-Dravidsheque partnership of 2001 to tire them. 4) Harbhajan Singh needs to be chucked out, no pun intentional. His answer to every attack on his bowling is to bowl a faster one, or a top spinner. 5) Umpiring, good overall with possibly one close chance towards the end. Long story short - Indians bowlers have given India as good a chance as any. Before the start of the series any non-Aussie cricket fan would have taken 337/9 at the end of day 1. Now the ball is in the batsmen court. We need two of the big guns to fire big. xxx

[The Outsider]

Track is not exactly that placid, Shwetabh. The ball is not exactly coming to the ball as beautifully as it generally does on most of the tracks in Australia, which makes the timing a bit tough.

Which should suit the Indian batsmen fine. Probably, not so easy to score quick runs off, but certainly better than having extra bounce and carry. Not much lateral movement either and it might even become a bit better for batting over the next couple of days before breaking up on the last two days.

[jf1gp_1]

Dravid is going to get his tent and camping cot and sleep at one end (which i am praying he does) everything depends on Jaffer. Hopefully we wont see anymore adventures pull shot early in the innings if Jaffer can play his game India will have a wonderful day.

[RockStar]

Track is not exactly that placid, Shwetabh. The ball is not exactly coming to the ball as beautifully as it generally does on most of the tracks in Australia, which makes the timing a bit tough.

From what i saw today, Zaheer was mostly bowling at 126-130 k and even RP singh wasn't bowling at his full pace. The aussies bowl a lot faster and so the ball should come on the bat very nicely.

[gs]

Start matters a lot. If we can get a decent 50-60 runs partnership from the openers, we should have enough momentum to roll over the Aussie total and get a decent lead.