Team-BHP - The Cricket Thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by rks (Post 585245)

Gambhir and Uthappa have technical shortcomings and the Aussie pacemen will always be looking to exploit that.

What they lack is consistency. Kaif is actually in good form off lately. He scored an unbeaten 98 against SA A side sometime last week. But both the ***** that Gambhir & Uthappa got had pace & swing. Early in the innings when your feet are not moving, its bound to happen. But, both like Sachin the other night at Bangalore were playing a little too across that led to their downfall. But credit goes to the Aussie bowlers.

Quote:

Maybe Haddin was injured, otherwise I would say that the Aussie tour selectors (Ponting and Gilchrist included?) are playing politics. Was Haddin (the reserve wicketkeeper) considered a threat to Gilchrist?

Haddin is fine. Australians have shown a lot of faith in Hodge inspite of his failures. They consider him to be a potential threat to the opponents. And keeping Haddin out would only make him want to up his ante & bring about fierce competition within in team. Which is what the Australians strive on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rks (Post 585279)

Sachin hoggs the bowling for almost 4 overs in a row. Poor Yuvi must be tearing his hair in frustration.

Also when Hogg was bowling, I think Yuvi took ages to get off strike and let Sachin have a go at him. I think both had their share of holding down one side. Yuvi against Johnson & Hogg in particular.

From where I noticed, had they taken risks at that time to up the rate and lost a couple of more wickets the match would have ended by 35 overs. Do note that at this point the Aussies were bowling really well, not giving too many loose *****. The ones they strayed on they got punished.

Another factor that everyone need to remember is that while Yuvraj & Sachin were batting, however slow it may seem to you the run rate crossed 7.4 RPO only once (after both started playing a bit freely). Then once Sachin & Yuvi started to look for boundaries it came back to 7.1 RPO for I think 4 overs and didn't go above 7.1 for quite sometime (so they were doing a good job at maintaining the RR). The RR went to 8 RPO ONLY when Dhoni came to the crease. Inspite of scoring 11 or 6 ***** at one point Dhoni was stranded on 15 or 16 *****. Thats where I think Dhoni lost the momentum.

Till about 150 (?) runs, India were just behind Australia in single digits having lost an extra wicket. Which IMO was the right platform after loosing 3 early wickets. The situation from where Clarke & Symonds were brilliant and kept up their reputation, Dhoni, Rohit & Irfan failed. So I don't think Sachin warrents to take up the entire blame. Also the fact that he opened the innings when immediately he saw wickets tick on the other side made him play additional dot *****.

TBH, initially if you compare the innings between Sachin & Yuvi. Yuvi looked way out of sorts. Getting beaten, Johnson in particular was make him look silly. While Sachin looked more composed & determined to bat out the innings. But seldom do things go according to plans in any game. He got out trying to up the rate & thats that. Happened to Clarke in the last match too.

But I have to give it off to Yuvi for that wonderful innings. Sadly neither could Sachin, Dhoni, Rohit or Irfan just give him company. If one of them, particularly disappointed with Dhoni after the start he got had just stayed there we would have won.

Though interesting things I noted from the second innings:

1. The mantra of still keeping wickets in hand till the end holds true. No matter how much RKS argues otherwise :D . Even during the middle overs where the OZ batsmen were having tough times with the Indian bowlers they didn't loose wickets. That was the key to their success.

2. Johnson is swinging the ball quite well & those incoming deliveries are getting more lethal now. India need to look into this. And by looking at Johnson, I think Pathan needs to be given the new ball now. Its high time his swing is utilized.

3. I think one of the better outcomes from this innings was to see Dhoni do a Graeme Smith or a Ganguly. Wanting to take up the responsibility of steering India to a win by promoting himself up the order. When the captain decides to lead from the front, it helps the rest of the team as well.

4. Once again, our middle/lower order cannot cope up with the pressures in crunch situations. Its about time Dhoni & the others put up their hands and perform like Clarke, Symonds, Haddin are doing.

5. Nitin, if you are reading this. Yuvi's innings alone could not have won India the match. The point I am trying to make is you need the contribution of others too. So, don't expect a batsmen to single handedly win you a match as you expected 3D to.

6. I loved the way Bhajji fought back with the bat.

7. Where India actually lost the match is due to the brilliant fielding by the Aussies. They must have saved atleast 20-30 runs in the field.

8. I wonder what Ganguly or Sehwag in todays match might have done.

9. I think the Indian's played a much better game overall today compared to what they managed at Bangalore & Kochi. I think this is to be attributed to the calmness they played with. I am a strong believer that India needs to play to its strengths rather than trying to emulate Australia at the war of words. Thats what Australia is good at doing.

I would have loved to see India loose by 20 runs or less than what they managed. But hey, it could have been worse after Yuvi's dismissal. The fact that the last wicket showed some resilience was nice to watch.