Re: The Cricket Thread A comfortable victory in the end for India. The English batsmen did too little in either inning on an excellent if not outstanding wicket for batting. The ground staff at Vizag should be complimented for preparing a track which was yet to crumble and turn square on day 4, yet offering generous bounce which a capable spinner could use to his advantage. The surface made for a fine game of cricket.
What a bowler Jasprit Bumrah is. He is what Indian cricket have always lacked: a match winning strike bowler who could run through opposition sides. While we have had Kapil and later Srinath and then Zaheer, somehow this quality was missing. If you cannot knock your opposition out in a quick and hostile spell, you can never hope to win tight test matches. He is right up there with the very best of all times.
Also phenomenal batting by young Jaiswal. He reminds me of a young Vinod Kambli and I had seen the two b2b double tons that he had hit in the 90s. Takes great temperament and desire to keep going on when other, far more experienced players could not even get a 50. He will have to sort out his technique against the moving ball but for now, he is a real find for India.
England's so called bazball is nothing new. All good sides over the years have been able to play "positive" cricket when they had the right kind of players. The West Indies of the sixties under Sir Garfield Sobers and then later under Supercat Lloyd were filled with attractive stroke makers who always took the fight to the opposition. I had a copy of Sir Sobers' autobiography (embarrassed to admit I borrowed it from my school library and then never returned) which is filled with glittering anecdotes of explosive innings which used to put opposition attacks on the back foot. Sir Sobers, Alvin Kalicharran, Rohan Kanhai, Lawrence Rowe, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, the list goes on of batsmen who did not have a defensive bone in their body and these were not stray greats who had plodders around them; the entire lineup were known for their attractive strokemaking. Mind you this was the era of uncovered pitches, no restriction on bouncers or bowlers having to land their front foot behind the bowling crease and no Bangladesh to thrash around. It is no joke to smack Lillie and Thommo silly and get a century before lunch. We all know about Ponting's Australia and their brand of cricket. Heck, we don't have to look beyond our very own Viru! Sehwag made a mockery of orthodox technique and flay the bowling, adding a new dimension to test cricket. Who can forget his inning vs Pakistan in Lahore when he got to his century before lunch.
Point is to make the most of the conditions and your ability and notch up runs before the ball with your name on it gets to you. This is where Pujara and even our ex opener Akash Chopra, were lacking. I mention Chopra's name because I thought he had the right technique and temperament which he showed in Australia, but what is the use if you do all the hard work and then get out with next to nothing against your name.
In this match, the English looked like they were trying to live up to their reputation instead of playing smart cricket. They got good starts in both innings thanks to Crawley, who because of his reach can disrupt the length being bowled. While they were blown away by Bumrah in the first innings, the "see ball-hit ball" approach got them nowhere. Trying to force the pace against a quality spin attack and holing out meant they never got a long partnership going. Stokes' run out was just bizarre. Wonder what was he thinking. After the initial burst, their run rate dropped quite a bit when Stokes and Foakes were at the wicket. That wasn't surprising because all three of our spinners were bowling well which meant forcing the pace meant unacceptable risk. You have to mix aggression with common sense, respecting the conditions. It was tiring after a while listening to KP about the English and their brand of cricket and how they always attack, are always positive etc etc. In the end, it was a quiet capitulation.
I think they sorely missed Leach, the one spinner with experience under his belt and could bowl line and length consistently. The others are honestly way too raw and looking better than what they are thanks to our own batting woes. Pope looked nothing like the batsman from the previous test and with Root not scoring, the english batting looks vulnerable.
Good to see Gill get a ton after ages. Luck was on his side and he capitalized. Iyer also got starts but was unlucky to carry on. Both were superb on the field with their catching and fielding. This is one area where England distinctly look better than us. All of us are vocal about young Sarfraz getting a look in which he will eventually. But he definitely needs to work on his fielding, a young up and coming star sliding over a ball and conceding a boundary is not acceptable today. This is also where Jadeja has always had an edge over Ashwin, who looks a liability with his ground fielding. There is no excuse with someone like Kohli who still sets the standards even today.
Patidar looked good during both his brief essays. Bharat does not look good either with the bat or with gloves. Wonder when Pant will be back. Was disappointed with Mukesh's performance. The chap has come up the hard way from nowhere to get to where he is. Sadly, he didn't look like he belongs at the highest level.
The series is set up nicely, hoping Kohli and Shami are back soon.
Last edited by hothatchaway : 6th February 2024 at 12:21.
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