[diabloo]

Hey man, chill. Take it easy. India will win and we all will be happy

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

For that you will have to go through the trend of this thread over the past 4 pages or so.


.........................
As pointless as it may seem, this would really be the last time I will debate on this topic. Its about time this thread is locked. So whose starting a thread on Real Madrid and the terrible show after signing up 11 Sachin Tendulkars? Rks, NC, your critics are very much needed on this topic.

[MC Mayank]

Dude that anna kamikaze or whatever her name is has beaten Sania in every match this year. Sania playing yesterday reminded me of Ganguly. After she missed that pass (the match point) on her serve, she was smiling!!! smiling!! would you believe it! Smiling!

[esteem_lover]

I think India needs Ian Bell in the opposition ranks all the time to get fired up. whatever he did really worked. maybe he can be our coach as well.

[rks]

So India decided to go back to 7 batsmen; poor RP Singh gets the axe. No wonder Dravid gave him only 6 overs in the previous game; it was already decided that RP is going out.

Why did England put India in to bat when India had such a weak bowling attack? Looks like a very dubious decision to me. Here was a great chance to bat first and put 300 on the board, sealing India's fate.

Fine start by India. Today Sachin played like the Sachin of old. Yuvraj going great guns and Gambhir has got off to a start. India need a 300+ total to cover up for their weak bowling.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by rks

No wonder Dravid gave him only 6 overs in the previous game; it was already decided that RP is going out.

That is some assumption you made. I may be stupid, but don't you think the team for a match is chosen after seeing the pitch and not while you are playing the previous game?

Why did England put India in to bat when India had such a weak bowling attack? Looks like a very dubious decision to me.

Looks like everything looks dubious to you. If you heard the statistics in the last 15 games only once has the side batting first ever won the match. Two matches were rained off and 12 matches were won by the side batting second.

Fine start by India. Today Sachin played like the Sachin of old. Yuvraj going great guns and Gambhir has got off to a start. India need a 300+ total to cover up for their weak bowling.

How come no complaints of Ganguly playing slow? Yuvi is luck to be out there. Umpire must have been blind not to have seen the nick. Makes me wonder, how our guys play so well when the going gets easy and not the other way round. Anyways, hopefully he will make best use of this chance and put up a big score.

IMO I think India will loose this series with this match .

[rks]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

That is some assumption you made. I may be stupid, but don't you think the team for a match is chosen after seeing the pitch and not while you are playing the previous game?

I never understood why RP got only 6 overs in the previous game; he conceded only 22 runs and was bowling reasonably well.

The commentators (Arun Lal and Mohinder Amarnath) were saying that this pitch at Headingly gives help to the faster bowlers and India should have played 3 seamers. In the Test matches, Headingly is also known to help the spinners on the 4th/5th days, but I think there is not much chance of that happening in a one-day game. Anyway, let us see what happens. Looks like it is India's turn to win this time.

Edit: Ganguly again got out without accelerating after getting off to a good start. But this time Sachin at the other end was going great guns, so perhaps Ganguly was justified to some extent to play second fiddle.

[normally_crazy]

Sachin played well as we batted first. Can anyone get me his stats while batting 1st and while chasing please ? Had this argument with a friend and just want to check up. He says Sachins bats well only when he has no pressure of chasing. Of course there are odd flashes in the pan like the Pakistan match in the 2003 WC.

Anyone got a link ?

[v1p3r]

I hear the losers are back to doing what they do best. Someone mentioned a 1-2 series trail or loss.

[normally_crazy]

Wow - we are really catching and fielding at our best here. Awesome.

[rks]

Did India really need the extra batsman? Gambhir scores a pedestrian 51 off 66 deliveries. In the previous game, Agarkar, Powar, Chawla and Zaheer put in a combined effort worth 46 off 46. Now the Indians are going to miss RP Singh, as pointed out by Amarnath.

Two catches go down in the slips, one to Tendulkar and the other to Ganguly. Why is Dravid not in the slips? Both were not too easy chances, but should have been held. The one to Sachin was curving away from him to his right as he was moving to the left. A Dravid or a Laxman would have pouched it with ease.

[rks]

Ganguly has filled in the gap as fifth bowler. The ball seems to be moving around and under these conditions it is going to be tough for England. But still not an impossible task, as they are OK with the run rate so far.

[esteem_lover]

I wonder what is keeping dravid from unleashing uthappa. he is a far better batsman than gambhir. gambhir is very weak outside the off stump, though he does have the guts. Uthappa would hit the cover off the leather in these batting conditions.

Sachin at his best today. welcome back sachin. it does not matter if he plays like this & gets only a 25 or 30, IMHO.

N_C here is sachin's stats

Mat Runs HS BatAv 100 50 W BB BowlAv 5w Ct St

Batting first *** 7957 186* 45.21 26 37 75 4/34 49.00 0 66 0

Batting second *** 7273 143 43.03 15 44 77 5/32 37.96 2 50 0

Matches Won 194 4538 134 56.72 13 24 52 5/32 28.46 2 27 0
chasing

Matches lost 176 2627 143 30.90 2 19 23 4/56 60.43 0 23 0
chasing

He has played well, but has not carried on like ganguly has done many times.

[diabloo]

Hey McLaren, the GOD is rated No. 1 man !!! Check this out: 10- 1: Shane Warne's 50 greatest cricketers - 'Tendulkar's toughness puts him out on his own' - Times Online

Sachin Tendulkar (India) Test matches 140 Runs 11,150 at 54.92
You have to watch India in India truly to appreciate the pressure that Sachin Tendulkar is under every time he bats. Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer. This is cricket as Sachin has known it since the age of 16. He grew up under incredible weight of expectation and never buckled once – not under poor umpiring decisions or anything else. I place him very slightly ahead of Lara because I found him slightly tougher mentally. It is such a close call, but here is an example of what I mean: in Australia in 2003-04 he was worried about getting out cover driving so he decided to cut out the shot. I saw the wagon wheel for his next innings: he scored 248 without a single cover drive. Like Lara, he has scored runs all over the world. I have seen him run down the pitch and hit Glenn McGrath over the top for six, and I have seen him hit me for six against the spin going around the wicket. I have been lucky to get to know him off the field as well. He is quiet and humble. A great player and a great man.

PS: Hope you are happy now !!!

[mclaren1885]

Diabloo, let me make somethings very clear. Tendulkar is not GOD to me. I am not his biggest fan or admirer either. What I don't like is people claiming that they know much more than the players, management themselves and shooting out opinions on what happens on and off the field. I appreciate the game for how it is played and don't feel the need to criticize the players even though they play bad.

Just to give you an example, we have scores and scores of posts saying how Ganguly plays slow, how he did not carry on. Has anyone mentioned why Yuvi did not carry onto go to a hundred? Has anyone mentioned why our youngsters don't play when the chips are down? Has anyone mentioned its not such a great thing afterall to see our young guns perform when the team has a 100 runs opening stand and not when the team is 3 wickets down for 30? No, you will not see a word of criticism against the younger players. Why?

Its sad to see such biased opinions. Some even allegedly accusing people like Dravid of conspiracy. All my posts in the past are just completely filled with sarcasm. Don't pay much attention to them. I am just a stupid fan, who only request is to treat it like a game and enjoy whatever the outcome is. Some just don't get it, and now I seem like a broken tape. Bot bot. I will go back to describing how the Hummer I spotted yesterday sounds like on another thread.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by diabloo

They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer

I really wonder how come Warne know about that. Yes, I have seen people pray for wickets to let Sachin get into the crease (tests). Even now a friend of mine, gets in front of the screen only when the LM gets into action.