The Cricket Thread

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by amitoj

The only question that remains now is whether it is going to be an innings defeat or not?

You have your answer.

Bloody disgusting test series. Dravid should be presented a Bharat Ratna for scoring 3 hundreds in a series where the others could not even face the bowlers.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

You have your answer.

Bloody disgusting test series. Dravid should be presented a Bharat Ratna for scoring 3 hundreds in a series where the others could not even face the bowlers.

And rest of the players should be banned from IPL.

The thing is, that in the postmortem, there are so many things that are wrong right now that it seems like a massive uphill task to become a good fighting team. I am not talking about a winning team here, just a team that has a good fight in it.

[hemanth.anand]

What a shame...4-0
I feel so sad for Dravid, PK and Mishra.

On an other front, I see so many similarities between The third umpire and the president of our country

Edit: Finally Dravid has been identified..India's power of the series...an apt title

[NPV]

I'm glad it's over, but really ashamed with a 4-0 margin ! But at least our anxiety levels and blood pressure will be sane.

Looking positively, this series just showed everything that can go wrong so it can be used to rectify our mistakes and prepare in right earnest for the future - remember 'Failure is the stepping stone to success'. Also, the impression that anything Dhoni touches turns to gold (read success) is proven wrong. After the world cup high it's time to get back to the earth and face the moment of truth.

[harry10]

Why is anyone surprised by 4-0. It was evident form the first test.

Guys see the silver lining.
We have hit rock bottom in a very long time.
Now we can only rise

However good job by Mishra.
He was actually playing like a genuine batsman when genuine batsman were playing like a number 11!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by harry10

Why is anyone surprised by 4-0.

The common sentiment here is not that of surprise but more of shame.

[karty_83]

An absolute nightmare of a series. Glad it has come to an end. Winning and losing is a part of the game, but to lose in this fashion is rather embarrassing. The future of Test cricket in India looks bleak.

After the royal drubbing NDTV had this scroll running - " Sachin misses out on his ton yet again "

[download2live]

3 cheers for IPL.
3 cheers for money minting.
And 3 cheers for short memory of Indian fans.

BCCI please quickly arrange something of IPL sorts where our batsman can swing the bat like in baseball, over super flat super dead pitches in small grounds and then ALL IZZ WELL.

[Mitch]

So does anyone agree that India were up against a pretty good England team? India's bowlers were ruthlessly exposed without Zaheer - England's batsmen were given confidence-boosting freebies what with the likes of Dhoni having to dispense with his pads and fill in at Lord's.....farsical! What was wrong with Tendulkar bowling? He's done it before.

England's bowling was far superior and i cannot see any other test playing nation coming to terms with it right now.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by karty_83

After the royal drubbing NDTV had this scroll running - " Sachin misses out on his ton yet again "

Seriously, our media can use some sense of context.
I am actually relieved that Sachin didn't score 100. Had he scored 100, we would have seen 2 things:
1. His century of centuries would have got more attention than the series loss.
2. People would have been quick to find yet another evidence of him being selfish by scoring 100 when result was a foregone conclusion.

He definitely deserves his 100th hundred, but not at the end of a series like this.

[Mitch]

I agree, IPL and T20 cricket is ruining the game. Its only good to make a fast buck and entertain those with a short attention span.

[karty_83]

Originally Posted by Mitch

So does anyone agree that India were up against a pretty good England team? India's bowlers were ruthlessly exposed without Zaheer

England were a far superior side.
But i doubt if things would have been any different with Zaheer around. One bowler or one batsman, like we found out with Dravid cant make a difference against this English side. We needed a collective effort.

[harry10]

I am not taking anything away from England as they are in form and deserve this win.
However for me they will be truly champs if they can beat India in India.

Now can we salvage some pride by defeating Eng in odis is the question cos we are the world champions and if we didnt beat Eng in Odis too it will be really shameful.

[karty_83]

Originally Posted by harry10

However for me they will be truly champs if they can beat India in India.

India must produce pitches that turn from day 1 for the England tour.
Bigger worry is, can our batsmen handle that.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by karty_83

India must produce pitches that turn from day 1 for the England tour.
Bigger worry is, can our batsmen handle that.

I doubt if even that will help India's cause. Swann took 6 wickets on the turning pitch and we have spinners who bowl no-balls.

Only way to win would be to prepare pitches that are absolutely flat on first two days and then deteriorate like dhokla overnight, and of course, we win the toss and bat first.

As for ODIs, we have the same team, right? Our bowlers had tough time getting wickets in tests, so i am not very optimistic there as well.