[Surprise]

Wonderful batting display from England. They scored 152 runs in the last 84 ***** (14 overs). That was amazing 10.8 runs per over for the last 14 overs.

Yuvaraj last over costed 30 runs (5 sixes in last 5 *****)

That's going to be a tough task for India. HATS OF TO SHAH/WRIGHT/MASCARENHAS

Originally Posted by rks

And the inability of the English batsmen to put away bowlers like Ganguly and Yuvraj is very surprising.

They don't want u to surprise u

[mclaren1885]

What a match. When all the chips were down, in come the youngsters and bat the best they have done ever in their lives. Bell, Shah, Luke, Mark, Kevin all of them. There is so much our players need to learn from this game. Kudos to England for such a wonderful show. Brilliant. Just goes to show that if you have wickets in hand in the last 10 overs you can achieve big totals.

Originally Posted by ntomer

But he had failed regularly in this series. Still playing him would have put him under even more pressure.

Just the other day we had someone complain that Dravid kept exposing the out of form players, when he goes ahead and does this he still gets the slack. But wonderful fielding by Uthappa. And Chawla too, this kid has immense bowling talent and is a great find for India. Ganguly is bowling fabulous too. Zaheer just is growing better with more matches now, like wine.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by khaadu75

And see what one wrong decision can do ... Shah wa clearly caught behind by Dhoni and the fool of an umpire didnt give it out -- Shah at that point was batting on 46 or somewhere around that mark .

Now that would be really unfair. Specially after what happened with Collingwood's run out decision. The form the England captain was in, and the way he was stroking the ball he could have done well too. But, I am very impressed with two players in this series. They will go onto have a very bright future. Ian bell & Piyush Chawla. Good find for both teams.

[rks]

My worst fears and Rahul Dravid's worst nightmares have come true. Dravid gives 13 overs to the part-time bowlers Yuvraj, Ganguly and Tendulkar and they get clobbered for 113 runs (almost 9 an over) with no wicket to show for their efforts. Where is RP Singh, who was very consistent with his bowling and would probably have conceded less than 60 runs and taken a wicket or two?

Now the heat will be on our batsmen. I hope at least now Dravid realizes that Yuvraj and Co. cannot substitute for a regular bowler, and that it is not advisable to pack the side with 7 batsmen. A genuine all-rounder like Pathan is invaluable to the team, but in his absence we would have been better off relying on the combined batting abilities of Agarkar, Powar and Chawla instead of playing an extra batsman.

[mobike008]

Well said rks, its always been like that for the indian team that we rely heavily on the batting front. We hardly concentrate on the bowling efforts which is most pathetic to say the least. Despite Agarkar consistently performing low, he is always retained in the team. If rumours are to be beileved he is Sachin's "chela" and he makes sure that he is always included in the side. Also there is a lot of politics in the team selection itself which mostly depends on from where you hail from. At this rate, we can pull of a win once in a while like in the past and can never become a consistent performer like Australia.

I have lost hopes long ago but, curiosity still remains which i reckon is going to kill me like it killed the cat

[khaadu75]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Now that would be really unfair. Specially after what happened with Collingwood's run out decision. The form the England captain was in, and the way he was stroking the ball he could have done well too. But, I am very impressed with two players in this series. They will go onto have a very bright future. Ian bell & Piyush Chawla. Good find for both teams.

... what makes you say that -- he was no where close to even being in !! And thankfully the umpire did call in for the third umpire or else it wud have been a huge blunder on his part .... Go see the replay mclaren before commenting .

[rks]

@mobike008: I agree that Agarkar has been very inconsistent. Even fellow-Mumbaikars like Manjrekar and Shastri have commented on Agarkar's inconsistency.

If Munaf Patel is fully fit, he should replace Agarkar. Otherwise we should look for somebody else.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by khaadu75

... what makes you say that -- he was no where close to even being in !! And thankfully the umpire did call in for the third umpire or else it wud have been a huge blunder on his part .... Go see the replay mclaren before commenting .

Khaadu, there will be a tough call on such decisions from the ICC. If you watched the replay, the umpire referred it to the 3rd umpire only after he saw the TV screen after declaring the batsmen "not out". Which is not fair IMO. Yes, I do know the rules that an umpire can change his mind before the next ball is bowled, but the rules when they were made back then didn't know that live TV's will be installed in the stadiums. Like the commentators mentioned, there should be a time stipulation for the referrals to the 3rd umpires.

Now that Sachin is out, and being the position India were in IF they loose I will say it will be one of the most disappointing run chases EVER.

Despite Agarkar consistently performing low, he is always retained in the team. If rumours are to be beileved he is Sachin's "chela" and he makes sure that he is always included in the side. Also there is a lot of politics in the team selection itself which mostly depends on from where you hail from.

Who feeds you guys with all this insiders info ? I hope you guys paid some heed to what the commentators mentioned apart from the fact that Agarkar is "inconsistent". They mentioned that he always picks up wickets too. And look at his Strike Rate, because figures don't lie.

[khaadu75]

mclaren, just because India were the beneficiaries did the gora commentators say it ... what about the Kevin Peterson dismissal when he walked of after ebing given out and his team mates after watching the replays on TV sent him back in and the umpire overturned his verdict of ' OUT ' ??? That was a totally wrong thing to do ... but what happened today was absolutely fine .

Cheers

[rks]

With 8 wickets in hand and an asking rate of 6.72 runs per over in the remaining 18 overs, it should be an easy win for India on a benign pitch. But who knows, we have botched up even simpler run chases in the past.

[kpzen]

Uthappa magic does it for India

[khaadu75]

AND WHO TEH HELL DOUBTS THE MEN IN BLUE NOW ???? Do we still have a few critcis in here who want heads to roll ...

THEY ROCK .. stick by them and you see how they win 4-3 , and I said that way back when we were 3-1 down ;-)

I LUV THEM

[binz]

Brilliant!!!!!!!!!

Just saw the last 10 minutes of the match .. very very nice

[Surprise]

TENDULKAR TO QUIT ONE-DAYERS AFTER HOME SERIES

Cricinfo - Tendulkar looks at quitting ODIs

rks, he is about to do it. hope he does well in the home series against australia and pakistan

[danlalan]

Originally Posted by kpzen

Uthappa magic does it for India

Yes.. and he did it in an awesome way. also good opening partnership did it for india..

So where is everyone watching the match this sunday???