The Cricket Thread

[hemanth.anand]

Looking at this pitch...How good it is and how easily the English players are batting, it looks like this match is heading towards a draw. I know it is too early to say, but my gut feel is saying so.

[landcruiser123]

I feel like India played like a side without plan B. Credit goes to the English batsmen to apply themselves and make an impact.

[nairrk]

England Tour of India - 1st Test

England won the toss and chose to bat first.

Score:

Stumps - Day 3

England 537
India 319/4 (108.3 overs)
India trail by 218 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 1st innings

Virat Kohli (rhb) 26* (70)

Wickets:
A Mishra c Hameed b Ansari 0 (2)
M Vijay c Hameed b Rashid 126 (301)
CA Pujara c Cook b Stokes 124 (206)
G Gambhir lbw b Broad 29 (72)

[Eddy]

Australia 85 all out. What a good morning

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Australia 85 all out. What a good morning

They seem to be in great form recently, across formats

[nairrk]

2nd Test: Australia v South Africa at Hobart, Nov 12-16, 2016

Here is the final position at Stumps - Day 1

Australia 85 all out
South Africa 171/5 (55.0 overs)
South Africa lead by 86 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings

Quinton de Kock (lhb) 28* (40)
Temba Bavuma (rhb) 38* (85)

Aussie Wickets:
DA Warner c †de Kock b Philander 1 (4)
JA Burns lbw b Abbott 1 (8)
UT Khawaja c Amla b Philander 4 (25)
AC Voges c †de Kock b Philander 0 (1)
CJ Ferguson run out (sub [DJ Vilas]) 3 (12)
PM Nevill† lbw b Rabada 3 (25)
NM Lyon c †de Kock b Philander 2 (7)
JR Hazlewood c Amla b Abbott 8 (7)
MA Starc c Duminy b Abbott 4 (6)
JM Mennie b Philander 10 (22)

South African Wickets:
JP Duminy c Smith b Starc 1 (4)
SC Cook c †Nevill b Starc 23 (49)
D Elgar lbw b Starc 17 (61)
HM Amla c †Nevill b Hazlewood 47 (67)
F du Plessis* lbw b Hazlewood 7 (25)

[APV]

Going by current situation, England might end day 4 with around 150 runs lead against India. as per condition of this Pitch, don't think 10 wickets would fall in 3 sessions tomorrow for an England win. Neither does Indian bowling look lethal enough to bundle out the English batsmen by first session tomorrow.

Heading for a draw - I suppose.

[Eddy]

This young guy Hameed looks a fantastic bat. Good, compact technique and crisp strokeplay. He sure is a long termer for England.

This match is safe for England, I don't see them losing 10 wickets soon enough for an Indian victory.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Why am I still not convinced about Mishra's ability to get wickets in test matches ? His bowling lacks the zip I feel.

This test reinforced my belief. Not good enough for test matches.

Want to see Kuldeep Yadav but I think Chahal & Jayant may be ahead in the pecking order.

[nairrk]

India may be losing this test match?
Already lost 4 wickets for 77 runs. Now Kohli and Ashwin in the crease (may be last dependable pair??). 23 Overs still there..

[PPS]

Pretty shoddy peformance from Team India in this test! Rest assured they'll go back to the 6 batsman-4 bowler theory in the next match looking at the bowling resources of England especially the spinners. Rahane & Gambhir need to score big. KL Rahul has recovered & scored a 50 as well in domestic cricket, he needs to drafted in soon.

[pratyush6]

I don't know what to make of Rahane. I often find when there is pressure, he fails. Or he tries to hit his way out, sometimes that succeeds but most times it fails.

Another sample is Saha, the fellow is not right and should come after Jadeja in the batting order. Yesterday, I saw him step out and get a boundary and then told to myself, he would get out in the next over - and he did! Literally no defensive game. I wonder how has he reached to this level.

Seriously impressed with Kohli yesterday - seemed to me he has grown as a batsman and as a person. Seemed the most calm fellow.

[redcruiser]

There is a serious shortage of good wicket-keeping batsman in India i guess, looking at saha batting it seems that way though.

When will we see the next Dhoni?

[mukul32]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

There is a serious shortage of good wicket-keeping batsman in India i guess, looking at saha batting it seems that way though.
When will we see the next Dhoni?

Dhoni is a one-in-a-generation player. Finding another player with so many abilities is going to be really difficult, though we can find players who fit into a similar kind of role.
For now, Delhi's Rishabh Pant looks to be one such guy. Extremely clean hitter of the ball, has a wide range of shots, scored lots of runs in the last IPL and U19 WC, and is in red hot form this Ranji Season. Already has the fastest Ranji Ton of all time to his name. And he is all of 19 years old.
His keeping would be nowhere near Dhoni's though. He is apparently another product of the modern generation where keeper-batsmen are proper batsmen who just manage to keep wickets, rather than the other way round.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by mukul32

For now, Delhi's Rishabh Pant looks to be one such guy.

His form will have to be monitored over the next couple of seasons & lets hope he's not a one season wonder. Sanju Samson is another player who has been somewhat impressive in past editions of the IPL. Not heard much about his domestic exploits.