The Cricket Thread

[Sawyer]

I think that only NZ plays the game in its true spirit these days.

Regardless of who wins, this has been the best Test of the season till now. The other Indian victories were nice, but plain vanilla. This has been a classic feast. Credit to both teams. And nice also to see people in the stadium.

[noopster]

Woo hoo! Done and dusted. Ashwin 6-fer

[arvind71181]

Done and dust(ed), now its at 1-1

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

It isn't over yet; a lead of 125 could be very interesting and 175 may be conclusive.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Let's see how this pans out. I hope your first thought comes true

And it does come true! Australia wrapped up under 125
25th 5 wicket haul for Ashwin
5th highest wicket taker for India

Wonderful win! A real team effort this.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Wonderful win this! A real team effort

I agree; lots of mental strength, and even the Ishant Sharma making faces played a part! Very good comeback after Pune and the first innings here and the fast bowlers were the first to show the way back.

Sets up the series nicely...

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

It won't even be close; they'll canter to a win easily. As Sawyer said, our spinners (too) are quite overrated.

Alright, I've just taken my hat out of the oven. Does anyone have some ketchup?

Cheers,
Vikram

[libranof1987]

What a win!

I think the Aussies took a cue from our players on what not to do on the pitch. They should have ideally been able to win but threw it away.

Entire credit goes to the bowlers, I feel for Umesh Yadav, that poor fellow is relentless and yet, without much success!

Some of Kohli's antics were crude today.

Now, for the next!

Oh, and Ravi Shastri should have his Dr. prescribe some catching practice. Only Saha should be exempt: that guy has taken some stunners this series.

[Sawyer]

IMO, Kohli's antics are always crude and not becoming of a captain. And he gets worse when he fails with the bat.
I realise he is his own man, but there is nothing lost in reflecting on the greats in this regards - the Indian fab four + Dhoni.
At times I think even his teammates get embarrassed. Ishant Sharma excluded.
And it is no excuse to point to the Australians - that is setting the bar very low indeed.

[NPV]

I'm glad I was proved wrong in the end

I was very sure they will get anything under 250 runs but a great bowling and fielding performance in the end took us home quite comfortably in fact!

[suhaas307]

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat! 180 odd was doable by Oz, but they faltered. Great keeping by Saha. Smith looking at the dressing-room for clues before going for the review is unbecoming of a captain, and the same applies to Kohli and his animated antics.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Smith looking at the dressing-room for clues before going for the review is unbecoming of a captain, and the same applies to Kohli and his animated antics.

It isn't just unbecoming, it is taking advantage that isn't allowed and can therefore be called cheating - as Kohli implied later. And if this was not an isolated instance, as Kohli also said, then it needs to be a louder and clearer accusation of cheating, with consequences delivered to the guilty side.

But this still doesn't justify all of Kohli's antics.

[Santoshbhat]

Good victory. They were behind in the game and clawed their way back and ended up winning comfortably. Full credit to the team for showing character and gutsing it out there.

I am a bit disappointed with the on field behaviour of the Indian team. Hurling abuses and confronting the opposition at the drop of a hat is not done. At times it looked like I was watching a WWF encounter rather than Test cricket. Extreme facial expressions and the full range of abuses.

[searacer932]

Folks, Australia clearly choked. You can stay on that pitch and play. The Saha-Ishant partnership proved that. But the Aussies wanted to hit out and then choked. 250 would have been tough chase on this pitch. Apart from the two balls that Renshaw and Smith got the rest of the Aussie batsmen showed no stomach for the fight and simply threw their wickets away.

[PPS]

Just saw the highlights, how i wish i was able to see the match live, would have been a lot more entertaining!
Ashwin came good in the end which proved to be decisive. Now let's whether our team continues this form in the rest of the series or become overconfident & throw away the momentum to the opposition.

[vibbs]

Wow!! What a match. Well deserved MOM award for KL Rahul. He looked the best batsman in this match among both teams.

Ashton finally came good in the second innings. But apart from these I believe there were two more crucial things responsible for the win. One was the Pujara - Rahane partnership which resulted in the only wicketless session in this match and the other one when Jadeja ran through Australian tail in the first innings taking 6 wickets despite getting to bowl least number of overs!!

All in all great team work. I think momentum is now with India and we should take the series.