[mclaren1885]

Hero of the day - Anil Kumble. Wonderful batting show by him.

Overall brilliant batting by India. Look at the partnerships column. I have never ever seen anything like that.

[khaadu75]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Hero of the day - Anil Kumble. Wonderful batting show by him.

Overall brilliant batting by India. Look at the partnerships column. I have never ever seen anything like that.

This is the 12th time in the HISTORY of TEST CRICKET that all 11 batsmen have gotten into double figures -- another one for the books !!

India finally have WON A SERIES on foreign soil ... WELL DONE GUYS ( I know 3 days left but to lose from here .. NAAH ) !!

[Nitin]

Excellent job by Kumble! Everyone in the team did their part,I feel. Sreesanth's 35 was really handy. 6 4's & one 6 ... impressive.!

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by khaadu75

This is the 12th time in the HISTORY of TEST CRICKET that all 11 batsmen have gotten into double figures -- another one for the books !!

India finally have WON A SERIES on foreign soil ... WELL DONE GUYS ( I know 3 days left but to lose from here .. NAAH ) !!

Yeah, truly great, just hope that this does not end in a dull draw as it did in SL when Jayasurya, Jayawardene, Mahanama all got double triple hundreds & the match ended in a tame draw. Seriously, i cannot understand dravid's decision to play on even after kumble's century. Would have been the almost perfect time to declare. I guess he did not want anyone to point fingers if India could not win this test due to lack of time.

[v1p3r]

No idea what's going on, but congratulations Mr Anil Kumble. One of the few cricketers I still like.

[xinome]

man anil kumble was one lucky dang , what a narrow escape - i thought he was gone for sure!

also did you see the bowler who made shreeshanth out, goggled him and shreeshanth just ignored him!
i guess he has had enough of punishment when he didn't get selected

[Mayavi]

Originally Posted by xinome

also did you see the bowler who made shreeshanth out, goggled him and shreeshanth just ignored him!

Which batsmen would bother about a stare from a bowler when your score board reads 664 and you have just smashed 35 coming at 9 down? Actually it makes the bowler look quite silly.

[rks]

Great batting by India and hats off to Kumble. Dhoni gave this mediocre bowling the treatment it deserved. No way the South African or Australian bowlers would have let Anil Kumble get to a 100. They would have bowled short and at chin level and Kumble would sooner or later swipe one to the slips or gully or short leg.

The English fast bowling was just fast-medium line-and-length stuff and the ball was not moving around as much as it did in the first two Tests. Panesar was OK, but did not get much help from this pitch. The Indian batsmen will murder such bowling. They need to be intimidated by the really fast stuff and England badly needed Harmison and Flintoff on this pitch. Tremlett was the fastest England bowler, but he apparently came into this match carrying an injury and did not look very threatening.

[khaadu75]

No way the South African or Australian bowlers would have let Anil Kumble get to a 100. They would have bowled short and at chin level and Kumble would sooner or later swipe one to the slips or gully or short leg.

.... and here we go again with reasoning as to why he got the century -- can we guys never sit back and appreciate stuff ???

[esteem_lover]

I enjoyed kumble's 88 against SA at Nagpur better than this one. At one point of time he was matching Azhar stroke for stroke & getting runs at a very very brisk pace. No one deserves a bit of pleasure more than Mr. Humble Kumble. Congrats Anil.

[rks]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

I enjoyed kumble's 88 against SA at Nagpur better than this one. At one point of time he was matching Azhar stroke for stroke & getting runs at a very very brisk pace.

Nagpur is a flat pitch with no bounce or seam movement. No wonder Kumble enjoyed those conditions. The Oval is a hard bouncy track with not much lateral movement. Genuine pace bowlers can exploit these conditions and tail-enders like Kumble would find the going hard. Take the conditions in SA; Kumble looked like a real tail-ender then and I think at one point even Zaheer Khan was promoted ahead of him.

Originally Posted by Khaadu75

and here we go again with reasoning as to why he got the century -- can we guys never sit back and appreciate stuff ???

Didn't I say hats off to Kumble? Facts are facts. If Anil Kumble can walk in and score a century on a reasonably fast and bouncy track, then the only possible conclusion is that the bowling was inadequate. Why do you find this hard to stomach? Are you alleging that Kumble can walk in uinder these condtions and hammer geninue pace bowling? If so he needs to be promoted ahead of our "Big 4", who it seems, can do with a few lessons from Kumble and Co. After all, this was a second-string English attack further weakened by injuries to Tremlett and Sidebottom.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by rks

Are you alleging that Kumble can walk in uinder these condtions and hammer geninue pace bowling?

He did that once at Bangalore against Australia. Then once again when he scored the 88 against SA. Even in the domestic level he plays quite well you know. His ambition was to become a batsmen cum fast bowler. He took his batting very seriously, I have seen him practice for hours together in the nets. Until the time, he started to bowl tonnes and tonnes of overs in a day and had to carry the mantle of the Indian bowling line up all by himself. Besides, cricket is a funny game. Anything can happen. So how do you think Saqlain got a century? Or Wasim Akram got that double ton?

then the only possible conclusion is that the bowling was inadequate.

God, whose fault is it? Kumble's? Indian teams? If their players could not be match fit or show consistent enough performances to make it into the main team whose to be blamed? At the end of the day, credit should go to the game played ON FIELD and not factor in your "IFs" and "BUTs". Cricket is not the game for that, remember the famous line from Sidhu? If "Ifs" and "Buts" were pots and pants, then there would be no tinkers? Not so long ago, a ordinary bowler got in as replacement bowler for Anil went onto be badged as "turbonator". So, if he hadn't clicked and had India lost the series would it be because of Anil's absence or India's dismal team play? Have you ever seen the Australians complain that they lost because they didn't have Brett Lee or Mc Grath? Or the Kiwi's complain because they didn't have Shane Bond. Or the Paki's since the Rawalpindi Express was banned from playing? NO! Then why do we? Oh now I will say that India lost (since the draw was worse than actually loosing) the first match because we didn't have the likes of Irfan Pathan playing.

can we guys never sit back and appreciate stuff ???

Mountain boy, come on yaar. Series is being played in England. Our second string attack (since I consider Irfan & Bhajji to be the front line bolwers say) bowled better than England's second string attack. England's pace bowlers didn't know how best to make use of their HOME CONDITIONS. I can't imagine the damage Irfan could have done with those late swinging deliveries on these conditions or what effect Bhajji could have had with his Doosra's on the Englishmen. We would have won more convincingly had they been there. But alas!

[rks]

The Indian seam bowling attack looked decidedly superior to that of the English. Kumble's bowling was brilliant. Umpire Ian Howell did not give two plumb LBW decisions, one against Cook and the other against Collingwood, with RP Singh and Kumble being the bowlers. Ian Chappell's comment on the Collingwood decision: "Kumble could not believe that LBW was not given. If that decision is not given we might as well not have an LBW law". Subsequently a caught-behind (confirmed by snick-o-meter) was also negatived. One wonders when the ICC is going to wake up and use the available technology, so that we can have a fair and meaningful game of cricket.

@Mclaren1885: Regarding the English bowling, they lost 3 of their front-line bowlers to injury. Imagine what would happen to the Indian bowling if Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and Kumble had injuries. Whoever replaces them will be correctly termed a "second-string" attack.

And I would like to have Irfan Pathan in the team as an all-rounder, so that he would complement the existing bowling attack. He would have done very well under English conditions. In fact I would also have had Powar in my team in addition to Kumble. If Kumble can knock off a century, so can Pathan and Powar, who are better batsmen. You have seen my proposed team in an earlier post and the modifications suggested later on. Bhajji is not in it. To jog your memory:

Karthik, Jaffer, Kaif, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan, Powar, Kumble, Zaheer, Sreesanth and RP Singh, in that order. When Munaf Patel is available, I might have him replace Sreesanth, depending on current form.

Depending on the conditions and performance I might reconsider Ganguly and Dravid, but not Sachin and Laxman. I would give my proposed team a lot of encouragement and plenty of sustained opportunities to succeed; no chopping and changing. Take it or leave it, that is just my opinion and no offence intended to anybody.

I would be worried about the close-in catching, though; the loss of Dravid and Laxman in particular will be felt, no doubt about that.

[mclaren1885]

Rks, the only point I am trying to prove is that when India had its top players missing from action for eg: Sachin from certain series due to his back injury (not now when he was in form), Pathan, Balaji, Nehra, Anil, Bhajji etc from a few series due to injury no one took pity and said "We forgive India for the dismal show, poor thing its main players were injured or out of form". Instead we gave them a stick for not doing well. And now we feel sympathy for the injuries suffered by the Englishmen? Next what? Poor English openers weren't in form. That is why India won?

At the end of it, a team constitutes of the PLAYING 11. Whether the top players are in or out doesn't matter (because neither is the game going to stop or the records not entered in the books). Like I said "Ifs" & "Buts" don't matter. Once the 22 players get on the field its a game. Let us talk about what is happening with the playing team than sulk about those who aren't present. Is it that hard to understand? Let us appreciate the ON FIELD game. That's all I am asking. Be it whichever side on top.

You have seen my proposed team in an earlier post and the modifications suggested later on.

Try playing one of those online games where you can select your team and win points based on their performances. If your predictions are true, you might win something big. And when you do, don't forget to share the prize money with me .

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by rks

Nagpur is a flat pitch with no bounce or seam movement. No wonder Kumble enjoyed those conditions.

You &

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Oh now I will say that India lost (since the draw was worse than actually loosing) the first match because we didn't have the likes of Irfan Pathan playing.

You.

Guys, please do not make literature out of this thread. Keep it precise, simple & easy to read. Do not write paragraphs after paragraphs, that makes for boring reading. Have that in your PMs if you must. Hope you guys agree with me. No offence to anyone.
cheers