Showing posts with label Australia-India 2008 Bangalore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia-India 2008 Bangalore. Show all posts

Sunday, November 8, 2009

India loses the match and the series at Guwahati in 2009 Honda Cup vs Australia

India went into a shudder at Guwahati today after the loss at Hyderabad on Thursday in the 2009 Honda cup series in India. In the process lost the series to Australia by 4-2 with the final match of the series to be played at Mumbai on Wednesday, and now has no consequence in the series. India will be looking to win this match, to salvage the lost ground.

India never recovered psychologically it seems from the loss at Hyderabad, which dealt a crucial blow to the hosts morale and confidence. The series in fact was decided on that fateful evening in Hyderabad when Australia pulled off a humdinger from the jaws of defeat by a margin of three runs to score a point against the under-performing hosts that International Cricket doesn't lets go off Scot free if you make mistakes on a continuous basis through the series.

Sachin sparkled with a solid 175 only to see his side squandering the opportunity by losing 4 wickets in 18 balls requiring almost the same runs to win the match and give a message to Australia, that they meant business. But the hosts were in a different zone altogether, I felt the Jadeja run out was the crucial one in the closing stages of the game, it seemed that the youngster was picking up instructions from the Sachin at the crease, but instead he ran himself out for no apparent reason. That was the sheer pressure the youngster could not handle at this stage. It makes me recollect about Md Kaif the UP skipper who is a great finisher and had did in fact in the Champions Trophy in England when India surmounted another high scoring game. I wonder Why he is not being considered for selection ?

There should be incentives for players when they finish off things for the team, and likewise should be laid off to set the things right for the team.

With the big win in hand at Hyderabad, the visitors had nothing to loose and came hard on a seaming pitch on a Guwahati morning and quickly opened up the Indian top order with quick wickets, the message here out to the Indian team is, no matter you play a second class team or a number one, you need to commit yourself to bring victories.

India needs to play as a unit to win matches and should be professional enough in carrying out the game plan.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Australia in a good position on Day 1 of the Bangalore Test 2008

Australia ends day one of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore in a strong position. Ricky Ponting scored his first Test Century on the Indian soil leading the way in the Australian batting scorecard. Australia ended the day with 254/4 with Michael Clarke bowled out in the last over of the day's play by Zaheer Khan caught in front of the wicket.

In the morning Australia won the Toss and elected to bat first on a good batting wicket and Mathew Hayden was out third ball of the innings edging out to Zaheer Khan. Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich build on the innings from there on for a 166 run partnership for the second wicket, with Katich scoring a good fifty before getting out.

Day two again will be easier to bat on, with Mike Hussey well set on 46 and White, Watson and Haddin still to bat, there is lot of work cut out for the Indian bowlers. The track is very good indeed for batting and it will start turning when the cracks open up as the wicket gets weary. I personally feel the wicket looks too good to be a turner as we might expect so as to produce a result, in all probability if the Indian first innings matches the Australian total in the first innings then we might be heading for a draw.

Had India won the toss it would have put Australia bat last in the Test and would have been interesting to see Australia bat against the turners, that's what the Indian think tank might have wished for. It would still not have made much difference considering the nature of the pitch which has very less to offer for the bowlers and the Australia having a good eye in the Indian conditions would have been equally capable to play out the Indian spin.

Day two of the first Test should see Australia consolidate on the overnight score, Indian bowlers if had their way and run into the Australian tail-enders quickly then match would come alive, let's hope for a good competitive Cricket on day 2 at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore.