India vs. Pakistan A, Stumps, Day 1, Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore
India 298/4 (Laxman 25*, Yuvraj Singh 11*; 77 overs)
Full bulletin here and scorecard here
India got their tour to Pakistan off to a propitious start as day one of their soul three day warm up game saw Tendulkar, Dravid, Ghambir and Jaffar all weigh in with half centuries. These were important runs for Ghambir and Jaffar in particular since both are fighting for a spot in the final Indian XI.
I suspect tomorrow Dravid will allow Laxman, Yuvraj and Dhoni some time for batting practice before declaring to give his bowlers a chance to get some rhythm going. From the Pakistani perspective, I'm just a bit dissapointed to find out that Umar Gul was bowling too short.
He's the kind of bowler you would expect will rely solely on accuracy, but no, the 'must-bowl-short' bug just has to spread. He will have to make his performance tomorrow and that in the 2nd innings (if he gets that chance) count if he is to push Mohammad Sami all the way for that third seamers' spot in the Pakistan XI.
Sami's performance in test arena have long been found wanting, but such has been the eternal love between him and the team management that other promising quick bowlers waiting in wings have found in next to impossible to dislodge him from the team. On the day though, the pacy Mohammad Irshad, who in the past I've personally thought of as a slightly hit-and-miss kind of bowler (in the sense that he's either very good or very poor) was more threatening then Gul .
Mansoor Amjad, the emerging leg-spinner also had a day to forget, as he was spanked around at five an over. In the conditions there are at Lahore now-a-days (cold and foggy), there is always bound to be a bit of help for the seamers, but it seems like the wicket was fairly flat. Either way, India have done really well to be in the position they are now, and they will look to continue this tomorrow.
I'm just wondering though, if the PCB's tactic of giving touring teams exactly the opposite kind of pitches in warm up games for what they have prepared for the tests is applied here too, then should we should expect fairly lively surfaces in Lahore come the first test on January 13th? I suppose only time will tell.
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed -
| Indians are off to a decent start to their all important series .All the batsman looked in dcent form with Tendulkar top scoring.But in test they have face all different set of bowlers and may also get a track with grass .I think Naved ul hasan might prove to be much more dangerous than Shoaib in coming test series if the condition favour swing bowling.But indians looks to have the batting to counter Pakistan bowling.
nagraj: I think this swing thing is rather exaggerated. Pathan and Agarkar are swing bowlers while Zaheer is a "hit-the-deck-when-I'm-fit" bowler. Pakistan's batsmen are not exactly good playing swing bowling, like Balaji and Pathan showed in far less swing-friendly conditions in 2004. They are more likely to be comfortable facing Zaheer as compared to facing Pathan and Agarkar.
By 
Jagadish (8 Jan 2006, 12:25:00 am)
We'd prefer if you posted comments with your real name to add more credibility to your opinions. However, the moderators reserve the right to delete comments, especially those containing offensive or unsuitable language. The opinions in the comments are your own views. You are welcome to provide a URL to your own cricket blog, but the moderators reserve the right to delete comments which only reference sites for viewing live streams.
Links within entries open in a new window. Some of the links may now be broken/not take you to the expected report since the original content providers may have archived/removed the contents. Some of the sites linked may require registration/subscription.
All opinions expressed are those of the authors alone. The authors' respective employers (past, present or future) are in no way connected to the opinions expressed here.
All pictures, photographs used are copyrights of the original owners. We do not intend to infringe on any copyright. Pictures and photographs are used here to merely accentuate and enhance the content value to our readers.
|
|
|
|
Post a Comment