Saturday, July 26, 2008

Srilankan Tigers crush Indian Paper Tigers

Team India succumbs under pressure yet again. India is again in its familiar state after the 1st test in a tour by a huge lose. India was not able dominate even a single session in the four days of the match and after end of day 3 only rain could have saved the match for India. All praise to Srilanka for keeping the pressure on the famed Indian batting line up through out the match and most importantly posting a big first innings total with 4 centurions which also exposed Indian bowling's standard. Full credit to Murali and Mendis for such fantastic performance to prove yet again that the famed Indian Batting line up is made of individual brilliance and can not collectively raise to the occasion and save a match. I can not remember a single test match saved by our Indian batsmen playing for two full days in the past decade.

The second test is starting in just three days break and its going to be tough on the team to pull their socks and come back from the huge drubbing to perform better. I don't think one can make many changes to the playing XI as there are not many bench strength in the team. The obvious change is drop karthick and pick parthiv and i also feel that india should be playing another bowler in the 2nd test after taking a look at the pitch but i am not sure who they would drop. Gambhir has done reasonably well in both the innings and as usual we can not drop anyone from the famed 4 and sehwag, i am sure Kumble does not have the teeth to drop one from the famed lineup to include a extra bowler. Indian teams strength is their batting and India has a chance to level the series only if the batsmen get going, as we have never had bowlers who could run through the opposition on quick time.

Review System

IMHO the review system has not been used properly in the 1st test and i am sure the umpires will use them better in the coming tests. The decision's on Dhilshan and Sehwag proves that the technology can only help to make a decision but the on field umpires should take control of the decisions. As i had mentioned in one of earlier posts, the LBW decisions should be referred only to make sure that the ball has pitched in line and not for the direction and height of the bounce after pitching and sehwags decision proves that right. If the review system is used prudently the system can help to avoid issues but over relying on the technology for everything will kill the charm of the game.



Is Robin & Venkatesh Prasad Accountable

After looking at the shabby performance in the field from the indian team for quite some time i have a feeling that our fielding coach is not accountable. Our fielding performance has been below par for the last year and we have lost couple of tournaments and test matches due to poor catching and fielding. Robin was a great all rounder cricketer and a great fielder as we all known but i doubt that he is able to bring in the best in the field from the players. Its the same with V.Prasad, he has been the bowling coach of the team for the past couple of years and i don't see any player genuinely benefiting from his services. I understand that the coach's are only motivate and teach the intricacies but its up to the players to perform in the field but the support staff should be accountable.

2 comments:

Shankar.Nash said...

Its true Vasu. The indians were made to look like amateurs in front of a debutant bowler. Indians have the talent, but they somehow failed to fire. But, considering the last few series', the indians have always struggled in the first match of a test series, but came back strongly or atleast competitive in the next. Lets hope the same happens here.

Vasu said...

Agreed but the way in which the top order threw the wickets were not in good.

Yup,lets hope for the best to come from the famed batting line up.