Monday, December 15, 2008

Dream Run Continues !!!!!!

Team India continues the dream run with a spectacular victory by 6 wickets in Chennai against the fighting England. Till the last session of the fourth day, england dominated the match in all department but Sehwag changed all that in a blistering knock which changed the course game.

Media is running out of adjectives for Sachin, they have used it all Splendid Sachin,Magical Sachin,SuperStart Sachin,Fighter Sachin etc etc, Hope at least not the critics stop doubting his super natural batting skills and stop writing that he is not a finisher.

Overall this was the perfect test match with all the ingredients of excitement,boredom and clinical finish to the test. England performed exceptionally well given the backdrop of the Mumbai Blast and the uncertainty of the tour. I would have expected the adjudicators to have given the Man Of Match to Strauss. Hundred in each innings is no mean effort and that too in a wicket which was hard to predict the bounce from the third day. England has lot of good performances to go with some confidence, Strauss,Colingwood,Cook and Prior had made decent scores and Swann has been brilliant in his debut with some controlled bowling from Flintoff, they can only improve their performance in Mohali.

For India the only worry now is the form of the Wall (read crumbling), as all of know that he is a class player and one good innings will give him great confidence and should be back in his own soon. I dont think i have to write on the kind of form all the other batsmen are in, Sehwag in his best form,Gambhir full of confidence,Laxman in good nick,Youraj back in form,Dhoni useful contribution and regular cameo from harbajan and off course Sachin. One cannot say the same on the bowling front, Harbhajan was not as good as Swann even though the wicket helped spinners, Mishra needs lot of support from the captain and should be bowling more overs. Zaheer and Ishant has been exceptional even in these dead wickets and showed they can take wickets when it is needed most. Ishant must be worried with too many no balls but i am sure he will overcome with workouts in nets.

India has done well when ever the Sehwag has scored runs and hope he continues to do that in mohali. No doubt that India goes upbeat to Mohali and hope to finish the series 2-0. I am sure England will expect the Mohali wicket to help the fast bowlers, which is their bowling strength, England will also hope their top batsmen Pietersen,Bell and Flintoff come good with the bat to put up a fight.

2 comments:

Karthik B said...

The match was really exciting.... especially last one hour. Sachin was really serious talking to Yuvi even though it was the last ball. He finally proved by scoring matching winning runs which was eventually became his century.

abimanyu said...

It was a clinical performance from the Indian batsmen in the second innings. Hats off for their effort. The post lunch session of the fourth day England scored at a very slow pace. They show no urgency to get the quick runs and have a go at the Indians. When two well set batsmen were at the crease atleast one must have gone after the bowling. The Indian bowlers also did a good job in that period.

The team has started to believe itself. Its bubbling with confidence. This is good for Indian cricket. Hope they carry this good work through the future.