NZ series - Only rain can stop an Indian win

The Indian team made further progress today at Nagpur in slamming the door on the Black Caps, after a convincing display in the field.

Sachin Tendulkar, once again, gave his wicket to a debutant today. Does he try to inspire the newcomers by gifting his wicket away to them? Maybe this is his blessings to the youngsters in the cricketing world. Whatever it is, his early dismissal combined with a rare Laxman dismissal and a quick Raina exit put the Indians on the back-foot.

But, Rahul Dravid was not to be denied. Everyone in the recent past (including yours truly) has asked for his career to be brought to an early exit. "The Wall" did not think so. He was steady at the crease and ensured that with MS Dhoni, he would take the Indians to a large lead over NZ. Dhoni, playing his natural game, got to a near-century and kept the scorecard ticking. The selectors have agreed to his request for rest and this must have made him think freshly !!

New Zealand has, so far in this test match, won only half a session - the one where they took 3 quick wickets. Other than this, the 8.5 sessions have been won by the Indians. Looking forward, the NZ team should look at how the Indians did occupy the crease for 2 days in Napier and follow their example. But, the task is very huge - the ball is spinning and turning now. Only a rain can surely save the test series loss to NZ, not the batsmen.

Related articles

• NZ series - India make gains in the third test (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• NZ series - Harbhajan pulls India ahead in Hyderabad (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• NZ series - India manage to draw the 1st test (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• India select squads for NZ ODIs and SA series (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Nagpur Post-mortem

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An interesting link on the day when India lost the first test at Nagpur against South Africa, while browsing hit my attention - especially this block of text

Winners become sinners when confidence turns into complacency and arrogance. They over-estimate their own invincibility and under-value mundane disciplines. Whenever someone feels on top over a long period of time, they are tempted to neglect the very fundamentals that helped them succeed in the first place. They might even start to feel that the rules don't apply to them.

The article was about Toyota's current issues but I felt that the Indian team would do well to read this article as well as introspect. If anyone thought that the Indians could face the No.2 ranked side in the world (having the No.1 ranked bowler), they needed to check their head first. The Indian think-tank also probably under-estimated the strength of the South African team (did they not remember the fact that India was all out for 76 in the last series in 2008) - If they did not forget, why did they not prepare for Steyn? One cannot plan against such a bowler - agreed. But, did they think they could get away with the practice they had prior to the test series?

Not to say that this was the only reason for the loss against South Africa. There were plenty of others as well.

• Luck - VVS being added to the team was not luck - it was bad planning. How come a player who was 50-60% fit on the eve of the match added to the fifteen?  Rohit Sharma getting injured on the morning of the match was purely bad luck. No one can dispute that!!! Saha must be thanking his stars that he was lucky to play one test match - something that many players in the yesteryears were not so fortunate.
• Injuries - The injury to Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman obviously played a big role in the test match. The middle-order had no or minimal experience. Badri played a good innings in the first innings but gave it away in the second. Vijay had played well in the opportunities he had received so far - this was his first failure. This lad deserves another one or two chances.
• Bowling - Because of the attention Steyn received, the Indian bowlers might not face the heat but the truth was that the bowling was downright bad. Harbhajan and Amit Mishra bowled well in patches but not well together to take wickets. Ishant could not get any wickets at all - surely Sreesanth must be back in the next test match.

Will the Indians prepare a track for the South Africans like last time? Will we see the pitch of Eden Gardens take turn from the first session? Time will tell if the Indians draw the series to retain No.1 or go down to No.2.

So far, the selectors have changed their team by calling up Raina, Sreesanth and Dinesh Karthik - the best option to shore up the batting would be to hope VVS is fit again.

Related articles by Zemanta

• South Africa complete India rout (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Stunning Steyn cuts through India (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Steyn helps South Africa push India (guardian.co.uk)
• South Africa's Dale Steyn blows India away (telegraph.co.uk)

Birthday boy Yuvraj takes India home at Mohali T20

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India seems to be continuing their form from their previous match, both in the bowling and fielding areas. The match started off in the same way as Nagpur - wayward bowling, fours and sixes aplenty in the first 10 overs. The run-rate hardly came below 11-12 runs per over for Sri Lanka - thus was their dominance. Sangakkara, again, showed their worth with shots that were classy as well as effective.

Was it the lights that caused the catches to be dropped? Or was it the innovative methods of Young that they are not able to pick up (are they not picking his accent)? Whatever the reason maybe, there were far too many of them dropped. Coupled with the number of wides that were bowled by the bowlers, the Indians had no means to stop the marauding Lankans. Somehow, the Indians seem to have totally missed the plot in T20s, in the bowling & fielding division at least.

The Indian openers came out in a determined fashion to take risks and keep the run-rate going towards the required run-rate. The running was haywire while the shots did not come off Gambhir's middle of the bat. Sehwag, however, did well and scored the big shots to keep the scorecard ticking. Fifty partnerships for the first two wickets set up the chase very well.

In came Yuvraj, at the fall of Sehwag's wicket. He put on 80 runs with MS Dhoni in less than 6 overs with his typical shots - bent knee and lofted shots in the V (mostly sixes). The Sri Lankan fielders had no respite - even they followed the Indians by dropping many chances. I feel that it is the wind or the lights or the slippery surface within the ground that made them drop the catches. MSD got out during the last mile of the chase but the matter was just a formality by then. Couple of wickets fell at the end but not impacting the final result.

The series was squared with a convincing batting performance but the bowling/fielding of the Indians left a lot to be desired.

The R-B dashboard is given below


The Dashboard shows how the difference was brought down by the brilliant batting of the first 4 batsmen.