Thursday, November 22, 2007

Eye Openers Amidst the Fog - Day 1 at the Kotla

I left for work after watching the toss and pitch review in the morning, and followed the entire day's cricket on cricinfo and dawn. But reading isn't the same as watching the game. After watching the highlights, these are some of the key points I noticed on day 1 of the Kotla test:
  1. Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel consistently swung the ball throughout the day.
  2. Munaf Patel was reverse swinging the ball after the 25th over.
  3. Salman Butt thought something was wrong with the pitch when he got cleaned up by a perfect inswinger from Zaheer Khan.
  4. Saurav Ganguly can celebrate like a football player.
  5. Rahul Dravid did not seem to be involved in the match like the other senior players. He remained resigned to his position for most of the day. Something is definitely wrong. Maybe he felt left out as Saurav and Sachin turned their arms over.
  6. Misbah ul Haq is Pakistan's "go to man". Since the 20-20 world cup he has more often than not come into bat with Pakistan in trouble. And more often than not he has delivered. There have been critics saying that he hasn't actually finished the job, but any lesser player wouldn't have even done half of what Misbah has managed in those various innings.
  7. The reverse sweep is a part of Misbah's repertoire of shots just like the cover drive and pull shot are in the repertoire of any other batsman.
  8. Misbah fancies Harbhajan Singh.
  9. Mohammad Sami is as good a batsman as he says he is.
  10. For the first 2 sessions Anil Kumble proved everyone wrong by turning out to be a very attacking captain. He was back to expectations during the last session.
  11. India went on to the field with 5 captains: the current test captain, the current ODI captain and 3 former captains. I think they equalled Pakistan's record of 5 captains in the same match.
  12. Faisal Iqbal will spend his career waiting for an Ul-Haq to get injured or retire.

Make your pitch on this post...



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13 Pitched:

  1. bajwa said...
     

    If only Sami was as good a bowler as he is a batsman :P

    Not looking forward to ripping him apart...

  2. bajwa said...
     

    ...and has anyone ever seen Misbah get out in a normal fashion? (ie not sweeping or jumping)

  3. Q said...
     

    Hahah, how true Bajwa, Misbah has gotten out in the most strangest ways in international cricket.

    And he's lived up to the tradition of an Ul-Haq getting out in strange situations - remember Inzi run out by Harmison when trying to save himself from a throw? And also against India when he blocked a throw with his bat?

    Misbah's today was just as funny.

  4. obaid said...
     

    I was thinking the same thing q... it is an Ul-Haq legacy

    Any body watching the action? Pakistan have been excellent in the field after the lunch break. I was just thinking that Tanvir has started shaping the ball into the right handers from over the wicket when he got Dravid with an excellent delivery. Shoaib has also been great... while Sami hasnt really threatened

    It'll be interesting to see when Shoaib brings on the spinners (if at all anytime soon) It would be interesting if he brought himself on and bowled a good line to stop the runs and keep pressure on from one end with the ball reverse swinging from the other

  5. Q said...
     

    Brilliant session for Pakistan! What BIG wickets for Tanvir on debut - Dravid and Ganguly!! We have a star in making.

    Sami was better than he has ever been. He troubled Dravid quite some bit beating him 3-4 times.

    Shoaib Akhtar bowled amazing 3 overs, but I was disappointed to see him walk off the field. I hope he stays fit and lasts the test.

    But what surprised me the most in this session was Pakistan's fielding, intensity, and Malik's involvement with the bowlers. Brilliant stuff!

  6. NAzhar said...
     

    great bowling and fielding...i like Malik's bowling changes...who would have bet Yousuf would get a run out!

    need to break the Laxman/Dhoni partnership now!

  7. NAzhar said...
     

    Laxman & Dhoni putting on a big partnership....Sami hasn't bowled well at all....need to bring back Tanvir or Shoaib...maybe both!

  8. Q said...
     

    GOT DHONI!!!!

    Kaneria has done well. Malik has used him really well.

    Dhoni played a brilliant innings though. Fighting knock! He's full of confidence these days.

    Sami's first spell was very good. I think he gets shaken up when he's being attacked - Dhoni got to him.

  9. NAzhar said...
     

    double play by Akmal!

    very close call with Kumble first ball...looked out! then the last 2 balls of the over were gems!

  10. NAzhar said...
     

    Kumble out again!

  11. Anonymous said...
     

    Q,

    "Misbah fancies Harbhajan Singh."

    In the lines of a batsmen like a bowler or .....:D

  12. NAzhar said...
     

    it's a problem for us that Mr.Akhtar is not fit enough to bowl more than 3 overs in his spell!

  13. Q said...
     

    Doctrove doesn't like to give LBWs I think!! That was plumb!

    Ottayan - maybe both ;-)

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