Thursday, November 15, 2007

Pakistan vs India: 2-2 today?

This pic (source: Hindustan times) on the right can easily be mistaken to be a poster of the next Sanjay Gupta Action Thriller, but it is the Pakistani and Indian cricketers at the Gwalior Fort - Gwalior being the venue of the 4th ODI set to be played today.

Reports are mentioning that the pitch for today will be a high scoring one and the curator has even said that the toss wont matter as the pitch will play the same for the full 100 overs of the match. Thus we can expect a high scoring humdinger!


Pakistan have flown in former U-19 world cup winning captain and wicket keeper, Sarfraz Ahmed to cover for the injured Kamran Akmal, however reports suggest that Akmal might be fit, or if not, Younis Khan or Yasir Hameed will keep wicket. I don't agree with this at all. Sarfraz Ahmed deserves a debut, especially after Akmal's woeful form with gloves and bat. Sarfraz is coming on the back of strong performances in the domestic scene in Pakistan. Plus unless Pakistan plan to stick with a makeshift like Younis or Hameed ala Dravid, they shouldn't do it for this important match.
I also think Shoaib Malik needs to put his hand up and open the innings - I said this long before Rameez Raja did recently. Malik has done it before successfully and can do it again and solve the opening problem once and for all. All his ODI hundreds have come while opening or batting at #3. Plus he has a test hundred while opening as well. Batting at 5 or 6 is too low for a captain and a batsman as talented as Malik.
Shoaib Akhtar has come out and said that he is still not at his best and that he was underprepared for this ODI series. And that too after figures of 2-52, 3-42, and 1-40 in the last 3 games. I wonder what he'll do when he feels he's at his best.
India look a far more settled side than Pakistan do with no opening problems, solid middle order with Yuvi and Dhoni in great form, and a potent bowling attack with Pathan back to his old best. No doubt they are favorites to win the series, but I would rather prefer them winning the 5th game than today.
I sure hope Pakistan manage to level the series today and take it into a deciding 5th match, as that is what a series of such proportions deserves - a fitting decider!
Let the discussions begin people, right here on this blog.

Make your pitch on this post...



Labels: , , , , , , , ,


43 Pitched:

  1. Obaid said...
     

    Q, while India does look the more settled side on paper, Ive learnt not to discount Pakistan when they are cornered or behind. They tend to mess up more often when they are favourites or are in front. So Id say we will have a pretty interesting game today and I predict Pakistan batting first and defending the score & winning by 20-30 runs

    I said before as well that Shoaib has looked pretty unfit to me, when others were saying that hes looking good. I think he's not match fit, he's out of breath early on in his spell and hes hardly bowled at top pace. To give credit to him he has bowled with control and good line and length even when not being fully fit. But we need a wicket taker - the L&L stuff can be left to others

    Lastly I also hope that Pakistan play with Jamshed and give him some match experience. It will be better for the team

  2. Q said...
     

    Not Jamshed, Sarfraz Ahmed.

    Sure Shoaib looks a bit jaded, but he's done well. And that too in consecutive games. Jeff would disagree but then Shoaib isn't on his favorites list.

    L&L - ?

    I hope Pak bats first but I would bet on them chasing as well.

  3. Q said...
     

    Pakistan are batting! India have gone in with 4 bowlers like the 2nd ODI with Sehwag back in the XI.

    Malik at the toss said he would open - I should be in the Pakistan team Management! :-)

  4. Q said...
     

    Oh and Kamran Akmal is playing! Damn that injury man, he doesn't deserve to play given his form!

  5. Q said...
     

    10 overs bowled by India and no EXTRA! talk about discipline!

  6. obaid said...
     

    Yeah, sorry, Sarfaraz. I think Jamshed was that great bowler in the U19 winning team

    No extras in 10 overs is amazing. It seems like the Indians have made a conscious decision to cut pace nut bowl with more accuracy. Its something I dont disagree with... however Shoaib bowls at the start of the innings, his jangli bouncers always go for one or two boundaries over Akmal's head... an important lesson for him to learn here

  7. Anonymous said...
     

    y, Jamshed is the U19 player. I can't wait for him and Anwar Ali to be ready.

  8. Q said...
     

    Yep, Jamshed and Anwar Ali are the 2 pacers that destroyed India in the u-19 world cup final.

    Dont know about Jamshed, but Anwar Ali should be playing for Pakistan in the next couple of years. He's being developed on the domestic circuit - playing for PIA and Karachi.

    Miriam - why do u start your comments with 'Y' ?

  9. obaid said...
     

    q, Im assuming its short form.. y=yes=yup

    L&L = line and length btw

  10. Q said...
     

    Hahaha...abbreviations that I had no idea abt ;-)

  11. Q said...
     

    George Binoy: "Massive cheers as Afridi walked out, you'd have been fooled into thinking it was Tendulkar." --> Shows you the mans popularity.

    3 extras in 32 overs by India. And that too legbyes. Amazing.

  12. NAzhar said...
     

    that was a bad decision by the umpire!

  13. Unknown said...
     

    well Afridi either would have taken the match away or gotten out cheaply...but surprising to see the umpire give that decision especially after he had given Butt out in the previous match in a shocker!

  14. Anonymous said...
     

    there goes another one of my comments ... q & obaid, a better way to stop this would be to disable anonymous commenting ... you won't have to worry about what i write here and you can provide a "closed" view about the game that we all love.

  15. Q said...
     

    Anonymous - a better way to stop this would be for you to comment on the game rather than us.

  16. obaid said...
     

    Nazhar, it was a marginal decision... 50/50. But I dont know why the Pakistani batsmen keep playing that stupid paddle sweep shot... Misbah has gotten out so many times playing it and now so has Afridi. he can easily clear the straight boundary... he really doesnt need to play these cheeeky low percentage shots

  17. Anonymous said...
     

    but deleting comments that you dont approve of ... that's censoring - which defeats the purpose of an open debate on this forum.

  18. Q said...
     

    Your right Obaid. Its such a high risk shot..

    We need atleast 300 on this pitch if the reports that i have been reading are right.

    Havent watched any of it yet...will catch the 2nd innings after work. Yousuf and Misbah doin well though.

  19. obaid said...
     

    There was one ball from Harbhajan which just bounced a couple of inches and Yousuf bottom edged it... if this pitch starts having low bounce then 260 - 280 may be enough

  20. Q said...
     

    Hmm..probably. The curator though said that the pitch will play true for all 100 overs.

    Bhajji bowled the 1st wide of the innings in the 38th over!

  21. NAzhar said...
     

    i think 260 + is a competitive total on this pitch

  22. NAzhar said...
     

    Misbah is not a smart player - he has slowed down as his innings has progressed!

  23. obaid said...
     

    Yeah, very poor batting at the end by Pakistan

  24. Q said...
     

    I'm watching the game now and the pitch is definitely staying low.

    I dont think 260 will be enough. There is the dew factor as well, which will make it difficult for the bowlers...atleast 280..

    They cant get the bowlers away!

  25. Obaid said...
     

    Sohail Tanveer reminds me of Waseem, hes trying to hit everything to the mid on and square leg boundary

  26. Q said...
     

    He is Wasim bhai's find.

    Bahut kam score hai.

  27. NAzhar said...
     

    good disciplined bowling by India...Pakistan would need to do the same and stay sharp in the field in order to be competitive.

  28. Q said...
     

    Yousuf has twice got 100s of the last ball of a ODI - both times he was on 94. This time he missed it.

    Ganguly gone but India have too strong a batting line up to be contained below 250.

  29. Anonymous said...
     

    Shoaib bowling well....should have had Tendulkar...unlucky that the decision was not given in his favor!

  30. Q said...
     

    I think umpiring is bad. Butts LBW (previous match), Afridis LBW, Sachins LBW, wides against Shoaib. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

  31. NAzhar said...
     

    i agree...Tendulkar was out! and if all the decisions are going against one side....not right!

  32. Anonymous said...
     

    akhtar is limping ... somebody else is using anonymous as well ... obaid is hiding behind q and not is equally dictatorial.

  33. Q said...
     

    No better sight than Sachin in full flow. He can keep flowing s wickets keep tumbling from the other end. Gambhir Gone!

  34. Anonymous said...
     

    Q/Obaid,

    You are doing live coverage?

  35. Q said...
     

    Hahaha...something like that Ottayan. We very well could be.

    Change if field for Sachin denies him boundaries this over. Smart move by Malik.

    Im amazed that Rameez said that Sehwag can match the genius of Sachin. Nobody can!

  36. NAzhar said...
     

    Tendulkar is a genius! nobody else like him...i agree Q quite shocking Ramiz mentioned Sehwag as somebody who could compare to his genius...nobody else in the world could play the innings Tendulkar is playing!

  37. Anonymous said...
     

    Q/Obaid,

    By the way today marks 18 years of Sachins cricket, starting with his duck against Pakistan.

  38. Q said...
     

    That front on angle showed Sachin was run out. The umpiring is really bugging me here.

    Ottayan - Sachin made his debut on December 18th, 1989. So he's still a month away from his 18th anniversary in international cricket. (http://content-gulf.cricinfo.com/india/engine/match/64346.html)

    I think the Pakis are working on getting Sehwag back in form. Wat a 6!!

  39. NAzhar said...
     

    the run out should have at least been referred to the 3rd umpire. He was out on that one angle.

    What an innings by Tendulkar...one of his best in recent years!

  40. Q said...
     

    I feel sorry for Sachin. I really think his 42nd is jinxed! 6th time this year in the 90s. Great innings though - always a treat to watch Sachin in form.

    Pakistan in with a chance.

  41. Anonymous said...
     

    Oh Sachin! Out in the 90's again!

  42. Anonymous said...
     

    both dhoni and yuvraj are in form ... and u(llu)dapa(tha) has a liking for our bowling as well ... we need to get rid of one of the 3 quickly to have any chance ....

    q/big-O ... you happy with the comment above, or you want to censor that as well??

  43. Q said...
     

    India has quite a strong team. Pakistan looks quite weak. The total in the end proved to be too small.

    Conspiracy Theory on Sachin's 6th score in the 90s this year - He has loads of money riding on him for not getting any more ODI 100s in his career. He faces threats from various bookies and gamblers as soon as he approach a 100.

    Well played India.

Post a Comment