03 April 2008

Hallucinogen cricket

First of all, there was actual grass on the pitch.

Then we see something we were hoping we'd not see from the Indian batting for a while and that was the "spineless batting collapse". Over the past three or four years, one of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly have been able to stand up amidst a few ruins, and occasionally Dhoni, Pathan and Kumble as well. We can hope that this was bound to happen some time, and they have got it out of their system.

We also see something that the pitch at Chennai led us into feeling we'd not see again in a while - the unplayable Steyn ball that got Dravid. The last one was when the recently banned Akthar bowled a couple in the 3.7 overs he bowled during the entire series.

Then the South African openers batted on a completely different pitch.

Then we see a glimpse of Harbhajan's past. Even when the track was not offering much, he created doubt in the batsman's mind. Three wickets, all foxed.

Then. Then a period of batting from Jaques Kallis, that astoundingly enough could only be described as "counter attack", racing to 25 from 35 balls. At the other end is ABDe who is completely in his shell.

We are then given to undersand that the best fast bowlers India could put up are insipid even on a slightly helpful pitch. Arpy Singh has returned to earth and Sreesanth remains unconvincing - though it must be said that neither had their share of luck. Sree did ask the occasional question, bit it is Arpy's performance when he is neither able to get the ball to dip in from over the stumps, or straighten from around the stumps that is worrying.

Weird.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have lost the plot.

John said...

That implies we had a plot in the first place, Ott. From the start, we have been trying to find a plot.

TM said...

Too cynical Gentlemen,

We are not out of this game yet - effectively they are 150 for 4, so all we are going to need is quick wickets in the morning and a great second innings batting performance.. In fact, at odds of 1:30, i am willing to bet 500 bucks that India will win this match (provided you are willing to bet South Africa will win and we are quits on a draw). So John??

John said...

Which means that if you win this bet, I must give you... 15000 rupees? Are you mad?

Anonymous said...

i am with TM on this one.. mainly because there is so much frikkin time left in this match.. if india did one thing good in their batting yesterday.. that was to get out in 20 overs.. so now if we get them out by today.. we have two days to take a lead of around 300.. and 1 day to get them out.. hmmmmmmm.. improbable.. but lets see

John said...

I really don't see the Indian batting being able to do too much. Maybe Laxman and Dravid might get among the runs, but thats not enough.

Samir Chopra said...

Well, with South Africa now 494-7, its pretty much clear who is going to win the bet, innit?