Among the many things to emerge from the Brisbane Test of 2003, one of the storylines was of Rahul Dravid’s extended hit in the second innings and how it helped him for the rest of the series ( coming as he was with no record to speak of in Australia and relatively poor form into the match).
Forward fast to 2008 and Bangalore. India goes into the first Test with three of the Fab 4 not having a hit for the better part of a month and a bit. Sachin, because of injury and VVS and Saurav for not being part of the Irani Trophy ( or the warm up game against Australia. Granted that Saurav had a hit against New Zealand A, but that was neither here nor there).
Step forward Ricky Ponting. And his insistence on bowling his part time spinners for extended periods to the three batsmen.
49(126) SRT , 42(142) VVS , 47(115) and 26(68)SCG later, history may just be repeating itself.
PS:- VVS Laxman played in the Irani Trophy.. My apologies for mis-stating this in the post. Thanks Rahul for pointing this out 
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CL White 18-4-49-1
MJ Clarke 20-7-40-0
Comment by Straight Point — October 13, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
CL White 18-4-49-1
MJ Clarke 20-7-40-0
Comment by Straight Point — October 13, 2008 @ 8:06 am
the nightmares of shane warne and murlitharan in india soil already looks like a folklore?
Comment by Straight Point — October 13, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
the nightmares of shane warne and murlitharan in india soil already looks like a folklore?
Comment by Straight Point — October 13, 2008 @ 8:07 am
What makes you think that SP? Its just one match out of four ( or one innings out of 8)..
And how would you qualify the Jason Kejza mauling?
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 1:18 pm
What makes you think that SP? Its just one match out of four ( or one innings out of 8)..
And how would you qualify the Jason Kejza mauling?
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 8:18 am
have you ever heard that paul harris was treated like lord harris…?
Comment by Straight Point — October 13, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
have you ever heard that paul harris was treated like lord harris…?
Comment by Straight Point — October 13, 2008 @ 8:27 am
SP,
Yes, but Paul Harris is a left arm orthodox and India have typically struggled against that breed… Remember that Nicky Boje spun South Africa to a win in 2001. And Monty Panesar had an excellent debut against us.
Even Brad Hogg got wickets against us..so why should that surprise anyone?
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
SP,
Yes, but Paul Harris is a left arm orthodox and India have typically struggled against that breed… Remember that Nicky Boje spun South Africa to a win in 2001. And Monty Panesar had an excellent debut against us.
Even Brad Hogg got wickets against us..so why should that surprise anyone?
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 8:30 am
Homer, good, you called the draw a few days back.
maybe only to a small extent, but yeah, the circulation is getn back into some of those lungs and legs. And for a brief period, they did look comfy enough, like in the nets. Good to see some of the guys breathe. so can we.
Comment by Naked Cricket — October 13, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
Homer, good, you called the draw a few days back.
maybe only to a small extent, but yeah, the circulation is getn back into some of those lungs and legs. And for a brief period, they did look comfy enough, like in the nets. Good to see some of the guys breathe. so can we.
Comment by Naked Cricket — October 13, 2008 @ 9:03 am
Well, since Aussie never scored their patent rate of 4 an over I think draw was inevitable.Moreover last 3 wickets added more tan a 100 runs, not expected by Indian tail enders and Aussie bowlers.
But there is another twist in the tale in this twist.
Comment by Tarun — October 13, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
Well, since Aussie never scored their patent rate of 4 an over I think draw was inevitable.Moreover last 3 wickets added more tan a 100 runs, not expected by Indian tail enders and Aussie bowlers.
But there is another twist in the tale in this twist.
Comment by Tarun — October 13, 2008 @ 10:29 am
Naked,
It was obvious from the moment Oz went in with 8 bats and India with 4 bowlers that neither team had the ability to take 20 wickets.
I hope Mohali is a true surface.. There is nothing like the ball coming onto the the bat, something our batters prefer to slow, turgid tracks.
And if the wicket has some juice for the bowlers, even better.
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
Naked,
It was obvious from the moment Oz went in with 8 bats and India with 4 bowlers that neither team had the ability to take 20 wickets.
I hope Mohali is a true surface.. There is nothing like the ball coming onto the the bat, something our batters prefer to slow, turgid tracks.
And if the wicket has some juice for the bowlers, even better.
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
Tarun,
Thanks for your comments and welcome to the blog.
Neither team had the bowling depth to take 20 wickets..
Australia went in with the effort to save the test, India went in with an effort to not to lose it.
Bothe came back happy
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
Tarun,
Thanks for your comments and welcome to the blog.
Neither team had the bowling depth to take 20 wickets..
Australia went in with the effort to save the test, India went in with an effort to not to lose it.
Bothe came back happy
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
Homer,
I think VVS played in the Irani trophy.. so let’s noe be like Sourav when we talk of stats
Comment by Rahul — October 13, 2008 @ 11:04 pm
Homer,
I think VVS played in the Irani trophy.. so let’s noe be like Sourav when we talk of stats
Comment by Rahul — October 13, 2008 @ 6:04 pm
Rahul,
My apologies.. I will make the correction.
Thanks for pointing this out
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 11:07 pm
Rahul,
My apologies.. I will make the correction.
Thanks for pointing this out
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 13, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
Neither team has the capability to take 20 wickets is a strong statement it all depends on what type of pitch you are playing on ,Australia’s bowling is being underestimated again, for India I will say it again if you want to play the spin card then prepare a pitch which assists the spinners more or else the spin threat will be just fooling your own self.
As far as spinners who did well in India, Mendis did it recently, Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef did it for Pakistan and their have been many others, I think the game and its tactics are changing modern batsmen are a bit more aggressive than those of yesteryear’s, if you see how well Indian batsmen used to play spin then also see how many matches they used to win, those matches were a bore fest with hardly any result.They would play for 1.5 day for their 100 with a strike rate in 40′s, you cannot have both sides of the coin if you want results and a fast paced game then probably you will also have to give some margin for error to the modern batsmen.
Comment by Wasim — October 14, 2008 @ 4:14 am
Neither team has the capability to take 20 wickets is a strong statement it all depends on what type of pitch you are playing on ,Australia’s bowling is being underestimated again, for India I will say it again if you want to play the spin card then prepare a pitch which assists the spinners more or else the spin threat will be just fooling your own self.
As far as spinners who did well in India, Mendis did it recently, Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef did it for Pakistan and their have been many others, I think the game and its tactics are changing modern batsmen are a bit more aggressive than those of yesteryear’s, if you see how well Indian batsmen used to play spin then also see how many matches they used to win, those matches were a bore fest with hardly any result.They would play for 1.5 day for their 100 with a strike rate in 40′s, you cannot have both sides of the coin if you want results and a fast paced game then probably you will also have to give some margin for error to the modern batsmen.
Comment by Wasim — October 13, 2008 @ 11:14 pm
Good sound points Homer and with back to back Tests we won’t be waiting long to find out if your predictions are true.
On the other hand, Australia’s part time spinners also got plenty of practice under their belts and that may help them with their confidence too.
Comment by nestaquin — October 14, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
Good sound points Homer and with back to back Tests we won’t be waiting long to find out if your predictions are true.
On the other hand, Australia’s part time spinners also got plenty of practice under their belts and that may help them with their confidence too.
Comment by nestaquin — October 14, 2008 @ 9:48 am
Thanks Nestaquin.. About the Aussie part timers getting practice under their belts, yes it should stand them in good stead. On the other hand, India’s batsmen got a good look at what Cameron White has to offer over an extended period of time.
And this happened in the context where Australia were on the attack and India were looking to defend.
It will be very interesting to see how things pan out when the roles are reversed.
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 14, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
Thanks Nestaquin.. About the Aussie part timers getting practice under their belts, yes it should stand them in good stead. On the other hand, India’s batsmen got a good look at what Cameron White has to offer over an extended period of time.
And this happened in the context where Australia were on the attack and India were looking to defend.
It will be very interesting to see how things pan out when the roles are reversed.
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 14, 2008 @ 11:30 am
Wasim,
When India go into a match with 4 bowlers and the opposition with 3 and a bit, 20 wickets are never going to materialize.
Unless we are talking a green top at Durban with its pace and bounce or a raging turner at Mumbai..
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 14, 2008 @ 5:09 pm
Wasim,
When India go into a match with 4 bowlers and the opposition with 3 and a bit, 20 wickets are never going to materialize.
Unless we are talking a green top at Durban with its pace and bounce or a raging turner at Mumbai..
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 14, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
“When India go into a match with 4 bowlers and the opposition with 3 and a bit, 20 wickets are never going to materialize.”
Can’t say about Australia but haven’t we won most of our matches with just 4 bowlers? Didn’t we win Perth test, kanpur test and Galle test playing just 4 bowlers? In fact at Galle, we were down to just 3 with Kumble in extremely poor form.
Same is happening here.
Will you give your team combination for the next test which “you” think can win the test?
Comment by Chandan — October 15, 2008 @ 8:05 am
“When India go into a match with 4 bowlers and the opposition with 3 and a bit, 20 wickets are never going to materialize.”
Can’t say about Australia but haven’t we won most of our matches with just 4 bowlers? Didn’t we win Perth test, kanpur test and Galle test playing just 4 bowlers? In fact at Galle, we were down to just 3 with Kumble in extremely poor form.
Same is happening here.
Will you give your team combination for the next test which “you” think can win the test?
Comment by Chandan — October 15, 2008 @ 3:05 am
Chandan,
In none of those tests did the opposition pack their side with 8 specialist batsmen.
And also. Perth had something for the bowlers, ditto Kanpur and Galle..
On a slow turner with a little up and down bounce, odds of taking 20 wickets are low.
At Mohali. Saurav will have to bowl more if there is something in there for the pace bowlers.. Ditto Sachin and Sehwag if there is assistance for spinners.
I am very much inclined for Kumble to sit himself out on this one and play Amit MIshra ahead of him. Only because his shoulder is more important than this match ( there are Nagpur and Delhi to follow so it is vitally important that he remain healthy for those games). And if the wicket is more seam friendly, bring in Munaf.
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 15, 2008 @ 12:59 pm
Chandan,
In none of those tests did the opposition pack their side with 8 specialist batsmen.
And also. Perth had something for the bowlers, ditto Kanpur and Galle..
On a slow turner with a little up and down bounce, odds of taking 20 wickets are low.
At Mohali. Saurav will have to bowl more if there is something in there for the pace bowlers.. Ditto Sachin and Sehwag if there is assistance for spinners.
I am very much inclined for Kumble to sit himself out on this one and play Amit MIshra ahead of him. Only because his shoulder is more important than this match ( there are Nagpur and Delhi to follow so it is vitally important that he remain healthy for those games). And if the wicket is more seam friendly, bring in Munaf.
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 15, 2008 @ 7:59 am
I don't think Australia went in with 3 & a bit bowlers this is again underestimating their bowling,the fact remains India if they have to play the spin card they will have to prepare more supporting wickets for spinners.
Comment by Wasim — October 15, 2008 @ 2:13 pm
I don't think Australia went in with 3 & a bit bowlers this is again underestimating their bowling,the fact remains India if they have to play the spin card they will have to prepare more supporting wickets for spinners.
Comment by Wasim — October 15, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Wasim,
I think we will see more spin friendly tracks at Nagpur and Delhi..
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 15, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
Wasim,
I think we will see more spin friendly tracks at Nagpur and Delhi..
Cheers,
Comment by Homer — October 15, 2008 @ 10:07 am