Match Report on First Test Match at Chennai

Amazing match. A win by Pakistan is a natural outcome and the most likely result. The phase that the match is in suits the Pakistani team tremendously. The W`s will be formidable and will be made more so if India displays its usual tentativeness in crunch situations. Shahid may win the match for Pakistan on paper but we all know it will be the W`s who will soften the opposition for the kill. I will not be surprised if Waqar surgically slices the Indian batting.

On the other hand:

A win by India, if that happens, will be momentous. India does not have a tradition of wining crunch matches against Pakistan. Many ``skeletons`` will get buried and a hero other than Tendulkar may get recognized. Let me admit this, I dont expect SRT to be the hero. It will be Ganguly.

Thank you Mofeez for the keen insight, the no-nonsense analysis is a pleasure to read.

Mr Mofeez writes,

On the batting side of it, Shahid is being made into an opener. He is not technically a front line batsman. He is very talented and exciting but not technically correct. In a one day game with field restrictions in the early overs, sending Shahid early at times makes sense but not in test cricket.

Oye Saad
You`re up following this too.

Man I don`t get it. last 20 balls Prasad bowled (leg cutters, in cutters , movement of the seam you name it) he gets 5 wickets. He bowled 5 overs all day.

All of a sudden the pitch was helpful for the bowlers. Actually Shastri as commentator pointed this out right before TEA.
Anyway Akram will make this pitch sing.

Indid needs 271 to win with 2 days and about 20 overs to go today. A draw seems impossible.

Saad, on SRT you haven`t seen him in song. Even SMG grants that he is the best he has ever seen. Now if only we could see him in action today.

regards

At Chennai, they will say, the boys became men, and the men became heroes.

What a match. Better than anything else known to humanity, with the possible exception of sexual orgasm.

OK, no more predictions. Just love and affection for Shahid Afridi. Lots of it.

Will this be the greatest India-Pakistan Test thus far ? Will Tendulkar and Azharuddin, facing near-impossible odds in the form of a target of 300+ against Saqlain and Akram, give the Pakistanis a run for their money ? In the Bangalore Test of 1987, with the wicket turning square, the incomparable Sunil Manohar Gavasker negotiated Tauseef and Iqbal Qasim like Odysseus battling Scylla and Charybdis. He made 96, and India came within 16 runs of victory. Tendulkar may give Pakistan a scare, but he`s no Gavasker (but no predictions, see above).

Wouldn`t it be outrageous if Afridi runs through the Indian batting in the 2nd innings ? (OK, OK, sorry no more predictions).

Saad

PS: RanaRansher and Rehan, thanks for the URLs. I think it is time to upgrade my short-wave radio.

So far the predictions have been completely off.
Shahid ``the Edge`` Afridi makes a gutsy century scoring at a very fast pace giving Pak plenty of time to put up a good total and pressure on India.
Indian spinners proving completely ineffective on a pitch that Saqlain was turning the ball square.

SO in round2 the mediocre batting side has gotten the better of the bad bowling side.

Now for round2 of the amazing bowling side vs the good batting side. Will Sachin do it ?
Sachin vs Saqlain...hmmm

One thing is for sure. IF sachin throws in the towel India will tamely fold.

Oye Feroz nahi oye nahi

this is wraaaang way. I think we need to sit and talk about cricket at length some day. :-)
For now, I need to give Saad the info. BTW I sit up everyday from 11:00PM EST till 5:00AM, sleep for 2 hours and then head to work and read all the post game reports, stats, etc. for the rest of the day.
Believe it or not Cricket is one of the main reasons I dream about moving back to India !!

re: Saad
Saad, check out www-usa.cricket.org (Cricinfo) and follow links to live coverage of the game.
Open the `score box` again a link. Both the full scorecard and `score box` update every 90 seconds.
THe severs get really busy during these games. So when www-usa stops responding a good bet is swithing the www-usa to www-uk in the URL. UK being 5 hours ahead of us has very little web traffic.
Yes, there are hundreds of desis in chat rooms all over the world following these matches.

Cricinfo also provides ball-by-ball commentary.

Also check out www.rediff.com and follow links for live coverage. These guys are about an over faster than Cricinfo.
Unfortunately, they are not doing a RealAudio and RealVideo broadcast of these games. SO you have to deal with text based commentary.
www.khel.com also has live coverage but I don`t like the commentary they do.

enjaaaaay

regards

Re: Shafqat post # 20

URLs for live commentary? Are you kidding me?!
Given the time differentials, you are willing to spend all those hours listening? I tella ya, ya da man, ya ma hommie!:)

I am more result oriented having lived in the States for so long. Cricket takes too damned long to play and who wants to spend a week watching some oafs in white flannel hit a ball and chase it all day long! All I am interested is the final score and who wins. Think about it folks, how unproductive this game is. All those work hours lost watching this game and nothing being done. Cricket is a sheer waste of time, as far as I am concerned.

I know, I will be pelted with verbal stones and chased from this forum for saying this, but this is what I think. All the power to you folks who have the patience to bear the agony of this monotony and tedium called a game of cricket! I really marvel your endurance!

Does anyone know any URLs for listening to live commentary ?

Saad

Mofeez,

Thanks for the superb report. Bus mazaa aa gaya!

Saad

Also check out this site: It has dozens of links on cricket from all over the world.

http://home.echo-on.net/

For live commentary try the following link at other times, but there`s no live commentary of this match as of now:

Jagged Interworks

http://www-usa.cricket.org/link_to_database/SUPPORT/JAGGED/

Rehan.

Moeez:

Interesting comments.

And more interesting predictions from Chowkies. When a woman is pregnant, there are two possible predictions. In Cricket there are three. That makes it 1 in 3 to predict the outcome. 33 1/3 % success rate!

The years spent here has jaded my passion for this game somewhat. Therefore, this query. Have the Indians been touched by the bribery scandal? Has there been an official inquiry? And tangentially, what would have a bookie paid Tendulkar for that duck? (Pls, don`t jump all over me, this is just a hypothetical query).

re: Mofeez
Good to see your Match report.
I think you spoke too soon of levellers and have only partial information.
Last year in the Test against Australia, Sachin scored 4(5 balls) in the first innings and was out in a very similar fashion. He charged down the wicket to the 3rd ball from Warne, only to find Warne holding the ball back rather intelligently, got an outside edge giving Taylor at first slip a catch. Understandly the Aussies were overjoyed.
In the 2nd innings, to level things up, Tendulkar remained unbeaten and plundered 155 of 191 balls. After that Shane Warne said he got nightmares of Tendulkar charging down the track to him.....
I saw that innings live. They say, `Tendulkar se pangaa mat lo nahi to usko gussa aa jaawegaa aur phir woh bauhut maaregaa, bauhut maaregaa......` ;-)
The levelling may still occur.

In the Indian second innings be prepared for a fantastic contest between Saqlain and Sachin. Saqlain said in an interview,``I hope to repeat the performance in the second innings as well,`` when asked specifically about SRT`s dismissal. In addition to the oodles of talent Saqlain obviously has guts and is unfazed by reputations.
It will be anti-climactic if somebody else gets SRT out in the 2nd innings.
Cricket fans are advised to stay up for this contest.

regards

Re: Khan.

I think the problem with Waqar is that he does not have a delivery that can move away from the right-hander. Like Imran, his natural ball comes in, but unlike Imran he has not been able to learn the outswinger or the leg-cutter. It was clear in the World Cup quarter-final of 1996 that the Indians have completely figured him out.

As for predictions, I have to take reality into account as and when it becomes available :).

Saad

PS: Will there be a Chowk report on day 2 ?

Regarding Waqar

He only bowled 12 overs, the entire Indian innings lasted 80 odd overs. I wonder how many he bowled with an old ball, where he is at his most dangerous. I wouldn`t count him out just yet, however in a low scoring test he can be a liability because he can get smashed around a bit.

With Anwar gone, and Afridi threatening to go, its going to be tough for Pakistan to get 250 (which most agree is a good score to defend after the third day). So I`d say India is still in control.

BTW what`s up with Waqar? He`s bowling like he does in the one-dayers.And where is Mushtaq`s stand-in?

Re Saad

Hey, there is considerable variance in your predictions at the end of each day :)