Peaceful Strokes

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re: mohar11 # 49

Indians nor Pakistanis are pathetic in bowling; the pitches are pathetic! They are designed for a batting showmanship and to appease the crowd`s lust for massive hitting orgies.

The scores were inflated, because each side conceded nearly 5 extra overs in no-balls and wides and that is why the final score was so high. Otherwise, it would have been in a decent 300 to 320 range.

Ciao

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I think it was an aweful game, I mean 700 runs were scored in the game does people realize that Cricket does have a trade calling bowling too. Pitch was a placid batting track and if this continues such senseless matches will be what we will see. For heaven`s sake have some support for the bowlers too, so the game does not becoming a batting dominated game.

The game was best described by a friend of mine by saying
It was a one sided game for both sides.

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gilthoniel #48 Thanks, but mine was just a bit of borrowed humor (cut and paste of a newspaper article). Hamidm material is original (even though I still cant figure out why this man has to put down everything in order to be funny).

God bless the two cricket teams and the sporting cricket fans, the local fans as well as the ones who came over from India. And God bless Priyanka whose visit to the Edhi foundation reminded us of the many good spirits on both sides of the border who understand the misery in which most Indians and Pakistanis live. I am impressed also by the sporting spirit that is prevailing this board on chowk as well.

Anyway, back to the game...

Romair,
you are absolutely right. We Indian fans watching on television WERE surprised and pleased by the sporting behaviour of the Karachi crowd. A big and sincere `thank you` to all of them from us!

Everybody,
it`s only a game! Let`s keep bigotry and jingoism out of it, please. Let`s hope we have many more such wonderful matches as we saw today, and that this series will bring us a lot closer to each other.

Tahmed and hamidm2 - keep those hilarious posts coming!

Romair
//...They must have been surprised to see that Pakistani don`t look like the devil and are not out to get every Indian they see...//

Yeah - we will see about that when the Jihad donation boxes stop ringing with cash donated for killing hindus in Kashmir and elsewhere.

For now - let`s just focus on cricket. This was an good game. But Ganguly was a fool to allow Aloo almost catch up with the huge total. May be he should keep some chicken tikka in his pocket and dangle it as soon as Aloo starts running.

But from look of things - I think Aloo is going to have the last laugh. Indians are pathetic in bowling.

Pakistanis can hold your heads up high your boys played brilliantly...I believe the combined score was the highest in one day history (693)...What a start to the series....you will taste victory soon I am sure of it...Well done to all the players!!

re: the first ODI in Karachi
I for one agree with the Chowk Marshal. Pak played superbly. I did not think Pak would be able to chase that kind of a total. This only means that Pak now has good bowlers and batsmen. India would have to work on its bowling, otherwise they will be whipped in Rawalpindi.

Political masters in both countries are using Cricket as a way of stirring the public opinion in favor of a ``political consensus`` on Kashmir. I believe a compromise has already been made and will be revealed when the public opinion is favorable. Meanwhile the US Army is busy hunting for Osama (or perhaps they have him already and are waiting for the right moment to reveal this fact).
In any case, we are in for interesting times.
Sridhar

Was the greatest commentator in living history Navjot Sidhu part of the commentary team?

i told you that nehra is a good dust-bowler, and inzy would lose weight..didn`t think it would be while running between the wickets. i think he will play 1 down for future Mumbai Munnabhais (owner Mota bhai of Kamathipura/Dubai, asian cirkit leauge franchise). Balaji should start eating mutton (he bowled well, but can be really good), and tendulkar should immediately start praising Aloo, so that he get back on the halwa. Joseph John needs to taken to a revival meeting and put a fear of fire and brimstones so that he stops playing well for the trans-indus hordes. Karachi crowd was 99% burger (and some Pav-Bhajis from india). Pakistani team looks have really gone down.. they look like poor Iraqi chaiwallas. Zaheer and Pathan are definately from tel-aviv...is Md. Kaif related to Katrina Kaif? Ganguly was impressive that he did not do the usual shameful immitation of the ``scream`` against the short ball.

An excellent match with an even better atmosphere. That was refreshing, lets keep it that way guys.

Satyamvada #39

I guess you are named against some god, but why such pessimism mate, chill out and for a second just try to atleast be peaceful within yourself.

I think as ganguly aptly said, the winner was cricket, i would like to add to this, the winners were both Pakistanis and Indians, in avoiding the deathtrap of nationalist anger and for once enjoying a game of cricket for what it is meant to be, a game of cricket.

For the rest, in the most politest of sense to my indian counterparts, we will kick your a$$ in the next match once we get the right ballers. :)

Peace

And one more thing.. under the cover of atish-bazi from the balle-baz, while everybody is busy watching the matches, the Americans have begun their operation taliban in the earnest. Smart move...

HamidM2,
I`m enjoying your commentary more than these kirkaat fundoos. Thank you for great laughs.

Now please go and tell your wife you love her. : )

Excellent match.

Well worth the ticket price ($7 at a local desi club - it included three pieces of stale chicken, from which I have yet to recover and a cup of good desi tea). I cannot believe Pakistan almost chased 350. I think psychologically this will favor Pakistan. Since India actually bowled as well as they could have. While Pakistani bowlers bowled very poorly. Yet the match was still close.

Pakistan should not, bowl aggresively, and go for wickets, in the ODIs, since the Indian batsmen are too good, on these pitches, and will just get huge scores. Pakistan should concentrate on damage control, and try to limit the target to around 275. I think the Pakistani batsmen should be able to chase that comfortably.

Shoaib or Sami should have been sent in to bat in place of Rana Naveed. And Saqlain should have been in Rana`s place, to begin with. I think Rana Sahib may have played the last match of his life.........

The whole atmosphere at the match was excellent. Karachi cricket crowd is historically known as the most ill-behaved crowd in Pakistan (while Lahore crowd is known as the best). Yet they were very sporting.

In fact, I would have to say I was, ``overwhelmed`` by the behavior of the Karachi crowd. Maybe I have been too brainwashed by the Lahori press and local govt. Speaking of, ``overwhelmed,`` we need to add two more Indians who have been, ``overwhelmed`` by the treatment they have received in Pakistan. One is Sanjay Manjrekar (very good announcer), and the other is Sauruv Ganguly (a batsman, whose skills have significantly declined in comparison to other Indian batsman). Another few million Indian fans watching TV in India, were probably, ``overwhelmed,`` also. They must have been surprised to see that Pakistani don`t look like the devil and are not out to get every Indian they see.

Inzamam was under much more tension facing the questions from Ian Chappel, in English, than in facing the bowling.

P.S. Why did Priyanka Gandhi`s husband look so bored, throughout the match? As well as Priyanka herself and her brother? Her husband looked like his mother-in-law had forced him to attend the match, and seemed to waiting anxiously for it to be over. No wonder Congress is losing popularity in India. There top leadership and their families are too uptight to even enjoy a classic cricket match, on such a big occassion.

I suggest Shahrukh Khan and Ashwariya Rai should be sent in immediately to replace Priyanka and Rahul. They are much more in demand in Pakistan. And Laloo should be sent to replace the husband........

Anyways, the whole occassion could not have been scripted better. Congratulations to India for winning. Though I think the Indian think-tank will be a bit worried after this match, since they must be trying to figure out how such a high total was chased (twice).......