India V/s Pakistan - The Battle Begins

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milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
The mother of all battles has begun.
In this thread all those cricket freaks (i m sure every1) can write in ur views nd some interesting turning points nd interesting stories about the day.
Ofcourse, being Indians, we all will support India.

so all those cricket krazy ppl just rply ur views bout the game.......
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
well the first day of the series nd the 1st test match was not at all good for India......

India first lost it wen Rahul lost d toss on a flat batting pitch....
After that it was all Pakistan. wid only two wickets taken in d day, India was on d receiving end....

Earlier ther was much talk bout the team selection nd finally Ganguly was picked as an allrounder.....
but the team had only 4 genuine bowlers - Irfan, Agarkar, Kumble nd Bhajji....here is wher i guess India lost d trick.....they shud hve gone wid 5 bowlers, the 5th being Zaheer Khan.....

Final Score:
Pakistan 326/2 (85 overs)

Hope India does well tomo.......
 

bhavin_3

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
The pitch looks awesome for batting.. Surely a high scoring match but i guess we not havin a result for match 1 atleast... Its surely gonna be a draw. With such good 2 scoring days and Pakistan 679 declaring being in the drivers seat. Probably i thought that if India lost wicket in day 2 play than we would have been in trouble but now that we have India 65/0. Surely Gonna be a draw..!! :horn:
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
ya man surely.....
but i feel v shud make d pakis suffer as they made us suffer......
play fr a draw......play slowly w/o takin ne risks.......
infact i feel indians shud play fr the whole 3 days remainin......

btw.....waitin fr Ganguly's batting to come.......he shud take this match as good match practice now......
"shoiab v/s ganguly" wat a contest.......hehehe
 

bhavin_3

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Ya gotta be steady.. Don wanna loose da frst match as der aint nay ways a win situation frm here for India in dis match.. Gottta be either a loss or draw... Well m looking here for rahul makin a triple century (MULTI BILLION PREDICTION OF THE DAy).. lets c if he is making it or not..! For Ganguly no comments he already has many comments being passed on an everyday basis as of nw....
 

ViJiT

Vijith Pujari
bhavin_3 said:
Ya gotta be steady.. Don wanna loose da frst match as der aint nay ways a win situation frm here for India in dis match.. Gottta be either a loss or draw... Well m looking here for rahul makin a triple century (MULTI BILLION PREDICTION OF THE DAy).. lets c if he is making it or not..! For Ganguly no comments he already has many comments being passed on an everyday basis as of nw....



yea....
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
well well.......
the wheather ruined the day's play almost.....wid play being stopped for 3 times.....due to bad light and overcast conditions....

but as it is the result was already ther to be seen......
good thng fr India no wickets wer lost....nd Viru looked good.......

India 145/0
Viru 96
Rahul 37

No interest left in the match yaar !!!!!!!
 

bhavin_3

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Yah actually the interest has gone as we are kind of majorly aware of what the result is going to be.. So the excitement & thrill has kind of deceased.
 

vishal_1986

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
guys....all the talks above are general man...

now wht do u ppl have 2 say aft todays session...

UNBELIEVABLE..... 403/0 thts whr INDIA stands...

Sehwag...approx 257* i think
Dravid.....128*
Extras.....28*


IM SPEECHLESS.......just no words guys...
whts u ppl's comment on this...Pakistan cnt imagine it...
Sehwag..2nd highest boundries hiter in cricket world and both of them, 4th higest 1st wicket partnership...wht say ppl..

AWESOME.......
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
simply unbelievable.............
today's day wil be remebered fr a long time specially be Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag........

India 403/0 (75 overs)
R.R 5.37

Viru 247*(240)
Rahul 128*(227)

tomo just ten runs more and these two wil hold the record for Top Opening Partnership in Test Cricket History.......wich currently stands at 413 runs.......

I feel these two are gonna get 500 man...........
am eagerly waitin for tomo day to begin.........nd guess wat Viru has a chance to break tht Brian Lara record of 400*.....wud be amazin if he does tht
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
the world record remains intact....sadly sehwag went for an unorthodox heave over 3rd mqan but got the edge and was caught......
as admitted by dravid in the presentation, the two had come out for just the record opening partnership of 413....

but India definitely now has the momentom and wil go very positive in the next test at Faisalabad starting 20th January.....
hopefully the pitch ther wil be competitive and we wil get a good game of cricket.....

Best of Luck India !!!!!!!
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Guyzzzz !!!!!
i seem to be d only cricket crazy member in here...........
plssss prove me wrong ppl......
comeon and post ur views i m sure u hve many thngs to say bout India v/s Pakistan cricket.......
 

kartik

Kartik Raichura
Staff member
Me not a cricket fan.. But i like to read the posts made by you to keep myself updated abt indias position :)
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Pakistan made India toil real hard on the 1st day of the second test at Faisalabad today. After some early succes, India bowlers had really no answers to Pakistan batsmen.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. The fielding side looked, at one point, to have neutralized the loss of the toss, but by the time play ended on day 1 in the second Test in Faisalabad it was bruised, bleeding, and on the back foot.

None of this, though, was foreshadowed at the start. India, so runs conventional wisdom, has the best batting lineup in the world -- an array of stars further boosted by the entry of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the development of Irfan Pathan.

Well the state of the match apart, public fury is set to horror the captain and the coach because of the EXCLUSION OF GANGULY - am not sure whether thats right.

India had its chances -- as, in fact, it had in every session of play on the day. In the 78th over, Kumble zoomed in on Inzamam's pads for the nth time; for the nth time he beat the push and thudded into the pad. The ball landed in line, it hit in line -- but birthday boy Simon Taufel found reason to doubt and Inzy, who continued to struggle against the leg spinner (34 dot balls and 29 runs off 50 deliveries faced -- against, say, Shahid Afridi, who knocked 31 off 28 deliveries from the leggie), was very very lucky to survive on a personal score of 47 and a team score of 296/4.

With Inzamam and Afridi playing immovable object and irresistible force and both looking good for centuries, with Abdur Razzaq and Kamran Akmal to follow and batting conditions remaining excellent, India is clearly in for a long, hard grind on day two.

Pakistan: 379/4 (90 overs)
RunRate: 4.21

Inzamam: 79*(122)
Afridi: 85*(84)
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Wrap-up of day's play (Source:www.cricinfo.com)

Two contrasting centuries, one reeking of supreme confidence, the other of swaggering brilliance, bailed India out of strife on an absorbing day at Faisalabad, after a frenzied 11-over spell had tilted the scales Pakistan's way in a batsman-dominated Test. In one gripping session between lunch at tea, Pakistan stormed ahead with four quick wickets, but a spectacular maiden Test hundred from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, when he produced strokeplay reminiscent of Caribbean aggressors of the past, steered India past the stormy seas.


Rahul Dravid's second successive hundred, and his fine partnership with VVS Laxman, appeared to have guided India towards safety but somewhere around the half-way point the series, with a draw looking like a distinct possibility, the game turned. Led by a scorching spell by Shoaib Akhtar, in the most engrossing session of the series so far, Pakistan put India on a skiddy slope, with 107 still needed to avoid the follow-on. What came next was plain sensational as Dhoni counterpunched his way to an audacious hundred, waving the bat like a cowboy with a lasso, and, along with Irfan Pathan, partly nullified Pakistan's advantage.


To blitz a hundred off 93 balls, with the first fifty coming in just 34, is superb in any situation, but the fact that Dhoni managed it under trying circumstances, with the team sinking in a vital Test, was simply outstanding. Laxman and Dravid had fallen in quick succession - one top-edging while trying to cut, the other caught napping from a direct hit - and India's middle order was to face its sternest test in recent times. Yuvraj failed, falling to the pull-trap, and Dhoni soon saw Sachin Tendulkar depart, gloving a short ball, targeting his ribs, down leg-side. Added to that, in just his fourth Test, he had to negotiate 150kph thunderbolts from Shoaib. Logic would have probably suggested caution; what followed was more like an eruption.


For the first few balls, he was like a moving dartboard, with Shoaib targeting his ribs with venomous velocity. He flinched, ducked and evaded before he had had enough. In the seventh ball of his innings, as if expecting a short one all along, he lined up and uncorked a most sensational hook, swatting it way over square leg and watching as it soared into the stands. From then on, anything short was given a meaty biff, anything full creamed with dazzling power.


Mohammad Asif's ambitious short balls zoomed square; Danish Kaneria's flighted deliveries found themselves in the stands in midwicket; Abdul Razzaq could bowl anywhere, he would be thumped anyway. He walked as if he owned the land, ran as if there was no tomorrow and cut through the tension with a fire to fight all fires. With the follow-on saved, he shifted to a lower gear, and pushed the singles in the gaps that he had created. Irfan Pathan provided superb support at the other end, rotating the strike and describing smooth arcs while driving through the covers, and the run-a-minute 160-run partnership put them back on track. Pathan was given a reprieve as stumps pproached, when Kamran Akmal missed a tough chance diving to his left, and India went in with plenty to celebrate, with visions of a draw considerably enhanced.


All this action was preceded by a morning session where grinding attrition blended with sparkling strokeplay. Dravid, with confidence reeking from every pore, didn't hold back when the ball was there to be hit and was off the blocks in glorious fashion, driving the very first ball of the day straight back past the bowler. He was chiefly responsible for putting the bowlers off rhythm, capitalising on his errant line, and repeatedly easing through the covers, laying into the drives with oodles of class. Laxman, his partner in many a famous rescue act, was equally positive, choosing the right ball to strike and executing the strokes with a stamp of beauty. He often tucked the spinners to the fine-leg areas and sometimes used his feet to neutralise any spin.


Pakistan weren't helped by the 34 extras they conceded with the no-ball malady troubling them through the day. For the first part of the day, they stuck to restrictive lines, around middle and leg, and ensured that the rate was under control. They reaped the results in the second session, with a flurry of wickets putting them in pole position, but they could do absolutely nothing when they ran into a whirlwind called Dhoni, standing on a burning deck and igniting a blaze of his own.

India 441 for 5 (Dhoni 116*, Dravid 103, Laxman 90) trail Pakistan 588 by 147 runs
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Report on day's play (www.cricinfo.com)

Batsmen from both sides refused to let up on a lifeless pitch as the game settled into a monotonous rhythm on the fourth day of the second Test at Faisalabad. Plucky contributions from the lower order helped India gain a slender lead before Pakistan responded confidently, moving to 152 for 1 at stumps and all but ensuring that the teams left for Karachi with a 0-0 scoreline.

Barring the first hour, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni thumped 33 off 29, the day had a certain predictability about it. Irfan Pathan, falling ten short of his maiden hundred, calmly guided the tail before the last four batsmen eked out 74 to edge India ahead. It would have required a collapse of sorts for Pakistan to lose the plot but Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal, opening for the first timein a Test, piloted them to safety with a cheery 100-run stand. Pakistan were 137 ahead at the end of the day but by then the game had entered a point of no return. Not many fifth days have been as uninviting.

India's best chance was to prise out a few early wickets and create some sort of pressure and the new-ball bowlers did their bit early on. Pathan cranked up the pace in his first spell, consistently touching 80mph, while RP Singh asked some searching questions. Who knows what might have happened if, within the first four overs, VVS Laxman had held on to a regulation catch at second slip to dismiss Salman Butt; or if a bottom edge off Akmal's bat, against RP Singh, had not missed the stumps by a whisker; or even, if Simon Taufel had upheld a close shout for lbw against Butt. However, none of those materialised and, though Butt fell soon after, Pakistan managed to break the shackles and establish control over the bowling.


It was Akmal who set the tone, cashing in on RP Singh's short length, and pulled a flurry of boundaries to release the pressure. Cover-drives soon raced away from the middle of the bat and he displayed a certain correctness in both attack and defence. As Akmal shifted to a lower gear, Younis began to speed up. On his way to collecting his sixth 50-plus score in his last four Tests against India, Younis spanked the spinners off their length - flogging Anil Kumble for three fours in an over - and as the day ended, there was little to suggest that he was going to throw it away.


The morning period could be seen as a session of two halves: Dhoni mounted a blistering assault at the start, and Pathan consolidated soon after Dhoni fell. Beginning the day in the same vein that he began his innings, Dhoni tore apart Shoaib Akhtar in an engaging three-over period. He jammed a magnificent straight-drive in Shoaib's third over, which yielded 18 runs, and followed it up with a clanging pull in front of square. Shoaib responded with a chest-high beamer down leg side, only to concede four more. Fifty runs came in the first 10.4 overs but Dhoni's dismissal, charging down the track and trying to loft Danish Kaneria over midwicket, put the brakes on.


Pathan's purple patch with the bat continued, and the manner in which he drove through the covers had the stamp of a top-order batsman. Spin, as he showed against Sri Lanka, is hardly a threat and he confirmed it with a flowing six off Kaneria over long off. He fell just short a hundred again, beaten by an inswinger from Abdul Razzaq, but had played a vital hand in India's path to recovery. Kaneria removed Kumble - probably risking a fine with a clumsy send-off - but Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan ensured that India nudged ahead.


Like any other day in the series, it was a tough one for bowlers. Mohammad Asif, troubling the batsmen on and around the off stump, turned out to be the pick of the lot while Razzaq, despite his no-ball affliction, kept the batsmen guessing with some late swing. Kaneria and Shahid Afridi, who finished with five wickets between them, would have wished for a little more assistance from the pitch and, as their constant chattering conveyed, probably decided to vent their frustration on the batsmen instead.

Pakistan 588 and 152 for 1 (Younis 64*, Akmal 59*) lead India 603 (Dhoni 148, Dravid 103, Laxman 90, Pathan 90) by 137 runs
 

milind20

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
i hve nothin to say.......an absolute dull INDO-PAK series it has turned out to be.....

Pakistan 588 and 490 (Younis 194, Yousuf 126, Akmal 78) drew with India 603
 
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