A face saving victory
India won the third match against the proteas to level the series and prevent an embarassing series defeat at home. The pitch lived up to the expectations providing turn and unpredictable bounce for both the spinners and the pacers. Excellent batting from Laxman and Ganguly and a gritty last wicket stand helped India get a lead of 60 which demoralised the proteas. On the third day the pitch got into the minds of the visitors and Harbhajan and co. made the most of it to bundle them out cheaply.
There has been a lot of debate on the pitch with people questioning whether the pitch was fit for a test match. I firmly do believe that this pitch really tested the abilities of the players and we do need to play on such pitches once in a while especially in India. India need to make spinner friendly wickets when playing at home not sporting pitches which help the opposition. This needs to be done in the first match of any home series so that the opposition is immediately put on the backfoot. India need to win at home and the best way to do that is by making turning tracks. Ofcourse that does not mean that we need to make underprepared wickets like this one. The red soil in India is conducive for spin and all that needs to be done is to use a higher proportion of this soil in the making of the pitch. With the right amount of watering these pitches with start turning from day 3 and days 4 & 5 will see the ball bouncing from a length of the spinners. And these wickets will not keep low and hence runs can also be scored. These were the type of wickets we used to see in the 90s when India hardly lost a match at home and that is how it needs to be.
Sporting pitches need to be made for domestic matches which will ensure the all round development of the youngsters so that they will ready for the challenges abroad. When youngsters play on both kinds of wickets they will be completely ready to face all conditions that they encounter. Spin is as essential a component as pace bowling is and if India does not develop that then who will?
Coming back to the test match, Ishant Sharma made a big difference to the Indian attack. Coming back from injury he initially looked rusty but quickly hit his straps. He showed a new facet to his bowling which was not seen earlier - the ability to reverse swing the ball. The abrasive nature of the pitch meant that the ball reversed quite early in the innings and Ishant's bursts with the old ball made the difference. His 5 wickets in the match eased the pressure on Harbhajan and kept the pressure on the proteas. Sreesanth also bowled well and his opening spell in the second innings when he got the initial breakthrough was superb.
Finally a word on Dhoni, there are already many people saying that he captained brilliantly but it would not be judicious to pass a judgement on his captaincy skills after just 1 test match, especially one on such a wicket. It is easy to captain on such pitches but considering that it was his first match he did do a good job. I still feel he needs to mature more as a cricketer and as long as Kumble keeps going he will have time to learn.
India managed to retain the No.2 spot in the ICC rankings at the end of the cycle. It has a been a wonderful effort from this team. The next test series for India is only in July when they visit Sri Lanka. Now it is time to relax and party with the IPL!!
There has been a lot of debate on the pitch with people questioning whether the pitch was fit for a test match. I firmly do believe that this pitch really tested the abilities of the players and we do need to play on such pitches once in a while especially in India. India need to make spinner friendly wickets when playing at home not sporting pitches which help the opposition. This needs to be done in the first match of any home series so that the opposition is immediately put on the backfoot. India need to win at home and the best way to do that is by making turning tracks. Ofcourse that does not mean that we need to make underprepared wickets like this one. The red soil in India is conducive for spin and all that needs to be done is to use a higher proportion of this soil in the making of the pitch. With the right amount of watering these pitches with start turning from day 3 and days 4 & 5 will see the ball bouncing from a length of the spinners. And these wickets will not keep low and hence runs can also be scored. These were the type of wickets we used to see in the 90s when India hardly lost a match at home and that is how it needs to be.
Sporting pitches need to be made for domestic matches which will ensure the all round development of the youngsters so that they will ready for the challenges abroad. When youngsters play on both kinds of wickets they will be completely ready to face all conditions that they encounter. Spin is as essential a component as pace bowling is and if India does not develop that then who will?
Coming back to the test match, Ishant Sharma made a big difference to the Indian attack. Coming back from injury he initially looked rusty but quickly hit his straps. He showed a new facet to his bowling which was not seen earlier - the ability to reverse swing the ball. The abrasive nature of the pitch meant that the ball reversed quite early in the innings and Ishant's bursts with the old ball made the difference. His 5 wickets in the match eased the pressure on Harbhajan and kept the pressure on the proteas. Sreesanth also bowled well and his opening spell in the second innings when he got the initial breakthrough was superb.
Finally a word on Dhoni, there are already many people saying that he captained brilliantly but it would not be judicious to pass a judgement on his captaincy skills after just 1 test match, especially one on such a wicket. It is easy to captain on such pitches but considering that it was his first match he did do a good job. I still feel he needs to mature more as a cricketer and as long as Kumble keeps going he will have time to learn.
India managed to retain the No.2 spot in the ICC rankings at the end of the cycle. It has a been a wonderful effort from this team. The next test series for India is only in July when they visit Sri Lanka. Now it is time to relax and party with the IPL!!
Labels: Cricket, India, South Africa, Test Series
posted by Raj at 12:01 pm
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