A collapse of mammoth proportions
A day which India would like to forget as quickly as they can. Probably the worst batting performance at home in the last 10 years. The pitch offered some movement off the deck and it required some hard work from the batsmen to keep the bowlers out. But the Indian batters showed no application and some of dismissals were really silly. South Africa talked about peppering the Indians and it looked as though the batsmen were scared to come on to the front foot and that caused their downfall.
Was this the same team which played so well at the WACA?
A disturbing fact for me has been Anil Kumble's demeanor in the last couple of days. The usual calm and composed Anil is missing and he seems tense and not at peace with something. Even at the toss yesterday he seemed pretty grim and I wonder what is going on inside the dressing room. Whether he is contemplating retirement after this series, we have to wait and see.
Here is a look at the Indian collapse:
It is almost certain that the proteas will take this match and with it an unassailable lead in the series. India will have its work cut out at Kanpur to prevent an embarrassing series loss.
PS: We now know the reason for Kumble's grim demeanor. It has been reported that he had a fall out with the curator Dhiraj Parsanna over the pitch. The curator reportedly did not heed Kumble's requests with regards to the pitch. Reminds me of Nagpur 2004 when Ganguly skipped the test match after problems with the pitch there. The Indians capitulated on the 1st day on that occasion too and in the next match at the Wankhede were provided with a rank turner and they won the match in 3 days. Hopefully we will get a similar turner in Kanpur for the 3rd test.
One wonders why curators in India dont provide pitches to the strength of the home team, especially with our best pace bowlers out injured. Sadly that has not been happening and the curators seem to be dancing to a different tune, whether that tune is set by the BCCI, we do not know.
Was this the same team which played so well at the WACA?
A disturbing fact for me has been Anil Kumble's demeanor in the last couple of days. The usual calm and composed Anil is missing and he seems tense and not at peace with something. Even at the toss yesterday he seemed pretty grim and I wonder what is going on inside the dressing room. Whether he is contemplating retirement after this series, we have to wait and see.
Here is a look at the Indian collapse:
It is almost certain that the proteas will take this match and with it an unassailable lead in the series. India will have its work cut out at Kanpur to prevent an embarrassing series loss.
PS: We now know the reason for Kumble's grim demeanor. It has been reported that he had a fall out with the curator Dhiraj Parsanna over the pitch. The curator reportedly did not heed Kumble's requests with regards to the pitch. Reminds me of Nagpur 2004 when Ganguly skipped the test match after problems with the pitch there. The Indians capitulated on the 1st day on that occasion too and in the next match at the Wankhede were provided with a rank turner and they won the match in 3 days. Hopefully we will get a similar turner in Kanpur for the 3rd test.
One wonders why curators in India dont provide pitches to the strength of the home team, especially with our best pace bowlers out injured. Sadly that has not been happening and the curators seem to be dancing to a different tune, whether that tune is set by the BCCI, we do not know.
Labels: Ahmedabad, Cricket, India, South Africa, Wickets
posted by Raj at 11:14 am
2 Comments:
How can a player ask for a specific pitch? Isn't it unfair for the other team? Shouldn't the team fight it out on the pitch provided?
It was a very sad collapse indeed. But these things happen and we've seen these frequent ups and downs so often in the past (not only in cricket)
Pitches in each country are prepared such that it suits the strengths of the home team and exposes the weakness of the visiting team. That is the whole point of playing at home and away. When India travel to South Africa the pitches they get are mostly green tops so atleast when they play at home they should get pitches that are to their advantage.
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