Pakistan v India, 1st Test at Mohali, 8-12 March 2005

[Nikhil]

I'm not watching the match on the tele or anything, but from the commentary I'm reading, it seems Tendulkar is looking good. I read he had a big inside edge, which the umpire missed for a bat-pad off Kaneria. That's not a good omen for Pakistan for the rest of the series. Sehwag is having fun as usual. Hope he gets his double soon.

India will try to bat once. I guess a score of above 600 is what Ganguly would be looking at. At the current scoring rate, it won't be a very time consuming score too. But if a wicket or two fall, you never know what might happen. India on top and Pakistan's bowling and especially fielding are looking totally out of sorts.

[Shaka]

I don't think the bowling is totally out of sorts, it's basically a ODI bowling line up that isn't going to get wickets at test level on a half decent pitch. These same bowlers will look perfectly ok once the ODI's start, you watch and see.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Shaka

I don't think the bowling is totally out of sorts, it's basically a ODI bowling line up that isn't going to get wickets at test level on a half decent pitch. These same bowlers will look perfectly ok once the ODI's start, you watch and see.

The report in the newspaper this morning said that Sehwag didn't do any more than punish loose deliveries: it wasn't a ODI slog.. he just go fed a LOT of balls that were not in the right areas.

Seems Razzaq had the right idea.. but on a day where breakthroughs were not on the cards the bowlers needed to do as the Aussies did today against New Zealand: shut up shop. NZ were on top, and lost just 3 wickets, but McGrath went at 2.36... Gillespie at 2.67... Warne at 2.4... and Kasprowicz was found out.. going at 3.56.

Compare this:

G Gambhir                 0s   1s   2s   3s   4s   6s   Runs  Balls    RP6B
v Mohammad Sami           17    5    2    0    5    0     29     29    6.00
v Naved-ul-Hasan           2    2    0    0    0    0      2      4    3.00
v Abdul Razzaq             5    1    0    0    1    0      5      7    4.29
v Danish Kaneria           4    1    0    0    1    0      5      6    5.00
Total                     28    9    2    0    7    0     41     46    5.35

V Sehwag                  0s   1s   2s   3s   4s   6s   Runs  Balls    RP6B
v Mohammad Sami           21   13    0    1    3    0     28     38    4.42
v Naved-ul-Hasan          50   11    2    2    9    1     63     75    5.04
v Abdul Razzaq            34   11    4    1    3    1     40     54    4.44
v Danish Kaneria          53   14    6    0    4    0     42     77    3.27
Total                    158   49   12    4   19    2    173    244    4.25

No wickets.. but no control either.

I don't think the problem is that the bowlers are ODI bowlers who cannot trouble batsmen in Tests.. because sometimes it's just not feasible to trouble batsmen in Tests. What worries me is (for instance) that Sami fed Gambir a 4-ball and a single every over... that Naved-ul-Hasan Navad-ul-Hasan did the same to Sehwag... and that no-one was able to regain some sort of control.

You win some sessions.. you lose others.. but you need to make sure that when you are losing a session you do not also pretty much lose the match - going at 6-7 an over (which is what happened at the start of the innings) definitely falls into the latter bracket!

[Nikhil]

Looks like the pitch is still a good batting wicket. Just goes to show how well Kaneria bowled yesterday. Kept it below three runs an over and took six wickets. That's a good show.

India look to be in control. Unless Razzaq and Akmal do something special, India should win the match easily enough.

[Paoli]

Brilliant stuff from Razzaq and Akmal, especially the latter who scored his maiden test century....Congratulations to Pakistan who have drawn this test match

[workkey]

on the paper its a drawn match but i have been saying to my friends all the day that we have instead defeated indians by not letting them win this one.
last night i was talking with my friends and no one including me expected us to save this match but its been a great batting display by kamran and abdur razzaq

[Zainub]

I've been really very busy in the last four days otherwise I would have been here on day 4 to tell everyone that I (honestly speaking) did believe we could save the game

What Razzaq and Akmal did today was truely a stuff of legends - Kamran Akmal has now become the only wicket keeper batsmen ever from Pakistan to score hundreds in both one-day and test matches. He's always been in my good books, now though, he's streamrolled into the very peaks of it. Abdul Razzaq, well, he still has some way to go before he can satisfy all his critics about his test crudentials, but for until the next test, which by the way is just a ridiculous 2 days from today, he's done enough to be considered a hero! Our batting on the last day should have lifted the spirits of the entire team, just as it has lifted the spirits of all the fans here. Even though the result will go down in the history books as a draw, Pakistani fans and the team it self will feel like they've got the moral victory out of this one, and India will feel they've been robbed. Utterly memorable! And United beat Southampton 4-0 too today! What a day! What a day!

[vvvrulz]

Full credit to Akmal and Razzaq, truly extraordinary partnership.

In saying that, I'm bitterly disappointed at the Indians lack of sting, it seems that apart from Kumble, the rest were just going through the motions. Without the hunger, they'll never challenge the top, and they have the raw talent to do just that !

[Zainub]

In saying that, I'm bitterly disappointed at the Indians lack of sting, it seems that apart from Kumble, the rest were just going through the motions

You deny the credit Balaji deserves, he kept trying his best, and took 9 wickets in the match.

[Shaka]

Originally Posted by Zainub Razvi

Utterly memorable! And United beat Southampton 4-0 too today! What a day! What a day!

They've drawn Newcastle Utd in the semis though, so looks like your joy will be short-lived Zainub

I should warn you, Newcastle are a mighty team that knocked Chelsea out of this competition so Man U's chances of winning anything this season now hangs by a slender thread.