Pathetic Indians

[Shaka]

About Ganguly's pitiful swipe at Afridi...you failed to mention that the ball turned 3 yards from the rough. Give the bowler some credit for a magnificent delivery.

[Zainub]

It was a great delivery, no doubt. But it was an equally awful shot. Let's be honest about this, Ganguly was terrible with his shot selection right through out the series, and never looked like getting any runs. Tendulkar also played a rash shot (he could have easily kept it down) but credit to Afridi for that too. The point here proabably is that no one is taking credit away from the Pakistani bowlers, and if they are, they shouldn't b/c Pakistan won against the odds, at the start of the day the most likely result was a draw. But India helped our cause by going in that negative frame of mind so quickly. And we used that to our advantage.

[Shaka]

India wouldn't be the first or last team to go into a defensive mode on the last day of test cricket. Scoring 350 on the last day to win a game has very rarely been done. It's all very well criticising the Indian team for refusing to play more expansively but when Ganguly plays an attacking shot and gets bowled he gets slaughtered for that!

England saved a few matches recently on the last day, in Sri Lanka especially the locked out defence worked perfectly. Tendulkar has been predictably criticised for his approach but the fact is he batted with immense skill and technique for almost two sessions to keep out the Pakistan attack. The game would have been wrapped up a lot quicker if he hadn't been there. If India are pathetic for not being able to bat out the final day, there are plenty of other teams who have been pathetic in similar circumstances.

[Zainub]

Fair enough Shaka, it was a last day pitch and India were justified in trying to look for a draw. But who says you can't be positive with your stroke play and still be looking to get a draw. A near perfect example of that was Kamran Akmal's inning at Mohali. By no chance could you have called it an un agressive innings. Yet Pakistan were still looking for a draw.

I think the criticism India are receiving is more because they were at one point aiming to win the match (with Sehwag at the crease and India socring at 4 an over) but once he departed, from that very moment they started thinking on the lines of trying to save the match. You would expect a batting line up consisting of Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman & Ganguly to still at least show some positive intent. Blocking every ball regardless is not positive intent. And if you do that more often then not you give the opposition a better chance of getting you out.

WRT to Saurav Ganguly in particular he tried to play an attacking shot at a dlivery which did not merit an attacking shot. He has done nothing what so ever to gain any sympathy of any kind, or from me at least.

[Shaka]

I am not defending Ganguly, he's been a fine captain for India but his form with the bat doesn't really justify his selection. What I don't really appreciate is the Indian efforts to look for scapegoats. Yes India have Tendulkar, Dravid Laxman and Sehwag and others in their team. So what? Sometimes the opposition will come up with a brilliant piece of fielding to get rid of a danger man like Sehwag, sometimes a great batsman like Dravid or Ganguly will get out to a peach of a delivery and sometimes a pair of bowlers will just bowl so well on the last day that any opposition would have a job keeping them at bay. My advice to Indians is to accept it gracefully like we did when we lost to India in Pakistan last year.

[vvvrulz]

Its not quite the same situation here, as it was a lack of mental fortitude that may have cost the indians. Had it been up to Pakistan to save the match, I think they would have made it, as we saw with Razzaq and Akmal earlier in the series.

[Zainub]

I tend to belive the criticism India is receiving is very well justified, and should not been seen as an excuse.

Meanwhile Sehwag has blasted his fellow team mates for how they batted. More on that here

Originally Posted by Sehwag

I was the only one capable of winning it

[vvvrulz]

Yeah I saw that, very curious comment, it shouldn't be this way. They shouldn't rely totally on Sehwag to get them home, at only one down, they still had their chances.

[Zainub]

I was ondering what could be the reason behind this, these are all accomplished test batsmen we are talking about after all. Lack of confidence? Under pressure?

This seems like a sad trend in India cricket, in previous years all the burden of expectation and hope was carried by Sachin Tendulkar, once he was gone half the battle was said to be won already, now that is seemingly the case with Virendar Sehwag.

[Shaka]

Originally Posted by Zainub Razvi

I was ondering what could be the reason behind this, these are all accomplished test batsmen we are talking about after all. Lack of confidence? Under pressure?

Or maybe just some very good bowling on the day perhaps? Even though Arshad Khan got the key wicket of Dravid with a pearler, for the most part he bowled fairly innocuous stuff while Kaneria and Afridi were at the throat with every delivery. It was a big factor on the day, I watched every minute so I can speak from a first hand view. It's no coincidence that those two were bowling at the death.