Prasanna

India wins Kanpur test in style

Finally after following Indian SA test series every night (PST), I got something to cheer about which will make my time worth it. Kudos to Team India, the stand-in captain MS Dhoni and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly for bringing cheers among Indian fans all over the world by wrapping up the third test inside three days, the crafty spinners being the architects of the win.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, spin is always going to be India's strength and the South Africans should be grateful to the curators of the first two tests (not taking any credit from their performance in this series though). The way in which wickets fell like ninepins yesterday was a treat to watch and after a long time one could witness classical Indian spin bowling similar to those of mid 90's where India were invincible at home.

Not sure whether Dhoni is a magician or tactician, right from the word go he puzzled both SA batsmen and Indian fans by opening the attack with Harbhajan, keeping run flow in check, bringing Ishant sharma briefly and surprising Mark Boucher, the next over replacing him again with a spinner, etc, etc, one really needs to know how his mind works, but after seeing the results its just a case of intuitive thinking towards the shortest path to victory :)

Sourav Ganguly played an innings of his lifetime and his innings is comparable to Dravid's effort in the final test in Jamaica in the Carribean series in 2006, both resulting in victories, hope the former captain brings more accolades to himself and the team in future. Harbhajan is back to his best on home soil and the way he shouldered responsibility in the absence of Anil is commendable.

In concluding, this is a hard fought series, both teams got a chance to know about their strengths and weaknesses, as mentioned by commentators about pitches in India, have green surface for domestic matches and a turning track for making Team India win!

Posted at 05:05AM Apr 14, 2008 by prasanna in Sports  |  Comments[1]

Cricket: The Importance of Spin and Turning tracks for Team India

Today, just like any other sleepless Indian fan after the capitulation in Ahmedabad, I was reading what the curator has for Kanpur test. I was taken aback by this comment in Cricinfo .

"A genuine sporting track, as Ahmedabad was, will definitely not suit India, given the form their pace bowlers are in. Being 1-0 down in the series, they can't afford a Chennai-like sleeping beauty either. As a result they have put all their eggs in the spin basket, perhaps the only basket they had."

It's very hard to understand why the eggs were not in spin basket in Chennai and Ahmedabad and it's not that we can't win on sporting wickets, the Perth test against Australia would have answered that convincingly with India being the First Asian team to win in Australia's favorite backyard, especially after the Sydney test row, what more, the series win in England after 21 years is also a sufficient proof.

But the real question to be answered is: What Kind of Wickets should India produce for any home series?

Have turning tracks before it gets too late, the real test of skill for any visiting team is to win matches in conditions familiar to the home team and that's what will make the series interesting for them and I am sure that quality teams like SA and Australia would be embracing such challenges rather than complaining about turning tracks.

There is nothing wrong in producing favorable tracks if you want to attract crowd who expect the home team to prevail over the opposition, also its the same case for India when they visit SA or Australia or England where a seaming, bouncy or swinging track always greets them and they should be upto the challenge.

Posted at 04:09AM Apr 11, 2008 by prasanna in Sports  |  Comments[0]