Wednesday 20 January 2010

Is this all India can do?

Well at the end of the third day's play, no doubt that the Indian openers started their batting in the second innings by losing just one wicket putting up a score of 122 on the board. But, at the same time they also allowed Bangladesh to score runs at will when despite at the end of day 2 being 3 down with 59 on board eventually ended their first innings total scoring 242 runs which was just 1 runs less than what the Indians could. And, I guess despite his past heroics, Sehwag should be once again reminded that he is playing test cricket and not the limited overs edition.

Remaining at the crease for a longer duration is as important as scoring runs. And so is putting up partnerships which can at most times prove as a weapon to win matches. But, similar to that in the first innings, where Sehwag got out after scoring a quickfire 52 from 51 balls, this time as well, Sehwag score a decent score of 45 from 58 balls. And, following that a nightwatchman in Amit Mishra has taken to the crease. May be Dhoni is doing all these only because India is sure to win this game. I wish this had been against any other team which gives India a run for their position in tests.

After 4 quick wickets in the Bangladeshi innings, it was all Bangladesh's show with Mahmudullah scoring 69 runs in the total of 242 which they eventually ended their first innings total. Second on the list would be Mushfiqur Rahim who scored 44 runs. And much to anyone's surprise, the two batsmen mentioned above came in at positions 7 and 8 and still could not be contained by the Indian bowlers that had the likes of Zaheer Khan and co. This can be analyzed in two ways. One, that the Indian batsmen didn't not bat to their full potential and two, the Bangladeshi batsmen fought with their full strength despite ending the previous day at 59/3.

Even on the previous day, when Bangladesh lost 3 wickets for a score of 59 runs, it was not before openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes scored 31 and 23 respectively and had scored 11 boundaries between them. Bangladesh were at one stage on the third day's play found reeling at 98 runs for the loss of 6 wickets which then saw the remaining four tail-end and lower middle order batsmen piling up another 144 runs on the board against India who are now rated as the number one team in test cricket. This was a bit of underestimation from the Indians' point of view with more of improvement for the Bangladeshi side.

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