17 Comments
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Mohan's avatar

It will be interesting to see how the ICC will “rate” this pitch after 17 wickets on the first day. Doctored pitch, anyone?

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Prem Panicker's avatar

Nothing doctored about it, it was a perfectly good Test wicket. Those wickets were the result of world class fast bowling and some fairly under-confident batting.

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Mohan's avatar

Yes of course. I was trying to point out the frequent debates on the quality of pitches when 17 wickets fall to spin vs. pace

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Renuka's avatar

Yes yes yes to your comments about Bumrah. He is a marvel. Being a worrier, am thinking who next after him?

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Prem Panicker's avatar

We've been through this -- or at least, I have -- since the days of Sunny Gavaskar, but somehow, we manage. Enjoy today. Time enough to worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. :-)

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Renuka's avatar

Virat Kohli flubs a slip chance off the same Labyschagne who took a similar catch. Bumrah is a delight to watch. Siraj has intent but needs to work harder non? And to diss the commentator - Manjrekar made a strange comment - apparently no one used 'strange and old terms such as leg glance'. Really? Gen Alpha doesn't watch cricket. He's just someone that adds zero value to commentary. Ugh! And are we seeing Kohli's last test series Down Under? Intent, fitness, past records all there, but form, reflexes, go abegging. Sigh!

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Prem Panicker's avatar

Certainly his last series in Oz. Watch him bat -- the neurons connecting eye and brain are slowing down; he is picking length and line fractionally slower than he used to, and in a game where it takes the blink of an eye for the ball to go from point of delivery to the wicketkeeper, a fraction is all it takes.

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Mohan's avatar

This now reminds us of the 90s Indian team

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Prem Panicker's avatar

Except, they didn't have the personnel or the inclination to fight back when they are pushed on the back foot.

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Mohan's avatar

Totally predictable, by the way!

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Mohan's avatar

If Pant is not coming to the party, we are perhaps looking at another sub-100 first innings?

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Prem Panicker's avatar

God knows. Said god also likely knows why, with so many newbies in the side and Kohli not in form, India opted to take first strike on a wicket they know nothing about.

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Mohan's avatar

And that too after the same disastrous decision in the first home test against NZ. Does the coach make so much of difference?

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Deepan Joshi's avatar

Predictable, and poor. Played the first over well and poor judgement of length and the desire to get on with it. Reached for it instead of letting it comes on. I wasn't expecting runs but for them to see the first spell either end.

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Prem Panicker's avatar

There is a lot of talk about "intent", these days, and not confined only to the Indian team either. And I am not knocking "intent".

The point though is, when you are thinking of what you want to do while sitting in the dugout, out there in the middle the only way to play is one ball at a time. Your intent might be to keep the board moving, to meet the ball early, whatever -- but you HAVE to play the actual ball that is bowled to do, and figure out whether it can be attacked, or must be played with caution.

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Harsh Vasavada's avatar

Extremely predictable. One weakness in Jaiswal’s game, and a pitch tailor made to exploit that. And he falls for it

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Prem Panicker's avatar

It will work somewhat better if India is batting second. Typically, these pitches start off with carry but less pace; then picks up in pace after the sun beats down on it for a session, and then evens out by the middle of day two and through day three. Not an exact science, and driving on the up while your feet are still moving is never a good idea, but certainly not the shot you want to play as your first sign of intent, early on the first morning.

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