Comments on: sehwag in a wool cap

By: Dhananjay Mhatre

Dhananjay Mhatre — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:42:46 +0000

@jrod @raj @alex the pitches are getting fuckall because it seems the brief to the groundsmen these days is “make a 5 day pitch”. Now the groundsmen cannot rely on the defensive skills of today’s batters. So they make a fuckall pitch taken straight out of the airport runways.
Exception being cases where the home team is losing. eg: the Kanpur pitch against South Africa. The Inidians were trailing 1-0 and the Saffers historically do not play spin well. So we got the pitch which reminded us all of the terror tracks of the mid 90s.
Another example was the pitch prepared in Barbados in 2002. India won at Port of Spain. The next match was a virtual massacre.
Dhananjay Mhatre´s last blog ..Dhaanu: Random trivia – Under Dravid India won overseas victories in England and West Indies after loong time. And he was a poor captain? #cricket

By: raj

raj — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:01:46 +0000

Jrod, You,sir, ae consistently speaking up about pitches everywhere but I’m sure you will be the fist to admit that that is not the case with many english/ozzie blogger/newspaperman/former cricketer. There is an equal amount of pent up aggrression against bcci. Not many indians ae fans of bcci but we protest because we see hypocritical ranting against bcci – I am fairly convinced many of these ranters will care a damn if ecb or acb ran cricket and did the same things.

If you see a lot more indians, that is prolly because there are a lot of us indians around in this world

By: jrod

jrod — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:24:40 +0000

Alex, cheers. But it isn’t just India pitches people are complaining about. West Indian and English pitches are dreadful for bowling on, so many places around the world seem to have pitches that no one can get wickets on, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand have all had them in the last few years, the Waca is another one. They are popping up everywhere.

By: alex

alex — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:37:03 +0000

Jrod , i don’t call you anything. Infact we want 100’s of jrods to tell the truth like it is in a funny way.

you can’t expect sane response from sachin fans. They think sachin is god this and that. They are not indians. They are in a sachin cult.

Ignore them.

That said there is still an emotion in aussies/english in that bcci running cricket is not right for them. So they find issues with everything.

i don’t mind blaming BCCI for right reasons.

EVery country make pitches that suit their bowlers to get 20 wickets. India never had fast bowlers that can rattle opposition. They can get max 2-3 wickets. so only dustbowls they can surely win the matches with their spinners and flat wickets to keep the game for 5 days.

Srilanka makes spinning wicket , AUS makes bouncy wickets , SA , ENG make seaming wickets.

India is good for batting , so flat wickets. For me it do not matter what wicket is as long as there is a result or close to it.

Srilanak got crushed because of two things. 642 runs was long way and lost patience and also thought sreesanth was not good bowler. Sreesanth still got skills , he need to channelise it. Srilanka did not use brain and did not tire out bowlers and attack later.

The whole game would have been different if Jayawardene caught the sehwag. You never drop a catch of GOD or he will punish you.

By: jrod

jrod — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:14:01 +0000

Raj, I write about how great Dravid is, and Indians call me a bastard and a cheat because I am an Aussie. I think Indians do ok in the pent up aggression stakes.

By: raj

raj — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:16:43 +0000

Same thoughts better articulated here:
http://tcwj.blogspot.com/2009/11/thanks-sree-and-good-fer-ya.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tcwj+%28The+Cricket+Watcher%27s+Journal%29

A most pertinent comment from there:

Golandaaz said… :
You are so true about the pent up emotions against india. I can’t fathom what it is. I do not remember a time when I dismissed top class performances by the English or the Aussies simply because their boards were more powerful and more eviler than ours

By: raj

raj — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:14:58 +0000

Jrod – this comment is not directly addressed at you – a general rant
Where are the “India is creating dead pitches and killing test cricket” blokes now?
Jumped the gun, didnt you?

So, should I conclude that the current crop of Indian bowlers are so great that they extracted life out of a dead pitch? Or, more sensibly, that bloggers and commenters waiting for any chance to demean BCCI and India had just jumped the gun?

A few years back, Australia started scoring 360+ on the first day – it was hailed as a new age, a new era, a revolutionary change to Cricket. India does that – and it is either match fixing or pitch fixing? Where are your faces now – now that SL’s goose has been cooked well and truly on a dead pitch? This is lose-lose for you guys isnt it? You either maintain that it is a dead pitch and end up giving the indian bowlers undue credit or you admit that you were wrong about the pitch. I am enjoying it.

By: Sach

Sach — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:19:03 +0000

Though ridiculously outrageous it was, not the best. Fucken useless pitches, even Shane Watson could score a 100 on these pitches. Oh wait, he already did?
Sach´s last blog ..Going Underground

By: jrod

jrod — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:21:05 +0000

ZS, “I must confess a deep and dark secret; I am not one of those people who believe the Ashes are cricket. I want to believe it, I honestly do. But when I see a Sehwag slash through point, a Mushtaq wrong’un, or a Stephen Fleming trap at point I know that cricket is more important than the Ashes.”