It seems like Kumble has not played “Chitt – Putt” when he was young. Aur waisay bhee Chitt Putt budhaon kay kaam ki cheez nahee.

On the new thread I have highlighted a few points about Galle’s pitch and the number of wickets taken by seamers and spinners so lets go there and wait for the Chitt Putt show and the Madhu Galle and Madhu Balle turns and curves.

I hope your words come true dude. Kumble and India despartely need a win and Kumble needs to perform.

About Ranatunga, I think everyone agrees that he indeed crossed the line.

Amit,

Am just keeping my fingers corssed for the toss. Kumble, please win it! Practice the toss, if not your bowling! Chit tu hara, patt main jeeta!

It is great to hear about your safety Munir! Welcome back.

Thanks for your concerns and well wishes. I and my family are all safe in Istanbul, Turkey.

Yes, there were two major bomb blasts and they were not very far from our hotel, but thanks God we are all fine.

We are enjoying last few days of our trip, and so have been even busier.

I am not much aware of the latest cricket happenings, so it is best to avoid them

Absolutely amazing analysis there.

Man you should take a job with Cricinfo!

Yup, agreed …that was crucial partnership.
Atleast it was better than most of those sub-continental pitches where we used to see tame draws. When india play in auss, they show them baseball cricket .. then why not indian shud show them another version of this game … called gilly danda cricket

you are right in making that slight correction that MJ Clarke’s 6 wickets were for a loosing cause. A little more correction or addition here, it was not just the bowling of Bhajji and Murali Karthick, but the partnership of Laxman and Tendulkar made the difference. Later the Australians complained that the pitch was made for Gulli Danda and Polly Umrigar agreed with that notion because he was responsible for the pitch.

Pawan

Wow man you almost wrote a book of analysis, I hope that helps the Indian cause i.e., IF and only IF they read your comments

Slight correction here … M. Clark never did so in india …. his 6 wickets haul for 9 runs infact was in loosing cause, since india won that match by a narrow margin (13 runs) .. thanks to bhajji and murli karthik. But yeah u r rite …. the Mumbai pitch almost worked against indian.

Ranatunga is “larger than life” hero in sub-continent .. and its birth rite for these guys to blabber what they think …. infact later i became a huge “fan” of this guy …. i still remember how he used to compare sehwag with kaluwitharna. He still feels that kumble is the best leg spinner ever …. and “far ahead of warne”. I think board politics made him “sensible” now …. so we are witnessing less humorous statements by him. This time around he talked sense as an ex-cricketer, but as a board chairman he again crossed his limit.

A full analysis of Indian wickets in first test between India and SL —

FIRST INNINGS

1. V Sehwag c Warnapura b Kulasekara 25
A nothing shot really and threw away his wicket. This is the reason why everyone says Sehwag is irresponsible. Kulasekara bowls a dibly dobly innocent bouncer and Sehwag pulls it from outside off stump to square leg. Conclusion — Unnecessary wicket.

2. G Gambhir c Samaraweera b Muralitharan 39
Not exactly the shot you wanna play when you are a wicket down, but cannot really blame Gambhir for this shot. At that time, the crises had not really set-in and one must remember he was coming off a very good series, that is, Asia Cup so he the confidence with him. I would not call this wicket unnecessary wicket, but definitely avoidable.

3. R Dravid b Mendis 14
This one is a ripper. Out of this world guys! I bet, not many batsmen would have played that. You name your best player who can play such a brute of a delivery. Landing on middle stump and kissing the off-stume taking bails off on its way. No point in blaming Dravid and his sulkign form. Even Dravid at his best would not have been able to counter that. Not unavoidable, or unncessary or irresponsible, simply inevitable.

4. SR Tendulkar b Muralitharan 27
Murali’s Doosra picked quite late by Sachin, hits batm but could not get his bat out of the way and the ball hits bat first before deflecting to the stumps. That ball could have gone anywhere, but it was not Sachin’s or India’s day and hence the wicket to Muralidharan. Unlucky.

5. SC Ganguly c Kulasekara b Muralitharan 23
Swept and caught. People say its irresponsible, but not quite so. if it would have come off, it would have been runs, perhaps a boundry. But the question is whether such a shot was necessary in such circumstances? The answer is debatable. Sweep is not the safest shot, but quite effective in cricket and spinners do get irritated by sweep shots. Debatable.

6. KD Karthik c & b Muralitharan 9
Silly and irresponsible shot. Previously I had commented that had Dhoni been in instead of KD Karthik, the scenario would have been different. This shot was definitely uncalled for. Trying to hit Murali out of the park, when you have just come in and you know you are not Pietersen. Top edge and Murali does the rest. Irresponsible.

7. A Kumble lbw b Mendis 1
Nothing much to expect from this man with the bat, but he definitely dissapointed with the ball and he agrees. But LBW to Mendis is quite okay considering the fact that Kumble is not a recognized batsman. Tired to get forward and block the delivery. Obviously does not pick it and gets out evetually. Inevitable.

8. Harbhajan Singh c Warnapura b Muralitharan 9
Tailender and nothing much to expect. If biggies fail, then bhajji is not a superman, although he might think so, haha. Simple wicket for Murali with a doosra. Bhajji plays at it tentatively and the catchers around him are happy.

9. Z Khan lbw b Mendis 5
Tailenders wickets are really not respectable and hence even if Zaheer’s LBW was kinda doubtful, he was given out and not a huge hue or cry was raised. Had it been Tendulkar, it would have been a big issue.

10. VVS Laxman b Mendis 56
Running out of partners could have been a good excuse, but no, Laxman was comprehensively beaten and clean bowled by a magical delivery from Mendis. The big surprise was that he played for the right turn, but missed the flight. Missing the line of the ball is a big failure for any batsmen and indicates lack of concentration which might be due to the fact that he was left with Sharma, the last jawan in. Outplayed, literally.

SECOND INNINGS

1. V Sehwag lbw b Muralitharan 13
Tremendous delivery from Murali. Sehwag played for the off-spinner, but was beaten comprehensively by the doosra. He sure needs some spin bowling coaching if he needs to survive Murali henceforth. The shot was a shocker and clearly shows the skill or whatever you call of the bowler. Outfoxed.

2. VVS Laxman lbw b Mendis 21
The hero of the first innings departs cheaply and can you believe it, the delivery that got him in the second innings was the same as first innings off-spinner. The so-called spin guru got out in both innings with one delivery, which means there has got to be something about the delivery and will be talked about for ages, at least Laxman won’t forget it. This time though he goes back and tries to play on the back foot as opposed to the front foot, only managing to expose the gateway of India between his bat and pad and gets bowled compreshensively. Shocker!

3. SR Tendulkar c Dilshan b Muralitharan 12
Needn’t need to play this shot. The paddle sweep, which gives Sachin so much pleasure, let him down this time and hence the country which depended on him to stay on the wicket. Khansahab is right, he has lost the battle against Murali in first test match, but let us see who wins the War. Paddle sweep ending in thumb-kiss caught by Dilshan. Unlucky and uncalled for!

4. G Gambhir st HAPW Jayawardene b Muralitharan 43
The kid departs playing a rash shot. Been critisized for comign out of the crease and playing for the doosra and rightly so. Even though you are a new-comer at test level, your head won’t be spared, life is not easy if you play from India. Loads of expectations. About the shot – Rash.

5. SC Ganguly c Dilshan b Muralitharan 4
Dissapointing and sad. The man who was termed by many as the conquerer of Murali and he was in the last series played here between the two titans, collapsed completely. Perhaps he needs that out of the crease huge sixes that he hits to get going. But merit the ball, the golden arm spitted out. Why would anyone use a doosra if he can ball those rippers? He literally RIPped Ganguly out. R.I.P.ped.

6. R Dravid c Warnapura b Mendis 10
Even more sad. Once the wall that bowlers would rather try to jump over rather than break, now is getting holed out by new kid on the bloc. This dismissal is the breaking point, believe me, for Dravid’s career. If he fails another couple of times, he is gonna give up, I bet. Pray he makes a hundred in the next couple of innings, otherwise the nightmare would come true — soon Siddhart Vaidyanathan would be writing a career timeline for this great. Out!

7. KD Karthik c DPMD Jayawardene b Muralitharan 0
Lucky, no time for love? This is what happens when you waste a chance like he did in the first innings. Third day wicket dude and he finds out life is not as easy as stroll in the park with Delhi Daredevils. again R.I.P.ed, but by the dubious doosra. Spun-out!

8. A Kumble b Muralitharan 12
9. Harbhajan Singh b Mendis 15
10. Z Khan b Mendis 3
Formality.

SUMMARY —

Let me summarize whatever analysis is done above.

Basically there are three type of wickets — One in which bowlers brilliance gives him a wicket, second is where the batsmen gets himself out due to his stupidity, third is divine intervention (unlucky for batsmen)

The following summary is for the top seven batsmen, as they are considered responsible for getting the runs on board. Any runs from bowlers are bonus (at least for the Indian team).

Bowler’s brilliance (Murali or Mendis) –

1st Innings = Dravid, Laxman.
2nd Innings = Sehwag, Laxman, Ganguly, Dravid, Karthik.

Batsman’s ir(responsibility) —

1st Innings = Sehwag, Gambhir, Ganguly, Karthik.
2nd Innings = Gambhir.

Divine Intervention (unlucky) –

1st Innings = Sachin.
2nd Innings = Sachin.

Note that bolwer’s brilliance fetched SL 2 + 5 = 7 wickets in the match. Rather than saying only bowlers brilliance, some credit must also go to the third/fourth day pitch.

Batsman’s foolish shots fetched SL 4 + 1 = 5 wickets total in the match.

Another thing to be noted is that batsmen have their chances on such wickets in the first innings and should make most of it. Look, out of the seven crucial wickets the four wickets fell due to batsmens foolishness and hence India could not even reach 250. While in the second innings, the bowlers did not give any sort of chance to settle down. Apart from Gambhir all wickets were taken due to bowlers brilliance, which tells a story. Fourth day wicket combined with M&M’s brilliance won’t give you chance at all. So forget about fourth innings guys, if you at all have planned anything. The bowlers were so good and also the pitch was so condusive to their bowling that the batsmen did not get a chance to make errors in the second innings! That says a lot. If you are planning for a test match on such wickets, make sure you make the most of your first innings, IRRESPECTIVE of winning or losing the toss.

One argument that could be made is very interesting regarding the flow of match and wickets pattern — The first day gets washed out mostly and second day is very condusive to batting, so the batsmen makes the most. The third day, last session brings in fresh spinners and combined with tired bats, they create history, wickets tumble by buckets and suddenly panic sets in. Insulting for the “famed” batting line-up, wrong mind-set to go into the second innings, fourth day pitch with bowlers brilliance hands in India their third worst loss in the history of their cricket, even before Partition.

Blame the batsmen? Phew now it’s upto the reader to decide!