Cricket Blog

Day 1 ReportThe test series is finally here and Day 1 belonged to India and Kumble. Losing the toss, the home team was asked to field first. However, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the seamers ripped through the Pakistani top order with Zaheer Khan doing most of the damage and Munaf Patel providing able support.

After the Pakistanis were reduced to 83/5, there looked to be no recovery and the Indian bowlers continued to apply the pressure. A classy knock from Misba ul-Haq saved the day for the visitors as they managed to reach 210/8 in 85.4 overs with Mohammad Sami offering some resistance.

Before the day began, India were on the backfoot due to RP Singh and Sreesanth not being able to prove match fitness. India then had to go with Munaf Patel who was called in as replacement. I would have loved to see Irfan Pathan back in the team on the back of his terrific comeback into the ODI team. However, Munaf justified his inclusion by bowling a tight line and length and supported Zaheer Khan superbly.

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Birmingham, the second biggest city in England, and the place where the Industrial revolution took birth. The weather is “supposed” to be bright and sunny, just what the Indians would love. However, the start is most likely to be under cloud cover. That shouldn’t bother India as Zaheer is going to be included in the side.

So lets get to the point. The series is level at 1-1. India came back from a humiliating defeat to scrape through in the second - thats what the scorecard would have us believe. The win was once again due to a balanced team effort. Even in the first match, India lost because the entire team failed (well it sure was a collective failure, hence a team effort). The 2nd ODI was a complete role reversal for Team India. The batsmen fired, the bowlers fired and the fielding completely misfired - yet again.

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Now this is the type of performance that will make an Indian fan eat his/her hat. In complete contrast to the 1st ODI, the Indian batsmen hammered the ball to all corners of the park. And the finish was in itself a nail-biter. I have, however, yet to see India lose a match after scoring in excess of 320 runs in an ODI, and today they came pretty close changing that.

It really was the Big 3 show today for India. The legends descended on Bristol and were, to their humble devotees, a treat to watch. This is the performance that they are capable of and the defeat in Rose Bowl looks even more humiliating.

Rahul Dravid won the toss yet again, and this time he had no hesitation on batting first on a pitch that had grass and was supposed to be full of pace and bounce. England decided to go for 5 seamers and Monty had to stay out to make way for Chris Tremlett. Did that decision turn out to be a good one or bad? The pitch deceived every person who analysed it, besides Rahul Dravid. He was the only one to read that spin would be the key and decided to bring in Ramesh Powar for a sick Zaheer Khan (down with flu, again). More on this further down.

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