Arm Ball

Aussies finally managed to reduce the lead to 86 from what one time it seemed it would be 100+. Match still hangs in delicate stage and much would depend upon how Sehwag bats tomorrow 1^st session and how Krejza bowls. India would need to atleast give 3 and half sessions to Aussies to chase the target of 300+ should India bat long and fast. A possible distraction could be Saurav Ganguly’s final international innings. He could even be promoted to # 3 ahead of RD to have a go at Aussies for one last time….

Australian strategy and runs scoring today was ridiculous and little less than 100 runs in first 2 sessions spoke how much Aussies have given up a hope to win this Test and retain the BG trophy. What were they trying to do by scoring at a snail pace ? Have they lost the zeal to win ? Or may be Bret Lee ‘s absence mattered big time to them ? Even if Australian bowling is ridiculous, they have been batting decently and are expected to have a go on India tomorrow to try and dismiss them cheaply.

Dhoni tried restrictive strategies to good results. Dried the runs in 1^st session and then all out in 2^nd session. Results were instantly to see. 230/2 to 270/6. That’s what restrictive style of cricket does and Aussies have never been known to play below run rate of 3…The “new age cricket” certainly isn’t helping Australia’s case. Except Gilchrist and Jacques, this batting line up still remains the same as the one which played entire last year since the retirements of Langer, Martyn and bowler duo after Ashes 2006. But the approaches remain stark contrasted.

Tomorrow ‘s day could also be a deciding factor for RD to book a place for England Tests or be dropped and hence retire. If that happens, it would be disastrous for India and certainly not affordable right now when already 2 of the 5 greats have walked into a retirement.

Cricket watching is going to change drastically the next time India plays a test match and the results of Kumble’s retirement are already showing up with Mishra showing no signs of being hair apparent or even 40% of his form in Mohali. After the 5-for in Mohali, he s got just 4 wkts in 3 innings. Plus he cannot bat and he cannot ball. Heir apparent to Anil who could bat decently well for 25-30 runs and hangin there in crunch times.

India made a mockery of a great start by Sehwag and the new kid on the block Murali Vijay by loosing 3 quick wkts in the last 30 minutes leading to the lunch. That in a way washes off the great work done by the openers and give Aussies a way to crawl back in the game after they seemed lost in the woods for first 90 minutes of play. And the wrecker in chief wasn’t Lee or Johnson, but the Tears in Heaven boy Jayson Krejza who got 2 surprising wkts of Dravid and Sehwag.

Ideally I would have loved to see Sehwag continuing his innings to convert to a big 100 along with Dravid, but the former captain seems to have lost it. A 0 isnt helping his matters anymore. I am not sure if this is the way he would like to go out. And I am also sure he is not contemplating retirement. That would be premature and devastating for India. A break after this test looms and he should play Ranji games to regain the rhythm and be back with the runs…

Vijay has had a decent debut and he would be a kid to watch out for, unfortunately no opener seems in the mood to retire or loss of form…So he might need to wait for his chances after Nagpur… Post lunch session we expect VVS and Sach to build up a good partnership and score runs so that we could put Aussies under some pressure. At 3/122, its advantage Australia…And too disgusting to see wkts going to Krejza…