India pulls it off
So we are back from Bizarro World; India is batting well again. Holding out for two whole days after the follow on was a study in concentration and technique, and the draw was well deserved.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to suggest that the pitch saved India or that Vettori did himself no favours by enforcing the follow on. However, looking at things at the end of day three, you would have to back yourself to take 10 wickets over two days on any pitch, but given the nature of the pitch, you would want to give yourself as much of those two days to take the wickets.
As I suggested in a previous post, if India were going to save this test they would need someone to put in a performance equalling Ryder’s 201. In Gambhir’s 137 they got that performance. Obviously it is well off a double century, and scored at a SR of 31, it was hardly dazzling, but it did as much to save the match as Ryder’s did to set up a potential victory.
But having praised India, let’s not forget that NZ ruled this match. While India will take the honours from days 4 and 5, they were forced to play at an extremely tentative 2 runs an over, even for the majority of day 5 when a draw seemed certain. If anything, NZ dominated too much in the first three days, leaving India with no victory to chase and no option but to go all-out stodge.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I think taking the follow on was fine here and there wasn’t much NZ could have done to pull this one out. NZ got really lucky in the first innings, taking a wicket basically every time India played a false shot, but things are always going to turn back to the mean over time. NZ is a team with a bunch of players right around or just below the average for international cricket, so they should be happy with a game like this against the likes of India.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Ron, I feel the same. If NZ couldn’t get India out over 6 sessions, they were hardly going to do it in 4 just because the target was higher.
There seems to be a mild obsession amongst a section of Indian fans over the 2001 Ind–Aus match in Kolkata where India won after being asked to follow on. As if this match has forever invalidated the strategy of enforcing a follow on.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:20 am
Comparisons are always made with yesteryear performances. More than the possibility of repeating something similar, it is just an attempt to console yourself for a poor display of batting over the first three days (Irrational optimism). VVS’ form has waned and he has never looked in the same touch again.
With pitches increasingly flattening out, every bowling attack must somehow equip itself to pick up 20 wickets. People can’t take refuge on unsporting pitches anymore. If a greenish turf forces a batsman to adjust his technique, flat tracks should help bowlers to introduce variations and stock deliveries to their armoury.
April 1st, 2009 at 10:26 am
The declaration was a no-brainer. Even putting aside the uncertainty of knowing when to declare against a side featuring Sehwag, NZ needed to make the most of the end of the 3rd day pitch, before it died completely.
Lets put an end to unfair pitches
April 1st, 2009 at 6:49 pm
On a similar pitch in India, Zak, Ishanth and Munaf would be more dangerous as the SG ball is generally more amenable than tha Kookaburra for reverse swing(same with Dukes in England). Ask Australia – in England 2005 and in India 2008. The combination of flat tracks, Kookaburra ball and small grounds will kill test cricket. Unless one team plays really badly (India fielding and batting over the initial 3 days at Napier), we will get battathons like the Pak-SL series.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Well said adv,
And aren’t the Battng Nazis who are currently ruunng the show tryng to outlaw the Duke ball?