Day1 & 2: A Fan's View Of The 1st Test at Chepauk
By SA
March 28 2008
I was a bit late getting to the game and missed Mckenzie's first half of the innings but boy , was he good in the 2nd half . Composure was great . I sit in a position where I got the Press Box's TV right over my head , the big screen in front of me and I'm in 3rd man position opposite the Pavilion, i.e. quite a nice spot to watch the game.
Our only threat in the bowling attack is Bajji . I don't understand why Kumble tried to bowl himself out of the slump when he was so dire in the first place. It was just not working out for him . In the last 15 overs he asked Sreesanth to warm twice or thrice but ended up not giving him any over . Sehwag bowling only killed the enthusiasm of the crowd.
Infact , Sreesanth turned and signalled us to sleep at one point of time.
Funnily and uncharacteristically , someone threw a bottle at him from the crowd and asked him to shut up and play the game and not f**k around.. .That was a funny moment !! The guy was acting too smart, Sree that is
Nothing else to write about. Chepauk was more than half full with such atrocious prices , rain in the last few days and a really boring affair so far. Chennai's knowledgeable cricket crowd deserves much more!
Lets hope we pick it up because I have to say , this is one of the most passion less performances I‘ve seen by the Indian team in Chepauk in a long time. There was absolutely no electricity in the field and in the ground. Hope tomorrow brings higher voltage.
It looks like a win is going to be very difficult for us. The toss is proving crucial now and the proteas have utilized it big time. The pitch has something in it for the pure spinners and the hard hitting speedsters ! Our only hope is Bajji and he proved that with his 5 wickets . Constantly grabbing the inches he gets with the batsman in this pitch today . You gotta give it to him as the rest of our bowling attack looked pathetic to me.
R.P is someone I rate as high as Ishant Sharma and he had an off day by all means. Sreesanth was his typical flash in the pan self and he spent half the time entertaining our stand and trying to show his passion for us n all that . While doing so , he ended up not WALKING in and missing an easy catch off some Tailender in the boundary ! Bajji gave him a right bollocking for that
I was not concentrating on the South African batsmen much because our bowling attack never really tried their heart out today. South Africans were having an easy time with our blunt bowling and PATHETIC fielding !!
The difference in this game is going to be South African pace attack IMO . All the 3 looked fantastic to me . Today I really saw the difference in pace bowling when watching on TV and from the stands. Dale Steyn is one hell of a bowler and he troubled our batsman consistently. The main difference b.w our pace attack and theirs , other than PACE was their discipline and strength ! They charged in for every ball like as if it was do or die ... R.P didn't do that, and Sree only did it for parts of his spells
Anyways , Sehwag looked like the typical Sehwag we have seen in Chepauk. He expressed himself beautifully today and was comfortable on all occasions except while facing Ntini. The running between the wickets was very lethargic, our batsman were not playing to make this game into a winnable one ! If they were , then I would have seen more of those 3's converted into 4's ! They were just strolling casually ..
I hope we have not conceded defeat mentally and that we avoid follow on fast and get S.A batting by day after tomorrow because the pitch is going to get spinner friendly by the day and we need that 4th day to be our bowling paradise !
Btw , the Mexican wave finally got going today. Dhoni turned to our stand and looked up to the sky and gestured that he was SHIVERING... We were chanting Sachin's name relentlessly and the little master waved at us from afar and asked us to take a breather.. Dravid tipped his hat off to our Stand and Sreesanth tried to become our favourite , IN VAIN
Do think of doing a match report from a fans eye view...we'd love to publish it...
Finish in 4 days as in ? A spinners wicket that will allow India to desotry SA in 4 days ?
I watched an Ind-WI match at Chepauk from the VIP member's club...sipping a drink and eating chilly chicken. Also stayed one night at the chepauk guest house.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:03:25:19:30:18 by anu_D.
SA
_____
ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
1984...against Eng..Neil Foster blew us away with a 11-fer
1985...snatched tie from the jaws of victory...umpire Vikram Raju was the culprit
1987...mighart of Indian batting against pakistan...every one of top 7 got big 50s except Srikant who scored a 100
1988...Shastri debut as captain....as was Raman, Ajay Sharma and Hirwani blew away a still strong WI. Kapil's 100 was majestic.
1989...i think we thrashed NZ
1993...thrshed Eng this time I think..young Tedulkar and Kambli blossomed
1997..Tendulkar bashed the daylight out of Warne
1999...Saddest defeat against pakistan....traitor Mongia and Tendulkar's best test match inning
2001....famous series win against Aus...Dighe the great
2005....rain save Aus....when all that we hd was 200 odd on final day
SA
Quote:2001....famous series win against Aus...Dighe the great
you must be justifiably quite proud... that was a great game...
I missed Mckenzie's first half of the innings but boy , was he good in the 2nd half . Composure was great . I sit in a position where I got the Press Box's TV right over my head , the big screen in front of me and the I'm in 3rd man position opposite the Pavilion !!
Our only threat in the bowling attack is Bajji . I don't understand why Kumble tried to bowl himself out of the slump when he was so dire in the first place. It was just not working out for him . In the last 15 overs , he asked Sreesanth to warm twice or thrice but ended up not giving him any over . Sehwag bowling only killed the enthusiasm of the crowd.
Infact , Sreesanth turned and signalled us to sleep at one point of time.
Funnily and uncharacteristically , someone threw a bottle at him from the crowd and asked him to shut up and play the game and not f**k around
.. That was a funny moment !! The guy was acting too smart , Sree
Nothin else to write about. Chepauk was more than half full with such atrocious prices , rain in the last few days and a really boring affair so far !
Lets hope we pick it up because I have to say , this is one of the most passion less performances I ve seen by the Indian team in Chepauk in a long time. There was absolutely no electricity in the field and in the ground !
SA
But I agree India went in negatively... with only 2 pacers... they should have included Pathan... if he didnt want to open they could have asked Ganguly or Dhoni to join Sehwag at the top...
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Tendulkar is the greatest cricketer of all time
SA
I wish Kumble had been a bit more adventurous and had included Pathan instead of Jaffer...
But his hands were probably tied...
Fielding and attitude was absolutely pathetic. Such a stark contrast from the ODI series!
RP Singh sucked big time.
But don't know why India wanted 7 batsmen on this kinda pitch.. especially when Kumble and Bhajji aren't total mugs with the bat either...
_____
ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
"Do you guys who watched the game on TV have similar views to what I saw in the ground ?? "
I have always found RSA little bit boring -even when they are scoring runs - just like NZ - anyway I went to sleep after lunch
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Tendulkar is the greatest cricketer of all time
It looks like a win is going to be very difficult for us. The toss is proving crucial now and the proteas have utilized it big time. The pitch has something in it for the pure spinners and the hard hitting speedsters ! Our only hope is Bajji and he proved that with his 5 wickets . Constantly grabbing the inches he gets with the batsman in this pitch today . You gotta give it to him as the rest of our bowling attack looked pathetic to me.
R.P is someone I rate as high as Ishant Sharma and he had an off day by all means. Sreesanth was his typical flash in the pan self and he spent half the time entertaining our stand and trying to show his passion for us n all that . While doing so , he ended up not WALKING in and missing an easy catch off some Tailender in the boundary ! Bajji gave him a right bollocking for that
...
I was not concentrating on the South African batsmen much because our bowling attack never really tried their heart out today. South Africans were having an easy time with our blunt bowling and PATHETIC fielding !!
The difference in this game is going to be South African pace attack IMO . All the 3 looked fantastic to me . Today I really saw the difference in pace bowling when watching on TV and from the stands. Dale Steyn is one hell of a bowler and he troubled our batsman consistently. The main difference b.w our pace attack and theirs , other than PACE was their discipline and strength ! They charged in for every ball like as if it was do or die ... R.P and Sree didn't do that !
Anyways , Sehwag looked like the typical Sehwag we have seen in Chepauk. He expressed himself beautifully today and was comfortable on all occasions except while facing Ntini. The running between the wickets was very lethargic, our batsman were not playing to make this game into a winnable one ! If they were , then I would have seen more of those 3's converted into 4's ! They were just strolling casually ..
I hope we have not conceded defeat mentally and that we avoid follow on fast and get S.A batting by day after tomorrow because the pitch is going to get spinner friendly by the day and we need that 4th day to be our bowling paradise !
Btw , the Mexican wave finally got going today. Dhoni turned to our stand and looked up to the sky and gestured that he was SHIVERING
... We were chanting Sachin's name relentlessly and the little master waved at us from afar and asked us to take a breather
... Dravid tipped his hat off to our Stand and Sreesanth tried to become our favourite , IN VAIN
SA
Thanks for sharing...
_____
ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
