India in West Indies

 Think we could give it some more time before we write off the youngsters just yet. Agreed Mukund dint look the part in his double outings withe bat but don't think the time is ripe to strike him off yet. Murali Vijay on the other hand is gonna run out of opportunities very soon. Wouldnt mind seeing Rohit Sharma in lieu of Vijay.

 Agreed with Kiranki that the likes of Rahane, Pujara Kohli all look better but the problem is none of them are openers. Here where India's problem lies the current two are the best  opening options in the domestic circuit for India by some distance. The only other opener whose fared better than these two is Wasim Jaffer who again unfortunately  is much closer to his cricket-career's expiry date.  Hopefully Gambhir and Sehwag can stay away from injuries.

 On the bowling front Ishant and Praveen did well, particularly PK who seems to bowl well within his limits and be effective at the same time. Glad to see him make most of his 'luck' debut chance after coming to the side at the expense of Munaf, Zaheer and Sreesanth.  Wonder if PK had anything to do with that weird coincidence of injuries  .  Oh I just love conspiracy theories.

sorry, I need to apologize for my above post, as long as Harbhajan, The best pressure situation batsmen in the world is batting, 400 is on the cards. WI might need around 500 to win here.

195 more to win, with 7 wickets in hand. Who is able to make a century on this wicket besides Rahul Dravid? Darren Bravo and Nash need to perform especially well. There's a remote chance for the Windies here if they don't capitulate. India is, nonetheless, in the box seat.

India have this in the bag. WI missed out in the first innings and it cost them. Now Dwayne Bravo or Gayle, and both Nash and Shiv lack match practice....

Well, well, if Rahul Dravid isn't a great batsman, then no one is.  Rahul Dravid has now made this Sabina Park pitch his own, something that not too many batsman, no matter how great they are, can say the same for.  In 2006, a pitch with swing, seam and lifting bounce, he made 2 half centuries and leading India to their first series win in the Caribbean.  That innings was one of the highest class.  Could the likes of lara, Tendulkar, Ponting, the 3 contemporary greats be able to do the same?  I don't think so.  Dravid is most definitely the wall!!!  Not the most flamboyant (although he has a lot of pretty shots) but certainly a great as far as I'm concerned!

You know what I find funny, everyone is on Darren Sammy's case to be dropped, yet his bowling stats for the home season so far reads an average of 19.5!!  Rampaul is next with 23 I think and Bishoo 30.  I don't think any West Indian bowler has average under 20 in a series other than Darren Sammy since Correy Collymore back in 2005 I think!  Clearly, the batting is the problem.  The bowling since in the WC has been doing well.

 A word on the strip . Haven't seen many like this one , one that had something for all kinds of bowling Fast , Medium pace, Swing, Spin. All the bowlers ,from both teams,  were among the wickets and other than Bhajji ,who got three wickets , no other bowler took less than four wickets in the match. Wasn't the worst batting track either like Dravid had pointed out. Was two-paced at times but generally there was enough consistent bounce to go after the loose deliveries.

Dhoni not happy with Harper's umpiring and planning to launch a complaint !!!

You say no to DRS, don't produce quality umpires any more and complain about umpiring. Utter rubbish. What else does he want then?

Edited by kirankri - 27 June 2011 at 6:32am

 @ Kirankri. Yes no doubt they should've gone for the DRS , but even then I think Dhoni's right in voicing his concerns. I mean six wrong decisions in one match not acceptable and given Harper's poor track record I don't know why the ICC persisting with him. Apparently many among within the ICC too not very fond of Harper and they'd already ceased to extended his contract to be among the elite panel of umpires.

   And all that news of bias all other rubbish are just media scoops, hearsay as of now atleast. For the record all Dhoni had said was that 'they(the team) would've been in their hotel rooms by then had the right decisions been made' , replying to a query in the Press conference. At no point did he even take any particular name, though its obvious that it was a jibe aimed at Harper as all six mistakes were made by him and on all occasions India being on the receiving end. Yes Dhoni well within his right to say what he did , reservations against the DRS or not.
 
 Anyways now that the DRS with the Hot-Spot has been made mandatory  . No such issues anymore I guess. 

Goodluck to Dhoni's men, Kensington Oval it is, it will definitely feature pace and bounce.  Both Indian openers back in the hut early again!

Did they not just recently demote him?

 Seems like India gonna go in with three seamers at Kensington Oval , with  Munaf likely to take Mishra's place. 

  Will the Windies go for Roach?  Can India finally end there jinx at Barbados?

13 wickets on day 1 compounds what I've said in another thread - when conditions favour the bowlers today's batsmen haven't a clue.  That pitch is a belter , the curator deserves a big pat on the back providing the kind of wicket that the Indians didn't want !  That the Windies are also struggling just shows how average they are - it's a perfect platform for Chanderpaul and Sarwan to grind out the runs and show how to bat on a sporting track.
               Will the curators in England have taken note - India don't like it around their throats !

 Ah! No doubt the Indian batsmen don't like it around their throat.  But this was a pitch that many would've been found wanting on.  May not have looked that bad though. Just shows that there just two class acts out there in Dravid and Laxman among the Indian ranks atm. Having said that, I still wouldn't be too hard on the youngsters just yet, many playing just their 2nd test. Like I said earlier, hopefully they come out better with the experience. Agreed with Sledger though, not many batsmen out there who know how to grind it out in today's era. 

 P.S: Whoever said Raina had a problem with the shorter stuff. He's looked the best batsman out there since the commencement of the Test series.  Also was got out genuinely, just once by the Windies bowlers.

 Thought Praveen bowled beautiful. He had most of the Windies batsmen in a soup. Kept beating  both the edges on numerous occasions. Infact was too good to even lure the edge of the blade. Needs to add a couple more yards though to have close to a successful stint in his Test career. 

Edited by vote4peace - 30 June 2011 at 10:14am