Tag Archives: Sri Lanka

Team India No.1 in ICC Test Ranking

It was just in the 8th over after the game resumed on Sunday that Team India went to the top in the ICC Test rankings.

Post-match…

As continuation to Aditya’s post, India won the match and the series at the historic Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai against Sri Lanka making India top the ICC Test Ranking in history! The play resumed on Sunday being candy in India’s pocket, India just required 4 wickets without allowing Sri Lanka 59 runs to mark the win. Just allowing 35 runs, India bagged 4 wickets and made their day, rather year!

Series summary

A confident Dhoni and his men kept tact from the first test match itself at Ahmedabad, which was drawn. In the second test match at Kanpur, India had a big win marking Gambhir, Sehwag and Dravid’s ton, making the series 1-0. Now with Sunday’s win, India won the series 2-0 marking Sehwag’s double ton. He missed a triple ton (and a record) just by 7 runs. Nevertheless, he is the man-of-the-match and the man-of-the-series.

Even with Jayawardene’s double ton in the Ahmedabad Test, Indians managed a draw.

For India to stay on top…

India had managed to stay on top in ODI ranking for less than 24 hours with a win in Compaq Cup. South Africa won a match against England which made India slip to No.2. Event this position melted and India slipped back to No.3 when India lost the series to Australia, who took over the top position fron No.3.

But the case of Test Matches is different. For India to lead the board, they need to keep the aim in their mind to play good. A forthcoming series India in Bangladesh is coming up in January 2010. India needs to show to the world that they can be No.1 for a long time.

Dhoni has been marked India’s most succesful skipper now. He is yet to lose a match as skipper in Tests. India overall  played 10 matches with Dhoni as skipper and won seven with three draws.

Image Credit: Cricinfo

Links: Series home (cricinfo) | 3rd test, Mumbai (cricinfo)

Fascinating Test cricket battles in the week ahead

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The week that lies ahead will see some fascinating Test cricket action. It is quite a unique time as all Test playing nations except Bangladesh are involved in a test series. England is touring South Africa, West Indies are touring Austrialia, Pakistan are playing in New Zealand and closer home Sri Lanka will play the final Test of the three match series tomorrow against India.

India play Srilanka at the historic Brabourne…

India takes of Sri Lanka tomorrow at the Brabourne Stadium. It is a stadium that has been known to be the bastion of culture and legacy when it comes to cricket in India. The association which runs the stadium (CCI) had a falling out with the Mumbai Cricket Association back in the early 70s. This led MCA to construct a new stadium called the Wankhede. The two associations have gotten closer now a days and with the Wankhede stadium undergoing a major re-building exercise Brabourne gets its chance to host one more Test match after 36 long years. Last time Test cricket was played at the Brabourne, Sachin Tendulkar was not even born!

India will be keen to win this Test match as it will haul it upwards to being the No 1 ranked Test team in the ICC rankings. This will be quite an achievement for the Indian team who are not particularly hailed for their ability in Test cricket.

New Zealand host Pakistan…

Not sure if New Zealand will have their confidence high after last weeks win over Pakistan. The Pakistan team came very close to an unlikely win over the Kiwis. But I still feel Pakistan have some inherent technically challenged opening batsmen along with some sparkling yet not reliable batting lineup. They have a great bowling line up too but I still feel it would not be able to match up to New Zealand’s usual dose of resoluteness and professionalism. The Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan begins on 3rd December 2009. If you are in India you should be able to catch the action on Ten Sports in early morning around 430 am.

Australia host West Indies in Adelaide…

In the first Test Match Australia declared their innings at 480/8 and bowled out West Indies twice in less than 2 days. The match was over on the 3rd day itself and was one sided more of less from the first day’s first session. This sort of a defeat does not speak very highly of West Indies’ chances in the second Test at Adelaide. This match starts on Friday morning at 5.30 in the morning. Indian viewers should be able to catch the game on Star Cricket.

Who is killing Test cricket? T20 or the curators

With the rise of IPL and T20 cricket in general a lot of voices have showed concern that Test cricket might die out because the entertainment of T20 simply cannot be replicated by Test cricket. Some people are taking the middle path that Test cricket, ODIs and T20 all have their place. A lot of people watching cricket are younger people and hence they choose T20 over Test cricket.

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Is T20 really hurting Test Cricket?

Some might argue T20 cricket is making Test matches look boring and might even finish of the game. But I do not think Test cricket is losing it’s charm in India because of T20. I think it is because of the pitches Test matches are being played on.

Over the last 2 years India hosted 13 Test matches. 7 were drawn, 5 won by India and 1 lost. This includes 4 test series out of which India has won two and tied one. The 4th series is still continuing against Sri Lanka and guess what the first match is was drawn.

Now compare Test matches being played in Australia in the last two years. There were 9 Test matches held, 5 won by Australia while they lost 3. One match ended in a draw.

The stark comparison is there for everyone to see. When you play on sporting pitches of Australia there is a result 8 out of 9 times, where as in India there is a result 6 out of 13 times. Take for instance the Test match that just got over against Sri Lanka. 1598 runs were scored and only 21 wickets fell over 5 days. The worlds highest wicket-taker was bowling on a fifth day pitch leave alone taking wickets, he could hardly even trouble the batsmen. T20 is not the villain here, the pitch curator is the villain for making such feather beds.

Importance of Test Cricket

If you kill Test Cricket, you kill cricket. This will happen because the art of bowling is really polished and unrestricted only in Test matches. If a bowler picked up 2 wickets in 4 overs for 40 runs in a Test match, the bowler has bowled well. The scenario in T20 becomes different as 40 runs are too many. The focus is on runs rather than wickets for a bowler.

Test cricket is pure cricket. The batsman have to score runs, the bowlers have to take wickets. The simplicity of this concept brings about the skills in a cricketer out in its purest form. What do you think? Let me know with your comments.