New Zealand v India, 2nd test, Napier, March 26-30

details, lever, details...

Pm shortly

119/1 @ lunch. doremis boy charu sharma on now

UIVMM, it has been 32 years since NZ beat India by an innings.

UMB no longer U?

Draw.

Bore draw?

So Dravid fails to make a 200. Can Sachin make himself and Trev a hero?

IS Trev a Super shoemaker?

SRT seems to be getting into the groove.

HH_pink wrote:SRT seems to be getting into the groove.

Aye - on fire.

When's the next test. If it is back to back the Kiwi bowlers are going to be exhausted if they bowl first.

Really poor decision by DV to enforce the follow on.

True, the next test starts 3 days after this one finishes.

Gambhir and Sachin get to 100 and 50 respectively.

Gambhir's first century outside the subcontinent. Is this tour the dawn of a new Gambhir (though the sNooZies can be considered minnows)?

Paul Keating wrote:I think NZ should

What a shocking prediction.

Batman wrote:Sachin, Dravid and Laxman played well under the circumstances and really needed some common sense from guys like Yuvi, GG and DK. After a long time Dravid is playing confidently without wasting too much time scractching around. That he is willing to take singles or hit a boundary with stumps approaching both days shows he is relaxed.

Today morning I was thinking Vettori would be a nutter if he took chances of a follow on. Batting second would have given him sufficient time to not just set a score of 500 odd for India but sufficient time to bowl us out as well. I am afraid unless India plays in a panic mode or without common sense, batting again just helps India better. They just need to stop thinking of the follow on, be relaxed and with all the time in world just look at the things session to session. If they can hang in there and get past 500 in the process, It will be the Kiwis who will be on the backfoot batting last.

Dravid, GG and Sachin with Laxman just need to bat without stress and look to spend just enough time in the middle. if they can do that then we still have a chance of enforcing a draw or even a victory. Just one big partnership [like Taylor-Ryder] is needed to turn it around. We have done it before. I think on being called to bat again, India would be more confident of turning it around then being asked to chase a mammoth score over last 4 sessions. We now just need to think of batting out tomorrow session by session and hope Kiwis don't get enough time to finish the job. Then see which way the momentum is going.

Had we been asked to bat last, we would have had no chance. A Kiwi win was assured. But now we have a 50% chance if we apply ourselves. I hope Vettori's decision to ask us to follow on comes back to haunt him big time. I really do. Because IF India even draws up from here, they will take more confidence out of it!

So far it's worked out quite fine! I am glad I didn't woof us out this time


What can I say about Sehwag. He may be arguably on the way to greatness and may be the second most destructive bastman after Viv in the game, but he will never be an all time great or a genius if he wastes his talent to hot headed senseless rashes like he did in both the innings this test. reminded me of his recklessness in SA which almost finished his test career sometime back. Treating the spinners with such utter disrespect and contempt out of sheer arrogance is not on. Not when India was staring at the mounatin of runs to chase since the first innings itself. Hope he learns a lesson or two in humility.


GG definately can't be called an UMB anymore. Sure he remains to be tested in SA and Aus, but at least he has shown the stomach to handle pressure unlike his predecessor Jaffar. Incidentally he is the second fastest in test history of India to the 2,000 run mark with this test, and well ahead of Dravid, SRT, Azhar and Ganguly to achieve it.


Yuvraj - Enough chances have been given to him. When will the bedazzled selectors and the captains realize that he is another Ajay Jadeja for India. Absolutely genius in the 50 over format with smart running and power hitting with some useful part time bowling but utterly crap in the real thing........

Before taipan jumps in, batman meant 2nd fastest Indian.

doremi wrote:Before taipan jumps in, batman meant 2nd fastest Indian.

I missed that in my post. Thanks for pointing it out.

It's amazing how the crappy Indian media react to performances even before a test is over. They were demonizing Team India's flop show in 1st innings like this was the worst they ever did over any one day and now suddenly they are all talking about the resilence and fightback.

It is even more galling when certain ex-players of the past who were less than average players with unflattering career records, mediocre in every way and first to crack under the slightest pressure sit in judgement in TV studios against current players who have done the most to bring India up the success ladder!

As for some people who dissed off Sehwag's captaincy, there was not much a guy can do if experienced youngsters like Yuvraj spill easy sitters so regularly. You have to give some credit to the Kiwis who took their second chances and applied themselves. He can be blamed for his extremely arrogant batting this test and nothing else much. I for one am more interested in seeing what happens when things start going wrong for Dhoni as well as captain.

As far as Yuvraj is concerned once SRT, Laxman and Dravid are gone, we don't have half decent replacements anyways. We will need to look at Yuvraj the test player in a different light and stop measuring him in terms of guys like Azhar, Dravid, Laxxa, SRT and Ganguly. We will have to accept that for all his potential he won't be as great as any of the above and may just be a decent test player over a period of time [hopefully]. Lets face it, someone like him would probably still make it into a Pak, Kiwi, Lankan or an England side. We need to accept him in that regard and hope we find more better commited or talented players for tests soon.

Follow ons are a funny business. In 1999 when Sachin and coach Kapil refused to enforce a follow on and chose to bat again, we fans criticized them as well as media over their stand that bowlers were tired on a very flat lifeless deck. We presumed that we would roll over the Kiwis in a little over a day's cricket left and win the test which ended in a draw at Ahmedabad. This test so far sure throws up room for doubt in a way.......

Yuvraj needs a score tomorrow. He has all the talent in the world but geez, he comes across as a lazy f*cker.

Henry wrote:Yuvraj needs a score tomorrow. He has all the talent in the world but geez, he comes across as a lazy f*cker.

He's the new Kambli.

They showed a stat today of his average outside the sub-c. 12.86 in 10 matches. Now I have been one of his biggest supporters, and I wanted him back into the side (though not so soon), but he has got to justify himself, show that he deserves it.

If he fails in the 2nd innings, I'd pick Vijay and bat him in the middle order. The guy looked promising against the Aussies. Could theoretically fit in at 3 in the future if he builds on.

And funny that you should bring up the media, yesterday I was watching the worst news channel in the history of the Universe (also known as India TV) for comic relief (BTW, if people were wondering, my sig comes from a hilarious story from that channel) and they actually labelled Sachin, Dravid and Laxman as failures, the three who actually scored a few runs. I think they still were under the impression that get up the 'senior's' back was still in fashion.

Tendulkar is batting as well as he ever has at the moment. A real delight to see.