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Loading ...Well played England too…I am sure this England team has earned a lot of fans in India, first, for playing the test and 2nd, for the manner in which they played. I have always supported the Aussies in all the Ashes contests so far…Pommies of the world, come 2009 & you will have a new fan cheering for you.
Well played India
By Will 2 years ago, mid-December Add your comment below
Three cheers to India for winning a superb Test. That it took place at all was a surprise. That Sachin Tendulkar hit the winning runs, bringing up his hundred in the process, was a script not even his mother could have written. It was a bizarrely pristine and classic manner in which to end a Test whose preparations were blighted not by rain, or poor form, or injuries, but by terror.
There will be some sickly and romantic notions in the coming days that this win has shoved it up the terrorists. That India have won and the terrorists have lost. And it’s true that without the Mumbai terrorist strikes, we wouldn’t be feeling like we are at the moment. England’s supporters can be proud of a team who, for three-and-a-half days, dominated a Test on the subcontinent. India’s are ecstatic for two brilliant performances which propelled an unlikely win. Even removing the context of Mumbai, India’s win today was hugely significant.
Impressive for its boldness, but what struck me (I’ve only seen highlights so don’t shout me down) is how un-Indian their approach was. India have occasionally produced bullet wins out of nowhere before tripping up. Yet this win had a composure and belief about it. Granted, Virender Sehwag’s Gilchristian attack on the fourth day provided much of the belief (and vital runs), and who else would you rather have anchor a fifth-day chase than Tendulkar? But those two huge figures aside, India rose to the occasion when it mattered and believed they could win more than England.
One word of warning: don’t let’s compare India to Australia. It’ll happen – let’s face it, India is going to be drunk on this for days on end – but it would be premature to suggest they are the new No.1, however much their fans demand it be true. They’re definitely on the right track though.
So too, I think, are England. India is the hardest place to tour and they dominated much of the Test when nobody expected them to. That they lost it in the last day-and-a-half nevertheless suggests Kevin Pietersen will be as sleepless in Mohali as he has reportedly been in Chennai.
Indian fans, by all means praise your team to the hilt … but non-Indian fans, do also wade in. Anyone from South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan or wherever else, post your thoughts below.
Tags: england, england-in-india, india, sachin-tendulkar, virender-sehwag |
25 Responses to “Well played India”
December 16th, 2008 at 4.45 am
December 16th, 2008 at 7.52 am
Pommies of the world ,I’m certainly not cheering for you.
I actually prefer Australia to England.Atleast they can play some cricket & don’t overtly rely on 1 very overworked ,very fragile,considerably overweight,slightly eccentric individual.
Poor,poor Andrew Flintoff.
Is he still alive?He must be closer to dead than alive.
He’s good for the game.Cricket needs characters like him.Hopefully he won’t go the Akhtar way & play 1 year to get & stay injured for the next 3.
“Impressive for its boldness, but what struck me (I’ve only seen highlights so don’t shout me down) is how un-Indian their approach was.”
You really expect to get away with that shit of a statement lil pommie.
This victory showcased Indian skill to the world.
Composure & boldness came into the indian team about 8 years ago when Ganguly took over.You’re very late in spotting those qualities.
I think its moderately insulting to Virender Sehwag to label his innings ‘Gilchristian’.There’s only 1 Viru.It was a typical Viru innings.Sehwagesque??No Gilchrist.No if ,No but.Just Viru the Jatt.
December 16th, 2008 at 8.19 am
“One word of warning: don’t let’s …………………………………………………………………………….. on the right track though.”
Instantaneously,India is the best team in the world.Test,ODI,T-20.
They’ve had a magnificent year & its only when important members have been unavailable that they’ve had 1 or 2 poor results.Don’t forget Dhoni’s won 4 out of 4.It hasn’t happened in the modern era.3 Against SA & Aus which are good teams.They have to get over their starting problems,though.
But yeah,winning consistently for years to come is what is expected of them.They’re much more than good enough but they’ll require result-oriented pitches at home so that they don’t win 3 test series 1-0 or 2-0 but 3-0.
“So too, I think, are England. India is the hardest ………………………………………………………………………reportedly been in Chennai.”
Stop dreaming.India had a bad first 3 days.They are poor starters.Even in this great year that they’ve had they’ve started poorly every time.Having seen teams like Srilanka & Pakistan play a lot of cricket & their attacks,batting line-ups(& this is test cricket I’m talking about buddy,you suck at limited overs stuff anyways),
you aren’t as good as you think you are.1 Flintoff who keeps bowling his heart,liver,pancreas & kidneys out for you doesn’t make you a good team even.
When was the last time you beat India?
96,I think.Ganguly’s debut series it was.So thats 12 years + the time inbetween the next indo-eng series in Eng.Long time,don’t you think?
Aus,SA are definitely better than you.Pakstan’s pace attack comprising of Gul,Tanvir & Akhtar(He’s back) will demolish you & Lanka with the 2 M’s will not spare you either whenever you come up against them.
You give us one word of warning,I give you many more words of reality-YOU, don’t get drunk on your domination of India for 3 days.Good teams don’t lose from that position.It was a humongous batting failure from the Indian team in the first innings that was the reason for your dominance,not some outstanding play by England.Incidentally,the last time Indian top 6 failed was against Aus in bangalore in the ‘first innings of the first test’ where the lower order rescued India very much like this time. Its just NewZealand,Windies,Bangladesh & Zimbabwe are the 4 teams that you’re better than.Both NZl & Windies might be as good if not better than you in ODI’s.English cricket is going the windies way.10 sessions you play at your best & India at its worst & you still LOSE the match.
December 16th, 2008 at 10.58 am
India’s last five Test series- in Australia, Australia won 2-1; in India against South Africa, drawn 1-1; in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka 2-1; in India against Australia, India won 2-0; in this series at home they lead 1-0. Assuming England don’t tie the series, India will have won just two series out of their last five, both at home. While they’re undoubtedly an excellent side, until they start consistently winning away from home they can’t be considered to be the best.
South Africa IMO have much more cause to be called the best- they’ve won eight of their last ten series, lost only one. But despite that, I still think Australia are the best team overall- they may have lost in India, but India’s one of the harder places to play in, and they have to do a lot worse to fall off the perch.
December 16th, 2008 at 11.23 am
Sunny,
Just because you and I are Indian, India does not become the best team in the world. As Marcus pointed out, we have to start beating teams away from home consistently. I am not talking about winning tests, we need to start winning series.
I still feel our batting is susceptible against good bowling (SA in India (pace) & India in SL (spin) are examples). We have a very good pace bowling unit. I rate only SA above or on par with us in pace. Spin bowling is a major worry as Harbhajan is slowly becoming a batsman. You have to really worry about our spin bowling when Sehwag & Yuvraj come out better bowlers than our frontline spinners. Yes, we are on the right track. But, not yet there.
December 16th, 2008 at 11.56 am
Sunny – “You give us one word of warning,I give you many more words of reality-YOU, don’t get drunk on your domination of India for 3 days.”
And YOU don’t get drunk on India dragging themselves out of the quite awful situation THEY (according to you) got themselves into. If India can’t start playing until the 4th day, they can’t be that great either…
England aren’t great, talent-wise we are limited in many ways and far behind what India have to call upon. And so this performance should be given every respect, especially when you think that the English batsmen who did the work aren’t exactly respected for their talent by many around the world.
I can’t argue against the notion that England’s bowling relies on Flintoff more than is healthy and has done for quite some time, but it seems in this match KP failed to help his other bowlers gain confidence enough to influence the game. Harmison needs his ego caressing constantly, Anderson seems to be back to his inconsistent old self, and Panesar needs a serious kick up the backside. Swann has his chance as next in line but I can’t see him ever tearing batting line-ups apart. We missed Sids in this game (how effective was Zaheer), and I think Broad has the character for these situations also.
I don’t believe at this point in time England are anywhere close to the top test playing nations, at least not year-round. But like West Indies and New Zealand, England are capable of bringing down the big teams a few notches, even a series win or 2, and I believe we will see they have learned from this test in Mohali.
December 16th, 2008 at 1.34 pm
MattyS:
“I believe we will see they have learned from this test in Mohali.”
I don’t.I see a serious as*-whipping coming up.They start poorly,& I’ve mentioned that as 1 of the things that stand in their way.I’ve stated that they need to win consistently-abroad & home I should mention now.& yeah,only fantastic teams drag & you can even say STEAL matches like that.Everyone has an off-day.Australia during their dominance which isn’t necessarily over(I think they & SA are good teams & have stated that), won quite a few matches like this.I mean winning the big moments, & winning them well.
I agree with your point about this performance of England being given respect.Here goes,well played Poms.Thanq for coming.But, you suck.#6 you are performancewise.
JII:
India haven’t ‘become’ the best in the world.Instantaneously they’re the best team.Get out of your overtly self-critical mindset & smell the coffee.
You’re slightly crazy to suggest spin bowling is a worry as Bhajji is the highest wicket taker in the year & has won Man of the series awards as well.Maybe it’s because He’s a Sikh & you don’t like them or his face.He bowled much better than the ‘great’ Kumble in Lanka.What cricket are you watching brother??Part timers can do better than the others coz of the shock value.It’s happened with Australia when Clarke won them the Sydney test alongwith Symonds.I don’t think anyone was worrying about them my ‘fellow indian’.Apart from Lanka no1 has better spinners than us.Keep cheering the useless England team & I will continue to back good cricketers like the ones sadly not getting any games in Pakstan or the much hated Aussie team.Even SA.I suppose it should be explained that this diversity of views from the same country,ie. India can be explained in our diversity.I’m sure your either Bengali or south Indian.Perfectionists,you are.Before you start typing hate-posts let me just say I have nothing against you guys & love eating Masala Dhosa.
Marcus:
I like the fact that you back opinion with information.Thats enhances your credibility unlike Mr.JII.
You’re right.But atleast India won a test in Aus.Aussies didn’t win anything in India.All those series were tough series ,yet India have done reasonably well.NO tendulkar or Sharma in the SA series or Dhoni(who’s got a 4 on 4 record) against Lanka.I have stated in my post that its only when imp members are missing that they’ve had problems.They beat Lanka in the following ODI series with basically a second string lineup.Kumble’s pathetic last year is also a factor responsible for your stats.Even so,I don’t see anyone except India beating Australia in Australia.Forget series,no1 else can win a test there.Or Lanka in Lanka as long as the 2 M’s play together.Lets put those stats in perspective.Competitive outside in our worst abroad series & dominant at home.I think thats bloody allright.& it’s not like India hasn’t won abroad.Eng,Pak,Windies have been beat.It’s also a lack of opportunity to play against the mid-rungers.India will do that in the next year & undisputably become the best.But I only stated that at the moment we’re the best in the world.Playing the best cricket in the world.Only fools will disagree.Also what I was saying was the English team is at best average in tests & horrible in Limited overs stuff.
Cheers….
December 16th, 2008 at 2.20 pm
(JII,you are Indian???I hope so.I think you want to say England has won a lot of fans for not resorting to blame game.Agreed.So has KP who is the most popular non-indian cricketer right now in india.He always gets the big cheers doesn’t he???But as Sunny & Matty point out,they aren’t that good.In fact they’re quite poor.
As for your spin bowling comment,less said about it the better.Have a look at spinners in world cricket.India are still producing spinners in stock.Bhajji,Ojha,Chawla,Nanda & Parmar with the Murali action are much better than any western spinner.Sehwag,Yuvraj are as not that bad and would be called spinners if they were born in South Africa.)
SouthAfrica is a good team but why is everyone assuming the kangaroos are dead???Very intense team the proteas but Kangaroos they are not.I don’t think they won in Sri Lanka either.
No India is not the best team in the world.At the moment,they’re prolly the best but they’ve got to maintain intensity against the slightly weaker teams to get that abroad record better and hence get the tag of the world’s best over a period of time.ODI’s and 20-20 is another story.They might be the best there.
India have to beat the Kiwis,proteas,kangaroos and sri lankans in their homelands to get a perfect record.But even if they get halfway there owing to the fierce competition and small gaps between teams,they would have got to number1.
As for Mohali,
India was poor for much of Chennai by their standards but what was England doing while India was underperforming???Nothing much.At the start of this tour I’d posted that England would have had a succesfull tour if they won 2 or more ODI’s.I didn’t mention the tests.Why??I thought it was obvious that England couldn’t/wouldn’t win a test in India.Now my beliefs about this English team have been reinforced.Not great.Not great at all.
(Matty,please spare the comparisons b/w the 2 teams.It’s sounds pathetic when you say india can’t be that great either.Day 2 & 3 were bad but they won by 6 wickets with a good R/R too.England is dull,boring and average while india might not be called the best test team yet but they are surely the most entertaining team in world cricket.That I think every1 agrees with.They’re also darn good.It’s a great combo.)
December 16th, 2008 at 2.23 pm
BTW,
“1 word of warning” is hilarious.”I warn you”.”I’m warning you” with a finger wagging symbol would have been even more hilarious.
December 16th, 2008 at 3.12 pm
Rediculous, as good as India are at the moment, they are miles behind the Australian sides of the late 90’s and early 00’s. Austrailia won some 16 test matches in a row before they were considered the best side of all time – compare that side to the current Indian one!
When Australia were at their peak they had 11 players who were not only the best in their positions, but also had 5 or 6 years of test cricket ahead of them. In 3 or 4 years time the India batting order will be completely different, with maybe only Ghambir and Yuvraj still playing.
India at home are extremely tough opponents, but away from home they were and still are more vunerable.
December 16th, 2008 at 7.17 pm
Despite some pretty loud chest beating here, I have overall seen very tempered cheer to the test win here…some of it probably due to the mumbai attacks. Sure, Sehwag was awesome, but if even one of his strokes in his audacious medley had resulted in his wicket, we would have hated him for being irresponsible. Sure, Tendulkar was there at the end and we all love him, but what about the 16 yrs of vitriol we have spewed on him for not winning one for us?
And what about the elephant in the room, Rahul Dravid? If we had actually gone down in this test, his twin failures would have been magnified and perhaps even blamed for the defeat.
I think there is a lot of good that has happened for this Indian cricket team and they have made huge strides from the Ganguly-Dravid era. We walk a very thin line when we cheer them, but to call them the best…now that’s a stretch.
December 16th, 2008 at 10.14 pm
Sunny
India may have been missing some key players when they lost those series, but I think that suggests a somewhat surprising lack of depth. If they were only missing one key batsman and one key bowler against South Africa, then those players should have been easily replaceable- say, by Sreesanth and Yuvraj, and no matter how good Dhoni is, I don’t believe that the wicketkeeper is generally so important to a team’s fortunes. If India couldn’t win without Tendulkar and Sharma, then they’re probably going to struggle a little when Tendulkar, Laxman and Dravid retire and they have to blood some new Test players all at once.
December 16th, 2008 at 11.09 pm
See…these sort of arrogant and overblown comments, Sunny, was what I was afraid might happen after the win. It’s nice to be right on something for once.
Have some perspective and drop the chip from your shoulder.
December 17th, 2008 at 12.48 am
@Sunny Singh
As a fellow Indian, I can’t help but be disgusted by your antics. If India is killing test cricket, it’s because of boorish fans such as yourself.
Humility is all the more important in victory.
December 17th, 2008 at 1.05 am
Cricket was the winner in this case. I was absolutely thrilled that England went to India and such a wonderful test match was played by the two teams.
Well played India and England. Lets savour this moment and forget who is the best or the second best.
Pasha.
December 17th, 2008 at 2.06 am
Well it’s best not to mention the Australia series at the start of the year as that can lead to a boiling of temperatures all around. As for the Sri Lanka series – I would say this – SL in SL is harder to beat then even India in India. Probably as hard as SA in SA or Australia in Australia. Since Australia in 2004 who has beaten SL at home ? As for South Africa the series was decided by one freaky spell by Steyn in Ahmedabad when India were bowled out for 76 in the first session of the game.
All in all India this year have played 14, won 6, lost 4, drawn 4.
December 17th, 2008 at 4.29 am
Sunny & Sathnam,
Your immaturity level is obvious in any comments that you post. So, I ignore you guys.
December 17th, 2008 at 9.52 am
Great win by India and an excellent performance by England to put India under pressure for most of the test. India’s playing some excellent cricket, but I (being an Indian fan myself) still feel that Australia is still number 1 and I would have to agree that South Africa is probably number 2.
More than anything else, for me personally, the greatest aspect of this test was Sachin batting till the very end in thr fourth innings and leading India to a win along with an unbeaten century. Much has been said about his inability to finish a test for India. In the 20th year of his career, he has hopefully proven citics wrong for the umpteenth time…
December 17th, 2008 at 12.05 pm
Willy,
Even though its your blog brother,let me make something very clear to you.
Either you have a serious inferiority complex or you’re a little delusional.
I’m arrogant & overblown now.Why?
I showed you English fans the mirror.Thats why.
Am I being arrogant when I state your team is justifiably #6?
In that case every westerner talking about the poverty in India is being arrogant.
More than blowing up my team,I’m actually pointing out flaws in yours.If you read my post,instead of just crying,you’d find out.
Also,it’s you who’s being arrogant when you say India’s gonna be drunk on this for days.FOr heaven’s sake,lets put things in perspective.
A win against England at home?Obvious eventuality.
OK,hitting someone when they’re down is not really the correct thing to do,but YOU stop being such a pansy.
I’m only stating stuff that I did even when your team came to India as the #3 ODI team in the world.I’d said you’re poor then & I’ve said exactly the same now.
If you can’t take criticism maybe you shouldn’t have a blog baby.
There are a few self-critical indians here who don’t really like me.But I do face up to them.
Maybe you’ve got to start looking at your shoulders for chips before crying out to others.
December 17th, 2008 at 12.06 pm
JII,
Good.I’d rather you not reply.Good luck with your dosas & idlis.
December 17th, 2008 at 1.45 pm
(Mature Uncle-JII,Is that so???I feel much the same and much more about you.Very mutual,the feeling is.Feel free to go away & never return or at the least, to get your post deleted.)
I agree with Sunny and Gaurav.Disagree with pod.
Why is South Africa no.2???The new rankings haven’t come out but as far as I know even if India draw the next game they go to the no.2 spot.I don’t see Proteas winning at all in Australia.As far as I’m concerned,it’s a fight between India and Australia for the top slot.With Proteas hot on their heels.England sadly for all the English supporters who I greatly respect for their cricket knowledge,it does seem you guys are in for some tough times.India don’t play a lot of games with Newzealand or Westindies otherwise their ranking would be better.Another point is that Pakistan is an outcast but a good team nevertheless.Noone except India play them.These are some reasons for India’s not getting being considerably ahead of Proteas.
I mean,how much more can Flintoff bowl before he gets injured???BTW,hope Virender Sehwag gets him to play for Delhi Daredevils.
As for India struggling when Dravid retires.Right now that statement can rightly be termed ‘a joke’.Sad,but the wall is not just cracking,it’s breaking in a hurry.Sachin will leave an unfillable hole.But Dravid & Laxman will be replaced quickly.India’s fielding & competitive edge will greatly increase once they’re gone. In any case thats in the future.Right now,India are very good & definitely by far the most entertaining team in the world.
December 17th, 2008 at 1.46 pm
But something which really troubles me is the the fact that hotel rooms have not been booked by any foreigners in Mohali.This is not the case normally.There were many mad ‘Barmy Army’ guys in Madras.Hopefully they’ll go to Mohali as well.
My originial home state of Punjab is the most prosperous,safest,cleanest state in India.Highest GDP,lowest poverty.As for ‘the’ beverages required.Let me tell you that in the fields of Punjab,farmers & landowners kids and toddlers are given beer to drink.
“Leg te Peg”(Chicken Legs & Patiala pegs) should take care of the ‘parched’ barmy army.Weather is like your England too.Most importantly,since Sikh terrorism was rooted out many years ago there have been no terrorist attacks or bomb blasts.Touchwood.Blasts have happened everywhere in India but have not & I pray will not happen in the Punjab,or anywhere else for that matter.
I hope there is significant English presence in the stands purely because I don’t expect many Indians to be there.Punjabis aren’t cricket crazy and play many other sports.There are 4 punjabis in the team now.Gambhir,Yuvraj,Harbhajan & Sharma.Yuvi & Bhajji are born & brought up there so hopefully their presence will bring a few locals to the stands.
December 19th, 2008 at 2.01 pm
India has been winning abroad, too. We beat England in 07, which is a huge deal. So any comment that “India isn’t the best till they win abroad” is pretty stupid. Imagine, we lost 2-1 to Aus (I’m not gonna get into discussing the various umpiring screw-ups) in Oz, but we smacked them 2-0 in India. And as they say, “to be the man, you gotta beat the man”.
We have dominated Oz for this entire season, and that puts us pretty high. IMO, I think India is not exactly no.1 just yet – I would place them joint no. 1 with AUS/RSA. I think AUS/IND/RSA are at the same level. RSA to me isn’t as great a team as they have been made out to be by their great series win ratios, as this current AUS v RSA series will reveal…
December 19th, 2008 at 11.08 pm
Ashwin
I contended that they have to start winning abroad *consistently*. Yes, you beat England last year, but South Africa beat England this year, and India were beating Australia at home even when the Australian team was IMO vastly superior to today’s- such as the teams of Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor. I still don’t think that makes them better than the South Africans, who’ve been nigh on unbeatable for two years.
December 29th, 2008 at 11.16 pm
Marcus – well after SA’s performance in AUS, I have to totally agree with you. No one expected them to dominate as they have, and having seen such a consummate performance, it would be fair to say that the world order is now probably: 1) SA, 2) IND/AUS (I’m being generous to Aus only coz of their extraordinary run from ‘95-’07.
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