India won the second test against Australia today by 320 runs. The victory margin is that big for various reasons:
1. India batted well in the first innings with Ganguly's hundred and Dhoni's 92 getting India past an average score to a good score once Tendulkar had led the way with 88.
2. Australia bowled averagely. Bowling in India is hard. Ask Warne. Lee hasn't played in India before and is dealing with off-field problems and the other bowlers haven't really played test cricket before. Siddle and White are doing very well given their inexperience. Johnson appears to be able to bowl well against and in India but can't take wickets against anyone else. Which is kinda backwards but Ponting isn't going to complain at the moment.
3. Australia batted like idiots. For Watson to rescue the first innings and then Clarke to be the last batsman standing in the second indicates that there are problems. Hayden, Hussey and Ponting are the players you would expect to make hundreds when the team is up against it and they were MIA.
4. Dhoni's luck/karma/good captaincy inspired India and especially the bowlers to improve on their performances in the first test and achieve a deserved win. The bowlers out-performed Australia's attack with the pace of Sharma and Khan and the spin of Misra and Harbajan managing to get good batsmen out.
The first and second tests have shown that test cricket is alive and well despite all the 2020 hype. Here's hoping Australia fix their problems in time for the third test and make it a close series.
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4 comments:
Dhoni has to be the captain of India.
Kumble is pretty useless now. I hope he retires after this series.
With Dhoni India will go places. With Kumble they will stagnate.
Cheers.
Ps- Bro how about a link exchange.
Already added you :)
http://fly-slip.blogspot.com/
I wasn't sure when he'd be able to prove that he's had enough time as ODI captain to learn and take over but I think he's ready for the test job.
I don't think he's brilliant tactically - there are some areas where he's got to learn a bit more - but there's plenty of time for all that. More importantly the team seem to lift their spirits when he is in charge.
I think it would be a nice shift from the Fab Four India have relied on for so long towards the next set of players - Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina being 2 examples.
Link added. No problem although technically it's Sis not Bro :)
Without taking anything away from Dhoni, this was a test match where India clicked as a team.
In addition to Dhoni and Mishra, Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Sharma, Zaheer and Harbhajan - each made important contributions that pushed us that bit ahead.
I also believe Dhoni is still free from dressing room politics, and so has the support of every player - if he can maintain that it will be his biggest strength.
Good point Chinaman. I forgot to mention the dressing room politics. From the outside it does appear that Dhoni is still his own man and doesn't feel excessive loyalty to any other players. He manages to get them to work for each other which is one of the hardest things for a captain to do.
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