India 346 for 5 (Dravid 119, Laxman 73*, Gambhir 65) v West Indies
If this was the perfect science equation for a batting side in a first of an important Test, this is how it would go:
65GautamG+38VirenderS+119RahulD+38SachinT+73notoutVVSLaxman= India's perfect day
What made Rahul Dravid's day is that not only his birthday, but he scored a century for his birthday to give a nice reward to himself. 20th attempt for Sachin Tendulkar but didn't even reach a half-century a handy 38.
It all started with, yet again, a rocket start by the openers of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir with some sweeps but the West Indies pace department as well as the fielding didn't match to the bowler's bowling and has been seen throughout the first day with only the 47th over of India's innings being the first out of the 2 maidens of today's play. The added misery of clumps of crowds dotted around the stands brought little liveliness in the game. The bowlers huffed and puffed and broke the 66 run partnership in 12 overs. Gambhir and Dravid posted a good partnership as well with Gambhir reaching his half-century of 66 before being caught out by a slower ball by Darren Sammy to leaving Dravid and Tendulkar with work to do.
Sachin Tendulkar was predicted to be the biggest attraction of Kolkata but this didn't seem realistic after a sparse turn out and this didn't even help Sachin's cause although playing with pace and punishing the attacking field to get himself to 38 with 5 boundaries to his name. Being caught by his weakness of left-arm spin from Devendra Bishoo (27-1-87-1), Laxman and Dravid got to be adventurous taking the attack to the bowlers by Dravid slogging and sweeping spin bowlers and medium pace bowlers like Sammy who got slogged 4 times during his innings.
Kraig Braithwaite was given the chance to show his talent of spin and he shown quite clearly and justified why he has been chosen in the team by clean bowling Rahul Dravid for a nifty 119. Braithwaite only was given 2 overs but getting one wicket was vital into limiting the amount of runs flowing by India for the next day.
Kemar Roach was given a just reward while for India, it was bad luck after Ishant Sharma, nightwatchman, was out for a golden duck at the last ball of the day to get India to a remarkable 346/5. More runs will arrive but how much before the end is nigh...
ICC delay their Test Championship for a further 4 years until 2017
The ICC has delayed the Test Championship not before 2017, says ICC Chief Executive, Haroon Largat. It was initially scheduled for 2013 in England but due to the lack of sponsors and broadcasters, it won't take place before 2017.
ESPN Star Sports, the official ICC broadcaster of the 2013 Champions Trophy hoped to convince other parties to take part with the top-four teams in the ICC rankings but there were significant financial challenges by the broadcaster and sponsors as well as significant implications with the broadcasting fees.
Lorgat said "We attempted to switch the Champions Trophy to become a Test championship but that is not going to be possible."
The MCC who were willing to accept and support the incentive were disappointed with the MCC Head of Cricket, John Stephenson, saying "We attempted to form the World Test Championship which I think would have been a very good context in ensuring the primacy of Test cricket but again we will have to wait for 2017 to see that as a reality."
No comments:
Post a Comment