Story Asian Test Championships 2005

[SaiSrini]

This story looks interesting.. Looking forward to the India-Pakistan test matches...

Lets hope Akthar doesnt stand in the way of tendulkar runnning on the pitch this time.. and lets hope the crowd doesnt ensure the match being played in front of an empty stadium.

 

[sohum]

India vs Sri Lanka
Kolkata Going To Catch Fire

Harsha Bhogle
Hello folks, and welcome to the first match of the 2005 Asian Test Championships. Today's match is between Sri Lanka and India, live from Kolkata. Kolkata is the hometown of the Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, and if his recent county form is anything to go by, the crowd is in for a real treat. I have with me Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar to preview this game. They will be with us for the whole tournament to set up the games and analyze each team's strengths and weaknesses. We will also be bringing in special guests from time to time to spice up the coverage. Now, let's have a look at the match on our hands. Gentlemen?

Sunil Gavaskar
Thank you Harsha. Well, I am really looking forward to this tournament. It is good to see the Asian cricketing neighbors play more cricket against each other. This is one of the primary ways cricket in this region will develop compared to cricket in, say, Australia. Not every team gets the chance to go to Australia often. Strong cricketing ties in Asia will ensure that teams continue to develop.

Ravi Shastri
I am in full agreement with Sunny Bhai. This is especially a great opportunity for teams such as Bangladesh to become stronger. Who knows? We may just see another Sri Lanka emerge from the blue! It seems pretty unlikely at the moment, but Sri Lanka did explode on the world scene suddenly, in the 1996 World Cup, and have since become one of the stronger nations in world cricket.

Harsha Bhogle
Very true. Let's shift our attention to the match that will be starting today from Eden Gardens: India vs. Sri Lanka. Who do you think holds the upper hand, in this encounter?

Ravi Shastri
Well I'd have to say that both these teams are evenly balanced at the moment. I would only give India the advantage because they are playing at home. Both teams haven't really played too much cricket in the recent past and thus they may be a little rusty. India, of course, are playing under the newly-appointed guidance of Greg Chappell. Sri Lanka, too, have Tom Moody under their belt. This encounter may be as much of a battle of the new strategies as proper cricket, out there.

Sunil Gavaskar
Yes, I expect both teams to play some exciting cricket. The Australians have revolutionized the test game in the past few years and what better than to have two Aussie coaches involved? It should be great stuff.

Harsha Bhogle
Who should we watch out for, do you think? I, in particular, want to see if Sehwag can continue his brilliant form in the recent past. That would be great viewership, in my opinion.

Sunil Gavaskar
Yes, it is players like Sehwag and Jayasuriya who will make this game interesting. I think India have finally found a potent opening combination in Sehwag and Gambhir. These two Delhiites seem to have an understanding that is allowing them to fetch runs at a brisk pace and in great magnitudes. As far as bowling goes, India would be hoping that Irfan Pathan will be able to find his imperial touch again--the one that promoted him to VIP status in Pakistan. Harbhajan and Kumble will also play a big role, in this Kolkata pitch.

Ravi Shastri
From the Sri Lankan point of view, their team looks much weaker on paper. But with unheralded players like Samaraweera and Dilshan in their team, who perform quite consistently in test cricket. But the onus obviously lies on the big players like Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Vaas and of course Muralitharan. Murali is making a comeback into test cricket, and he should have an immediate effect.

Harsha Bhogle
Wise words, my friends. Well, it's time for the pitch report and toss now, so let's head down to the ground. This new format means that the pitch report and toss will happen almost simultaneously--the captains will listen to the pitch report live and then the toss will happen. If nothing else, this should be a good test of the captain's cricketing knowledge!

...

Ramiz Raja
Let us have a look at this pitch, then. This pitch is quite hard, as it should be on the first day. As far as batting goes, this is a beauty. It should crack up in the next few days, as the bowlers follow-through on it and the sun cracks down on it. At the moment, it is just a batting paradise, and the captain winning the toss should definitely have a bat. If you can put up about 450-500 on board, you are set to greatly improve your chances of winning this match. Now over to Chris Broad, the ICC-appointed match referee, for the toss.

...

Chris Broad
Thank you Ramiz. I have with me Sourav Ganguly and Marvan Atapattu. Marvan will be calling. tosses the coin

Marvan Atapattu
Heads!

Chris Broad
Heads it is. Sri Lanka have won the toss.

Ramiz Raja
Well, Marvan. Important toss to win--what are you going to be doing?

Marvan Atapattu
Thank you, Ramiz. I think we will have a bowl on this pitch. I think this pitch is strong enough to last the five days and if we are able to dismiss India cheaply in the first innings, we should be able to push home an advantage. We will be hoping to use the early morning moisture to get some wickets and follow that up with a deadly spell from Muralitharan.

Ramiz Raja
Fair call. What is your team for the day?

Marvan Atapattu
Mostly the usual. We have gone in with a mixture of youth and experience. Hopefully it will pay off for us. Sanath and myself will be opening while the bulk of the bowling will be done by Vaasy and Muralitharan.

Ramiz Raja
Thank you, Marvan. Sourav, good toss to lose, perhaps?

Sourav Ganguly
Yes, maybe. I would have actually had a bat on this pitch myself. It looks a decent wicket and I'd like to cash in on it early.

Ramiz Raja
You're also playing in your home ground.

Sourav Ganguly
Yes, it's definitely a special experience. I've grown up around here and I think that will add to my confidence greatly. This city is great and I think I will be able to relax when I'm out there in the middle. Add to that the brilliant atmosphere, and you have yourself a great cricket game.

Ramiz Raja
Definitely. What is your team composition for today?

Sourav Ganguly
We've gone with 6 batsmen, 4 bowlers and a keeper. The batting order is more or less fixed and Dinesh Karthik has been selected as the wicket keeper. We're going in with both our experienced spinners--Harbhajan and Anil--along with Irfan and Balaji. Hopefully it will work out.

Ramiz Raja
Well, good luck then. Hope you can begin your campaign positively.

Sourav Ganguly
Thank you.

Ramiz Raja
So there you have it. Marvan Atapattu won the toss and put India into bat in what looks like perfect batting conditions. The effects of his decision will only be evident in the future. Back to the studio.

 

[sohum]

Harsha Bhogle
That was a summary of the match conditions and results of the toss. Let's just have a look at the line-ups now.

There you go. Any surprises?

Ravi Shastri
I'm definitely surprised at the exclusion of Tillakeratne Dilshan. I thought he definitely deserves a place in this team, possibly in place of Kumar Dharmasena. Maybe they are simply giving Dharmasena a chance to come back.

Sunil Gavaskar
I disagree with the selection of India's bowlers. I think Zaheer Khan definitely warranted a place in the team, being the only consistently performing bowler in the squad, in the last few matches that India have played. However, India have so many budding fast bowlers that the selectors can just reach into the hat and pull out a name.

Ravi Shastri
Yes, and that has both positives and negatives. While bowlers are not getting matches, they are also developing a desire to improve.

Harsha Bhogle
We have just about run out of time on this preview show. Please join us at lunch time to see how India fares. That's all from this preview show. Enjoy the production on H-Sports! Thank you.

 

[jazz]

good luck mate and execellent presentation, nice to harbhajan singh back into the indian lineup after being under scrunity of his bowling action

 

[sohum]

Day 1 Lunch Time Show

Lunch, Day 1
Harsha Bhogle
Welcome to FreshLime, the lunch time show for the Asian Test Cricket Championships, 2005. We will start off by looking at some of the highlights for this session of play. It was a session dominated early on by bowlers, then by batsmen and then again by bowlers.

As you can see, there were a few good shots played, but one has to give Sri Lanka the advantage at the moment. It was Chaminda Vaas with three wickets that really gave Sri Lanka the big advantage. He got the ball to do a bit early, and never really allowed the batsmen to settle down.

Sunil Gavaskar
Kudos to Chaminda Vaas for proving his captain's decision to bowl first correct. India seemed to be off to a flyer, reaching 20 off the first 4 overs with both Sehwag and Gambhir looking in brilliant touch. Gambhir then fell to a snorter of a delivery from Vaas. It was on off-stump and swung away at the last moment, taking the edge to the keeper. Brilliant bowling.

Harsha Bhogle
Yes. Gambhir was quite surprised to see the ball actually move. He had made a pretty comfortable 11.

Ravi Shastri
Indeed. Sehwag needed to stick around at the other hand but just a few balls later he misjudged the line of a Dilhara Fernando delivery and ended up playing all around it. The result? His stumps were castled. The best sight for a fast bowler's eyes.

Harsha Bhogle
Dravid and Tendulkar did settle down the boat and put together a 52-run partnership. But Tendulkar was finally outdone by a beautiful delivery from Vaas that just straightened off a length to take his off-stump. That was great stuff from Vaas, who was being bowled for abnormally long spells by his captain, in the Kolkata heat.

Sunil Gavaskar
As I said earlier, he backed up his captain beautifully. He even came out to take Sourav Ganguly a few overs earlier, although the latter did not look near comfortable. Sourav misjudged the length of a ball and ended up being bowled on the back foot when he should have been on the front foot. Just an outgrowth of low confidence on the international level. You're thinking too much about your batting to allow your natural talent to take over.

Harsha Bhogle
Indeed, he needs to sort that out. Let's have a look at the scorecard, batting statistics and bowling analysis.

As you can see there, Chaminda Vaas with the longest bowling spell so far--14 overs on the trot. In comparison, Muralitharan has only had 5 overs and was looking pretty dangerous. Fernando, too, had a comfortable spell.

Sunil Gavaskar
I just hope that in his excitement, Atapattu does not burn out Chaminda Vaas. It is very tiresome to bowl on the trot in such hot conditions, even if you are as experienced as Vaasy is. He will just have to change the bowling at some point.

Ravi Shastri
I am in accordance with those thoughts. Having a look at the batting statistics, it is evident that Dravid is batting quite comfortable with 37 off 67 balls. Tendulkar was not as comfortable, as he took 55 balls to notch up his 19. He did not look that fluent in any stage of his innings. Hopefully Dravid will build on his innings to make a big hundred.

Sunil Gavaskar
Well yes, that is really the point of the two batsmen out there, at the moment. They will need to bat out this session and take India out of trouble. Seeing that it is Dravid and Laxman in Kolkata, I think that will not be too much of a hassle.

Harsha Bhogle
Indeed, India need these two to come good today.

Ravi Shastri
Do not forget, also, that Greg Chappell after he first took the mantle as Indian coach, claimed that India must make 400 runs a day. This means that he will be pushing for them to be positive. While this means there is more chance of losing wickets, it also means the spectators will always be involved. If the spectators can be riled up, then India could find themselves on the better side of the coin.

Harsha Bhogle
All great thoughts and unfortunately we've ran out of time on our show. The batsmen will resume here on 81/4 after Lunch. Let's hope that we will witness another great session of cricket. Thank you for watching FreshLime.

 

[sohum]

good luck mate and execellent presentation, nice to harbhajan singh back into the indian lineup after being under scrunity of his bowling action

Thanks, buddy.

Oh, and I have decided that for every match I will be the home team. This will allow me to play as all teams at least once, meaning that they will be able to perform somewhat intelligently (damn that C2k4 AI).

 

[a47]

great innovative presentation pal!!
looking forward to some great matches here.
keep up the great work!!
thanks.

 

[sohum]

Thanks for the comments. I've almost completed the post-lunch session.

 

[The Champ]

india in real trouble

 

[sohum]

Ah, but they have recovered. I'll put in the next report when I have time.

 

[sohum]

Tea, Day 1
Harsha Bhogle
Welcome to SourLime, the tea time show for the Asian Test Cricket Championships, 2005. We will basically look at the highlights and give a general analysis of each team's position in the game.

Both Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have settled in wonderfully and are going about recreating that wonderful Eden Gardens magic that dominated the Australians in 2001.

Sunil Gavaskar
Indeed, the Sri Lankans went wicketless in this session which has swung the momentum in India's favor. From India's point of view, though, they would want to be scoring at a faster rate.

Ravi Shastri
Sublime half-century from Rahul Dravid under pressure. He has completely opened up to take his innings onto 84. VVS Laxman is providing ample support with his 48. If these two can get stuck in for most of the final session, we could see India gain a major advantage in this game.

Harsha Bhogle
Indeed. Let us just have a look at the scorecard and other statistics, for the benefit of the viewers.

Sunil Gavaskar
To Sri Lanka's credit, they have limited India's boundary hitting--a prolific method of scoring for this strokeplaying Indian batting line-up. Only 17 fours have been hit in 177 runs. That is less than 50% of the runs being scored in boundaries.

Ravi Shastri
Very true, however they are not able to limit the singles. That is the main way that momentum is built up, and the Indians are using the gaps in the field to their advantage.

Sunil Gavaskar
Yes, the Sri Lankans need to attack a bit more and make chances. VVS Laxman was even dropped once in the 40s, which does not augur any better for the Lankans. Laxman does not give many chances and once he gets one, he really puts paid to it.

Harsha Bhogle
And it was a pretty simple catch to... Mubarak at mid-off.

Ravi Shastri
It was as easy as they come, Harsha. Lollypop in the air and it seems that he had begun to celebrate before taking the catch. That could really have been a turning point in the game. 160-odd for 5 and that is trouble for any batting side in a test-match.

Sunil Gavaskar
The Lankans will just have to forget about it and attack the next session with more vigour and try to make chances. The only way they can sustain some advantage is by getting wickets. And they cannot do that by keeping Muralitharan out of the bowling attack.

Harsha Bhogle
That is one thing I cannot understand... why is Muralitharan not being bowled?

Ravi Shastri
It is extremely bizarre, I agree. Vaas has bowled over 20 overs but Murali has bowled only 5. I do not know. Perhaps he is injured or has some stomach problems. I do not know why he is still fielding out there. Perhaps Atapattu can shed some light on this at the end of the day.

Sunil Gavaskar
I'm sure there's a good reason for this--there has to be. If your main strike bowler has only bowled 5 overs after 2 full sessions of test cricket, there has to be some problem with him. I do not think the captain can choose to keep him out of the attack.

Harsha Bhogle
Thank you gentlemen. We are ready to receive broadcast from the Eden Gardens. What are your last thoughts on this game, so far?

Sunil Gavaskar
For me, India hold the driver's seat at the moment. We have two professional and proven test batsmen out there who are known to play long innings. I'm sure Dravid will convert this century into a pretty big one, perhaps even his fifth double century. Laxman of course holds the record for second-highest individual score in Indian test cricket--281 made on this very ground. If the Indians continue to concentrate and there is no Murali, I see India notching up just about 300 today for the loss of 4-5 wickets.

Ravi Shastri
I mostly agree with Sunny-bhai. I think, though, that the Sri Lankans will make a comeback in this third session. All they need is one break and then the spin trio of Chandana, Jayasuriya and Muralitharan should be able to sink their teeth into some fresh meat.

Harsha Bhogle
Thanks, folks. Let us now head to Kolkata for the final session of play on Day 1.

 

[m_vaughan]

Dravid and Laxman - Part II

 

[jazz]

Dravid and Laxman - Part II

you mean part 3 because they had a big partnership against austrlia in kolkatta and a big partnership in adelaide against australia

 

[sohum]

I have 2 sessions worth of updating to do but I'm leaving on holiday early tomorrow morning. No laptop, either. So I'll be back on June 28th, earliest. Have fun till then. I guess you can debate the plausible winners till then.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

India!