Story India's tour of Pakistan. Who will be victorious? (Please close)

[Highlander999]

Teams for First Test announced

Younis Khan got his captaining of to a good start by winning the toss. It is a very hot, sunny day and it has been dry for weeks, which is reflected in the pitch.

India have opted to go for two spinners Kumble and Harbhajan. It is a very experienced batting line up with people who can bat all the way down to nine. There is however no place for the young Chawla.

The big shock for Pakistan has been Asim Kamal being included in the team at No.6. It is a very unsual batting line up with quite a few faces who were not expected to be there. Shoiab Akhtar is in the squad and his pace is going to be vital for Pakistan. Imran Nazeer and Taufeeq Umar are the opening batsmen and they are going to have to face the pace of Khan and Pathan.

Who to watch out for​

Who are the key players in this match.

Asim Kamal: A relative unknown until a few days ago when he was given his chance by the pakistani Cricketing Board. It will be interesting to see how he copes

Sachin Tendulkar: A run making machine for India. Hopefully the captaincy won't prove too much for him.

Danish Kaneria: One of the best spinners in International Cricket. It will be interesting to see how he fares against this strong Indian batting line up

Younis Khan: Both captains are new too the job. Younis has been a run making machine for Pakistan like Sachin for India. Will he be able to cope with the pressure?

The first ball is due to be bowled any moment now. Stay tuned

 

[LUMB_YORKSHIRE]

good teams on either side it will be interesting to see how Asim Kamal does

 

[OrderDX]

good work highlander looking forward to the start!

 

[surendar]

Ganguly opening the bat in tests is a strange experimentation. Lets see how far its going to work out :cool:

 

[westindies2007]

cool story. I am with India, but looking at the line up Pak could win

 

[Master Khan]

Man Most people have voted India to win ... Or well
Looking foward to this
good luck highlander

 

[Highlander999]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments.

I would have updated today but I didn't get back home till past midnight due to being in Glasgow

 

[Highlander999]

India dominate morning of Day 1​

The Indian bowlers have dominated so far up till 12:30, this morning. The accurate bowling has meant that the run-rate has been very low. The Indian fielding has been truly amazing as well.

The first dismissal although took quite along time to arrive and it was the captain Sachin Tendulkar with his part-time spin who got the wicket.

The catch by Kumble, however was absolutely astonishing. A one handed dive to his weaker left side, he just plucked the ball out of the air

Harbhajan Singh was brought into the attack, along with Kumble quite early on, when it was apparant the pitch was turning quite a lot this early on Day 1. With his first ball Harbhjan got a wicket, trapping Imran Nazeer LBW attempting to sweep. The image below confirms the ball would have gone on to hit.

Three balls later Harbhajan struck again trapping Razzaq in a very dubious LBW decision as it was apparant the ball hit the batsman outside of the line. However India will take wickets no matter what way they come and Pakistan were now 31/3

A very dubious decision​

The two batsmen who perished in Harbahjan's first over

Perhaps to make up for this poor decision, Iqbal escpaed with an LBW which looked plum

So that is the case so far at 12:30 on Day 1. The Indian bowlers have done an extremely good job so far backed up by some good fielding.

Here is the Pakistani scorecard highlighting how poor the top order has done.

So India have dominated the morning, with Pakistan going at a run-rate of just above one an over. Younis Khan is going to have to build a pretty big partnership here with Iqbal, to post a decent total on the card. Sachin will have been pleased that his new reign as captain has got of to such a positive start, but he will now hope that the Indian bowlers can repeat the sucess they have had removing the top order with the middle order.

Main incidents this Morning

Harbhajan's double wicket maiden: A truly superb over of bowling, causing the batsmen all sort's of trouble varying line and pace. Maybe a crucial part of the innings

Tendulkar making the breakthrough: Even though the Pakistani batsmen had been making slow progress, they had weathered the new ball. By getting the wicket, it stopped a growing partnership.

Khan arriving at the crease: The Pakistani captain has been one of the best batsmen for Pakistan and his arrival could signify a Pakistani revival.

STAY TUNED​

 

[Spoobir]

India definitely on top here. Very poor from Pakistan's top order.

 

[LUMB_YORKSHIRE]

Pakistan are doing terribly good start for India

 

[King Pietersen]

31/3 off over 20 overs, slightly unrealistic. Must be a very very dull match to play. Good pres though. KUTGW !!

 

[Highlander999]

I would like to think, it was my good bowling. Excessive use of spin

 

[King Pietersen]

oh, i thought you were playing as Pakistan :S

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

What a horrible start for Pakistan India has started attack from the begining i am quite surprised to see, that spin has started the job so early just hope Pak get back to this game as soon as possible nice story and good presentation buddy

 

[Highlander999]

What a horrible start for Pakistan India has started attack from the begining i am quite surprised to see, that spin has started the job so early just hope Pak get back to this game as soon as possible nice story and good presentation buddy

Thanks Mate

I will be trying to make sure Pakistan don't get back into this. I had to introduce spin early on, because the only other pace option apart from the openers was Ganguly