Its Only Cricket

3rd Test: Australia wins Sydney Test (scorecard), South Africa won Test Series 2-1.. T20 & ODI series follows.
Current Cricket Series : South Africa vs Australia, West Indies vs New Zealand. Coming Up : India in NZ 2009.

Time for some real Indian cricket now


DravidPracticingSweep.jpgWhere Bangladeshis supposed to stretch India? I'm sure no. Neither were Ireland a potential opponent to be afraid of.

The honest fact is - real time for Indian cricket team (after world cup 2007 fall), starts now - with first one day international of Future Cup against South Africa. both teams played a 'sort of' practice games against host Ireland ~ but any win from today onwards will require some fighting..

Stormont a Small ground : so expect sixes. hitting classical fours at this Belfast stadium is tough - given the soggy outfield & good bowling conditions for seam bowlers. But, if batting team can keep 6-7 wickets for last 10 overs - hitting balls out of the ground won't require too much strength.

The Pitch : is slow. New white balls goes here n there, but older ball don't come that nicely onto the bat. Batsman also have to be careful of rain drops on the 22 yard pitch, & are well advised to wear full spikes instead of just front ones in their batting shoes.

Proteas will bowl pace :
First ace in South African bowling is Dale Steyn. Indian batters can drive straight down the pitch, but habit of going through mid-wicket won't be an answer against Styen - a smallish 140kmph bowler capable of outswinging at pace. It was reported that Sachin Tendulkar had a long net yesterday - mostly leaving the balls. The idea is to negotiate Makhaya Ntini's bounce. Then Indian batting will counter Vernon Philander ~ a very strong man. He bowls around 130km/hr but attacks stumps all the time. I expect the Indians to watch his line - cause 2 out of 6 balls Philander bowls, are pitched outside leg stump.. means no worry for LBW. I also have a feeling the South Afrika will retain Thandi Tshabalala.

The batting :
Inexperienced. Indian bowlers must be eitching to run through Proteas batting - if Captain Rahul Dravid win's the toss, n India bowls first. For Indian batting - I'll say the same thing - huge on paper, but no certainties.

Indian bowling : should have nice time. Pitch is justinKempRelaxing.jpgideal to play two spinners, but the boundaries short. Indian seamers are not expected to haunt African batting, if swing goes away.

-Start time : same as the timing for all matches starting in England. Means - 3.30pm from IST & so forth.
- Weather report : from Ireland for Tuesday, Friday & Sunday isn't special. But a curtailed India South Africa cricket match can be expected, as sun-light stays for a very long period in UK and around at this time of year.
-The tv coverage : is going all around the world with Nimbus communication holding broadcasting rights. DD1 in India is another option, but for other channels Internationally - try this.




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