Series Review : The End of a Virtual No-Contest
Series Review : The End of a Virtual No-Contest
For many international cricket teams, a test tour of Bangladesh is a mere formality they have to complete with the fate of the series decided even before a ball is bowled. But, for a team like India, who have looked far from convincing this season thus far, this tour of Bangladesh came at a perfect time to rekindle their spirits that looked a bit depressed after the loss to Australia at home. Were we expecting a better resistence from the new kids on the block - Bangladesh ?? Cricketfundas.com gives its readers an exclusive series review of the recently concluded Test Series between Bangladesh and India in Bangladesh.
India :-
Batting :-
A tour of Bangladesh could not have come at a better time for Indian cricket, albeit it was a tour to a country, that does not yet know how to compete. But having said that, it was time for morale boosting in every sense of the word and just getting the right level of confidence before the beginning of a new year. Almost every Indian batter performed well, not only did he accumulate runs, but also accumulated confidence every time the ball stroked his bat. Sachin's 248* at Dhaka came at no better time to re-assure his fans of how well his elbow was playing and eased the feelings into an average Indian cricket fan that his A-game is slowly coming to the fore. Perhaps, that was not the only individual brilliance Bangladesh had to cope up with - a well made 75 by Zaheer Khan batting at No.11 was just the salt needed to add on to Bangladesh's already exposed wounds. And yes, the positives emerging out of this heavy run-getting is that it did not stop only at Dhaka, but the bandwagon continued to Chittagong, where Gautam Gambhir via his 139 reassured the faith showed on him by both the selectors and the captain. Apart from Gambhir, Chittagong was also a witness to a mentally strong batting display by Rahul Dravid, who rounded this year in great style with his sedate 160. Sometimes, we get carried away by the big runs, but somewhere in the context of the future, we might just realize how the 2 knocks of 71 and 88 by Saurav Ganguly was. From a batting perspective, records were broken as expected but the good thing was that these batsmen went beyond the records.
Bowling :-
Impeccable is the word that one can attribute to the Indian bowling in the Test series. It was a bowling effort, that asked unanswerable questions to the young Banglas and an effort that hardly had a challenge to face (apart from the 2 sessions that Mohd Ashraful made the bowlers' grey cells to work a bit). Irfan Pathan deservedly ended up with 18 wickets with 3 five wicket hauls an 1 ten wicket match haul. The Indian bowling attack repeatedly questioned the "technique" of the Bangla batters and it was refreshing to see the penetration and incisiveness of the attack, albeit against an opposition, whose batting is no where close to being regarded. One hopes that this series gives the bowlers some confidence to apply on to the future matches and give India more wins in the next year.
Bangladesh :-
Batting :-
If there is an epidemic that is fast spreading among the cricket circle in the recently promoted cricketing nation, its that of repeating mistakes. The batsmen looked hapless to say the least against some top class bowling and it was about time that the Bangladeshi batsmen took responsibility for their actions. There was no application by most of the batsmen and this is one of the reasons that has let Bangladesh cricket down. Yes, we can spend months and years dwelling upon the negatives of the game, but what are the things that Bangladesh can take from this series to their upcoming battle against Zimbabwe ? Mohammad Ashraful seems to be one perfect batsman that can surely guide Bangladesh's fortunes in the recent future. Talent seems aplenty in this short statured individual, but as time has shown us, inconsistency has been the parasite that has ensured that his talent does not go beyond a certain level. This series saw a refreshing and mature attitude shown by the 20-year old and hope this rubs on to his game for the future. Apart from Ashraful, youngsters like Nafis Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed look good in patches but yet again consistency is the name of the game in International Cricket, and some of these blokes are yet to think of consistency. If all these different individual elements vis-a-vis the batsmen come together and contribute together, only Bangladesh cricket is to benefit, as it gives their relatively weak bowling attack something to aim at.
Bowling :-
This series also brought into limelight one of the future stars of Bangladesh cricket - Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who with his disciplined bowling surprised a few Indian batters, including the Little Master. Bangladesh is one team, that relies on its bowling a great deal because of the lack of runs their batsmen score, but it will be interesting to see how these young bowlers rise to the expectations of their skipper. The wily old fox Mohammad Rafique is fast moving into the twilight of his career, and it is about time that the Bangladeshi scouts go down to the grass-roots to discover another potent spinner. Many experts compared this Bangladeshi bowling attack to the one as good as any other Indian first class one, but Mashrafe and Tapash Baisya in particular have shown us that they have the talent and ability to do well in the international scene. It makes absolute sense for me to agree with Harsha Bhogle when he says that if Bangladesh were to make any progress at the highest level, their unit should revolve around two key individuals - Mohammad Ashraful in Batting and Mashrafe Mortaza in bowling. And if there is an improvement to be made in the Bangladeshi bowling, its NOW !
Yes, as the title suggests, a virtual no-contest has come to a just end, with India emerging clear winners and that quite rounds up a season of Test cricket for India, which has seen a lot of ups and downs, a journey from Australia to Bangladesh - something rare that the Indians have got to see two ends of a spectrum within a season of cricket. But, for Bangladesh - the real test is coming up - a battle against the re-drafted Zimbabwe team, which is as good as an Ashes for them and something where they can see competition. A win in that series would do great for Bangladesh, but its time they start playing for the present and not the future.
Venkat
venkz86@gmail.com
For many international cricket teams, a test tour of Bangladesh is a mere formality they have to complete with the fate of the series decided even before a ball is bowled. But, for a team like India, who have looked far from convincing this season thus far, this tour of Bangladesh came at a perfect time to rekindle their spirits that looked a bit depressed after the loss to Australia at home. Were we expecting a better resistence from the new kids on the block - Bangladesh ?? Cricketfundas.com gives its readers an exclusive series review of the recently concluded Test Series between Bangladesh and India in Bangladesh.
India :-
Batting :-
A tour of Bangladesh could not have come at a better time for Indian cricket, albeit it was a tour to a country, that does not yet know how to compete. But having said that, it was time for morale boosting in every sense of the word and just getting the right level of confidence before the beginning of a new year. Almost every Indian batter performed well, not only did he accumulate runs, but also accumulated confidence every time the ball stroked his bat. Sachin's 248* at Dhaka came at no better time to re-assure his fans of how well his elbow was playing and eased the feelings into an average Indian cricket fan that his A-game is slowly coming to the fore. Perhaps, that was not the only individual brilliance Bangladesh had to cope up with - a well made 75 by Zaheer Khan batting at No.11 was just the salt needed to add on to Bangladesh's already exposed wounds. And yes, the positives emerging out of this heavy run-getting is that it did not stop only at Dhaka, but the bandwagon continued to Chittagong, where Gautam Gambhir via his 139 reassured the faith showed on him by both the selectors and the captain. Apart from Gambhir, Chittagong was also a witness to a mentally strong batting display by Rahul Dravid, who rounded this year in great style with his sedate 160. Sometimes, we get carried away by the big runs, but somewhere in the context of the future, we might just realize how the 2 knocks of 71 and 88 by Saurav Ganguly was. From a batting perspective, records were broken as expected but the good thing was that these batsmen went beyond the records.
Bowling :-
Impeccable is the word that one can attribute to the Indian bowling in the Test series. It was a bowling effort, that asked unanswerable questions to the young Banglas and an effort that hardly had a challenge to face (apart from the 2 sessions that Mohd Ashraful made the bowlers' grey cells to work a bit). Irfan Pathan deservedly ended up with 18 wickets with 3 five wicket hauls an 1 ten wicket match haul. The Indian bowling attack repeatedly questioned the "technique" of the Bangla batters and it was refreshing to see the penetration and incisiveness of the attack, albeit against an opposition, whose batting is no where close to being regarded. One hopes that this series gives the bowlers some confidence to apply on to the future matches and give India more wins in the next year.
Bangladesh :-
Batting :-
If there is an epidemic that is fast spreading among the cricket circle in the recently promoted cricketing nation, its that of repeating mistakes. The batsmen looked hapless to say the least against some top class bowling and it was about time that the Bangladeshi batsmen took responsibility for their actions. There was no application by most of the batsmen and this is one of the reasons that has let Bangladesh cricket down. Yes, we can spend months and years dwelling upon the negatives of the game, but what are the things that Bangladesh can take from this series to their upcoming battle against Zimbabwe ? Mohammad Ashraful seems to be one perfect batsman that can surely guide Bangladesh's fortunes in the recent future. Talent seems aplenty in this short statured individual, but as time has shown us, inconsistency has been the parasite that has ensured that his talent does not go beyond a certain level. This series saw a refreshing and mature attitude shown by the 20-year old and hope this rubs on to his game for the future. Apart from Ashraful, youngsters like Nafis Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed look good in patches but yet again consistency is the name of the game in International Cricket, and some of these blokes are yet to think of consistency. If all these different individual elements vis-a-vis the batsmen come together and contribute together, only Bangladesh cricket is to benefit, as it gives their relatively weak bowling attack something to aim at.
Bowling :-
This series also brought into limelight one of the future stars of Bangladesh cricket - Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who with his disciplined bowling surprised a few Indian batters, including the Little Master. Bangladesh is one team, that relies on its bowling a great deal because of the lack of runs their batsmen score, but it will be interesting to see how these young bowlers rise to the expectations of their skipper. The wily old fox Mohammad Rafique is fast moving into the twilight of his career, and it is about time that the Bangladeshi scouts go down to the grass-roots to discover another potent spinner. Many experts compared this Bangladeshi bowling attack to the one as good as any other Indian first class one, but Mashrafe and Tapash Baisya in particular have shown us that they have the talent and ability to do well in the international scene. It makes absolute sense for me to agree with Harsha Bhogle when he says that if Bangladesh were to make any progress at the highest level, their unit should revolve around two key individuals - Mohammad Ashraful in Batting and Mashrafe Mortaza in bowling. And if there is an improvement to be made in the Bangladeshi bowling, its NOW !
Yes, as the title suggests, a virtual no-contest has come to a just end, with India emerging clear winners and that quite rounds up a season of Test cricket for India, which has seen a lot of ups and downs, a journey from Australia to Bangladesh - something rare that the Indians have got to see two ends of a spectrum within a season of cricket. But, for Bangladesh - the real test is coming up - a battle against the re-drafted Zimbabwe team, which is as good as an Ashes for them and something where they can see competition. A win in that series would do great for Bangladesh, but its time they start playing for the present and not the future.
Venkat
venkz86@gmail.com
posted by Venkat @ 8:35 PM
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