1st Test: India v West Indies at Kolkata Nov 6-10, 2013

[Fufu Andronez]

He's a very average test cricketer, with a record inflated by a couple of stand and bash innings in India.

Good captain.
Good wicketkeeper.
Handy bat.


Hes No Brian Lara but definitely not a very average cricketer.

 

[TV Ted Ellery]

Ravichandran Ashwin is to the West Indies what Luke Burt is to the West Tigers: the anti-Christ. I wasn't getting excited about the early wickets knowing that Ashwin was coming in to bat down the order. Ashwin scoring a ton is as predictable as Luke Burt making 5 linebreaks and kicking 11 from 10 against the Tigers. Rohit Sharma too is in amazing form and his debut ton proves that his double century in the farcical one day series was no fluke. My prediction is that the Hindians will rack up a 200 run lead and then bundle the Windies out for 150. If Tendulkar bats again in this game I'll be mighty surprised.

To ensure that he has one last opportunity to score a ton the Mumbai curator will prepare a road. Of course, it might prevent the Indians from securing a result but that was never the objective of the series.

 

[vvvrulz]

Good captain.
Good wicketkeeper.
Handy bat.


Hes No Brian Lara but definitely not a very average cricketer.

I agree and stand corrected.

I'd say he's an average test batsman but overall good test cricketer.

 

[TheParraboy]

Ravichandran Ashwin is to the West Indies what Luke Burt is to the West Tigers: the anti-Christ. I wasn't getting excited about the early wickets knowing that Ashwin was coming in to bat down the order. Ashwin scoring a ton is as predictable as Luke Burt making 5 linebreaks and kicking 11 from 10 against the Tigers. Rohit Sharma too is in amazing form and his debut ton proves that his double century in the farcical one day series was no fluke. My prediction is that the Hindians will rack up a 200 run lead and then bundle the Windies out for 150. If Tendulkar bats again in this game I'll be mighty surprised.

To ensure that he has one last opportunity to score a ton the Mumbai curator will prepare a road. Of course, it might prevent the Indians from securing a result but that was never the objective of the series.

Ive got a bad feeling there is going to be a bunch of farcical things happen in that match to assure Tendulkar get a test ton in his last innings

 

[madunit]

Gonna take a bit of work. Sachin hasn't scored a ton since his 146 v South Africa on Jan 4-5, 2011.

He's since played
4 tests v England in England
3 tests v Wests Indies in India
4 tests v Australia in Australia
2 tests v New Zealand in India
4 tests v England in India
4 tests v Australia in India

scoring 8 50's.

 

[TV Ted Ellery]

My first prediction was correct, India all out for 453 with a 219 run lead.

Now for Lord Ashwin to pick up a 7 wicket haul. No sportsman apart from Luke Burt, Corey Parker and Rhys Wesser strikes more fear in my heart than Ashwin. Oh maybe McGrath on his day. Andy Bichel with the bat used to give me heart palpitations as well.

 

[undertaker]

I can't understand why Australia doesn't get to play games at Eden Gardens, yet when we tour India in tests or ODIS, we always get confined to places like Mohali and Hyderabad which have no atmosphere whatsoever and the pitch is flat as a pancake. We haven't played at Eden Gardens since 2003 (and a test there since 2001) infront of a full house for the TVS Cup Final. Also, good to see that this pitch isn't another flat track. If we only had pitches like these during our recent ODI series...

Also, I'm sick and tired of this Tendulkar farewell wankathon amongst the commentators and media in general. It's just sickening how the broadcast is being hijacked at every moment with these twitter comments and the like. After all, it was the BCCI who scheduled this 2-test series at the eleventh hour, just so Tendulkar could get to 200 tests and play his final test at his hometown in Mumbai (which they're also reaping the benefit from already rorting the fans with the ticket allocations and prices). I'll be so happy when the circus is over. Tendulkar has played well and truly past his use by date, and only cares about his records (of course youre going to be in the running to break many records when youve been allowed to play at the highest level for 24 years). He's just a great accumulator and that's it. Yes, the circle jerk will get worse in the Mumbai test and we'll all hear how great the crowd is at Mumbai and how India get big crowds in Other games besides T20s, but failing to realise it has been MANY years since India got full houses to home test matches.

Finally, those ropes are still annoying me. Dunno why they've been brought so far in field, especially for a test match.

 

[undertaker]

I wonder if the BCCI is going to pay the Windies in the next test to go easy on Tendulkar so he can go out on a high with a century or a win

 

[undertaker]

Gonna take a bit of work. Sachin hasn't scored a ton since his 146 v South Africa on Jan 4-5, 2011.

He's since played
4 tests v England in England
3 tests v Wests Indies in India
4 tests v Australia in Australia
2 tests v New Zealand in India
4 tests v England in India
4 tests v Australia in India

scoring 8 50's.

He hasn't scored a century in his last 39 test innings. Nearly all Aussie batsmen who had a record like that would've been given the arse by that stage....

Wait!!! Breaking news! In addition to scheduling a 2 test series so Tendulkar can get to 200 tests, The BCCI have finally broken their commitment to not host tests vs Bangladesh and have negotiated a 2-test series against them after the series vs Windies so that Tendulkar can come out of retirement and finally get a century:lol:

 

[undertaker]

He's a very average test cricketer, with a record inflated by a couple of stand and bash innings in India.

THIS!

About time someone spoke the truth about Dhoni. Again, I get sick and tired of hearing these Indian commentators and fans say how great of a batsmen he is.

I would feel sorry for him except they have to choice to use DRS and refuse to use it

This.

They're the only nation that opposed it so they can still intimidate the umpires with hysterical behaviour that other teams would get fined for doing. They don't want to be exposed, like they were when they initially started using DRS and Tendulkar refused to walk vs Sri Lanka when the replay showed it clearly came off the edge of the bat

Ravichandran Ashwin is to the West Indies what Luke Burt is to the West Tigers: the anti-Christ. I wasn't getting excited about the early wickets knowing that Ashwin was coming in to bat down the order. Ashwin scoring a ton is as predictable as Luke Burt making 5 linebreaks and kicking 11 from 10 against the Tigers.

:lol:

 

[Xfactor1979]

Too bad Bangladesh will also get a draw from a farce of a match on another subcontinental road

and also courtesy of the bcci's inadequate t20 popgun attack, with ishant sharma leading the attack :lol:

 

[undertaker]

Too bad Bangladesh will also get a draw from a farce of a match on another subcontinental road

and also courtesy of the bcci's inadequate t20 popgun attack, with ishant sharma leading the attack :lol:

:lol:

I'm still waiting for the long-awaited India vs Pakistan series, which the BCCI have chickened out of since 2007. It would draw huge crowds in both India and UAE, which is where Pakistan now play their home matches. Lots of Indians and Pakistanis in the UAE.

And regarding the pitches, lovely to see that this one in Kolkata has some bounce and turn. Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling that the Mumbai pitch is going to be as flat as a pancake. Love to see another rank turner like the one in 2004, but i highly doubt that will ever happen during my lifetime as unfortunately that Mumbai test led to the mass explosion of flat tracks all over India by the BCCI.

 

[undertaker]

Now Star Sports are now plastering "Sachin trivia facts" all over the broadcast... I mean, who cares if he scored 100 in the Ranji trophy or whatever the hell the amateur tournament in India is called.

 

[Rod]

We know the BCCI are tools but TBH I don't think the coverage has been that bad. What do you expect when turning this on?

The bloke's played test cricket for 24 years and is probably the 2nd best batsman of all time. Christ he deserves a decent sendoff.

 

[Rod]

He's just a great accumulator and that's it.

Isn't this just another way of saying scoring runs? You realise that's his job.....

 

[Timbo]

Let's not forget as well - in order to accommodate this wankathon, they utterly f**ked the South African home summer, cancelling a test, 4 ODIs and a T20 which will cost CSA millions of dollars.

The depths to which I loathe the Indian team and the BCCI cannot be stated.

 

[jargan83]

Let's not forget as well - in order to accommodate this wankathon, they utterly f**ked the South African home summer, cancelling a test, 4 ODIs and a T20 which will cost CSA millions of dollars.

The depths to which I loathe the Indian team and the BCCI cannot be stated.

That last line sums it brilliantly

India will effectively cancel a tour if it's in their interests completely disregarding the damage it does to other nations

 

[TheParraboy]

WI 5/136

Chanderpaul 13* (should be coming in at 3 not 5)


Be kinda funny if the 2nd test is similar, Sachin has only one innings there and fails

Bet the BCCI announce a 3rd WI test :sarcasm:

 

[TV Ted Ellery]

He hasn't scored a century in his last 39 test innings. Nearly all Aussie batsmen who had a record like that would've been given the arse by that stage....

Mark Taylor was in wretched form until his career-saving 120 in the 1st Ashes test in 1997. I can't remember how many tests he went without a century/fifty but such was his form slump that the media made a huge deal of an innings of 38 he scored against South Africa. People were suggesting that he should've raised his bat.

My favourite Aussie Mike Hussey also had an extended lean patch before his match winning ton against Pakistan at the SCG in 2010. Kamran Akmal, who can claim the coveted title of worst keeper in history from Courtney Browne, played his part with four dropped catches and one missed stumping opportunity. Who can forget Yousuf Youhana/ Cat Steven/ Mohammad Yusuf's insipid captaincy that game either.

Back on the subject of Tendulkar, I've taken no pleasure in his inexorable decline. Although he has plundered hapless West Indian attacks over the years, at least he has done it with style! I've always admired his attacking instincts, his technique and his longevity. It's very sad to see a legend of the game reduced to a mere shadow of his former self even if his own stubbornness in not retiring earlier is to blame.

 

[Victorious Secret]

Shami, Yadav and Kumar could end up being a pretty decent test attack