Cricket: Third day, Third test.

If 666 is devils number then is 333 his offspring’s date of birth? Well who knows? But I am just blogging about the third day of the third test and the third One Day played between Sri Lanka who is on tour of England and total number of goals scored between Argentina and Mexico were 3. This post is about test between India and West Indies.

The reason of West Indian decline.
I am slowly releasing what’s the reason of West Indies continuous decline in the game of cricket. There is no impetus to take bold and hard decisions. I think if anyone has to succeed he has to see some hard times and swallow some hard truths. I think West Indians are still in the delight of how well they use to play. There are no more burly huge fast bowlers who use to hurl speeding thunderbolts after thunderbolts and come ask the battered batsmen if he saw something. The fact it was ages ago and West Indies although have the talent to be a decent time but there is no substance to it. The fact that they batted and batted from almost two thirds of the day yesterday took pressure off Indians. I agree the pitch is a flat, but so is the West Indies bowling attack.
I think it will be a run carnival for Indians today and Laxman and Yuvraj should justify their selection by keep on batting as long as they want. Rahul Dravid may be looking to add to his tally of away centuries and Kaif would have slept in his cricketing gear on.

Chanderpaul stranded.
I saw the match and while listening to commentary of Tony Cozier on “Ten Sports”; even he was baffled about why West Indies are not declaring. Chanderpaul and Samuels took control on a batting pitch and added 156. They played some lusty shots to keep bowlers at bay and somewhere lost the plot of burying India. They somehow never went into kill. The session which followed next Indian wrapped up the last five wickets. Harbhajan justified his selection by claiming five wickets.

Sehwag show again. Indian batsmen making merry.
When he bats he score runs and when he bowls he takes wickets. Sehwag is in good form and may be kicking himself of getting out the way he did. There was a century for the taking but he was out before completing a fifty. Bravo sucked in Jaffer who edged a lazy drive to eager hands of Lara. India was two down. Dravid came and looks like he has to stay if India has to avoid a flow on.

Look who is responsible?
India and West Indies both have selection problems. India is paying the price for not going in with their full strength. It was a big mistake to drop Agarkar who could have helped the young bowlers to play through. There is very limited experience that the Indian seamers have at this momet. Then playing with four bowlers is a bit of conservative strategy. I think playing an extra batsman has hurt the Indian cause. I agree that firth bowler might be under utilized but at least the captain has an option to go in with a specialist bowler. Harbhajan would have enjoyed bowling to West Indian left handers.
West Indies for their lack of imagination are in some ways responsible for this boring test. I don’t see Indians getting out in today’s first two session and hopefully they will draw this test. Are the West India bowlers good enough to take 18 more Indian wickets? I think the answer is No. I will be happy to see if this test match yields a result for any of the sides. India though is one team which can make one sided affairs exciting. They have done so in the past and can do it again.

Meanwhile just a note on Lara. If you are watching this match keep a look on Lara and what he does while he is standing in the slips. I noticed him moving about in standing in the slips while Indians were batting, I wonder if it is allowed. If its n’t then why has it not come to notice.