India v Pakistan : Battle for Eden 1

Morning reports suggested that Pakistan were going to struggle to field a side for round two of the three Test Match series. Indeed as things have turned out Shoaib Mallik is out of this. Omar Gul is on his way back home. Of those who took the field, Rawalpindi Express was seen lying down on the field after two overs.

Kumble won his first toss as captain and saw our batters take lunch at 104 for the loss of Dick. Three times out of three he has perished to same shot. The pitch at Eden Garden seems to afford more bounce than the Kotla wicket and Dick edged one that carried to the slip fielder. Anyone who makes the same mistake thrice should be called Dick. Only that this inevitable nickname also appears to be an appropriate abbreviation for Dinesh Kartik. Rameez spotted Dick and Jaffa's family in the stands and noted that the partnership in the stands seems to go on longer than that at the wicket. I have not followed domestic cricket enough to comment on Dick's record but I witnessed all three of his dismissals on telly. He has not shown any evidence of what I call KASH (pronounced cash) for the opening slot. KASH means many things to me but in cricket it means Know-how, Aptitude, Skill and Hunger. He walks out with his butt threatening to travel in the opposite direction and then ventures to push the ball while it is still not under his head. Test match cricket is not as benign as Dick's butt is and the ball succeeds in traveling in the direction opposite to that of his bat. Truth is that Dick lacks KASH. If he can bat he lacks the know-how to open the innings. If has aptitude, he has to show ability to switch from ODI/T20 quickly to Test cricket. He needs to develop his batting skill and only hunger for runs and more runs can help him.

Jaffa showed lazy elegance to race to fifty against what appears to be the worst bowling side for Pakistan in my living memory. After the initial shock and surprise at his freakish action, Tanvir seems no bigger a threat to any batsman, than the chap who bowled us to victory in T20 final....what his name?? At lunch on day one it looks like Pakistan is looking down the barrel of an Indian Howitzer.

Well Deserved win for Kumble

India won the first test match against the Old Enemy. Mohammed Sami, Danish Kaneria and debutant Sohail Tanvir failed to support Shoaib Akhtar and overall it was a dull match with only Shoaib Akhtar, Anil Kumble and Misbah ul Haq emerging as star performers.

Misbah has been a revealation. To think that he is 34 years old and has just started! If he is a victim of another set of jokers - this one across the border - then one can only say that it is a terrible loss to Pakistan cricket if Misbah's best years are behind him....I mean where was he all these years? With an average of 50 over 122 first class games, 25 centuries, 43 fifties and 111 catches, surely there was room for him in the Pakistani side much earlier. Indian bowlers have no clue as to how to get him out in any form of the game. Perhaps Kumble has spotted a chink in his armour.

Shoaib Akhtar continues to fling the leather with furious pace and take wickets. The way he has clean bowled the most solid batsman that walked this planet ... The Wall...not once ...but twice now......in India. Those two deliveries will remain etched in the minds of those who follow the game. I reserve my comment on his grade as a fast bowler though.

Anil Kumble took a few crucial wickets. He also scored a few gritty runs. In the end, he declared 'everybody contributed to this victory'.

Kumble deserved to make his debut as the captain of India and in the end he also deserved the MOM award for doing what he has done many times before - Lead India to victory.