The facts –
- India currently lead by 193 runs.
- Weather permitting, we may get 55 more overs today, according to CricInfo.
- Kumble is unlikely to bowl today, but we still have 4 bowlers + Tendulkar.
- Bangladesh batted 68 overs in their first innings, but were 8 wickets down in the 48th over at one stage.
- Batting on the 5th day pitch will not be as easy.
Taking all this into consideration, when should India declare? I reckon India should play just 8 overs. We should get the lead to around 230-240 and then declare. It would give us 45 overs to get them out.
If the match doesn’t start till 2:30pm – we should just declare at the overnight score. (Bangladesh requiring 194 in around 47 overs? – Game on!)
The result of the game is still very likely to be a draw, but it is worth trying…
Your thoughts?
-Mahesh-
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This is a no-brainer as far as I am concerned! India should declare right away and go hammer-and-tongs at Bangladesh for 45 overs… However, my feeling is that a “let us go for some individual records” mentality will prevail.
When I posted my comment, CricInfo suggested that we’d only see 48 overs. Hence my suggestion of an immediate declaration. Perhaps India has too many runs on the scoreboard to induce Bangladesh into going for a victory. 250 runs of 43 overs means about 5.8 runs per over. This is perhaps a bridge too far and Bangladesh may pull down the shutters and play for a draw. A 5 RPO target would have made more sense!
Mohan
At the time of writing this comment, Bangladesh are 73/1 of 16 overs – and the bowling a bit uninspiring.
You are right about the number of runs required being too high for a chase, but it appears that without Kumble, Dravid doesn’t trust his bowlers too much.
I am not happy with the way Dravid has handled his bowlers either…
Forget the regular bowlers, I think India’s hope may rest on Tendulkar’s leg breaks :)…Can’t wait to see him come on to bowl
Who does Dravid trust? RP Singh? Why the hell was he persisted with when he was going at 6/over?
Ok, RP Singh can be excused for lack of experience. Plus he took 3 wickets in the first innings. (Not that it is any reason for keeping him in the attack as long as he was). But, my question is – What is wrong with Zaheer? Isn’t he supposed to be the spearhead of this attack?
WV Raman’s column –
Laxman’s omission
His two-dimensional abilities would allow the captain to play the five bowlers, which he did, but to have both Karthik and Dhoni in the side at the expense of V.V.S. Laxman was a riddle that will take some solving. The fact that Laxman is picked only for Test cricket and that coupled with Dhoni’s ordinary keeping in the one-dayers should have tilted the balance in the Hyderabadi’s favour.
What do you want to say, gnbmdr ? That either Dhoni or Karthik should be dropped to accomodate Laxman? Why? Dhoni and Karthik have lived upto every challenge that has been thrown at them till now, and they’ve been quite stiff ones too.
I ask, why don’t we drop Jaffer to accomodate 5 bowlers? He is otherwise also going to be useless in English conditions where ball would swing.
Dravid should open in the next test with VVS in the ranks too. For English conditins, we better have Sehwag. Or else, with the present bowling we should be staring at a whitewash!