India unfoil Mendis magic on dead pitch
Posted on Nov 24, 2009 at 18:25 | Updated Nov 25, 2009 at 12:57
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Fact is so often better than fiction. There is this story of how in the 1930s, if Yorkshire won the toss at the Essex seaside town of Southend, the opening batsmen would occupy the crease all day and the number three would wait in the pavilion in case a wicket fell while the rest went to the beach until the tea break.
It did happen once it appears and by tea a total in excess of 400 greeted the side who returned well relaxed with a touch of sunburn from building their sandcastles.
While a tempting thought, a city such as Kanpur as well as the team security mania being what it is, all the entertainment value would have been at Green Park where watching Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir bat would have shaded whatever city lights there are. Kanpur is not a city where you might discover engaging tourist sites.
But the partnership of Sehwag and Gambhir made up for such woeful deficits and the Sri Lankan bowlers discovered the only thing green about Green Park is its name as they help steer India to the most runs they have scored in a day’s play. No one, Sri Lankans excepted are going to complain about a first innings total of 417 for two at the close of day one in this second Test.
While the curator, Shiv Kumar suggested this pitch would be of more help to the bowlers than Motera in Ahmedabad, you wonder from what script he was reading to offer such drivel as this. Minds go back to the drawn game with South Africa about this time in 2004 when Sourav Ganguly shared the new ball with Zaheer Khan and Andrew Hall, as a makeshift opener for the visitors, scored 163 out of a 500 plus total. That Test was drawn as well, and while it might not seem positive, another draw is in the offing in this one as well. So much for Mr Kumar’s miscalculations of what the pitch would do.
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Posted By addieventurers
i would agree with the writer that curators deserve some flak for preparing such wickets.but his observation that sehwag was
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