Time everyone put their hands up

I can’t understand why Dravid was trying to sweep despite a short fineleg positioned specifically for the shot. Laxman too needs to come forward a bit more than he did in Australia, because the ball won’t come on to the bat similarly. Given the form of a few Indian batsmen, Yuvraj Singh should be promoted. India reached 244 mainly because of the late blitz by Irfan Pathan and Balaji, which I thought was a good score.

Yasir Hameed made a very pleasing impression and he should be heard of more in days to come. He either came right forward or went right back. He was equally good on either side. The only thing is that not a single genuine bouncer was bowled at him. Also, the line to Razzaq was very, very poor. He is not at all fluent if the ball is pitched on his leg-stump, but no one tried to exploit that.

Ganguly will also find it hard to explain why Powar bowled only four overs. Both Saurav and Sachin were economical but wickets were needed at that stage. Zaheer showed some improvement and it was good he was brought on as a first change — he seems to go for too many with the new ball.

The Indian fielding was exasperating. Some of our younger men are good fielders, but they can only save runs; not hit the stumps and getting people out. With the bowling we have, we need to convert these half chances.

I don’t believe the momentum has swung towards Pakistan. It was a good toss to win and if they had batted first, they would have struggled. As for the Indians, every player needs to know his role. It will make a lot of things simpler for the team.

(Cricket News)