CricDigs Blogs

Actually they are the rock stars. With flat chests, strong and lithe physique, and tattoos on their bodies they look like rock stars. Their game also rocks. Jacob Oram’s catch, Brendon McCullum’s controlled innings, and the bowlers’ hard work gave India the jolts. New Zealand outplayed India in every segment of the game. They deserved to win.

Alright, enough of sportive pleasantries, let’s get down to some match analysis. There is no need to be harsh on our players. They are winning more matches than they are losing. One loss is no big deal. In fact, there are a lot of positives that we can carry to the series ahead. The first thing that comes to mind is the way Sehwag, Raina, and Yusuf dealt with the New Zealand blowers. It can be safely concluded that our batsmen need not be wary of the pitches nor the bowlers. Sehwag was absolutely relaxed and hit the sixes with ease. He got rattled when Gambhir got out. Raina played as if he was playing in India. Coming at one down, he stayed till the end. He worked hard without struggling despite the fact that wickets were tumbling from the other end. That will be an inspiration for other batsmen. Yusuf Pathan was Yusuf Pathan.

Our batsmen got out in quick succession not because of the pitch or excellent bowling. If that was the case Raina would have struggled to hit the half century. But the fact that Raina played comfortably despite little support from the other end shows that our batsmen got a little carried away by the “Rock star” tag. Of the 162 runs scored 102 runs came from boundaries (13 sixes and 6 fours). We need to show some restrain. Virendra Sehwag must be feeling bad. He started off in a relaxed way and hit clean shots. He could have easily scored a fifty here. Sehwag’s fast paced scoring is very much required for the game. But there was no need to go for big hits immediately after hitting three sixes consecutively. Same with Pathan – three consecutive sixes and then gone trying to hit another one. Raina hit 5 sixes, but spaced them. A little restrain from Sehwag and Yusuf could have added another 40 runs in this small ground. A score of 200+ could have told a different story.

The winning team batsmen got only 88 runs in boundaries (8 sixes and 10 fours). They ran between the wickets to fetch the runs. While our batsmen stayed at one place and strummed the guitar they ran around the stage and rocked the crowd.