27 August 2005

So you weren't very impressed with India, then?

"From the moment that Sourav Ganguly jumped like a scalded cat to the first delivery he bowled, [Shane] Bond must have known that he was in for some easy pickings. These days, the world's premier fast bowlers look at Ganguly and see one of those fairground attractions, a stationary prize to knock off with the fast straight bullet, and there was a macabre predictability to the hapless fend that cost him his wicket.

The others were scarcely blameless either. Virender Sehwag rarely ventures past 20 these days, and both he and Mohammad Kaif perished to ugly flails that showed scant awareness of the fact that India needed to score at only four-an-over. Yuvraj Singh, who manages an innings of substance about as frequently as the Olympic Games are staged, perished in patented style, nibbling at one while the feet didn't so much as twitch, and Ajit Agarkar then showcased his allround worthlessness with a shot that was a mirror image of that played by Yuvraj.

If Greg Chappell, who has to coach this rabble for another two seasons, had packed his bags then and there, you could scarcely have blamed him. On a deck that was clearly made for run-scoring, India were in danger of putting up a total that would have caused blushes in the Namibian dressing room"

- Dileep Premachandran is slightly unimpressed with the Indian team after the NZ v India one-dayer at Bulawayo, 26 August 2005.

[NZ beat India by 51 runs, with Shane Bond taking personal best figures of 9-3-19-6. The match scorecard is here]

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