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[sgusa]

Dhoni did a decent job inspite of his obv technical difficulties. He showed heart. no Gilchrist though

Give me a player with heart, any day.

Oh .. Gilchrist has heart too ... he's done similar things too ... no question that Gilly > MSD.

But, from the Indian options available, I would take MSD any day.

Obv, but my statement was in ref to DEX claiming the MSD was the next Gilly. MSD has way too many technical issues to be anywhere close to Gilly's class.

Not everyone needs to be Dravid to be "classy."  After the South Africa series, this is Dhoni's first test (or hell, any form of cricket) in such seaming conditions. Even most (I think, all) of his A-tours came within the sub-continent. And before that--I am very well aware of the pitches he got to play in at Ranchi. So, given everything, he's yet to fail in a big way. He's learning and adapting. At the end of the day, he may very well surprass Gilchrist, regardless of whether or not he's 'sound' technically. As I pointed out, at this stage of his career, statistically he's toe-to-toe with Gilchrist (notwithstanding subjective analysis of 'bah, he's not'). A match-saving innings is a match-saving innings however it is spun. For the experience, he will be richer and hopefully continue on for a long time.

agreed. But do admit that you did go a bit overboard with the "next gilly" line. Last thing we need is another "next SRT", "next ponting" whatever ...

[pipsqueak]

Dhoni drohi's apologize NOW!!!

for what? Did he win us the match? Or in Bihar you are a hero for scoring a 50 in a losing game?

SOmetimes a draw is good enough in Bihar.

Hmm when u wrote that there was no sign of rain and about 8 down.... Lallu has been teaching  biharis how read the future too?

Did you look at the weather forecast?

And yeah, exactly, my point. Dhoni was battling alone--and 8 down (i dont remember, but i'll take your word) india was still alive. Anyway, I wish people would admit they've been proven wrong and say a few kind words for my langotiya yaar. In any case, I will be celebrating for all of us later   

When u wrote this there was no rain and india was as sure of a loss as the surety of you biting and responding on the name of Bihar being uttered. By a miracle they somehow did not lose but if you claim that u knew that they would save the game when you typed I would have rate that comment as high as Bihar's GDP or intellectual ability!

So, are you saying that had SS got out on the last ball of the test match, MSD's 76* would go from being a good knock to a poor one?

This is similar to saying that SRT's century in Chennai was poor because we still lost the match.

You do forget how much he was put down for not finishing the game. Also, he got us to the cusp of victory.

In any case, here DEX is implying that Dhoni played some sort of masterpiece with utter control of the bowling. The inns was far from it. A good gritty one, but still peasant class.

Exactly. I dont think this knock in anyway is a defining knock or anything for AnDh-oni as Dexy was implying. This was a decent knock, lots of grit, some luck...etc. No where close to closing the debate on whether AnDh-oni should or should not be in the team. Neither does it change anything on whether he can bat on foreign pitches or not.

Well, he still scored 76 runs. In a situation where most Indian batsmen pack up and go to bed. SG + SRT + VVS + RD scored 104 runs!! He did that in challenging conditions .. with the ball seaming around. If RD had played that knock, irrespective of whether he'd been dropped twice or thrice, it would have been termed a great knock.

Of course, MSD is far from the finished article. But his graph has been moving up consistently in terms of what he can do. The direction is right ... which is more than you can say for most of the other players in the team.

Hopefully he will use this as a springboard to prove he totally is the next Gilly by the end of the series.

dhoni almost saved us the durban test until he played a rash shot before tea. the top-order had taken the day off, maybe to visit the Kruger national park.

[broadbat]

the top-order had taken the day off, maybe to visit the Kruger national park.

Actually I have yet to see them in office
 Oh wait I think they attended in Bangladesh.

[Nima]

Dhoni did a decent job inspite of his obv technical difficulties. He showed heart. no Gilchrist though

Give me a player with heart, any day.

Oh .. Gilchrist has heart too ... he's done similar things too ... no question that Gilly > MSD.

But, from the Indian options available, I would take MSD any day.

Obv, but my statement was in ref to DEX claiming the MSD was the next Gilly. MSD has way too many technical issues to be anywhere close to Gilly's class.

Not everyone needs to be Dravid to be "classy."  After the South Africa series, this is Dhoni's first test (or hell, any form of cricket) in such seaming conditions. Even most (I think, all) of his A-tours came within the sub-continent. And before that--I am very well aware of the pitches he got to play in at Ranchi. So, given everything, he's yet to fail in a big way. He's learning and adapting. At the end of the day, he may very well surprass Gilchrist, regardless of whether or not he's 'sound' technically. As I pointed out, at this stage of his career, statistically he's toe-to-toe with Gilchrist (notwithstanding subjective analysis of 'bah, he's not'). A match-saving innings is a match-saving innings however it is spun. For the experience, he will be richer and hopefully continue on for a long time.

While MSD has a long way to go before he can be compared to likes of Gilly, yesterday's knock was a gritty one and played according to the situation.  Thanks to his match saving innings we have been spared of the Maharathis flop discussion to a certain extent

[dextrous]

Dhoni did a decent job inspite of his obv technical difficulties. He showed heart. no Gilchrist though

Give me a player with heart, any day.

Oh .. Gilchrist has heart too ... he's done similar things too ... no question that Gilly > MSD.

But, from the Indian options available, I would take MSD any day.

Obv, but my statement was in ref to DEX claiming the MSD was the next Gilly. MSD has way too many technical issues to be anywhere close to Gilly's class.

Not everyone needs to be Dravid to be "classy."  After the South Africa series, this is Dhoni's first test (or hell, any form of cricket) in such seaming conditions. Even most (I think, all) of his A-tours came within the sub-continent. And before that--I am very well aware of the pitches he got to play in at Ranchi. So, given everything, he's yet to fail in a big way. He's learning and adapting. At the end of the day, he may very well surprass Gilchrist, regardless of whether or not he's 'sound' technically. As I pointed out, at this stage of his career, statistically he's toe-to-toe with Gilchrist (notwithstanding subjective analysis of 'bah, he's not'). A match-saving innings is a match-saving innings however it is spun. For the experience, he will be richer and hopefully continue on for a long time.

Actually a fair statement. And I think Dhoni does have the heart to learn and get better. The only concern with Indian players is that some times they allow their egos to come in the way of learning and specially that now we are without a coach, who will teach em?

CP, yes, of course, that fear is always there with Indian cricketers. Though (and this is, my biased opinion) Dhoni is much like Pathan, very humble guy, who started playing cricket for the love of the game (and growing up at that age, didn't have anyone to emulate except Saba Karim in the batting department and there really wasn't much hope of anyone from Patna, leave alone Ranchi, playing for India)--but I think due to the fact that he has long hair (and dyes it funky) and has been getting a lot of ads, he comes across as more flamboyant than he really is.

[Aloo Kashmiri Ul Haq]

Dhoni did a decent job inspite of his obv technical difficulties. He showed heart. no Gilchrist though

Give me a player with heart, any day.

Oh .. Gilchrist has heart too ... he's done similar things too ... no question that Gilly > MSD.

But, from the Indian options available, I would take MSD any day.

Obv, but my statement was in ref to DEX claiming the MSD was the next Gilly. MSD has way too many technical issues to be anywhere close to Gilly's class.

Not everyone needs to be Dravid to be "classy."  After the South Africa series, this is Dhoni's first test (or hell, any form of cricket) in such seaming conditions. Even most (I think, all) of his A-tours came within the sub-continent. And before that--I am very well aware of the pitches he got to play in at Ranchi. So, given everything, he's yet to fail in a big way. He's learning and adapting. At the end of the day, he may very well surprass Gilchrist, regardless of whether or not he's 'sound' technically. As I pointed out, at this stage of his career, statistically he's toe-to-toe with Gilchrist (notwithstanding subjective analysis of 'bah, he's not'). A match-saving innings is a match-saving innings however it is spun. For the experience, he will be richer and hopefully continue on for a long time.

Actually a fair statement. And I think Dhoni does have the heart to learn and get better. The only concern with Indian players is that some times they allow their egos to come in the way of learning and specially that now we are without a coach, who will teach em?

CP, yes, of course, that fear is always there with Indian cricketers. Though (and this is, my biased opinion) Dhoni is much like Pathan, very humble guy, who started playing cricket for the love of the game (and growing up at that age, didn't have anyone to emulate except Saba Karim in the batting department and there really wasn't much hope of anyone from Patna, leave alone Ranchi, playing for India)--but I think due to the fact that he has long hair (and dyes it funky) and has been getting a lot of ads, he comes across as more flamboyant than he really is.

Dhoni's innings was full of plays and misses, but that he played some attacking strokes aided him in staying at the crease. His innings wasn't devoid of his usual style play with one attempt at slapping a short of length delivery that was about 4 feet away from the off stump and an attempt to use the other side of the bat when playing a Panesar delivery. One good thing was his placement when the ball was pitched up and around the off stump region, unlike Kartik who'd plant his front foot right around the off stump and have the ball hit his pads more often than not.

Btw, anyone of you missing the game/have a desire to rewatch the game should check out www.crickethighlights.com where 40 minute highlights of each day are uploaded.
Those of you with Desitorrents/IDesir can download better quality/longer duration highlights
PM me if you need help with regard to that