December 20, 2007
India Vs Victoria – Day 1 Review
20th December,2007 :
Indians had mixed fortunes on Day 1 of their 3-Day warm up game against the Victorian state team.The match had a delayed start due to the heavy downpour at Melbourne.It started with Indians winning the toss and electing to bat.They did not have a good start losing Jaffer and Laxman early.Jaffer was out for naughtwhile Laxman managed just 1 run in the 5 balls that he faced.
But the notable point for the Indians was Rahul Dravid opened the batting for them with Jaffer.He looked quite confident doing the job which he sdmitted later during the press conference.
Jaffer was out pulling a ball from outside his off-stump while Laxman was quite unlucky getting out caught behind while trying to play a leg glance.Then walked in Tendulkar who looked quite relaxed and confident during his short stay at the wicket though being a doubtful starter for the game.He was bowled out when he managed only an inside edge while trying to play a back foot cover drive.
Then Ganguly entered and partnered Dravid till the end of the day.Ganguly looked in sublime form stroking the ball perfectly and scoring a half century.Dravid,on the otherhand,was at his defencive best.Both of them are busy reconstructing the Indian innings with a unbeaten 72 runs stand.Indians ended the day on 110/3 in 38 overs off which only 5 overs were bowled by the spinner.
But today’s wrecker-in-chief was the 6 feet 6 tall,left arm quicky,Allan Wise(3 for 22).He took all the three Indian wickets that fell.He bowled a dodgy line-n-length that troubled the Indians.All we can say is that the Indians had a mixed day at the office today.But they should be quite happy with Dravid feeling good about opening the innigs which means that Yuvraj can be roped in and hence Sehwag will be left out atleast for the first two tests.
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