1st Test 2nd Day

I apologise for the lack of updates about the India Pakistan ODI series. But the exams are over and I will update.

1st India-Pak test match. Well it's been a right roller coaster so far. Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat, and we all thought India were goners. But then they had Pakistan at 142 for 8! Which was a magnificient feat, but Misbah and Sami put up a strong resistance and took Pakistan to a decent score. Finally Misbah got himself run out in the silliest fashion and then India bowled Pakistan out for 231. Naturally everyone thought India would cleansweep the match. But India's top order was taken apart by Shoaib Akhtar and Sohail Tanvir and we wobbled with 5 wickets down and just 88 on the board. At that stage we looked doomed. But Laxman and Dhoni have put up a brilliant partnership to take us to 186 for 5. Up and down and up and down and up...

...here comes Sohail Tanvir. Will be survive this spell? Oh it's Dhoni's 50! Great stuff there. He's justifying his ODI and T20 captaincy and possibly even a Test captaincy sometime soon.

Otherwise I would like to say that it was wonderful watching Dravid playing again. Yes, he only scored 39, but he scored it well. Watching him hit boundaries was just so wonderful. It was a treat for any Dravid fan. Unfortunately he did not go on to get a 50.

But more on that at the end of the match I guess. In the meantime, Dhoni has gotten himself out for 57, Laxman's gone on to get a 50 and Kumble looks to be batting well.

About Kumble's captaincy- I think he's quite wonderful as a bowler and even batsmen and he thoroughly deserves the captaincy because he's a thinking cricketer. He was good when India bowled- he attacked and defended, he bowled himself as an attacking option, he wasn't afraid to take on the responsibility... I like his attitude.

While Dhoni is quite openly no-fear, Kumble is quietly no-fear. He doesn't look like he can be intimidated. He bowled well, got 4 wickets. And now he's batting well. So it's stumps now, and we'll see what happens tomorrow.