Rahul Dravid Fan CLub - Page 38

Chappell still hopeful of victory after washout

Indian coach Greg Chappell remains hopeful that his side can complete victory over West Indies after the fourth day of the second Test was abandoned because of rain at Gros Islet on Tuesday.

Continuous rain throughout the morning and afternoon forced umpires Simon Taufel and Asad Rauf to call off play 20 minutes after tea on the penultimate day.

"If the rain god was a West Indian today, I hope it is an Indian tomorrow," Chappell told reporters on Tuesday.

"We have no control over the weather but we got them out in 80 overs in the first innings and, hopefully, a full day tomorrow would enable us to take the nine remaining wickets."

The rain was mainly light showers but it persisted for most of the day, frustrating India who had put themselves in a dominant position after securing a first innings lead of 373 runs on the third day.

West Indies, who were dismissed for 215 replying to 588 for eight declared, will resume their second innings on 43 for one with captain Brian Lara at the crease. The forecast for Wednesday is also for showers.

The first Test in St John's, Antigua, ended in a draw.

Rahul Dravid watches the ultimately futile mopping-up operation, West Indies v India, 2nd Test, St Lucia, 4th day, June 13, 2006

Hi sonal!! Yesterday was a bad day for us. The match couldn't start. I hope India take 9 wickets as soon as possible.
BTW my one summer class ended today, So i am little releived from the stress.

Wowwwwwwwwww. 7 more wickets to go!!

Rahul Dravid applauds India's effort in the field after West Indies escape with a draw, West Indies v India, 2nd Test, St Lucia, 5th day, June 14, 2006

Brian Lara and Rahul Dravid shake hands after the battle, West Indies v India, 2nd Test, St Lucia, 5th day, June 14, 2006

Dravid second in ICC rankings

India captain Rahul Dravid returned to second place in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after his 146 against the West Indies in the drawn second Test in St Lucia.

Dravid's innings, his 23rd Test hundred, lifted him above Inazamam-ul Haq of Pakistan and South Africa's Jacques Kallis. Only Ricky Ponting, Australia's captain, is ahead of him in the list.

Dravid's team-mate Virender Sehwag is also moving in the right direction in the Player Rankings, up two places to 12th after his blazing 180, which included 99 runs before lunch on the first day of the Test.

The injured Sachin Tendulkar (joint 19th along with Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene) completes the trio of Indian batsmen in the top 20.

While VVS Laxman (29th) and Yuvraj Singh (58th) dropped in the rankings, there is good news for Mohammad Kaif. The right-hander, whose unbeaten 148 at the Beausejour Stadium was his maiden Test hundred, has risen 19 places to 63rd in the list, and now has his best-ever haul of rating points.

The match has seen little movement among the top places in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, although Anil Kumble, who overtook West Indies legend Courtney Walsh to become the fourth highest wicket-taker in Tests, has moved up the standings.

Kumble grabbed six wickets in St Lucia to climb one spot to seventh position while Irfan Pathan, recalled for the Test after missing the match in Antigua, remains in 12th place.

Brian Lara, whose 120 played a key role in ensuring the Test was drawn, remains the West Indies' highest-placed player in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen and the only one from that side in the top 20, unchanged in ninth spot.

Below him, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (22nd) and Chris Gayle (23rd) have swapped places while Ramnaresh Sarwan's twin failures have seen him slip four spots to 34th position.

The West Indies is without a bowler in the top 20 with Corey Collymore dropping four places to 21st position after a wicketless Test in St Lucia.

The bowling table is headed by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidaran, ahead of Makhaya Ntini of South Africa and Australia's Shane Warne.

Kallis is the leading all-rounder, clear of England's Andrew Flintoff, with Pathan in fifth position in that list. Gayle lies in seventh spot.

Full details of the current LG ICC Test Championship and how future results will impact on the table, as well as the LG ICC Player Rankings can be found at:

http://www.icc-cricket.com/rankings/lg.html

Rahul Dravid shows his skills in beach volleyball, Basseterre, St Kitts, June 17 2006

Indians in selection dilemma ahead of 3rd Test



Under fire for their skewed selection policy in the first two matches, India were grappling with their bowling combination as they seek to break the series deadlock and go 1-0 up in the third cricket Test against the West Indies starting tomorrow.

Riled much by former cricketers and media back home for missing an extra bowler in the preceding two Tests which it could well have won, the Indian team management is choosing defiance over commonsense ahead of the crucial encounter.

Coach Greg Chappell began the tour as a promoter of five-bowler theory but now asserts that he wants to make sure his batsmen make big runs to pressurise the opposition, never mind if it is only four men manning the attack.

Captain Rahul Dravid is singing the same tune and swearing by four bowlers who nearly did the job in the last game. He is taking a lot of heart from how Virender Sehwag bowled in the last Test in St Lucia.

While the Indian team did everything but pull the noose in the first two games, it probably missed offspinner Harbhajan Singh in the attack whose stock delivery leaves the left-hander of whom there are at least three in the top six of the West Indian line-up.

"In an ideal scenario, we would have liked to have five bowlers but Veeru has done the job for us. He adds extra string in the bow for us," Dravid said after the nets yesterday.

Chris Gayle, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are all left-handers and could have found Harbhajan a greater challenge than Sehwag, however promising he might have been in the first two Tests.

Dravid and Chappell would be joined by Kiran More, chairman of national selectors who landed in St Kitts yesterday, to decide the playing eleven.

The pitch, which sported some green tinge in the centre, would also be a factor in the decision over the team combination.

ICC's pitch expert Andy Atkinson was specially flown in at the instance of home captain Lara who wanted a seamer-friendly wicket to contain the inform Indian batsmen.

But Atkinson was convinced the track would have nothing for the bowlers except for a bit of bounce.

As clouds encircled the pretty stadium once again in the afternoon, he hoped it would stay away to allow pitch to harden to the extent he wants.

The dilemma of the Indian think-tank certainly has kept the likes of Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman on the edge and they must await an official word which could either confirm their worst fears or bring them relief.

Indian batsmen would relish the prospect of facing up to the mediocre home bowling on a pitch which should suit their strokeplay and the short boundaries which could carry even a mishit for the maximum.

Both Yuvraj and VVS Laxman would be itching to have one more opportunity to atone for their earlier failures.

Yet the logic of playing only five specialist batsmen is difficult to gloss over, especially since Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Mohammed Kaif have all hit centuries in the present series.

But India would be making a mistake if it feels the likes of Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan could fail one another time. They have considerable reputation in international circuit and odds are in their favour to hit form before long.

They are perfectly capable of showing up the inexperienced Indian bowling attack.

Lara would be chastened by his recent experience with the selectors. He was saddled with the same set of bowlers even as he went public to ask for a fast bowler of his liking.

He still is likely to favour Marlon Samuels ahead of opener Daren Ganga in the squad as the former is also a useful customer with his offspinners.

Ganga has done little of note in the first two Tests and must face yet another axe in his already chequered career.

The weather isn't too promising at the venue during the Test though the locals aver it is impossible to predict correct weather for the island.

One of the smallest yet neatest of all Caribbean islands, St Kitts is a mere speck on the world map and one only tends to get general weather for the region.

According to such observations, the first three days of the Test would see a lot of grey and black clouds but it actually wouldn't be so threatening.

There is bigger threat of rain on the final two days. If rain indeed plays its hands, Dravid would have reasons to feel frustrated.

The teams (from among):

India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, VRV Singh, Suresh Raina and Sreesanth.

West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Ian Bradshaw, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins and Jerome Taylor.

Umpires: Brian Jerling and Rudi Koerzten (SA)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ).

Indians in selection dilemma ahead of 3rd Test



Under fire for their skewed selection policy in the first two matches, India were grappling with their bowling combination as they seek to break the series deadlock and go 1-0 up in the third cricket Test against the West Indies starting tomorrow.

Riled much by former cricketers and media back home for missing an extra bowler in the preceding two Tests which it could well have won, the Indian team management is choosing defiance over commonsense ahead of the crucial encounter.

Coach Greg Chappell began the tour as a promoter of five-bowler theory but now asserts that he wants to make sure his batsmen make big runs to pressurise the opposition, never mind if it is only four men manning the attack.

Captain Rahul Dravid is singing the same tune and swearing by four bowlers who nearly did the job in the last game. He is taking a lot of heart from how Virender Sehwag bowled in the last Test in St Lucia.

While the Indian team did everything but pull the noose in the first two games, it probably missed offspinner Harbhajan Singh in the attack whose stock delivery leaves the left-hander of whom there are at least three in the top six of the West Indian line-up.

"In an ideal scenario, we would have liked to have five bowlers but Veeru has done the job for us. He adds extra string in the bow for us," Dravid said after the nets yesterday.

Chris Gayle, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are all left-handers and could have found Harbhajan a greater challenge than Sehwag, however promising he might have been in the first two Tests.

Dravid and Chappell would be joined by Kiran More, chairman of national selectors who landed in St Kitts yesterday, to decide the playing eleven.

The pitch, which sported some green tinge in the centre, would also be a factor in the decision over the team combination.

ICC's pitch expert Andy Atkinson was specially flown in at the instance of home captain Lara who wanted a seamer-friendly wicket to contain the inform Indian batsmen.

But Atkinson was convinced the track would have nothing for the bowlers except for a bit of bounce.

As clouds encircled the pretty stadium once again in the afternoon, he hoped it would stay away to allow pitch to harden to the extent he wants.

The dilemma of the Indian think-tank certainly has kept the likes of Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman on the edge and they must await an official word which could either confirm their worst fears or bring them relief.

Indian batsmen would relish the prospect of facing up to the mediocre home bowling on a pitch which should suit their strokeplay and the short boundaries which could carry even a mishit for the maximum.

Both Yuvraj and VVS Laxman would be itching to have one more opportunity to atone for their earlier failures.

Yet the logic of playing only five specialist batsmen is difficult to gloss over, especially since Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Mohammed Kaif have all hit centuries in the present series.

But India would be making a mistake if it feels the likes of Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan could fail one another time. They have considerable reputation in international circuit and odds are in their favour to hit form before long.

They are perfectly capable of showing up the inexperienced Indian bowling attack.

Lara would be chastened by his recent experience with the selectors. He was saddled with the same set of bowlers even as he went public to ask for a fast bowler of his liking.

He still is likely to favour Marlon Samuels ahead of opener Daren Ganga in the squad as the former is also a useful customer with his offspinners.

Ganga has done little of note in the first two Tests and must face yet another axe in his already chequered career.

The weather isn't too promising at the venue during the Test though the locals aver it is impossible to predict correct weather for the island.

One of the smallest yet neatest of all Caribbean islands, St Kitts is a mere speck on the world map and one only tends to get general weather for the region.

According to such observations, the first three days of the Test would see a lot of grey and black clouds but it actually wouldn't be so threatening.

There is bigger threat of rain on the final two days. If rain indeed plays its hands, Dravid would have reasons to feel frustrated.

The teams (from among):

India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, VRV Singh, Suresh Raina and Sreesanth.

West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Ian Bradshaw, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins and Jerome Taylor.

Umpires: Brian Jerling and Rudi Koerzten (SA)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ).