The length bowlers go to
India batted first on what was supposed to be a bouncy track, with cloud cover
India batted first on what was supposed to be a bouncy track, with cloud cover. So what did the bowlers do? They bowled short. The batsmen were hit on the head, the arm, and all over their upper torsoes. Not one wicket fell to intimidatory bowling. And when they did pitch it full, they over-compensated. As many as 84 runs came off the 70 half-volleys that were bowled.
|
Length |
Balls |
Runs |
|
Full
length |
13 |
22 |
|
Yorker |
2 |
1 |
|
Half-volley |
70 |
84 |
|
Good
length |
352 |
152 |
|
Short
of a length |
72
|
54 |
|
Short |
39
|
4 |
Virender Sehwag was not about to let a nagging line outside off stump stifle him. He scored 114 runs on the off side, and anything slightly close to his pads was dispatched to leg. Given the generous number of half-volleys that came his way, it was no surprise that a large number of his runs came in front of the wicket.
|
Region |
Runs |
Runs
in boundaries |
|
Third
man |
31 |
20 |
|
Point |
18 |
16 |
|
Cover |
39 |
28 |
|
Long
off |
26 |
12 |
|
Long
on |
22 |
12 |
|
Midwicket |
45 |
24 |
|
Square
leg |
7 |
4 |
|
Fine
leg |
7 |
4 |
Rahul Dravid missed out on a half-century by one run, playing a loose shot off Steve Waugh straight to the fielder at midwicket, when he could have put the ball anywhere on the leg side. But until then, even by his standards, his control was exemplary.
|
|
Melbourne |
Adelaide |
|
In
control |
85 |
527 |
|
Not
in control |
4 |
91 |
|
In
control percentage |
95.5% |
85.3% |
Could Virender Sehwag and Akash Chopra be the opening pair India long been searching for? Their opening stand of 141 was India's highest outside the subcontinent since 1990. Since then, India has played 21 openers, with only Ravi Shastri, Manoj Prabhakar and Navjot Sidhu achieving any degree of success. But the current combination has been exceptional, especially when one considers that this tour is their first overseas assignment together. (Note India's average of their previous tour to Australia)
|
Season |
Openers |
Average |
Opposition |
|
2003-04 |
Chopra,
Sehwag |
64 |
Aus |
|
2002-03 |
Sehwag,
Bangar, Patel |
7
|
NZ |
|
2002 |
Sehwag,
Bangar, Jaffer |
17 |
Eng |
|
2001-02 |
Bangar,
Jaffer, Das, Dasgupta |
18.4 |
WI |
|
2001-02 |
Das,
Dravid, Dasgupta |
10.3 |
SA |
|
2001 |
Ramesh,
Das, Dighe, Badani |
22 |
Zim |
|
1999-00 |
Prasad,
Laxman, Ramesh, Gandhi |
9.2 |
Aus |
|
1998-99 |
Jadeja,
Sidhu |
22.8 |
NZ |
|
1996-97 |
Sidhu,
Laxman, Jadeja |
27.6 |
WI |
|
1996-97 |
Mongia,
Rathour, Raman, Dravid |
22.2 |
SA |
|
1996 |
Jadeja,
Rathour, Mongia, Manjrekar |
14.4 |
Eng |