Post by mikedPost by John HallJudging by the scores on day 1, it seems to be an "Interesting" pitch.
Pitch at the optus looked very green. I think all the matches at the new
stadium have been won by the team batting first. Oz are gonna have to go
some to change that.
Pitch became easy to bat on Day 2 after the first half an hour.
Mitchell Starc SURVIVED 112 balls.
Australia can chase 300-350 in I2 IF the pitch doesn't deteriorate too much.
So India should score as many as they can and set a target of 400-450
and bat Australia out of the match.
Post by mikedPost by John HallIndia appearto be in the box seat. It's a much-changed Indian side, so
they've done very well. Rohit Sharma is away for the birth of his second
child and Gill is injured. I don't known if Ashwin and Jadeja are
injured or have been dropped.
I spose india looked at the wkt and decided that sundar would be more
useful although i would always have jadega although sundar was 1 of the
few who did well in the NZ series.
must be a lot of indians in perth cos the noise they were making every
time oz lost a wiket was tremendous. It looks like 1-0 to india, but oz
arnt like england, they dont usually surrender easily!
mike
Yes, that too at home in Australia in optus stadium where they never
lost a test.
Perth noise is nothing since obviously it's a test match between India
and Australia.
How lucky are the ozzie cricket fans to WITNESS this pulsating India vs
Pak T20 World Cup match in Melbourne.
When Kohli soared, and 90,293 people roared - oh, there's never been
anything like it at MCG
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/t20-world-cup-2022-india-vs-pakistan-when-virat-kohli-soared-and-90293-people-raised-the-roof-at-mcg-1341359
It wasn't the visceral roar of an Anglo-Australian crowd fuelled by
alcohol; this was joyous, unbridled passion for the teams and the game
Alex Malcolm
The MCG is a magical place. The roars here are special. But of all the
great sporting events this grand stadium has hosted, of all the roars
this grand stadium has produced, Sunday evening's might have been the
most extraordinary.
When R Ashwin struck the winning run, the noise that the 90,293 people
inside the MCG made was heard in the suburbs more than two kilometres away.
The late Shane Warne, who now has the great southern stand named after
him at the MCG, had said he had never heard a roar louder than when he
took his 700th Test wicket in front of 89,155 adoring fans on Boxing Day
in 2006. This was louder.
It was louder than when Mitchell Starc rattled Brendon McCullum's stumps
in the opening over of the 2015 ODI World Cup final.
It was louder than any of the recent AFL grand finals that were played
in front of more than 100,000 people.
And it wasn't just one roar. It was every roar. Dozens of them, in a
pulsating match that ebbed and flowed across a riveting, nail-biting 40
overs between India and Pakistan.
Even the sights and sounds before the game had a different feel. Hours
away from the first ball, there were fans decked in blue and green
teeming towards the MCG from all corners of Melbourne. It is rare to see
crowds of such size so far out from the start of an event at this venue.
They were ten deep at the nets outside the Ponsford Stand; they were
chanting and signing in droves outside the members'. Inside the ground,
as the players warmed up, there were cheers.
India and Pakistan had played one another at the MCG before. It was in
1985. They had met twice in ODIs in the Benson and Hedges World
Championship of Cricket then.
Ravi Shastri was Player of the Tournament - called Champion of Champions
- then, and made 63 not out in India's win over Pakistan in the final.
Now he was presiding over the toss as a commentator and received an
almighty roar when he introduced Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam to the
crowd. The noise was so loud that Rohit's decision to bowl first could
not be heard over the loudspeaker.
Then the noise reached a crescendo. When Arshdeep Singh swerved one back
into Babar's pads and Marais Erasmus' finger went up, the MCG heard a
roar unlike any other. It made the hair on the back of your neck stand
up and left goosebumps on your arms.
It wasn't the guttural, visceral roar of an Anglo-Australian crowd
fuelled by alcohol and a thirst for blood. This was joyous, unbridled
passion for a team and the game.
But then Kohli produced his masterpiece. Every sweet six from his blade
nearly raised the roof. The last eight balls were absolute bedlam.
Nearly every fan in the stadium was on their feet. Wickets, sixes,
no-balls, free hits, byes and wides were met with a cacophony that
reverberated around the stadium and into the surrounding areas.
There was joy for India, and heartbreak for Pakistan at the end. But
those who witnessed it and heard it, no matter which side of the result
they were on, felt privileged to be part of it.
Who knows when we will have another one? But savour this one. Savour the
sights. Savour the sounds. There has never been anything like it.