The Great Game Called Cricket...

This is a shameful moment for India, The same incident between these two country held 12 years ago, but it was indore, the match was abandoded due to bad pitch, on 25-12-1997 the crowed was full coz it was on X-Mas day, almost a similar incident has occured after 12yrs nd 2 days, its very shameful moment that too has happened in the capital of india, the sub-continent is gonna host the world cup for the year 2011 if we have these kinda pitches how can we manage it.. the BCCI officials must take firm action to solve these kinda problems as soon as possible.

We hav'n come across like these kinda results in recent times in any country,
This is a prestigeous issue for india its such a big country where we have 'N' numbers
Of grounds why don't we keep matches where the pitch is good? some place like Banglore
For example? this is not a healthy as far as indian cricket is concern, the government
And the BCCI officials must awake now and take firm action so that these kinda of
problem does'n occur in mere future.

The below comments where posted in Cricinfo and ESPNSTAR Courtesy to them.

Tricky pitch and bad bounce have held up play in the fifth and final one-dayer at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Sunday.


Zaheer Khan struck with the very first ball of the first over to send back Upul Tharanga after India put Sri Lanka in to bat in fifth and the final ODI at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in New Delhi on Sunday.

Thereafter, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya adopted a cautious approach as they looked to overpower the the early morning conditions.

The duo battled the conditions well before Zaheer Khan struck yet again to see off the dangerous batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan (20).

Then debutant Sudeep Tyagi got his maiden wicket in the form of Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, as the visitors lost their third wicket.

Sri Lanka were in real trouble when they lost both Sanath Jayasuriya and Thilan Samaraweera in consecutive overs.

India, who have already sealed the series with an unassailable 3-1 lead, went into the match without Sachin Tendulkar as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni returns to the team after serving a two-match ban for the team's slow overrate in the second ODI in Nagpur.

India also handed Sudeep Tyagi his maiden ODI cap, who replaced paceman Ishant Sharma.

Sri Lanka made two changes. Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga were replaced by M Pushpakumara and Chanaka Welegedara.

Start of the match was delayed by 15 minutes due to fog.

It was surprising it took them 23.3 overs to call off play. On a Kotla pitch where the bounce varied from shin to shoulder in as short a spell as consecutive deliveries, Sri Lanka had reason to be thankful for they got away with just two hits on the body that needed attention. At around 11.20am, one length delivery from debutant Sudeep Tyagi reared up from a length to almost clear MS Dhoni behind the stumps, and the players had had enough by then.

Full of action, the first 23.3 overs featured a wicket first ball; a dropped catch first ball of second over; blows on the elbow, shoulder, fingers; frenzied running; thick edges flying past third man; and wickets for Zaheer Khan, Tyagi and Harbhajan Singh. Dhoni, coming back from a two-match ban, was stupendous behind the wickets, getting his legs together for the shooters and reacting well to the lifters. Not one bye was conceded.

Sunil Gavaskar described the uneven sprinkling of grass on the pitch as a "hair transplant" with bald patches. When the ball hit the grassy areas it seamed and bounced, from the bald patches it died along the ground. What made it difficult for the batsman was that the lengths from where the ball behaved so drastically different were not too far apart from each other. The moisture didn't help either.

Zaheer got just enough seam movement to crash through the gap between Upul Tharanga's bat and pad first ball of the day. Ashish Nehra could have got Tillakaratne Dilshan with the first ball he bowled, but Suresh Raina failed to hold on to a high catch at cover-point. Perhaps Dilshan would have rather that he had got out then going by the way he had to consistently drop his wrists out of the way of balls bouncing from just back of a length. One such from Nehra got him in the elbow, just over the elbow guard. The way he came down, throwing his bat away immediately, it seemed a nasty blow. He came back up, hit his first boundary off the 23rd ball he faced, but couldn't last much longer.

Zaheer didn't need any of the assistance from the pitch with Dilshan's wicket. He continuously beat the batsman outside off, and kept getting closer and closer until he finally got the edge. Sanath Jayasuriya, 20 years and 1 day old in international cricket, fought it out, despite blows on his elbow, shoulder and fingers. He played two exquisite cover-drives, but the pitch seemed to have already affected his team-mates' mindsets. Kumar Sangakkara looked to make the most out of deliveries in his zone, but ended up chipping Tyagi to cover.

Jayasuriya finally got one with his name on it through some smart piece of bowling from Harbhajan in his first over. He followed three offbreaks with a topspinner that went in fast and stayed a touch low, and Jayasuriya was caught plumb in front, for 31 off 51. Raina compensated for his earlier blip in the field, with a direct hit on the run with one stump visible to send back Thilan Samaraweera.