Responding to Brad Haddin's pre-match jibe, Zaheer Khan asked him to concentrate on his wicket-keeping. After Saturday, he could well ask him to concentrate on his batting as well.
There was a bounce in Zaheer's step the moment the Australian wicketkeeper walked in. The first ball was angled in. Haddin tried to take evasive action, but was a touch slow and, before he could react, the ball hit him in the midriff. Zaheer laughed and mouthed a few choice words.
The next ball, he was struck on the thigh pad, before the umpire handed Zaheer his floppy hat to signal the end of the over. Off the first ball of his next over, Zaheer got his man. Haddin edged one to MS Dhoni's gloves. Who's fragile now?
Hindi's good for Siddle
The way he's been bowling, you don't need any added incentive to praise Peter Siddle. But, at a farcical India press conference later, he got credit even where it wasn't due. Umesh Yadav's presser was in Hindi, with an Indian journalist asked to translate for the benefit of the Aussie scribes.
Umesh, asked what the Australian pacers had been doing right, answered in Hindi. Unse bahut seekh sakte hain, unka line aur length bahut consistent hai. The Indian journalist, unfortunately, heard Siddle somewhere in that sentence and thought the praise was being heaped on the Victorian, when it was actually for entire Aussie bowling.
Not that the scribe could be held entirely at fault. There were calls that India's media manager, GS Walia, should do the official translations, especially after a recent article in the Australian press said his role only seemed to be to fill a suit and breathe oxygen.
© HT
