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***Official*** India in Australia

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
We'll want a spinner at the MCG this year. Jimmy Maher was having a whinge about what a crappy wicket the recent Pura Cup match was played on, just slow without much carry - hard to bat well on and equally hard to bowl on. Unless they can improve the drop-in-wicket dramatically in three weeks, we're looking at a very dead track. It breaking up and offering something for the spinners might be the only hope for a result.

McGain as the bolter for the 4th bowler if he can produce one more good performance.
 

iamdavid

International Debutant
Lol has anybody in the media even mentioned McGains name as a possible dark horse?, or is it just us.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Lol has anybody in the media even mentioned McGains name as a possible dark horse?, or is it just us.
I just have to ask TBH... are these 3 or 4 people who've mentioned him actually serious? Or is it just some elaborate wind-up-act?
Bryce McGain has no business being anywhere near a Test side.

He's Victorian. :ph34r:
Thought he was Danish TBH.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
India are seriously screwed if guys like Zaheer and RP don't get fit soon... As it is, I am expecting a bit of a thrashing for us down under but with these guys out, 4-0 will just be a formality, I reckon. :(
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I just have to ask TBH... are these 3 or 4 people who've mentioned him actually serious? Or is it just some elaborate wind-up-act?

Thought he was Danish TBH.
I think I was the first to mention him seriously and I stand by it. Best spinner in the country after MacGill who clearly isn't fit and is in terrible form anyway. He doesn't actually have much of a realistic chance of being picked IMO, but if my hands were tied and I had to pick a spinner - based on bowling alone - for the tests against India, he'd be it.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
India are seriously screwed if guys like Zaheer and RP don't get fit soon... As it is, I am expecting a bit of a thrashing for us down under but with these guys out, 4-0 will just be a formality, I reckon. :(
I don't expect, TBH, that India will win any games. But they've a more than decent chance of avoiding defeat - even an outside chance of avoiding defeat in all 4 Tests - if they bat as they can.

And who knows - as the Agarkar burst showed last time, first-innings parity after a massive score is something Australia don't experience all that often, so who knows what some decent scoring might do.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I think I was the first to mention him seriously and I stand by it. Best spinner in the country after MacGill who clearly isn't fit and is in terrible form anyway. He doesn't actually have much of a realistic chance of being picked IMO, but if my hands were tied and I had to pick a spinner - based on bowling alone - for the tests against India, he'd be it.
Just for the Tests against India, though, yeah? 35-year-old debutants are, obviously, highly irregular. Added to the fact that he doesn't seem to have done anything of note until this season. Surprises me that anyone'd be terribly keen on him, even if it were only a short-term option.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
cricinfo said:
24 probables for Australia tour: Anil Kumble, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Pankaj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Murali Kartik, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Aakash Chopra, Gautam Gambhir, Ranadeb Bose, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel.
This is a good squad but I feel that there are one or two errors and one or two interesting moves.

Picking VRV Singh on bouncy Australian wickets is a good, ambitious move but he must work very hard to combat his no ball problems (about 0.75 an over) which is a reason that his domestic economy is so high. His incredibly low domestic strike rate (especially if you minus his Tests) is proof of his unique wicket taking talent but he must be properly harnessed.

Parthiv Patel is another interesting move but I feel that Badrinath would have been a far better move. Patel may be churning out the hundreds but Badrinath has more experience of a higher level in the Super League and has been doing it in domestic cricket for near a decade as opposed to one year.

The two errors are firstly, Ajit Agarkar who at least should outperform his opening partner for Mumbai (Salvi) before getting a chance for India. Secondly, Ranadeb Bose is not a good move, with a domestic strike rate of 55.9, he is not the most prolific wicket taker and appears to bore batsmen into wickets from the little I have seen of him. Instead of them, I would have liked to see Gagandeep Singh (will he ever get selected?), who has the brilliant domestic average of 20.31 and strike rate of 48.6 and...

...well, I guess Agarkar can stay, but as long as he doesn't get a place in the main squad.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
I think I was the first to mention him seriously and I stand by it. Best spinner in the country after MacGill who clearly isn't fit and is in terrible form anyway. He doesn't actually have much of a realistic chance of being picked IMO, but if my hands were tied and I had to pick a spinner - based on bowling alone - for the tests against India, he'd be it.
Why not just go for an extra pacer? If I was an Australian selector, I'd go that route, even if MacGill was fully fit. He hasn't done that well against India in the past, when he was much closer to his prime. If fit, you could field an attack of Lee, Tait, Johnson, and Clark, or something like that. The opening partnership of Lee-Tait could conceivably blast through the Indian top order very quickly, and especially an inexperienced opener like Karthik. And Clark is a smart accurate bowler that can trouble anyone in the Indian lineup. Johnson combines a bit of both. I'd love to see that lineup in action, even though I'm an Indian fan.

If you need spin, Clarke can send a few down. He won't be particularly effective, but really, will MacGill or any of the others? There is no point in picking a bowler that you know is going to average 35-40+, and its not like Australians are about to prepare raging turners.
Manee said:
I would have liked to see Gagandeep Singh (will he ever get selected?), who has the brilliant domestic average of 20.31 and strike rate of 48.6 and...
Amen to that. I've been saying that for the longest time. He may or may not be successful at the Test level with his pace (around 128-132), but we know Agarkar won't be successful. I don't see a reason for that move.
 
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Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Picking VRV Singh on bouncy Australian wickets is a good, ambitious move but he must work very hard to combat his no ball problems (about 0.75 an over) which is a reason that his domestic economy is so high. His incredibly low domestic strike rate (especially if you minus his Tests) is proof of his unique wicket taking talent but he must be properly harnessed.
Hmm, TBH it worries me that a bowler like him would seriously get wickets so quickly in Indian domestic cricket. I've seen a fair few of his spells, in long and short form, and so far he's honestly been one of the worst bowlers I've ever seen at the international level. How on Earth he can trouble batsmen with First-Class averages in the 50s is beyond me.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Hmm, TBH it worries me that a bowler like him would seriously get wickets so quickly in Indian domestic cricket. I've seen a fair few of his spells, in long and short form, and so far he's honestly been one of the worst bowlers I've ever seen at the international level. How on Earth he can trouble batsmen with First-Class averages in the 50s is beyond me.
If you popped your head over to the bottom right, you'd see that he consistantly bowls full balls at 88mph and short balls are around 80mph. Taking into account that Indian batsmen are infamously poor against short bowling and that VRV can get balls to rise viciously, it is no mystery how he picks up wickets at domestic level, with rising short ones and quick full ones.

The problem at international level comes that 88mph full balls are not nearly as threatening at international level and are often driven for four. If he sorts out the length problem, getting to bowl full pace at a slightly shorter length (good length), he could be quite a handful.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Hmm, TBH it worries me that a bowler like him would seriously get wickets so quickly in Indian domestic cricket. I've seen a fair few of his spells, in long and short form, and so far he's honestly been one of the worst bowlers I've ever seen at the international level. How on Earth he can trouble batsmen with First-Class averages in the 50s is beyond me.
I will be very disappointed if VRV makes his way back into the Indian team unless, of course, injury to others leaves no choice.
 

Top_Cat

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Just for the Tests against India, though, yeah? 35-year-old debutants are, obviously, highly irregular. Added to the fact that he doesn't seem to have done anything of note until this season. Surprises me that anyone'd be terribly keen on him, even if it were only a short-term option.
I'll throw my hat in with the McGain brigade as someone who should at least be looked at (and it be made public that he's being looked at to see if his form holds or it falls apart like Brad Hodge...... oh no he didn't!). McGain rips the ball miles and the times I've seen him bowl, he's been very hard to score off as well as attacking. One of those guys who seems to be sometimes economical, sometimes not but always looking like taking a wicket.
 

adharcric

International Coach
VRV Singh is not trash, as some are suggesting here. He certainly has potential but he is very raw, with little movement and massive no-ball issues. He can get good bounce, pace (when fit) and he can bowl the right line as well. That said, seeing him in the squad is very disappointing - he just came off bowling 13 no balls (in one innings) for Punjab and Gagandeep is far more deserving.
 
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