Australia vs India prediction thread

[Top_Cat]

I doubt Ponting would want any more drama after what happened down under last time around when these two teams clashed.

The spotlight is off him and on Symonds, he'll drop his guard and let fly if he gets a dodgy against Harbhajan. Can't help himself. You heard it here first!

 

[anoop4real]

Winner - India
Series scoreline - 1-0
Most runs - Gambhir
Most wickets - Harbhajan
Man of the series - Gambhir
First Australian player to get dropped from the side - Johnson
First Indian player to get dropped from the side - Piyush
First player to get booked by the match referee - Ponting

 

[pup11]

The spotlight is off him and on Symonds, he'll drop his guard and let fly if he gets a dodgy against Harbhajan. Can't help himself. You heard it here first!

Well now that's another thing to watch out for.

 

[pasag]

Honestly not understanding the Harbhajan love in this thread, he's been a fairly average Test performer for a while now (when in the side at least) and conditions shouldn't favour him at all. If he's in the side come the 1st Test, I honestly wouldn't expect him to last much longer, especially if gets some tap and India are down in the series. He did have a reasonable series against SL but geez, if those decks weren't spinning just a little bit....

Well, he'll have a head start of 8 Ponting wickets so.....

 

[Richard]

Honestly not understanding the Harbhajan love in this thread, he's been a fairly average Test performer for a while now (when in the side at least) and conditions shouldn't favour him at all. If he's in the side come the 1st Test, I honestly wouldn't expect him to last much longer, especially if gets some tap and India are down in the series. He did have a reasonable series against SL but geez, if those decks weren't spinning just a little bit....

Why shouldn't conditions favour him at all? If India have any sense they'll try and get all the decks to turn (whether they'll succeed is another matter, obviously, but it'd be logic-baffling not to try). Harbhajan has rarely failed to deliver against Australia on turning decks. I'm not surprised everyone's picking him - I thought about making a comment along the lines of "let's tally the number of Australian\Indian-win predictions, and let's also tally the number of mugs who don't reckon Harbhajan will be India's best bowler".

 

[pasag]

Why shouldn't conditions favour him at all? If India have any sense they'll try and get all the decks to turn (whether they'll succeed is another matter, obviously, but it'd be logic-baffling not to try). Harbhajan has rarely failed to deliver against Australia on turning decks. I'm not surprised everyone's picking him - I thought about making a comment along the lines of "let's tally the number of Australian\Indian-win predictions, and let's also tally the number of mugs who don't reckon Harbhajan will be India's best bowler".

Pretty sure they've even hinted that they'll be doing this. With all the media attention and hype surrounding Australia's lack of spin in the past year it'll be baffling if they didn't, as you say.

 

[NUFAN]

Winner - Austrlalia
Series scoreline - Australia 2-0
Most runs - Mike Hussey
Most wickets - Harbajhan
Man of the series - Mike Hussey
First Australian player to get dropped from the side - Nil.
First Indian player to get dropped from the side - Kaif
First player to get booked by the match referee - Sharma.

 

[Uppercut]

Honestly not understanding the Harbhajan love in this thread, he's been a fairly average Test performer for a while now (when in the side at least) and conditions shouldn't favour him at all. If he's in the side come the 1st Test, I honestly wouldn't expect him to last much longer, especially if gets some tap and India are down in the series. He did have a reasonable series against SL but geez, if those decks weren't spinning just a little bit....

Was the top wicket-taker against SA too, and man of the series. Basically, no pitches will be fast-bowler-friendly, they'll either be flat ones or turners. If they're flat, Bhaji will probably do a good 40% of India's bowling, and is likely to end up with something like 4-130. If they turn, it's between him and Kumble and Kumble hasn't looked much of a threat for a while now.

 

[pasag]

Winner - Draw
Series scoreline - 2-2
Most runs - Hussey
Most wickets - Clark
Man of the series - Clark
First Australian player to get dropped from the side - Johnson
First Indian player to get dropped from the side - Dravid
First player to get booked by the match referee - Ponting

 

[Top_Cat]

Why shouldn't conditions favour him at all? If India have any sense they'll try and get all the decks to turn (whether they'll succeed is another matter, obviously, but it'd be logic-baffling not to try). Harbhajan has rarely failed to deliver against Australia on turning decks. I'm not surprised everyone's picking him - I thought about making a comment along the lines of "let's tally the number of Australian\Indian-win predictions, and let's also tally the number of mugs who don't reckon Harbhajan will be India's best bowler".

Was the top wicket-taker against SA too, and man of the series. Basically, no pitches will be fast-bowler-friendly, they'll either be flat ones or turners. If they're flat, Bhaji will probably do a good 40% of India's bowling, and is likely to end up with something like 4-130. If they turn, it's between him and Kumble and Kumble hasn't looked much of a threat for a while now.

Yeah sure they might want to make the decks spin but there's a pretty important factor which won't be in favour of that; the weather. It's not a hot time of year, the pitches won't be dust-bowls. As you said, if they don't want a lively deck, they'll just shave them to negate the Aussie quicks and make them slow and low because that's really all they'll have available to them. One thing the pitches just won't do is spin. Not in the first couple of Tests, anyway.

The problem then will be Lee and Clark; they've proven themselves quite capable of taking wickets on flat pitches whereas none of the Indian pacers have so they'd better win the toss or the Indian batters will be facing some big, big totals. Every tactic has a downside if certain things don't go your way and making the decks flatter than flat also gives the Aussies a fairly hefty head-start if they bat first and a much easier time of it if they bat second.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah sure they might want to make the decks spin but there's a pretty important factor which won't be in favour of that; the weather. It's not a hot time of year, the pitches won't be dust-bowls. As you said, if they don't want a lively deck, they'll just shave them to negate the Aussie quicks and make them slow and low because that's really all they'll have available to them. One thing the pitches just won't do is spin. Not in the first couple of Tests, anyway.

The problem then will be Lee and Clark; they've proven themselves quite capable of taking wickets on flat pitches whereas none of the Indian pacers have so they'd better win the toss or the Indian batters will be facing some big, big totals. Every tactic has a downside if certain things don't go your way and making the decks flatter than flat also gives the Aussies a fairly hefty head-start if they bat first and a much easier time of it if they bat second.

Yeah, those are some of the reasons i've picked Oz to win the series. But the leading wicket taker isn't often the star bowler of the series, i'd also take into account who will do the most bowling and who each team have to compete with for wickets. And, as a spinner, he's a lot less likely to break down and miss sessions.

If you look here at a series where Harbs was the leading wicket taker by a distance, yet came only fifth in the averages and sixth in strike rate. If the prediction was "best bowler", i'd have gone for Brett Lee.

 

[Salamuddin]

I Think this series is going to be pretty close.

AUstralia had to work pretty hard to beat India at home so I think they will find it tough to win in India.
I believe if Australia win this series it will rank as a higher achievement than 2004 because that squad had a very experienced group of bowlers.

I won't make specific predictions but I'm backing India to not lose this series.

 

[honestbharani]

You think Hayden will score the most runs and Clark would take the most wickets, but still Clarke would win the MOS award ( or did you meant Clark).

all round performance, FTW.

 

[Laurrz]

Winner - Australia
Series scoreline - 2-0
Most runs - Mike Hussey
Most wickets - Stuart Clark (will bowl with the new ball hip hip hooray)
Man of the series - Mike Hussey
First Australian player to get dropped from the side - noone
First Indian player to get dropped from the side - Rahul Dravid
First player to get booked by the match referee - Harbhajan Singh

 

[Richard]

Yeah sure they might want to make the decks spin but there's a pretty important factor which won't be in favour of that; the weather. It's not a hot time of year, the pitches won't be dust-bowls. As you said, if they don't want a lively deck, they'll just shave them to negate the Aussie quicks and make them slow and low because that's really all they'll have available to them. One thing the pitches just won't do is spin. Not in the first couple of Tests, anyway.

India didn't have enormous trouble preparing turners in the last series at the same time in 2004/05 TBH. In the Third Test they were deliberately sabotaged by the head of the VCA in Nagpur; then two out of the three that they tried producing turners they managed it. They failed in the First Test, yeah (Dean Jones described the wicket as "a lamb in wolf's clothing") but they managed it perfectly well in the Second and Fourth Tests, winning the Fourth and probably being denied only by the last-day washout in the Second.

You don't neccessarily need hot weather to produce a turner, is my understanding - not if the soil type is right.

 

[Salamuddin]

Yeah sure they might want t One thing the pitches just won't do is spin. Not in the first couple of Tests, anyway.

Sorry, but that's just BS.

Chinnaswamy stadium nearly always produces wickets that has something in for the spinners.
Just a couple of weeks ago Chawla and Parmar scythed through Australia A on a wicket affording plenty of turn.
In the 14 years that Mohali has hosted test cricket, barring the game against Pakistan in 2005, its afforded good assistance to the spinners as well.

Th weather has jack all to do with it.

 

[Uppercut]

India didn't have enormous trouble preparing turners in the last series at the same time in 2004/05 TBH. In the Third Test they were deliberately sabotaged by the head of the VCA in Nagpur; then two out of the three that they tried producing turners they managed it. They failed in the First Test, yeah (Dean Jones described the wicket as "a lamb in wolf's clothing") but they managed it perfectly well in the Second and Fourth Tests, winning the Fourth and probably being denied only by the last-day washout in the Second.

You don't neccessarily need hot weather to produce a turner, is my understanding - not if the soil type is right.

All you need to do, on any pitch really, is have a 5-day FC game on the pitch just before the beginning of the test. If they could get away with it i'm sure they wouldn't hesitate

 

[Richard]

Chinnaswamy stadium nearly always produces wickets that has something in for the spinners.

Does it?

Certainly didn't in 2001/02. Though that's just about all I can say.

 

[Precambrian]

Winner - India
Series scoreline - India 2-0
Most runs - S Tendulkar
Most wickets - Bhajji
Man of the series - S Tendulkar
First Australian player to get dropped from the side - The spinner.
First Indian player to get dropped from the side - Dravid
First player to get booked by the match referee - Ponting

 

[Pup Clarke]

Winner : Draw
Series scoreline : 1-1
Most runs : Clarke
Most wickets : Zak Khan
Man of the series : Clarke
First Aussie to get dropped : McGain
First Indian to get dropped : Ganguly
First player to get booked by the match referee : Clark to lose it for mine