***Official Australia in India***

[pup11]

No doubt Australia won the day but that last partnership has given us a bit of hope. If we can get it to 70-80 behind and our spinners can wreak some havoc then it could get very interesting.

A very possible scenario that now, Aussies need to clean up the tail asap tomorrow and then score runs at a decent clip (and at the same time also ensuring there aren't any collapses) so that they can give the bowlers enough time to bowl India out.

 

[pup11]

Love him or get out.

Yeah no place in CW for Watto haters....

 

[Top_Cat]

Love him or get out.

There's only room in my heart for one hulking Eastern stater, Zac baby.

As for the match, Aust with the edge on the card but the Aussie top-order looked far more capable of handling the variable bounce (don't think there was that much less during the Aus innings than the Indian) and if they managed 100-run lead, anything 250+ would be a very, very tough chase. India will have to bowl well tomorrow. The pacers doing the job won't be enough, they need some input from Kumble, Harbhajan or both.

 

[Top_Cat]

A very possible scenario that now, Aussies need to clean up the tail asap tomorrow and then score runs at a decent clip (and at the same time also ensuring there aren't any collapses) so that they can give the bowlers enough time to bowl India out.

Don't understand why they need to score quickly, though. Still two full days ahead. On this pitch, the way it's starting to play tricks, they'd probably need less than a day to bowl India out. Still plenty of time, for mine.

 

[Jakester1288]

Yeah no place in CW for Watto haters....

Well I guess I'd better leave.

 

[Uppercut]

Don't let the door hit your...

 

[ret]

Day 3

Once Sehwag departed, the OZ were more likely to get the lead .... the bowling and the pitch both were going to look different

Nice effort by the tail to lift India from 232/7 to 313/8

An Indian loss looks more on cards, esp considering how poor Kumble and Bhajji have been with the ball [only a terrible pitch can help] and poor 4th inning record of many of the Indian batsmen .... when the OZ bat, i won't be surprised if the pitch looks a little easier to bat on then when India did and when India bats, it would look like a field full of dynamites

Only some amazing performances can save Ind and I wonder how many times have we said that to ourselves in the past year or so .... if Ind loses, it more like the team, the selectors and the fans deserve it

 

[Raghav]

Australia proved once again they are tough nuts to crack. Excellent bowling by Mitchell

 

[ret]

Australia proved once again they are tough nuts to crack. Excellent bowling by Mitchell

In my book, OZ haven't proved anything yet. Not so long ago, the BP11 had them by their tails .... i would say that when a stronger Indian unit takes them. the spin bowling has been so poor that even Ponting got a 100 [whats more to say then that. though full credit to Ponting ]

and what i m saying above reflects from what I wrote when the team was announced, which i have quoted below:

Badrinath and Mishra come in but I won't be surprised if they would be shining the bench with their bums and watching the likes of Ganguly and Kumble bat and bowl miserably respectively

Watch the relatively inexperienced Australian line up make a name for itself on this tour and then everyone will talk about how professional Australian cricket is and how the inexperienced players have managed to fill the shoes of some of the retired players .... And then they will say how India needs to uplift the domestic cricket to produce players like that in Australia and how we are not able to replace the aging fleet while easily forgetting that this was a perfect opportunity to field in new guys and its the mentality of sticking with the past is what did India in and made superstars out of the OZs

 

[pup11]

Don't understand why they need to score quickly, though. Still two full days ahead. On this pitch, the way it's starting to play tricks, they'd probably need less than a day to bowl India out. Still plenty of time, for mine.

One can expect a bit more resistance from India second time around when they bat, and with the threat of rain lurking over the game, Aussies should try to give the bowlers as much time as possible to bowl India out second time around.

 

[Top_Cat]

In my book, OZ haven't proved anything yet. Not so long ago, the BP11 had them by their tails

Oh, you mean the thoroughly meaningless warm-up encounter where nothing other than some minutes in the middle was on the line (after the Aussie camp had not played a FC match in months)?

.... i would say that when a stronger Indian unit takes them. the spin bowling has been so poor that even Ponting got a 100 [whats more to say then that. though full credit to Ponting ]

Ridiculous to suggest a stronger Indian unit was available to play this Test series. Might be able to make the case for a player or two but extrapolating Sharma and Kohli's knocks in said meaningless FC match and assuming they'd do exactly the same in a Test series between the two strongest sides in the world right now? A bit much, for mine. That was Sharma's second FC ton! Pressure of the contest changes everything, especially since Sharma, Yuvraj and Kohli basically went after the same bowler and, particularly Sharma, were relatively circumspect against the rest.

As for Ponting against spin, it doesn't take much digging around to see he's no clueless wonder against good spin in turning conditions. Only India and only two of their bowlers have wrecked him, Kumble and Singh. He's got runs in spinning and benign conditions, at home and away against every other major spinner including one of the top two of all time. That it's the man and not the ball is further illustrated by the fact that at home, it's been the same two bowlers who've troubled him, albeit less than in India. Ponting's weakness against spin, woefully over-stated.

 

[Top_Cat]

One can expect a bit more resistance from India second time around when they bat, and with the threat of rain lurking over the game, Aussies should try to give the bowlers as much time as possible to bowl India out second time around.

The way I see it, they can't play for the rain on an uneven pitch. They might lose wickets going for quick runs and then it might not rain, giving India more time to score for the win. Tactically, it's a risky move.

 

[ret]

Oh, you mean the thoroughly meaningless warm-up encounter where nothing other than some minutes in the middle was on the line (after the Aussie camp had not played a FC match in months)?

Ridiculous to suggest a stronger Indian unit was available to play this Test series. Might be able to make the case for a player or two but extrapolating Sharma and Kohli's knocks in said meaningless FC match and assuming they'd do exactly the same in a Test series between the two strongest sides in the world right now? A bit much, for mine. That was Sharma's second FC ton! Pressure of the contest changes everything, especially since Sharma, Yuvraj and Kohli basically went after the same bowler and, particularly Sharma, were relatively circumspect against the rest.

As for Ponting against spin, it doesn't take much digging around to see he's no clueless wonder against good spin in turning conditions. Only India and only two of their bowlers have wrecked him, Kumble and Singh. He's got runs in spinning and benign conditions, at home and away against every other major spinner including one of the top two of all time. That it's the man and not the ball is further illustrated by the fact that at home, it's been the same two bowlers who've troubled him, albeit less than in India. Ponting's weakness against spin, woefully over-stated.

imo, this is not the best Indian side to take on the OZ and i have beaten that to death in so many of my posts but if you think that this is the best available side then let me put it in another way: let see how the OZ do when some of the other players like the ones I have mentioned in the past come in

OZ are not getting the credit from me at least for doing well against Bhajji and Kumble and picking up wkts of some of the older batsmen .... you can see what SA did at Chennai to the same bowlers, how SL did against them [Kumble in particular] in spin friendly conditions, whats new that happened at Banglore?

 

[Uppercut]

imo, this is not the best Indian side to take on the OZ and i have beaten that to death in so many of my posts but if you think that this is the best available side then let me put it in another way: let see how the OZ do when some of the other players like the ones I have mentioned in the past come in

OZ are not getting the credit from me at least for doing well against Bhajji and Kumble and picking up wkts of some of the older batsmen .... you can see what SA did at Chennai to the same bowlers, how SL did against them [Kumble in particular] in spin friendly conditions, what new that happened at Banglore?

In other words, Australia aren't that good it's just that India are ****?

 

[pup11]

In other words, Australia aren't that good it's just that India are ****?

 

[Johnners]

Stick that up your arse Watson & Johnson haters.

 

[Woodster]

Yes Johnson bowled well today, getting the ball through at a handy pace and generally in decent areas. Watson did fairly well, even got one or two to move about. Looks generally unthreatening and his two wickets, a questionable LBW that could easily have gone the other way, and a bit of a wide long hop, were rather fortunate, but perhaps he deserved a couple for his consistency.

Excellent recovery from India though, from really staring down the barrel to bringing the deficit closer to only 2 figures when earlier it was looking much worse.

 

[Raghav]

In other words, Australia aren't that good it's just that India are ****?

 

[Raghav]

Indians oldies I am not sure why they are still playing? Cant they just retire and say goodbye and give chance for the youngsters to play for the country?

Ganguly must be exceptional after he announced his retirement. I want the rest four to announce their retirements.

 

[Arjun]

Sometimes I wonder...whose side are Indian curators on???