***Official Australia in India***

[Uppercut]

Last time India played at Mohali, they went in with three spinners. I hope that since Kumble is clearly carrying a shoulder injury that someone talks to him and he sits out.

Most likely, Mohali is a place to play two spinners, so maybe get in Chawla, or someone like that. Chawla can hold a bat too, so I'd go with:

1. Sehwag
2. Gambhir
3. Dravid
4. Tendulkar
5. Laxman
6. Dhoni
7. Chawla
8. Harbhajan
9. Zaheer
10. Sharma
11. Munaf

Munaf played last time here, and bowled extremely well too. He is a liability on the field, but I think we need three pace bowlers, and two spinners.

Surely you wouldn't drop Ishant Sharma?

 

[silentstriker]

Where's Ishant?

Surely you wouldn't drop Ishant Sharma?

Too many people viewing. Check again .

 

[ret]

Think it supports the idea that Badrinath or Kaif (or anyone else) are long, long overdue a shot at tests though, no?

I don't hold the Indian seniors that highly as you can see from my posts .... Ideally, I will like to play 2 of the 4 seniors in the 11 and Tendulkar will be one of the two playing as unlike the other 3, he still has it in him to get those big ones like we got to see in Australia .... the other 3 will scratch themselves to 40s-50s even when playing well which is not something that you want in test matches

And thats why I m saying that it is all these guys playing in the 11 at once that is making Australia look better. Mix the 11 with some youngsters like Rohit. Mishra, Munaf and so on and the team will take the OZ by their tails *winks*

Though, the positives about these seniors is that they come up with a good performance here and there [which is why India manages to win a game here and there] and hopefully for India, the good performance are coming up

 

[Sanz]

It is advantage India. No doubt in my mind. My feeling is: Aussies missed a great chance and they may not get another opportunity like this again in this series.

India is notoriously poor starter in any series plus the Indian middle order will now play much more relaxed. And I'm hoping Kumble will not continue and Dhoni will be in charge. Kumble is not in form at the moment and Dhoni is much better captain. Besides, it'll give India an opportunity to include Munaf in the line-up.

Aussies came here one and half week earlier, got to work with Greg Chappell, they had a great batting line-up, they won the toss and batted first (huge advantage in my opinion) still there batting did not look very convincing to me, specially in the 2nd inning where India played with ONLY 3 bowlers! If Kumble was fit and in form, India actually could win the match.

Kudos to India for saving the match after losing the toss and playing with only 3 bowlers in the 2nd inning! Great stuff!

Good Post. Imagine If India were batting first and Aussie batting last and Kumble was fit.

 

[silentstriker]

Good Post. Imagine If India were batting first and Aussie batting last and Kumble was fit.

Yea, I think the latter is immense. He needs to rest himself, right now, he isn't worth his place. His shoulder is clearly bothering him.

 

[social]

Last time India played at Mohali, they went in with three spinners. I hope that since Kumble is clearly carrying a shoulder injury that someone talks to him and he sits out.

Most likely, Mohali is a place to play two spinners, so maybe get in Chawla, or someone like that. Chawla can hold a bat too, so I'd go with:

1. Sehwag
2. Gambhir
3. Dravid
4. Tendulkar
5. Laxman
6. Dhoni
7. Chawla
8. Harbhajan
9. Zaheer
10. Sharma
11. Munaf

Munaf played last time here, and bowled extremely well too. He is a liability on the field, but I think we need three pace bowlers, and two spinners.

Not enough batting - tail starts at 6

 

[Uppercut]

Too many people viewing. Check again .

Ah, yeah it looks fair, it depends how you rate Dhoni and Chawla's batting though. Definitely a risky selection, would imagine they'd only come up with something like that if one down in the series. Big Mishra fan here too, so wouldn't be so hot on him missing out if Kumble's injured.

 

[Lambu]

Uppercut, thats the problem with these statistical analysis..What did tendulkar average in the series Vs Australia when Ind toured there?Admittedly,he had a tough time after that in which he has played what 4 tests? He was past his best even when Ind toured Aus last year..the results are there for everyonr to see.Laxman and Ganguly have always averaged in the 90's.But take a look at Laxman's performances against Aus.Ganguly has rightly decided to quit,he is the weak link in the line-up.Dravid has degraded significantly in the last 2 yearsand averages 40 in that period,i believe.But he still is more than capable of performing decently.

To sum it up,i think Sachin and Laxman will shine in this series with dravid possibly playing the supporting role.Anyway we shall see as the series progresses.

 

[Manee]

Too many people viewing. Check again .

Where's Ganguly?

No, I kid. Basically, I highly doubt the chances of Chawla getting a gig ahead of Mishra, who is part of the squad. Moreover, I reckon Mishra is probably better...

I expect Munaf Patel to do a good job and really want him to play; him and Ishant are the future of India's pace attack and Munaf appears to have come alone leaps and bounds since the IPL (though I am not willing to say as a result of the IPL). Moreover, this issue which many talk about of Munaf Patel's pace is a most overstated one. Munaf Patel in Tests has always been 125kph when experiencing stiffness at the beginning of a spell and then gets up to 140kph+ on rare occasions and somewhere imbetween for the bulk of his spells - the pace is much more an issue in ODIs where he bowls from 125-132kph and takes the new ball. He is a 'seam' bowler which could help his credentials further considering that Mohali is a seaming surface.

 

[Lambu]

the point to see is that despite playing such good cricket, Australia was not good enough to close India, which played poorly

for India, with one of the top 6 batsmen scoring a 50, the spinners coming out cropper, the fielding bad, captaincy poor [though nullified by Ponting's] .... you should be closing a team that plays such poor cricket

Now I do expect Australia to continue to play good cricket but I don't expect India to play such poor cricket. Indian team is inconsistent and B'lore was a prime example of this inconsistency. As I said this was more like Zak and Ishant vs Australia and still India pulled off a draw

As the series progresses, guys like Sehwag and Tendulkar are going to get going. After bad performances come good performances. One of two venues are going to support India's, which could also win a few tosses!!! Even the spinners will come up with one or two good spells even with the benefit of the pitch, which will hopefully give edge to India

Moreover if someone like Kumble is taken out of the series, India will benefit further by having the best captain on the field!!!

I have been sayin before the series that Australia will do well at Banglore but it failed to make that count. At Mohali and Nagpur it will depend on the surface. At Delhi, it will probably be India .... so with B'lore gone, Ind is better placed to get one or two tests out of the next 3 than Australia

just my 2 cents

My thoughts precisely.

 

[Manee]

I'd go with:

1. Gautam Gambhir
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. VVS Laxman
6. Sourav Ganguly
7. MS Dhoni
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Ishant Sharma
11. Munaf Patel

 

[Uppercut]

Uppercut, thats the problem with these statistical analysis..What did tendulkar average in the series Vs Australia when Ind toured there?Admittedly,he had a tough time after that in which he has played what 4 tests? He was past his best even when Ind toured Aus last year..the results are there for everyonr to see.Laxman and Ganguly have always averaged in the 90's.But take a look at Laxman's performances against Aus.Ganguly has rightly decided to quit,he is the weak link in the line-up.Dravid has degraded significantly in the last 2 yearsand averages 40 in that period,i believe.But he still is more than capable of performing decently.

To sum it up,i think Sachin and Laxman will shine in this series with dravid possibly playing the supporting role.Anyway we shall see as the series progresses.

But, when you average 36 over a three-year period and do very well in one series in Australia, it's the exception rather than the rule. When Oz last visited India he managed to average 17. His last ten (non-Bangladesh) series averages read: 37, 21, 20, 33, 38, 69, 70, 0, 15, 13. So while he still has it in him to make big scores, it doesn't happen often enough to justify his place in the side. Whether his legendary status can do so, though, remains to be seen.

 

[andruid]

Pankaj Singh to be the Indian Pattinson

 

[Prince EWS]

I'd go with:

1. Gautam Gambhir
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. VVS Laxman
6. Sourav Ganguly
7. MS Dhoni
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Ishant Sharma
11. Munaf Patel

Yeah AWTA. You can't afford to have such a ridiculous tail against Australia, especially given Dhoni's recent Test record. Given Sehwag is your fifth option, it makes a lot of sense to play three quicks, too.

 

[social]

Yeah AWTA. You can't afford to have such a ridiculous tail against Australia, especially given Dhoni's recent Test record. Given Sehwag is your fifth option, it makes a lot of sense to play three quicks, too.

The only problem is that you are giving away India's advantage - spin

India's best chance is to produce dust bowls and hope that the relative quality of their spinners prevails

Produce hard wickets and they play right into Australia's hands

 

[andruid]

Pankaj Singh to be the Indian Pattinson

On a more serious note I would opt fo straight swap between Chawla and Kumble

 

[silentstriker]

Not enough batting - tail starts at 6

You're right. But I don't see how we can go into Mohali without two spinners, unless you want to trust Sehwag and Tendulkar to bowl a lot of overs. And I think two pace bowlers is just not enough. The workload, especially in the first innings, is way too much.

Yeah AWTA. You can't afford to have such a ridiculous tail against Australia, especially given Dhoni's recent Test record. Given Sehwag is your fifth option, it makes a lot of sense to play three quicks, too.

It might have made sense in Bangalore, but Mohali with one recognized spinner?

 

[four_or_six]

Thinking back on the match, here's the interesting points for me:

Aussie front-line bowling: I think for the Aussies to win, Lee and Clark will have to improve. Johnson, Watson and the spinning options were as good as you might expect them to be, and if they're doing that backing up a better performance from Lee and Clark the attack will look better.

Aussie batting: Pretty good I reckon. Could do with Clarke and Hayden to get into some form, but the rest looked very solid right down to Haddin at seven.

Indian bowling: The seamers looked excellent, though I think they could do with some help because that kind of workload over four matches is pretty tough. Harbhajan wasn't great but he'll probably get going if the pitches favour spin more. Kumble is a problem, obviously, but more so because of a lack of a fifth option. I'm sure last time I watched India Ganguly bowled a bit.

Indian batting: Particularly good in the second innings. They would have liked one of two players to get big scores though. And Dravid is under pressure particularly in my opinion, the other three maybe not so much.

Fielding: Dhoni was very behind the stumps and Haddin was good too I reckon, he'll improve with the experience I reckon. The Indian team have a few too many bad fielders to hide, that's their main problem.

 

[Jakester1288]

Australian selectors are going to have some selection drama's for the second test. If Stuart Clark aggravates his injury, Bollinger will easily slot in. That said, I think Bollinger needs a spot in the side regardless.

Is it possible to get Symonds over, or do we have to stick with what we have? If we can't, I think we need to run with a line up like this:

1. Jaques
2. Hayden
3. Ponting
4. Hussey
5. Clarke
6. Katich
7. Haddin
8. Lee
9. Johnson
10. Clark
11. Bollinger

With Watson in for Clark if he isn't fit to play.

Being a seaming wicket, that is the best line up possible, and most likely to get us 20 wickets. Mohali doesn't take a lot of spin, so Clarke and Katich will be sufficient. Bollinger thrives in these conditions, and will take a lot of wickets. The batting is very strong, Jaques, Hayden, Ponting, Hussey and Clarke has to be the top 5 in the world. Katich, Haddin, Lee, Johnson, Clark etc are no slouches with the bat either.

 

[four_or_six]

Australian selectors are going to have some selection drama's for the second test. If Stuart Clark aggravates his injury, Bollinger will easily slot in. That said, I think Bollinger needs a spot in the side regardless.

Is it possible to get Symonds over, or do we have to stick with what we have? If we can't, I think we need to run with a line up like this:

1. Jaques
2. Hayden
3. Ponting
4. Hussey
5. Clarke
6. Katich
7. Haddin
8. Lee
9. Johnson
10. Clark
11. Bollinger

With Watson in for Clark if he isn't fit to play.

Being a seaming wicket, that is the best line up possible, and most likely to get us 20 wickets. Mohali doesn't take a lot of spin, so Clarke and Katich will be sufficient. Bollinger thrives in these conditions, and will take a lot of wickets. The batting is very strong, Jaques, Hayden, Ponting, Hussey and Clarke has to be the top 5 in the world. Katich, Haddin, Lee, Johnson, Clark etc are no slouches with the bat either.

I'm not quite sure what Watson did to get dropped. I think five bowlers is the way to go. It looked like one area where the Aussies had an advantage over India.

And I think Mohali spins not seams... but maybe I'm incorrect. Can one of our resident experts tell us about what the pitch is expected to do?