***Official Australia in India***

[Craig]

No Craig, you said Australia.

Oh bugger sorry.

 

[Uppercut]

So you would be prepared to give away a lot of runs to get Sehwag out?

I don't think he should have defended right from the start. It's as though he already knew they'd all bowl like ****, and that gives out a really bad message.

 

[Craig]

wake up. its india batting

tbf I have to be up in less then 6 hours to get ready for work, so maybe I should be sleeping I fixed it now.

 

[Precambrian]

For a further reality check, this is not a particularly great Indian side - they were hammered in 2 tests by SL recently and had to produce a dustbowl to escape with a drawn series against SA

That, my friends, is how far Oz has fallen

Duh, it had Anil Kumble in those.

Following your train of thought, it can be safely assumed that Indian batsmen were out-of-form in those SL tests, and now that they've come to form, is making Australia look sily?

 

[Top_Cat]

If defensive field settings are the key, and if the pitch is so flat, how come Australians were crawling at less than 3 r.p.o and finished with a follow-on total?

I never said it was the key. I'm just saying, put yourself in Ponting's shoes; your bowlers under-performed on day 2, your batsmen on day 2 and 3, your team is 200 runs in deficit on a road against guys who are looking to inflict more pain on you with just over half a session to go. Think of the logical follow-on from that. It ain't "Right. We're totally going to turn this around, all we need are wickets. You, Lee, bowl better."

We're talking real people here. It's so simple from the sidelines and Ponting would be feeling it too. He's not a robot. None of them are.

And regarding the strategy, I agree that defensive settings are needed when Sehwag is on song. However, Sehwag is on song, only when he's crossed the nervy 20s, so I expected Ponting to wait for atleast 4-5 overs before he put in the deep point, and thereby give his bowlers a chance to work at Sehwag. However, here from the first delivery he faced, Sehwag is rewarded with defensive settings. I mean, if you think that Sehwag is going to get blast before the innings has started, then sorry, you are not an aggressive captain.

First off, I don't rate Ponting that much as a captain either so I'm not defending him.

But, second, again, we're talking about real people in a crap situation. Under pressure, do you always do the right thing? Are you perfect? No. And if it was as easy as 'Sehwag needs 20 to get going, before then he's toast', Christ, Test cricket would be a hell of a lot easier. What you're talking about is history, as is Sehwag's long-lamented inability to make second innings' runs. But here's the crap part; maybe, like in Adelaide when he scored 150, today he'll change that. Just putting an attacking field and thinking that's enough, well, no, it's not.

Lemme put it to you this way; Aus are now 300 runs down, yeah? Tomorrow, they might bowl out of their skins and 'only' be chasing 400 to win. Unlikely and the chance to win is still ridiculously small but it's there and stranger things have happened. Let's say they went all out attack and were suddenly 170 runs down because Sehwag belted them to all parts. India have more runs and the momentum and Australia are totally out of the game. If, on a day you were looking to salvage something from total misery, which option would you pick?

 

[duffer]

For a further reality check, this is not a particularly great Indian side - they were hammered in 2 tests by SL recently and had to produce a dustbowl to escape with a drawn series against SA

That, my friends, is how far Oz has fallen

They got Mendis'd in Lanka, and they won't be the last team to have it happen to them. Also that series was basically win the toss win the match.

 

[pup11]

Don't know what Australia can do from here on in, there is a lot of time left in this game and with India already 301 ahead, it is almost looking improbable that the Aussies would bat their way to safety in this game.

 

[Johnners]

If defensive field settings are the key, and if the pitch is so flat, how come Australians were crawling at less than 3 r.p.o and finished with a follow-on total?

The pitch is true. It has good bounce and carry. Australian batsmen made it look demonised, while the Australian bowlers made it look like road.

And regarding the strategy, I agree that defensive settings are needed when Sehwag is on song. However, Sehwag is on song, only when he's crossed the nervy 20s, so I expected Ponting to wait for atleast 4-5 overs before he put in the deep point, and thereby give his bowlers a chance to work at Sehwag. However, here from the first delivery he faced, Sehwag is rewarded with defensive settings. I mean, if you think that Sehwag is going to get blast before the innings has started, then sorry, you are not an aggressive captain.

FTR, I don't think it was ever in question re: whether Ponting is an aggressive captain or not.

 

[pasag]

Don't know what Australia can do from here on in, there is a lot of time left in this game and with India already 301 ahead, it is almost looking improbable that the Aussies would bat their way to safety in this game.

Can't see them batting out 5 sessions. They have the talent and the batting lineup and the pitch still looks flat as, but on current confidence it just won't happen.

 

[Speersy]

Is Australian Cricket coming down from a massive high?
I liked when we won all the time

 

[Uppercut]

Can't see them batting out 5 sessions. They have the talent and the batting lineup and the pitch still looks flat as, but on current confidence it just won't happen.

Depends on how their spirit and luck is. Compare with South Africa at Lord's in July- similar pitch, attack that had bowled remarkably well up to that point, theoretically very, very low on confidence given their first three days were a complete joke. Six and a half sessions they batted out.

 

[SJS]

Its not as if they were slaughtered as the scoreline and run rate suggests. The Indian openers have just ten boundaries in the 100 runs. You would expect Sehwag to have almost that many in his fifty. They scored at 4.35 runs an over making sixty percent of the runs though ones and twos. This is because of the wilde spread out fields not atrocious bowling or devastating stroke play.

Ponting clearly erred in his field placings. It also completely lifted all pressure from the Indians who did not feel the need to go hammer and tongs to score at a rate the team may have wanted when they could do it with safe pushes for singles and twos.

I am sorry but there is no defense for these tactics from the first ball of the innings.

 

[Uppercut]

They got Mendis'd in Lanka, and they won't be the last team to have it happen to them. Also that series was basically win the toss win the match.

India won the toss in the deciding match, batted first and lost. The ODIs were what came down badly with a case of toss-wins-match (even in general, the toss plays a much bigger role in ODIs than tests).

 

[Top_Cat]

Its not as if they were slaughtered as the scoreline and run rate suggests. The Indian openers have just ten boundaries in the 100 runs. You would expect Sehwag to have almost that many in his fifty. They scored at 4.35 runs an over making sixty percent of the runs though ones and twos. This is because of the wilde spread out fields not atrocious bowling or devastating stroke play.

Ponting clearly erred in his field placings. It also completely lifted all pressure from the Indians who did not feel the need to go hammer and tongs to score at a rate the team may have wanted when they could do it with safe pushes for singles and twos.

I am sorry but there is no defense for these tactics from the first ball of the innings.

Haha, what pressure? They started batting 200 runs ahead! I would hope Ponting didn't start the innings throwing in the towel but I can definitely understand him wanting to limit the damage today for a tilt tomorrow.

 

[Precambrian]

I never said it was the key. I'm just saying, put yourself in Ponting's shoes; your bowlers under-performed on day 2, your batsmen on day 2 and 3, your team is 200 runs in deficit on a road against guys who are looking to inflict more pain on you with just over half a session to go. Think of the logical follow-on from that. It ain't "Right. We're totally going to turn this around, all we need are wickets. You, Lee, bowl better."

We're talking real people here. It's so simple from the sidelines and Ponting would be feeling it too. He's not a robot. None of them are.



First off, I don't rate Ponting that much as a captain either so I'm not defending him.

But, second, again, we're talking about real people in a crap situation. Under pressure, do you always do the right thing? Are you perfect? No. And if it was as easy as 'Sehwag needs 20 to get going, before then he's toast', Christ, Test cricket would be a hell of a lot easier. What you're talking about is history, as is Sehwag's long-lamented inability to make second innings' runs. But here's the crap part; maybe, like in Adelaide when he scored 150, today he'll change that. Just putting an attacking field and thinking that's enough, well, no, it's not.

Lemme put it to you this way; Aus are now 300 runs down, yeah? Tomorrow, they might bowl out of their skins and 'only' be chasing 400 to win. Unlikely and the chance to win is still ridiculously small but it's there and stranger things have happened. Let's say they went all out attack and were suddenly 170 runs down because Sehwag belted them to all parts. India have more runs and the momentum and Australia are totally out of the game. If, on a day you were looking to salvage something from total misery, which option would you pick?

Definitely attacking field setting. What does Ponting expect by setting a defensive setting? Choke runs? Not with Sehwag. Then? Expect Sehwag to get bored and hit one to the deep fielders? I would have agreed had it been Sehwag of the old. But he has matured and is one of the best brains in the business now. He is willing to run his runs and will find the occassional boundary. It seems that Ponting thinks Sehwag to get frustrated and get out once he's denied boundaries. That line of thinking, assuming things are that simple, will fetch him no gain.

And I was all the more angry to see Gambhir set such a defensive field too. I can understand to some extent Ponting's line of thinking regarding Sehwag (though I dont like it), but against Gambhir? It seems as if Ponting's resigned to the fact that his bowlers including Lee cannot contain even though he's easily the weak link in the Indian batting lineup. Sad sight for an admirer of Test cricket in general and Australian cricket in particular

 

[duffer]

India won the toss in the deciding match, batted first and lost. The ODIs were what came down badly with a case of toss-wins-match (even in general, the toss plays a much bigger role in ODIs than tests).

Did they (last Test?). Ugh, but still without Mendis we wouldn't have lost that series. He made Murali twice as dangerous as he already is.

 

[ret]

Day 3

the scorecard says it all: India lead by 301 with 10 wkts in hand

i had summed the below up after the B'lore test:

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!!!

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

 

[Precambrian]

They got Mendis'd in Lanka, and they won't be the last team to have it happen to them. Also that series was basically win the toss win the match.

Agree that they were Mendised. However disagree that toss was a big factor in the loss. It's just that our batsmen (except Sehwag, Gambhir and Sachin) were clueless against Mendis, and Sachin kept getting out to poor shots, despite being in form.

 

[Precambrian]

Day 3

the scorecard says it all: India lead by 301 with 10 wkts in hand

i had summed the below up after the B'lore test:

Good call that!

 

[Uppercut]

Did they (last Test?). Ugh, but still without Mendis we wouldn't have lost that series. He made Murali twice as dangerous as he already is.

Certainly. The review system also contributed a fair bit to the victory of ball over bat in that series.