***Official*** Australia in India 2012/13

[Prince EWS]

Firstly,I wanted Sehwag dropped ahead of Gambhir if they wanted to drop 1, but the selectors were probably balancing out the ODI dropping of Sehwag by dropping Gambhir from Tests.

For this series i would have picked Jaffer and Mukund if both Sehwag and Gambhir were to be dropped along with Jiwanjot/Chand/Dhawan as backup as i said here -

http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/3005471-post334.html

If it was only one then i would have picked Gambhir, Jaffer and Mukund.

Anyways, thinking of the future in the medium term i fully expect Gambhir to come back, as he is a gritty customer.

In the more longer term Hopefully one of the younger openers like Jiwanjot/Chand amongst others can develop and more will emerge, but you need to back them and give them chances at the right time.

Yeah I'm going to be honest and say that I think Gambhir is still more likely to score runs now/going forward than any other opening option despite his recent failures. Sehwag is shot though. I'm keen for Rahane to partner Gambhir but it'd not really be fair to select him while he's seeing it like a golf ball, especially when batting him slightly out of position.

Vijay is not a Test standard cricketer but when you only pick two bowlers, neither of whom the conditions suit, and one of them bowls completely pies all day anyway, decent First Class cricketers are capable of making hay against you. I'm not going to carry on like you about how it's terrible for India long term but fans and selectors should definitely be putting this innings into context if he goes on to fail in subsequent innings.

 

[ganeshran]

Sehwag should bat in the middle order when spinners are in play and there is less movement. His legendary hand eye coordination which used to mask his major technical issues like lack of footwork and propensity to chase the wide deliveries, has deteriorated considerably

 

[centurymaker]

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??

Weren't India 40 odd after the 1st session or something?

 

[Prince EWS]

Sehwag should bat in the middle order when spinners are in play and there is less movement.

I think it's just time to move on if he can't score runs opening in India, honestly. Plenty of other promising middle order bats to pick from without doing that.

 

[ganeshran]

I think it's just time to move on if he can't score runs opening in India, honestly. Plenty of other promising middle order bats to pick from without doing that.

Sehwag is a gamble which is fine even in the middle order, provided other batting options are safe like we had when RD, SRT, VVS used to follow after his wicket. Now, with rookies in the team who themselves are not reliable, his (more common) failures seem even more prominent.

Even though it makes sense to chuck out Sehwag, it is highly unlikely we will find a player who can single handedly alter the course of play like he is capable of. If Pujara and Kohli cement their places in the side along with a decent opening option (not Vijay), Sehwag can be given a couple of more series to earn his place back in the side. At the moment though, he is a walking wicket

 

[ganeshran]

For a spinner to be successful in India, you need someone at the other end who can keep things tight and increase the pressure. Panesar and Swann did this to perfection in the recent series with Anderson bowling great support spells. Saqlain has a great record because he bowled with the 2Ws in tandem too.

Both Maxwell and Doherty bowled hit me balls and released all the pressure that the seamers had built up in the first session. Lyon bowled better in the last test tbf but again his problem was that the other end was leaking runs and Dhoni decided to go after him too.

 

[Turbinator]

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??

Weren't India 40 odd after the 1st session or something?

Haha was wondering the same thing. Went to sleep at lunch, then woke up to this.

Will need to catch the highlights now.

 

[Daemon]

Doherty didn't bowl poorly after his first over tbf. He did the best he could with his limited capacity as a bowler basically.

 

[uvelocity]

Doherty didn't bowl poorly after his first over tbf. He did the best he could with his limited capacity as a bowler basically.

did he look likely though?

dudes must have batted well though as there looked to be a bit there for the pacemen. siddle needs to eat some ****ing steak already

 

[Prince EWS]

Doherty didn't bowl poorly after his first over tbf. He did the best he could with his limited capacity as a bowler basically.

Yeah, that's the thing. Doherty was as good as you could expect from him, but at the top of his game on a pitch that suits him he's taken 0/85. Even if we give him the one Wade dropped, I'd gladly risk that contribution (1/80 lets say) for someone who may be worse if he's not on top of his game but at least has the ability to be far better.

Lyon's problem has been that he's not executed his skills. Doherty doesn't have the skills.

 

[ganeshran]

Lyon had two catches dropped off his bowling too

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well, to be fair, Pujaja's not embarrassed by being called a "top quality batsman", early days as it is.

Emburey was genuinely horrified by Maxwell's bowling in our Sky studio; said he doesn't have the control to contain far less pressurise test batsman.

Hard to disagree after today; bowls like a chap who's only just taken offies up which, for all I know, he may well be.

& That declaration's not looking any better, is it? In a few years when people look at the scorecard and see Oz's 237/9 dec and India's 1200/1 dec in reply it'll be a true WTF moment.

The irony of John Emburey criticising a spinner for being crap.

 

[pup11]

Yeah, that's the thing. Doherty was as good as you could expect from him, but at the top of his game on a pitch that suits him he's taken 0/85. Even if we give him the one Wade dropped, I'd gladly risk that contribution (1/80 lets say) for someone who may be worse if he's not on top of his game but at least has the ability to be far better.

Lyon's problem has been that he's not executed his skills. Doherty doesn't have the skills.

I hear that Doherty is a top bloke to have around the squad so the fact that he doesn't have any skills isn't really his fault, he has got a big heart and he will keep running in for his captain all day long, obviously that's all that matters in the end...

 

[Philhughesisbes]

This test has proved that:

1.Cowan is not good enough.
2.Maxwell is not a test all rounder.
3.Doherty shouldn"t be anywhere near a test team.
4.Watson flatters to deceive despite being the 2nd most experience player in the batting order.
5.Clarke will continue to be stranded most times batting at 5 in a weak batting line up.
6.Wade is gun bat and quite possibly our second best batsman in that line up.He should remain in this line up.

Lyon is the best spin option in Australia by a mile.Khawaja"s time has come.Bailey should be in the test squad and Steve Smith is not a test player.

 

[Howe_zat]

The irony of John Emburey criticising a spinner for being crap.

Particularly one who's mainly been selected as a #8 batsman.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Think Doherty as the second spinner would have been good, helping provide some pressure for Lyon to bowl in a more attacking fashion. He just bowls too defensively to be the main "weapon" in the attack, which a spinner probably has to be on the two wickets that have been played on so far.

And Siddle/Pattinson/Doherty is a fine 8-10, I hope that there weren't any concerns about that part of the order that led to Maxi's selection.

 

[Spikey]

Lyon has "technical issues" to work on - Arthur

not really any surprising quotes or anything like that in there

 

[BoyBrumby]

The irony of John Emburey criticising a spinner for being crap.

Yeah, not like he took over 1600 FC wickets bowling off-spin or anything.

Embers was a thoroughly decent test performer; his role was mainly to block up an end whilst the quicks rotated at the other and he discharged it in a manner Maxwell's efforts today suggest will be forever beyond him.

Don't much like the bloke (double Apartheid rebel and all that), but he could bowl.

 

[TumTum]

I didn't watch the cricket today and I don't regret that decision.


Apart from Clarke, the Aussie team are all a bunch of ****s. What a disastrous performance and tour.


Collapse against a bowling attack as mediocre as this and then let Vijay and Pujara of all the people in the Indian batting line-up to bat out a day...


Ridiculous.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Yeah, not like he took over 1600 FC wickets bowling off-spin or anything.

Embers was a thoroughly decent test performer; his role was mainly to block up an end whilst the quicks rotated at the other and he discharged it in a manner Maxwell's efforts today suggest will be forever beyond him.

Don't much like the bloke (double Apartheid rebel and all that), but he could bowl.

147 wkts in 64 tests @ 38.40 says different. Very ordinary record.