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

[ajdude]

Jesus, Ashwin still doing all the press conferences for India

tendulkar underperforming to get out of motm/s interviews

Dravid was gun. Ashwin is definitely the best speaker in the current team.

yeah that's fair, dravid was great.

 

[Burgey]

That jacket is terrible on Shastri. I think I'll email him the details of my tailor. It's a terrible cut. Wake up to yourself, man!

 

[Satyanash89]

one day there's going to be another subcontinental cricketer who comes out with a sangakkara-esque accent and fluency and it's just going to be amazing, i ****ing love listening to sangakkara

Dravid. That is all

 

[Dan]

Warner - 2/10. One innings of note should push him up to 3 at the least, but the repeated failures and acting like a dickhead drops a point off.
Cowan - 6/10. Didn't do anything wrong, but didn't kick on from starts again. Definitely not a root cause of our problems.
Hughes - 4/10. Two pretty decent knocks, and rather unlucky with a couple of dismissals. Definite potential, and holds on to a 4 because you got the feeling he was working his arse off to improve. Footwork to spin improved drastically by the 4th Test.
Watson - 1.5/10. I swear he made an 80-odd but that must be a combination of the tour match and SL Test, hence I'm an idiot. His complete lack of brains and questioning whether he would continue to play after doing the wrong thing takes him even further down in my estimation.
Clarke - 8/10. Fell short of his admittedly lofty standards, but his ability to play spin was a breath of fresh air set against everyone else in the middle order. 8 is probably a tad generous.
Smith - 7/10. Did everything asked of him and exceeded all expectations. Unlucky to miss out on a ton in Mohali, and his ability to play spin and bat responsibly was nice.
Henriques - 5/10. Started the tour strong with a brace of classy half-tons, but he tailed off from there quite dramatically. His bowling was never going to be that effective in the subcontinent, so I won't let that hurt him too much.
Maxwell - 2/10. Never play Test cricket again you useless ****.
Wade - 3/10. Bracketing him with Maxwell, Warner and Watson is a tad harsh, but he was useless behind the sticks and mediocre with the bat.
Haddin - 6/10. Given the circumstances of his arrival he did reasonably well. Better behind the stumps than Wade, although that's not saying much.
James Pattinson - 8/10. Apart from Homework-gate, he had a very good tour. Definitely the brightest spark to come from it. The only pacer to look threatening most of the time.
Mitchell Starc - 3/10. All for the batting, TBH. Looked toothless with the ball, but was somewhat unlucky at times. Promising but didn't deliver here.
Peter Siddle - 6/10. The one Michelle and his batting put him in 'good-but-not-outstanding' territory. While his ineffectiveness in the early games was a worry, he's gone a long way in showing people why he's so valued in the XI.
Mitchell Johnson - 1/10. Only the one game, but bowled absolute dross. **** off back to the WACA.
Xavier Doherty - 3/10. Could have been worse, I guess.
Nathan Lyon - 5/10. Got monstered by Dhoni in the First Test, but bowled Australia to within a chance of victory in the last Test. Thought dropping him for Maxwell was a bit harsh, and glad to see him bounce back. Never going to be the greatest spinner ever, but he didn't acquit himself too badly IMO.

 

[ajdude]

Making an 80-odd should get him a two

except this didn't even happen

 

[Redbacks]

"wait til you come to India" - kohli


Waggggggggg

It's 4-4

 

[Dan]

Vijay - 9/10. Hard to fault the way he batted, even if replicating it outside India may be difficult. Loses a mark for the reverse sweep and not being Dane Tilse.
Dhawan - 8/10. Can't justify a 9 or 10 based on the one performance, but damn he batted well.
Sehwag - 1/10. Past it, I guess. Pretty unfortunate but yeah.
Pujara - 10/10. Gun batsman. Pretty much flawless performance.
Tendulkar - 5/10. Still worth his place? Yes IMO. But only just. Unspectacular series.
Rahane - 1/10. Double failure on debut, which is unfortunate. Hopefully the selectors don't mark his cards. Definite talent for the future. Would have got 2 if not for the ugliness of his 2nd innings dismissal.
Kohli - 7/10. Pretty unremarkable series; good without being spectacular.
Dhoni - 7.5/10. Possibly my bias and mislike for him coming in. Seriously good double in the first Test, but his field placement and glovework weren't spectacular by any means. Batting tapered off as well. Probably should have given him an 8, TBH.
Jadeja - 8.5/10. On the bowling front he was fantastic; I'd argue the most concerning of the Indian bowlers from an Australian fan's perspective. Needed a more substantial batting contribution in there somewhere though, but with that said his 40 wasn't bad at all.
Ashwin - 9/10. Goddamn he bowled well. End of.
Ojha - 6.5/10. Bowled reasonably well without reward.
Harbhajan - 1/10. Unthreatening in the games he played, and rightfully left out. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Ishant - 4/10. Absolutely pedestrian spells intermingled with the odd unplayable delivery. Not terrible, but hardly awe inspiring. Definitely outbowled by...
Bhuvi - 5.5/10. Difficult to rate him given he was a) inexperienced and b) temperamental. Very, very good in patches, but when he was off he was very off and leaked runs. Promising signs though.

 

[Redbacks]

Chapelli with quote of the series

..on experience

Clarke aside, the current Australian batsmen aren't inexperienced. They have played a lot of first-class cricket. It's just that they haven't established their Test credentials under a variety of conditions.

 

[Dan]

except this didn't even happen

****, thinking of the tour match. Slight oversight there.

 

[Senile Sentry]

Vijay - 9/10. Hard to fault the way he batted, even if replicating it outside India may be difficult. Loses a mark for the reverse sweep and not being Dane Tilse.
Dhawan - 8/10. Can't justify a 9 or 10 based on the one performance, but damn he batted well.
Sehwag - 1/10. Past it, I guess. Pretty unfortunate but yeah.
Pujara - 10/10. Gun batsman. Pretty much flawless performance.
Tendulkar - 5/10. Still worth his place? Yes IMO. But only just. Unspectacular series.
Rahane - 1/10. Double failure on debut, which is unfortunate. Hopefully the selectors don't mark his cards. Definite talent for the future. Would have got 2 if not for the ugliness of his 2nd innings dismissal.
Kohli - 7/10. Pretty unremarkable series; good without being spectacular.
Dhoni - 7.5/10. Possibly my bias and mislike for him coming in. Seriously good double in the first Test, but his field placement and glovework weren't spectacular by any means. Batting tapered off as well. Probably should have given him an 8, TBH.
Jadeja - 8.5/10. On the bowling front he was fantastic; I'd argue the most concerning of the Indian bowlers from an Australian fan's perspective. Needed a more substantial batting contribution in there somewhere though, but with that said his 40 wasn't bad at all.
Ashwin - 9/10. Goddamn he bowled well. End of.
Ojha - 6.5/10. Bowled reasonably well without reward.
Harbhajan - 1/10. Unthreatening in the games he played, and rightfully left out. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Ishant - 4/10. Absolutely pedestrian spells intermingled with the odd unplayable delivery. Not terrible, but hardly awe inspiring. Definitely outbowled by...
Bhuvi - 5.5/10. Difficult to rate him given he was a) inexperienced and b) temperamental. Very, very good in patches, but when he was off he was very off and leaked runs. Promising signs though.

pretty neat summarization. Got to disagree on Dhoni. You probably missed out his Wade and Siddle dismissals today.

 

[Cevno]

Vijay 430 @ 61
Pujara 419 @ 84
Dhoni 326 @ 82
Kohli 284 @ 57
Sachin 192 @ 32
Dhawan 187 @ 187
Jadeja 85 @ 21
Sehwag 27 @ 9


Pretty crazy series for our batsmen. Wish we had dropped Yuvraj, Sehwag and Gambhir in the England series and Ashwin had bowled like how he's done throughout this one. Jadeja would've been pretty useful too. Could've perhaps drawn that series at least if we didn't make all sorts of rubbish selections.

Yeah, dropping those 3 the difference this series along with Ashwin upping his game with the ball and Sir Jadeja coming in and doing well with his quicker left arm spin on these pitches.

 

[Daemon]

I would mark down Kohli by 0.5-1 for his slip catching.

As much as a I love Bhuvi, he was largely useless besides two spells in the entire series, can't give him a 5.5 while Sharma gets a 4 imo.

edit: actually you could, his batting was useful. Dhoni probably wouldn't have got that double ton if he didn't stick around scoring 38.

 

[Burgey]

It's 4-4

Tbf, Kohli was referring to just having to go to the joint.

 

[Dan]

pretty neat summarization. Got to disagree on Dhoni. You probably missed out his Wade and Siddle dismissals today.

My theory is you should do the basics right, and taking freakish dismissals are an added bonus. Yeah, the catch/stumping of Wade was seriously good, but not long before he let one through his legs, and in the first dig a pretty regulation edge had him wrong-footed entirely (or at least it looked that way when I saw the replays).

Not to mention I have a complete and utter hatred for the guy, so I won't deny that clouds my judgement.

 

[Senile Sentry]

My theory is you should do the basics right, and taking freakish dismissals are an added bonus. Yeah, the catch/stumping of Wade was seriously good, but not long before he let one through his legs, and in the first dig a pretty regulation edge had him wrong-footed entirely (or at least it looked that way when I saw the replays).

Not to mention I have a complete and utter hatred for the guy, so I won't deny that clouds my judgement.

Haha fair enough. For one who has to juggle multiple and totally thankless tasks of being Indian captain/Wicketkeeper on tough pitches and no.6 batsman, he did a spectacular job imho. Most would've wilted.

 

[Jono]

have this

Holy **** that looks like a character from The League, Rafi.

****ing hilarious character ftr. Filthier than anything posted on this forum.

Edit: holy **** just saw PEWS' post!

 

[Jono]

That jacket is terrible on Shastri. I think I'll email him the details of my tailor. It's a terrible cut. Wake up to yourself, man!

See what Gerard Henderson was wearing on Insiders today? About 2 sizes too big. Felt like emailing the Sydney Institute and telling them to get a new wardrobe for him.

 

[Prince EWS]

Holy **** that looks like a character from The League, Rafi.

****ing hilarious character ftr. Filthier than anything posted on this forum.

Edit: holy **** just saw PEWS' post!

I even called out you to confirm specifically!

 

[Teja.]

I would mark down Kohli by 0.5-1 for his slip catching.

As much as a I love Bhuvi, he was largely useless besides two spells in the entire series, can't give him a 5.5 while Sharma gets a 4 imo.

edit: actually you could, his batting was useful. Dhoni probably wouldn't have got that double ton if he didn't stick around scoring 38.

Nah, Bhuvi's role is get rid of the top order with jaffas on the occasion of him getting the new ball to swing every 2-3 games or so and be a fairly inoffensive side-liner otherwise and to hold the bat a bit.

He did his 'role' perfectly well. Both times he took wickets, they were the first three wickets of the innings and the opposition were in deep **** for the innings at SFA - 3.

If he consistently has occasional spells like that and averages early-mid 30s with the ball and contributes with the bat, he holds his place in the side.

As regards to Sharma, I will refrain from beating the long dead and currently decaying Sarah Jessica Parker about his wicket distribution.

 

[Cevno]

OK so India's next 3 test series' are away in SA, NZ and England, a few questions...

Who opens? Vijay and Dhawan?

Think, there might be another series scheduled somewhere if the Pakistan series doesn't happen which looks likely not to happen atm.

Anyway, if there isn't Vijay and Dhawan will go into the SA series surely. Whether they come out of it remains to be seen.

Will Sachin be there? if not, is Rahane a straight swap? Or will Yuvraj/Raina get another go?

Dunno, what Sachin's plans are but think he will call it a day somewhere till then.

Yuvraj and Raina can get a go again knowing Dhoni and selectors, but think Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu deserve a go ahead of them after Rahane gets a long rope.

And Kohli will go to 4, i imagine or Rohit will come in there.

Will Jadaja be effective anywhere outside the sub-continent? Will they bother taking Ohja on any of these tours if Jadaja is there with Ashwin?

Jadeja will be a decent support bowler outside SC, but not as effective obviously. Won't be able to hold his place at 6 either so will have to play as a bowler.

Reckon he will go though along with Ashwin.

Fast Bowlers? Bhuvi Kumar? Ishant? Yadav? are Zaheer and Praveen Kumar spent forces?

Ishant needs to be dropped for mine unless he improves quite a bit till then.

Praveen has been replaced by a more stable BK. Zak is still a crock.

Yadav and Bhuvneshwar seem decent bets going forward. Need to give Sid Kaul, Pankaj SIngh, Shami Ahmed, Mohit Sharma a go even if ODI's and see how it goes.

Dinda has been warming bench whole series, so i am worried he deserves a go somewhere. **** would be terrible taking him to SA.