***Official*** Australia in India 2017

[BharatNT2IE]

I am Team India supporter i feel Australia have a chance of winning this series.... India need to go for broke in Bangalore...even a draw (without weather god's interfering) can but a strain on India.....For India anything less that 2-1 is a disaster...First day extremely crucial for India more than it is for Australia....

For India Win....
a) Starc or Hazelwoods combined match figures should not exceed 80-7-260-4
b) India played spin poorly at Pune, but if history repeats itself, do not think Keefe or Lyon will be that effective again.
c) Ensure Smith does not get more that 80 runs in the test match.

Australia
a) Starc and Hazelwood pick 6 wickets @ 25 each..
b) Smith and or Warner get a century a piece...
c) I will be tempted to pick Glen Maxwell he may well be "all hype not hit" , agree with Gillespie....he could very well intimidate the Indian bowlers...

I have a feeling India will struggle to draw this match if they do not have a solid first day.... and if they have the one session of madness like they had in Pune they will loose this match....

First day... first day...( unless we have repeat of Kolkota 2001 )

 

[centurymaker]

Rain is going to ensure that it is no more than a 3 day or max 4 day game. Plus the pitch is likely to be flat or much flatter... so a draw is almost certain.

Might as well look ahead to the 3rd Test. This is now merely a practice game..

There has to be something very dramatic for a result to even come into the picture..i.e. a big 1st innings lead, so that there are only three innings in the game.

Or the curator should leave grass on the pitch.

 

[centurymaker]

Imagine if they **** it up and leave grass on it for Haze. Won't happen but my god it would be hilarious for the reaction from some of the press/ pundits

If grass is left, Australia could be rolled out too on Day 1.

 

[BharatNT2IE]

Rain is going to ensure that it is no more than a 3 day or max 4 day game. Plus the pitch is likely to be flat or much flatter... so a draw is almost certain.

Might as well look ahead to the 3rd Test. This is now merely a practice game..

There has to be something very dramatic for a result to even come into the picture..i.e. a big 1st innings lead, so that there are only three innings in the game.

Or the curator should leave grass on the pitch.

Curator leaving grass... .probably not .....For Starc it might not matter because he is straight up pace.... but for Hazlewood it might benefit him.....i think he swings the ball more...

Strangely it might help India more if they leave grass... not the batsmen but the faster bowlers......They might pick Bhuveneshwar Kumar... and drop a spinner.....if they leave grass...... or drop Ishant and bring in Hardik Pandya....

I think India needs to win this game to win the series, if curators play safe and produce a belter..... in effect a tame draw... then all Australia need is one more good session from the bowling ..... and the test will be done.......

INDIA SHOULD NOT COME OUT OF BANGALORE WITH ANYTHING LESS THAN A WIN TO KEEP THE SERIES ALIVE!!!!!!

 

[Debris]

I am Team India supporter i feel Australia have a chance of winning this series.... India need to go for broke in Bangalore...even a draw (without weather god's interfering) can but a strain on India.....For India anything less that 2-1 is a disaster...First day extremely crucial for India more than it is for Australia....

For India Win....
a) Starc or Hazelwoods combined match figures should not exceed 80-7-260-4
b) India played spin poorly at Pune, but if history repeats itself, do not think Keefe or Lyon will be that effective again.
c) Ensure Smith does not get more that 80 runs in the test match.

Australia
a) Starc and Hazelwood pick 6 wickets @ 25 each..
b) Smith and or Warner get a century a piece...
c) I will be tempted to pick Glen Maxwell he may well be "all hype not hit" , agree with Gillespie....he could very well intimidate the Indian bowlers...

I have a feeling India will struggle to draw this match if they do not have a solid first day.... and if they have the one session of madness like they had in Pune they will loose this match....

First day... first day...( unless we have repeat of Kolkota 2001 )

Not a disaster. Australia lost a series at home recently and it seemed bad at the time but it is pretty much forgotten now. The one thing about a bad loss at home is that it can really highlight what needs fixing in a side eg. Australia needed a reliable opener to bat with Warner.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Curator leaving grass... .probably not .....For Starc it might not matter because he is straight up pace.... but for Hazlewood it might benefit him.....i think he swings the ball more...

Strangely it might help India more if they leave grass... not the batsmen but the faster bowlers......They might pick Bhuveneshwar Kumar... and drop a spinner.....if they leave grass...... or drop Ishant and bring in Hardik Pandya....

I think India needs to win this game to win the series, if curators play safe and produce a belter..... in effect a tame draw... then all Australia need is one more good session from the bowling ..... and the test will be done.......


INDIA SHOULD NOT COME OUT OF BANGALORE WITH ANYTHING LESS THAN A WIN TO KEEP THE SERIES ALIVE!!!!!!

Exactly. Grass will help level the playing field and increase the effectiveness of India's inferior fast bowlers.

 

[BharatNT2IE]

Not a disaster. Australia lost a series at home recently and it seemed bad at the time but it is pretty much forgotten now. The one thing about a bad loss at home is that it can really highlight what needs fixing in a side eg. Australia needed a reliable opener to bat with Warner.

Yes they did loose 2-1 but that is SA in Australia.... and Australia royally screwed....

a) @ 0/151 trailing by 100 odd they should have got atleast 170 run lead...1st Test.... and Dale Steyn was ruled out "for entire series" after 1 wicket... what more could you ask for....
b) Getting bowled out for 80 odd @ Hobart...
c) Australia shot themselves in the foot..very much themselves to blame.....but they atleast have some answers to SA.

But in this case India were on top only once (or we though we were ) for the 3rd session on Day 1....at that time 260 looked ordinary.... then it was all Australia........The shocker were

a) India trying to spin off the stumps...when deviation is atleast 20 degrees of the pitch...did not use the feet at all...
b) Mitchell Starc control the proceedings so easily...with no real answers....Yes 150kmph is hard...but then Kohli handing him a wicket chasing a wide one.....
c) Repeating the same mistakes 2nd time with Keefe and Lyon....

The problem was this was a huge anomaly from the 2015 and 2016 , of course Galle there was a mini collapse, but then we atleast have one good innings score...Failing so miserably and having to answers to Keefe.... that was a shocker...

They should have atleast tried a bit harder in the second innings... got some 280 even though there were going to loose the match...I think they will still be hung over from Pune......And i still believe Starc will have one more session in this series where he will completely own it... unless India go all out attack with Starc in this match.... or give him no more than 3 wickets in this test match...we will be in trouble in one more test match.....Everyone from No.1 to No.9 should resist Starc....even if 1,2,3,4,5, played him well and he has figure 15-3-50-0 and India are 320/3 there is a risk he will get 6,7,8,9 within a blink and have 20-4-60-4 and India squandering opportunity now with 350/7............

For me Starc is the key.....and Hazlewood...resist them it is India's test match.....I may sound arrogant but i trust the Indian cricket team's spin accumen to kick....and O Keefe and Lyon not exceeding more than 5 wickets in a test match.... and expect Ashwin/Jadeja to do better....but all this if Starc/Hazelwood are diluted...!!!!!!

 

[BharatNT2IE]

Exactly. Grass will help level the playing field and increase the effectiveness of India's inferior fast bowlers.

In a comparative terms India have faster bowlers at lower level..... but the gap is closer than say 15 years ago....Umesh had 6 wickets in just 25 overs....that is 30% of wickets in just 12% of overs India bowled......Agree he is no Starc or Anderson Steyn or Rabada... he is still improving....

England have struggled a little more than expected.... means our fast bowlers have improved a bit.....they must be doing something right......... But nothing matters if India cannot regulate Starc.....

 

[centurymaker]

You are spot on about Starc & Hazlewood. They are the key once again!

It was them two who picked up the three most crucial wickets in the last test and that too when the game was right in the balance; namely they got Vijay, Pujara & Kohli - India's three best batsmen.

So it put India on 44/3, which changed the whole game around! It was more like 44/5 given the quality of batsmen dismissed.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Exactly. Grass will help level the playing field and increase the effectiveness of India's inferior fast bowlers.

If it's too much grass, yes. If it's just a little bit which requires good bowling, we'll get stomped.

 

[stephen]

You are spot on about Starc & Hazlewood. They are the key once again!

It was them two who picked up the three most crucial wickets in the last test and that too when the game was right in the balance; namely they got Vijay, Pujara & Kohli - India's three best batsmen.

So it put India on 44/3, which changed the whole game around! It was more like 44/5 given the quality of batsmen dismissed.

This. O'Keefe rightly gets a lot of credit for his efforts with the ball but it was haze and Starc who took the key wickets in the first innings.

 

[Compton]

I don't think Australia would mind a rain-reduced test at all tbh.

1-0 up with 2 to play makes the worst possible result a 2-1 loss, which they would have taken when they boarded the plane.

 

[stephen]

I don't think Australia would mind a rain-reduced test at all tbh.

1-0 up with 2 to play makes the worst possible result a 2-1 loss, which they would have taken when they boarded the plane.

I don't think they will tolerate that scorecard. I think Australia have come to win the series. After the first game I can't see them happy with anything less than a hard fought 2-2.

 

[Daemon]

I don't think Australia would mind a rain-reduced test at all tbh.

1-0 up with 2 to play makes the worst possible result a 2-1 loss, which they would have taken when they boarded the plane.

Sure, but the fact is that they're now 1-0 up. They'd be very, very desperate at this point to take any chance they can get at winning one more 1 in the next 3 chances.

 

[Shri]

Or they could try to protectthe 1 game lead through the next three, losing all games in the process. #DhoniThings

 

[honestbharani]

We can only hope The Chump remembers those captaincy lessons from Dhoni at Pune..

 

[Burgey]

I read yesterday there are lakes in Bangalore which are catching fire due to the pollution. Is this true?

 

[quincywagstaff]

Checking the weather forecast for this Test, seems to have improved a bit from yesterday. Yesterday's forecasts seemed to suggest Days 2-5 would be rain-affected while now only Days 4-5 would be impacted.

Also, I didn't realise until I checked his Cricinfo profile today that O'Keefe played 7 T20s for Oz back in the early 2010s. Even as someone who follows the game closely I had no memory of this.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Checking the weather forecast for this Test, seems to have improved a bit from yesterday. Yesterday's forecasts seemed to suggest Days 2-5 would be rain-affected while now only Days 4-5 would be impacted.

Also, I didn't realise until I checked his Cricinfo profile today that O'Keefe played 7 T20s for Oz back in the early 2010s. Even as someone who follows the game closely I had no memory of this.

It was quite baffling at the time because he was a dominant First-class bowler who hadn't really done much in T20s, yet got selected to play in the T20 team for some reason

 

[Nate]

Warney said