***Official*** Australia in India 2017

[Debris]

I'll need to be picked for an overseas tour for that to happen first tho

I guess the overseas was a bit unnecessary come to think of it.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Which was dumb though. Dustbowls is how we usually lose at home.

Not against Australia. The only game India won in the 2004 series was on an absolute shocker.

But yes the good that will come of this is that people will finally stop talking **** about spin-friendly pitches being 'poor' or 'unfair' and realise that all it takes to win in these conditions is just playing good cricket. You naturally need to adapt and do things differently, but the best players will still shine, and the team that bowls in the right areas more frequently + spends more time at the crease + holds their catches will win the game. Just like anywhere else in the world.

Or, yknow, the lads at Channel 9 will puff their chest out at how they got one over the cheating, pitch doctoring Indians in their own backyard and how their tricks backfired on them.

I'm not condoning pitch doctoring, or deliberate preparation of pitches to suit a home team, not at all, however I'd take these sort of conditions (in small doses) over the roads we got in Australia when NZ toured in 2015, and a few other recent series in Aus too. That was really **** cricket. This is interesting at least.

(Probably wouldn't be saying this if we were struggling though)

 

[cnerd123]

If you can't talk about it now, when can you? If Aus were getting smashed any talk about the pitches would just be dismissed as whinging & sour grapes

Talking about the pitch is fine tbh - you need to do that every game. Talk about how it's behaving, how it's holding up, what are the areas/speeds to be bowling at, whats a par score, etc. Even about which side/players it suits more.

All talk regarding evaluating the 'quality' of a pitch is pointless tho. It eventually all boils down to 'Pitches are different, people's preference for pitches are different, deal with it'. Anyone trying to keep hammering on some point about the objective quality of a pitch is really just pushing an agenda/having a whinge, and that's annoying.

 

[Bijed]

Just seen Rahane's dismissal, never thought I'd see someone get stumped further out of their crease than Tino Best in the 'mind the windows' incident.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Talking about the pitch is fine tbh - you need to do that every game. Talk about how it's behaving, how it's holding up, what are the areas/speeds to be bowling at, whats a par score, etc. Even about which side/players it suits more.

All talk regarding evaluating the 'quality' of a pitch is pointless tho. It eventually all boils down to 'Pitches are different, people's preference for pitches are different, deal with it'. Anyone trying to keep hammering on some point about the objective quality of a pitch is really just pushing an agenda/having a whinge, and that's annoying.

Yeah as far as I'm concerned "quality" shouldn't really come into it, unless it's either a) dangerous, or b) leads to poor cricket. Roads like the WACA Test v NZ are poor pitches. These ones aren't poor IMO, just different.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

If India scored 350 for 3 or 4 wickets, people would quickly jump to say its a road etc etc. Its result oriented a bit too much these days than the quality of playing

 

[Compton]

Great day for Australia, but there's still a helluva lot of cricket left to play in this match.

Australia need to be looking at 300 to account for the fact they're batting last.

 

[cnerd123]

Great day for Australia, but there's still a helluva lot of cricket left to play in this match.

Australia need to be looking at 300 to account for the fact they're batting last.

They're not batting twice, dw.

 

[Shri]

Remember the tour match? What sort of pitch was that? Lets just replicate that ffs, can't take any more of us being outplayed on these turners.

Lets just play that team instead.

 

[Gob]

Niiiiiiiiiiccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Daemon]

That was a bit of a seamer, wasn't it? Not sure that's wise against Starc and Hazlewood.

It was green but very much a road from all reports

 

[andruid]

Feels like this is some kind of parallel universe. 4-0 very much here

 

[Victor Ian]

great headline from somewhere......Killer Lyon Eight India

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

great headline from somewhere......Killer Lyon Eight India

 

[S.Kennedy]

I only briefly saw the highlights on Star but it seems that it was another mother of all collapses. If there is anything linking some of the series recently it is teams being skittled out like nine pins.

What of the Indian batting order? Anything you can rejig? Remembering it from the England series it does not seem the most settled.

 

[Spark]

This whitewash talk is crazy. Not unmerited, far from it, but the fact this is even being discussed just boggles my mind. It would be, without question, one of the most singular achievements in Australian cricket history if it happened.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Two spin twins, Lyon and O' Keefe, Ramadhin and Valentine eat your heart out.

 

[Niall]

Just seen Rahane's dismissal, never thought I'd see someone get stumped further out of their crease than Tino Best in the 'mind the windows' incident.

Shouldn't be picked in these conditions, an absolute horror v spin, obviously there are better alternatives, but just to highlight how much of a waste Rahane is on these pitches, I'd gladly take Rohit ahead of him in India.

 

[smash84]

WTF is happening in this series

 

[Watson33]

I absolutely did not see this coming. I thought this series would be a walk in the park for the Indians. Lyon and S'OK are doing the business and Renshaw looks a decent bat. Still think 4-0 is a bit far but I can definitely see a 3-1 win for Australia on the cards.