*Official* India Tour of Australia 2018/19

[vcs]

Pujara is really on a ridiculous run vs. Australia. First the match-winning crucial 90 odd in Bangalore alongside Rahane. Then the epic stonewall effort in Ranchi after Australia had put up 450 batting first, taking defeat for India out of the equation. Then this series. It's almost rivaling Sachin vs. Australia '98 in terms of one guy hurting one particular team.

 

[TheJediBrah]

In SA it is batsmen that win test matches.... a hundred in SA is pure gold, sometimes more important than taking a 5 for.

But black white simplicity makes for nice discussions (i.e arguments).

How are quotas relevant to batsmen and bowlers' relative importance?

 

[Spark]

Yeah, he did fluke a 50 at Dharmasala despite being dropped first ball of the match. Just did not trust his defensive technique at all that tour.

yeah that was a really jammy knock iirc, then basically nicked one that didn't turn.

 

[Spark]

Pujara is really on a ridiculous run vs. Australia. First the match-winning crucial 90 odd in Bangalore alongside Rahane. Then the epic stonewall effort in Ranchi after Australia had put up 450 batting first, taking defeat for India out of the equation. Then this series. It's almost rivaling Sachin vs. Australia '98 in terms of one guy hurting one particular team.

yeah, sometimes a batsman just takes a real liking to a particular set of bowlers. the fact that we have no reliable conventional outswing bowler in our attack probably helps him a lot.

 

[StephenZA]

How are quotas relevant to batsmen and bowlers' relative importance?

Have to ask the SA politician and selectors... still better than the Aus method at the moment.

 

[Hicheal Michael]

My point is that it wouldn't have taken much for Australia to have won that series. Snag Pujara early a couple of times and it's have been 2-1 Australia.

Yeah, but i guess the pre-text was not there for that series the way it was for this series ie this is probably the best chance x will ever have to win in y conditions due to suspensions.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Have to ask the SA politician and selectors... still better than the Aus method at the moment.

the Marsh quota is hurting us pretty bad

 

[OverratedSanity]

In SA it is batsmen that win test matches.... a hundred in SA is pure gold, sometimes more important than taking a 5 for.

But black white simplicity makes for nice discussions (i.e arguments).

Yeah pretty much why subcontinent teams don't win in SA is because the batsmen suck in those conditions. India, Pak, SL all have had tests over the years where their bowlers put them in good positions, but their batsmen suck so much in those conditions that it goes to waste. It's pretty incredible how almost every great subcontinent batsman has a poor record in SA despite being an otherwise great overseas performer, like Sanga, Dravid, Younis, Inzi. Sachin and recently kohli are the only ones who've truly excelled.

 

[GotSpin]

The Langer quota as well

 

[StephenZA]

the Marsh quota is hurting us pretty bad

Probably do better if they chose Geoff as the quota Marsh...

 

[OverratedSanity]

Pujara is really on a ridiculous run vs. Australia. First the match-winning crucial 90 odd in Bangalore alongside Rahane. Then the epic stonewall effort in Ranchi after Australia had put up 450 batting first, taking defeat for India out of the equation. Then this series. It's almost rivaling Sachin vs. Australia '98 in terms of one guy hurting one particular team.

That Bangalore 90 is still probably his best ever innings imo. Totally changed that series.

 

[vcs]

The other interesting parallel is both sides having better bowling attacks than batting line ups. That said, Pujara has been immense in this series and good on him for working on his technique (and good on the coaching staff too who seem to get constant ridicule, mostly justified though) and ensuring he has enough scoring options to make his strength in occupying the crease, be the difference between the sides.

That said, people are under rating what Kohli did in 2014 here massively. Plus he is one bloke who seems to have that certain zone that he just hits sometimes. He did that in 2014 in Australia after that nightmare tour of England. He did that this time in England. And I feel sorry for the Aussies when they tour India next as I feel he is going to do the same then.

And on the whole short and full thing, the strategy was understandable but ideally you wanna mix it up a bit. And going always full or always short is betraying a basic lack of cricketing nous by whoever it was who made those decisions. It need not be and should not be a binary thing. Its like a batsman playing exclusively off the front foot or the back foot. Either way, they would be wrong.

Good post. Kohli at his best is a level above all the Pujaras and Rahanes (no shame in that, those guys are still pretty damn good), people tried claiming otherwise when their averages were around the same but sometimes you just have to watch guys bat.

 

[Spark]

That Bangalore 90 is still probably his best ever innings imo. Totally changed that series.

i still remember how surreal and euphoric it felt after day 1 on bangalore

 

[Burgey]

eh i think india would have won anyway tbh even if aus had gotten, say, 270 odd. you can't change one thing and assume everything afterwards happens as before.

Cups we’ll be so, though the extra session and a half Australia would have taken to make 90 runs (the going rate in that test) would have made it difficult.

Always a million ifs and buts in these things

 

[Burner]

i think the argument is kind of the logical extreme of the whole "bowlers win test matches, batsmen save them" logic of cricketingview and the like, which basically says that test match wins are basically overwhelmingly down to the bowling only. which i find a indefensibly simplistic view of the game.

this is especially true in australia, where the overall trajectory of a test match is generally fixed by lunch on day 2.

This is not what I said at all. Pujara has been the difference between the batting sides of both teams, that's a given.

But India in tours of Australia of the past years have always had at least one Pujara like performance throughout the series but the problem has always been picking that 20 wickets. So from India's perspective this time, the bowling is actually the difference from tours of the past.

Burgey argued that the bowlers actually picking up those wickets makes Pujara's series performance somehow better which is what I had argued against.

 

[weldone]

Good post. Kohli at his best is a level above all the Pujaras and Rahanes (no shame in that, those guys are still pretty damn good), people tried claiming otherwise when their averages were around the same but sometimes you just have to watch guys bat.

Long-term bet proposition: Pujara will end with higher test aggregate and test average than Kohli.

Any takers?

 

[Starfighter]

the fact that we have no reliable conventional outswing bowler in our attack probably helps him a lot.

About this, firstly has anyone seen Cummins' outswinger? He had a good one a few years a go before he really had to change his action but never seems to angle the seam further left than straight down the pitch these days. Doesn't help he always bowls first change.
Secondly, Haze is really frustrating when it comes to swing, sometimes he bowls a nice outswinger but this series I reckon he's been trying to bowl it from too wide on the crease, and he also has phases when he bowls gentle inswingers (often half volleys), again like this series. Especially when he does the latter he also bowls with a tilted seam and doesn't get the movement off the deck. I also reckon he tries to bowl a little fast. He was best in 16/17 when he was bowling 132-136, just in the corridor and getting that seam movement.

 

[Spark]

Long-term bet proposition: Pujara will end with higher test aggregate and test average than Kohli.

Any takers?

iirc a few people did take up this bet in one of those "which young gun batsmen will do best" thread back when they were still emerging

 

[Burgey]

I thought that Haze’s hand has been running down the right side of the ball at release in Melbourne and Sydney. Don’t know if it was deliberate, but it seemed to coincide with him trying to bowl his outswinger.

 

[Spark]

I thought that Haze’s hand has been running down the right side of the ball at release in Melbourne and Sydney. Don’t know if it was deliberate, but it seemed to coincide with him trying to bowl his outswinger.

i can't remember who but i think it was damien fleming (who, tbf, does know this stuff) saying in melbourne that his wrist position isn't quite right at release, at least relative to how it was