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3rd Test at the SCG, Sydney, 7 Jan - 11 Jan 2021

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
Four years ago Ishant being ruled out of a series would have seen Indian fans ****-a-hoop. He’s been very good the last few years
Yesssss... primarily due to Kohli taking over.

A but like Brett Lee who dialed up a few notches toward end of career.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
To me though, it also matters what the others in the attack are doing. The New Perth for Aussie spinners perhaps a good example of the kind of damage good spinners can do when backed up by good fast bowlers around them. Lets see how tomorrow goes. Kinda wanna see India bowl first as I feel its still our best chance inspite of the two spinners in the lineup.
Yeah sure, it doesn't mean spinners can't be effective. It just means the pitch won't be helping them. If you somehow transported the entire stadium to Mumbai, Colombo or even Brighton it'd be regarded as an absolutely unparalleled graveyard for spinners, and rightly so. This mythology about Australian grounds having such different characteristics to one another is perpetuated by broadcasters for a host of reasons I won't go in to for fear or incurring the wrath of flagwavers.

I expect Ashwin and Jadeja to be more effective than Saini for example; they're much better bowlers, and the batting isn't good enough to nullify good bowling just because the pitch isn't helping them.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Lol yeah, Saini in the 90s would have been useful coz even though there were quite a few 140+ bowlers around it was still a big deal to face them. But I have not seen Saini move the ball off the straight at all and if you are gonna be that, you gotta be 150+ on average to retain a spot. Consistent 145 kph straight balls are really not gonna do anything to the Aussie batters. So I genuinely hope he can get the ball to move (and you usually cant survive in Ranji if you can't move the ball, no matter what pace you bowl at), so hopefully the LO games were more aberrations and he has got more to offer in the red ball formats.
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Ashwin has 5 wickets @ 81 at the SCG.

Kuldeep did take five, but it's worth mentioning who the five were - Khawaja (who can't play the ball turning away from him), Head, Paine, Lyon, Hazlewood (who scored 25 first).


Here are the averages in the last 10 years for visiting spinners:
WACA - 51.64
MCG - 52.76
Bellerive - 57.12
SCG - 59.10
Gabba - 63.73
Adelaide - 73.96
New Perth - 91.00

Australian spinners:
New Perth - 16.80
Adelaide - 30.94
Gabba - 32.94
MCG - 36.08
Bellerive - 38.75
SCG - 38.93
WACA - 48.00

"SCG so spinny" is probably the biggest trap in cricket.
I do think the SCG tends to be a bit drier than the other grounds these days except the last few at Melbourne, but the main thing it's been is flat. Big blowouts featuring hopeless bowlers like Mason Crane or Yasir Shah wouldn't help. It's certainly not a spinning pitch in the sense it was, but there's merit to having two spinners (but no moreso than in Melbourne), and I don't think those figures quite tell the tale.

People seem to forget that wickets get relaid and preparation can change. I'm not sure when the pitch was last relaid before the last time when it had reputation as a spinning pitch (not least due to the curator scalping it), but it was a very old pitch by that time. There were matches, for example in the fifties, where there was a bit of grass or moisture and the pace bowlers dominated. The last decent pitches there IMO were 12/13 and 13/14, though the last one against NZ wasn't too bad either.

It's the same at Perth, I was so tired of the same WACA bounce memes being trotted out year after year when it hadn't played that way for over a decade. It's like the ex-players in the comm box and media remain stuck in their day and don't watch the matches.
 

Burner

International Regular
2 new players at the top might do a world of good for Australia. Especially if Warner gets going, India could have some pressure put on them. Even when Aus have put up partnerships this series, they've never really put India under pressure like they usually do to visiting sides. This time with Saini playing, maybe they also have a weak link to target.
 

Arachnodouche

International Captain
Doubt either Warner or Sharma are doing much this game. Can't be easing coming in from the cold and scoring freely against decent bowling (Ind obviously the weaker seam attack now which might help Warner more).
 

sunilz

International Regular
Does anyone else hate Kohli and Shastri on this forum?

Kohli is so shameless person that he never quits captaincy in any format of any team despite not winning a single multi nation tournament or IPL trophy .
Lesser said about India's test overseas performance the better.
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
Four years ago Ishant being ruled out of a series would have seen Indian fans ****-a-hoop. He’s been very good the last few years
Yesssss... primarily due to Kohli taking over.

A but like Brett Lee who dialed up a few notches toward end of career.
Does anyone else hate Kohli and Shastri on this forum?

Kohli is so shameless person that he never quits captaincy in any format of any team despite not winning a single multi nation tournament or IPL trophy .
Lesser said about India's test overseas performance the better.
CBF about IPL. Rohit just turns up to collect the IPL trophy.

Multinational tournaments to an extent agree. But his records are killer otherwise, in tests and in OdIs.
 

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