*Official* Australia in India 2023

[Son Of Coco]

I don’t want to talk about pitch anymore. But I would say you one thing:
EVERYONE DOCTORS THE PITCH .

And there isn’t anything wrong in doctoring pitch unless it is physically dangerous for players .

And if there is a small chance that Australia don’t doctor wickets , then they are stupid .

They don't.

And yes there is. I'm not talking about this pitch in particular. As long as it turned we were ****ed, and it was always going to turn regardless of whatever we saw in those pictures. We just couldn't handle India in India.

 

[centurymaker]

Not so much the case the last couple of years, but there was definitely a time where Australian wickets were prepared a certain way, as flat as possible for that sweet sweet TV rights money

Not sure if that counts as "doctoring" or not

Yes Australian pitches tend to be the flattest in the world and hence why labu and Smith average like 65-70 at home! Meanwhile, India has been producing low scoring pitches for several years and hence Indian batsmen are averaging sub 40 at home in recent years.

 

[Nintendo]

Moopeh may not be as effective in Estraya and England

Yeah that's the biggest issue with this replace him with Lyon talk. Just let Murphy swap in for Lyon occasionally at home and build his game in the shield / as a second spinner in the squad when necessary. Lyons still been hugely successful at home.

 

[Starfighter]

Not so much the case the last couple of years, but there was definitely a time where Australian wickets were prepared a certain way, as flat as possible for that sweet sweet TV rights money

Not sure if that counts as "doctoring" or not

Pretty much the only example in recent times. Sunilz doesn't seem to realise that because it's de rigueur there doesn't mean it is everywhere.

 

[Daemon]

Not so much the case the last couple of years, but there was definitely a time where Australian wickets were prepared a certain way, as flat as possible for that sweet sweet TV rights money

Not sure if that counts as "doctoring" or not

Definitely not doctoring.

Doctoring is only when a pitch is deliberately altered from the natural state it was first discovered in. Some touch ups are necessary of course because there's often quite a bit of flora to clear in the area before you can build a stadium around it, but in general when you discover a pitch in the wild you should do your utmost to keep it behaving the same way.

 

[Sunil1z]

Pretty much the only example in recent times. Sunilz doesn't seem to realise that because it's de rigueur there doesn't mean it is everywhere.

Which country according to you don’t doctors wickets?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Which country according to you don’t doctors wickets?

Please no pitch talk ?

 

[Senile Sentry]

I mentioned this after Smith's dismissal in the first dig, but is anyone concerned about how he's playing Jadeja? His MO in India last time was playing for the straight one every time, ignoring the turn and excepting that he's gonna get beaten on the outside edge. Last match Jadeja had him out twice knocking the stumps out the ground as smith player for turn and was done by the straight one.

He was dismissed in identical fashion in the second as well. Saved my a very generous call (closer inspection reveals it wasn't a no ball.

I think Smith will take an off stump guard and deploy hard sweeps going forward to make Jadeja slow it down a bit at which point he will use his feet.

 

[R!TTER]

I mentioned this after Smith's dismissal in the first dig, but is anyone concerned about how he's playing Jadeja? His MO in India last time was playing for the straight one every time, ignoring the turn and excepting that he's gonna get beaten on the outside edge. Last match Jadeja had him out twice knocking the stumps out the ground as smith player for turn and was done by the straight one.

Smith's past his peak, this is how you'd normally expect most players to fare against Jadeja. This isn't the second time they're playing in a series btw, first was back in 2013 when Jadeja was a rookie! For me Jadeja is the difference between India being just great at home or virtually unbeatable, I posted some stats about W/L with him playing for India in India/Asia & he're some more -

To provide additional information, I have listed five high wicket-takers who missed out on the top ten. Shane Warne, James Anderson and Broad have WQI averages higher than 1.02, while Courtney Walsh and Murali just about break even. Murali took a lot of late-order wickets. Kumble has an average WQI value of around 0.99. Overall, spinners find it difficult to get on to the table. Ravindra Jadeja is the highest-placed spinner, in 14th place, with an average WQI of 1.037.

The 'real value' of wickets: can anyone match McGrath?

And which was the most valuable wicket in Test history? Find out in this comprehensive analysis

www.thecricketmonthly.com

Which is to say that Jadeja takes more top order/crucial wickets than any other spinner. You may no agree with the exact ranking but surely he's picked crucial wickets as often as possible! Even in 2013 he made Clarke, who was in great form, look like a tailender at times. Similarly the likes of Faf, Amla & AB in 2015 at home. The one big chink in his armor is the away record & somewhat inability to cleanup the tail.

 

[Starfighter]

Moopeh may not be as effective in Estraya and England

Australia maybe, but his style is comparable to Swann's and he was pretty good in England.

I'd like to see if he can develop a more topspinning variation though. That's what's remarkable about Ashwin's bowling, he varies anywhere between spinning very straight over to spinning back slightly.

 

[Burgey]

I mentioned this after Smith's dismissal in the first dig, but is anyone concerned about how he's playing Jadeja? His MO in India last time was playing for the straight one every time, ignoring the turn and excepting that he's gonna get beaten on the outside edge. Last match Jadeja had him out twice knocking the stumps out the ground as smith player for turn and was done by the straight one.

Not especially worried because the Smith Program will have an inevitable reboot and it won't happen again this series.

More worried about Labushagne's second innings because after the first, he seemed to really doubt his method second innings and played very differently and got caught on the crease a lot.

 

[Chrish]

Sad part is if india wins the series, Dravid gets prolonged extension

 

[G. S. Kohli]

Lyon is great

If he beat warne's 709 plus records
Shane Warne dismissed 9/10/11 batsman WKts 248!

Lyon still not that smart to removes tail or aus fast bowler not give him oppertunity to grab tail.

 

[G. S. Kohli]

At last the time has come. This is the test series that has occupied my mind most since Australia retained the Ashes in 2019. The 2017 series was one of the most thrilling series I've ever seen, and I can only hope for a similar contest this time around. The three most recent BG-series have been ultra competitive. So given my excitement, please indulge this wall of text.

On paper, disregarding conditions, Australia looks a better team than we did in 2017. We are in great form. But in Indian conditions there are some caveats:

Despite our success in Pakistan, the surfaces in India are going to be much more lively, and there is a big question mark over the second spinner, with the selectors pulled in a number of directions. The heart says to go with the wrist-spinner Swepson as an attacking option, but the success visiting left-armers with quicker, flatter trajectory (Steve O'Keefe, Panesar) mean that Agar is the frame, despite a middling record of late. Holland isn't in performing well enough and doesn't bat while Kuhnemann is maybe too raw. Todd Murphy looks to also have a flatter trajectory (as he's taller maybe he doesn't need to flight the ball as much?), but then doesn't provide the leg-spinning variation. My feeling is that Australia should pick for the conditions. On insane bunsens they should go with Agar, but Swepson might be a better option on a Karun Nair road.

In 2017 we had Renshaw and Handscomb, both who are natural players of spin. Renshaw performed really well on the two most spinning wickets in the first two tests. I would have said it was worth having Renshaw as an option to replace Warner if he performed poorly, but Warner has probably made himself undroppable until the Ashes. Nonetheless Travis Head doesn't seem to have a coherent plan against spin yet and so Renshaw could potentially slot in for him if Head is made to look totally at sea in the first few tests.

Mitchell Starc's injury causes a few problems for Australia. On a flat wicket Starc and Cummins would have been the two pacers I would have picked. Starc has the extra advantage of creating rough outside the right-handers off stump and India might have a top order with just right-handers: (Rahul/Gill/Rohit, Pujara, Kohli, Iyer). I would include Joel Paris in the squad if Starc is ruled out for the whole tour. I don't think the selectors will leapfrog Neser, Boland and Morris though. It might be in the selectors minds that Morris' extra pace will give us something to work with on docile wickets.

India's batting doesn't look strong at the moment. Pujara and Kohli average 23 and 26 respectively since the start of 2020 at home. Including away matches it is clear this is not a short form slump. Rohit Sharma has been great in tests through 2021 but might just be sputtering out based on the two tests he played in 2022 and middling ODI form. Iyer is in great touch and will prosper on roads. I don't forget the time he scored a run-a-ball double century against Australia in the 2017 tour match. We will bounce him no matter what. Pant may not play .

A lot will depend on what pitches India roll out. I think roads may actually favour Australia because (bold prediction) I can't see Pujara, Kohli, making big daddy hundreds like they might have in the past, and even then, Australia, for the first time in a while, have proven form in building an innings on a flatter wicket in Asia. On the other hand a wicket taking extreme spin, a Kohli 45(60) with wickets falling all around could be a match-winning contribution.

This is the first time going into an India tour where I've felt Australia have more than a slim chance of winning.

Prediction: 2-1 Australia

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fixtures (added by mod 30 January)

1st Test, Nagpur, Thursday 9th - Monday 13th February
2nd Test, Delhi, Friday 17th - Tuesday 21st February
3rd Test, Dharamshala, Wednesday 1st - Sunday 5th March
4th Test, Ahmadabad, Thursday 9th - Monday 13th March

1st ODI, Mumbai, Friday 17th March
2nd ODI, Visakhapatnam, Sunday 19th March
3rd ODI, Chennai, Wednesday 22nd March
all ODIs day/night start 13.30 local

3rd test likely to switch to Road of Rajkot not official yet

 

[Shri]

 

[_00_deathscar]

It almost worked in the 3rd Test.

The one where Australia were ****ting themselves if Pant stayed in for about 15-20 more mins?

 

[G. S. Kohli]

Australia are flying in left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann ahead of the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.

The spinner is coming in as a replacement for legspinner Mitchell Swepson who is leaving the touring squad for the birth of his child.

Good luck at Delhi were Australia 107 all out some time ago


left-arm spinner who can also be handy with the bat, Matthew Kuhnemann was one of the six Rookies in Queensland's 2016-17 squad. Kuhnemann made his List-A debut for Cricket Australia XI against New South Wales at Sydney in October, 2017.

The left-arm spinner has even represented Australia Under19 team and bagged 35 wickets in Queensland’s Premier Cricket competition in 2015-16. Matthew has played only one List-A game and in that only match, he got the wicket of Kurtis Patterson and took a catch to dismiss Peter Nevill. He was the last man to be dismissed in that particular game as New South Wales beat Cricket XI by 93 runs. It's still early days in his career and if he works harder, the left-arm spinner will soon make his debut for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield tournament.

6 ODI WKts in 4 game
Not test yet

 

[CricAddict]

Matthew has played only one List-A game and in that only match, he got the wicket of Kurtis Patterson and took a catch to dismiss Peter Nevill. He was the last man to be dismissed in that particular game as New South Wales beat Cricket XI by 93 runs.

When you play at 10 or 11 in all matches, you are usually the last one to be dismissed.

 

[Senile Sentry]

Seems Australia is trying Indian Playbook last BGT by throwing in a bunch of rookies and net bowlers st opposition.

 

[social]

Seems Australia is trying Indian Playbook last BGT by throwing in a bunch of rookies and net bowlers st opposition.

Kuhnemann should have been in the original squad