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*Official* Australia in India 2023

duffer

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
It's so weird to see the team succeeding without the no.3,4 and 5 performing. When a team is doing well we often take it for granted that the middle order is doing well too.
Gill for KL should be a no brainer, if Shreyas is fit then he should be in for Puji too. Will be hard to come close too with those changes
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
In all seriousness, what happened to Kohli?
His peak is over and like Ponting the end has been pretty steep (given the huge peak). Ponting of course did average higher than what Kojli has though. The mental hunger is no longer there. He is scoring 100s for fun in the limited overs games on either sides of test performances which makes it worse.

Team management has also been too soft on him. Probably because the entire top order barring Rohit have underperformed since 2020. A precedent.is being set and it is not helping India at all, by tolerating batters who are averaging in mid 30s at the cost of many budding batsmen like Sarfaraz.
 

Sunil1z

International Regular
If India wins this series it would be Ashwin/Jadeja’s 5th series and Pujara’s 6th series win against OZ . How many players have more series win against OZ ?
 

CricAddict

Cricketer Of The Year
Pujara just got a double century vs Bangladesh last month. Kohli still deserves this series due to all his prior achievements and also being in good touch in limited overs. So, just have to give him this series and if he doesn't come good, bin him.

But for all purposes, Rahul should not be playing any more. We have Gill, Iyer and Sarfaraz outside and him playing in the team which is a crime.

Iyer will come in directly for SKY next test. Gill should replace Rahul. One of Pujara/Kohli should make way for Sarfaraz based on their performances this series.
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
Yeah there is obviously a lot happening behind the scenes. By whatever stretch of imagination, it's impossible to justify the presence of someone who is averaging 34 in test cricket after playing over 70 innings just based on cricketing reasons.
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
KL Rahul is someone who is at the same level as Wavell Hinds. Their numbers are remarkably similar. Hinds had 2608 runs at 33 after 45 tests. KL has 2624 runs after 46 tests at 34. The key difference is that even with their dire batting stocks at the time, West Indies had the guts to kick of Wavell Hinds after 45 tests. And India is not a team that's occupied mid to lower part of the test table. It needs to up the bars now or these continued indulgence will only set precedents which will then become the new standards.
 

OverratedSanity

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Yeah there is obviously a lot happening behind the scenes. By whatever stretch of imagination, it's impossible to justify the presence of someone who is averaging 34 in test cricket after playing over 70 innings just based on cricketing reasons.
I defended Rahul for a bit because getting hundreds opening in England and SA isn't something to be written off especially when it happened only a few tests ago. But when the vast majority of his career he has batted below acceptable test match standard it becomes hard to just cite one or two good innings all the time.

Making him captain and then vice captain once Rohit came back was a huge mistake. Just like with rahane towards the end, it projects the false sense of stature/importance within the team.
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
KL Rahul has 2nd most Test century outside Asia for an Asian batsman. I don’t like him . But Team management doesn’t want to take risk with unproven batsmen outside Asia
You mean Asian "Opener". The screenshot is also incorrect. He is the third best opener.

An average of 34 is hardly hallmark of a "proven" Opener. Openers are required to see of the new ball on a consistent basis, which KL usually does not.
 

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Sunil1z

International Regular
You mean Asian "Opener". The screenshot is also incorrect. He is the third best opener.

An average of 34 is hardly hallmark of a "proven" Opener. Openers are required to see of the new ball on a consistent basis, which KL usually does not.
Please compare batting average of Rahul with other openers overseas since 2016.
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
They want a stable team .
Apologies for barging into this conversation. But what is the bottomline for this stability? Isn't Gill the incumbent here?

1. Gill has played most recent test matches as an opener, including at Home. KLR last played a test match (before this series) at home back in Oct 2018 - that's nearly 4.5 years ago!

2. KLR isn't exactly coming in with a rich vien of form either, to justify being picked ahead of Gill. Gill on the other hand scored 100s in tests, ODIs and T20s - the latter two at home, and the test 100 in just the last series in Ban.

3. If we are considering match experience vs Australian bowlers, then again, Gill trumps - given his stupendous outing in Australia in the last BGT and scored a matchwinning 91 at Gabba. KLR pales in comparison, especially if one considers away performances vs Aus.

4. As this is a series at home, isn't this the best time to really blood in someone like Gill for the long term?
 

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