***Official*** Australia in India 2017

[Daemon]

Super aggressive with sledging and positive body mannerisms. Other indian teams would of meekly gone into their shells being behind in the game and series against an alpha dominant team like Australia. Kohli and by extension his team did the opposite.

Look other than Starc, maybe Warner and a bit of Wade, Australia doesn't have any 'alpha' type players anymore. Smith's an awkward teen, Renshaw's a baby, Lyon looks like a cardoon character, O'Keefe's a nerd, Haze is a babe. The era of hard ****s is long over.

 

[harsh.ag]

Look other than Starc, maybe Warner and a bit of Wade, Australia doesn't have any 'alpha' type players anymore. Smith's an awkward teen, Renshaw's a baby, Lyon looks like a cardoon character, O'Keefe's a nerd, Haze is a babe. The era of hard ****s is long over.

This is objectively true.

 

[weldone]

Look other than Starc, maybe Warner and a bit of Wade, Australia doesn't have any 'alpha' type players anymore. Smith's an awkward teen, Renshaw's a baby, Lyon looks like a cardoon character, O'Keefe's a nerd, Haze is a babe. The era of hard ****s is long over.

Even Starc isn't the typical angry Aussie pace bowler.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Starc does a lot of grimacing and acting the **** when he is bowling. I do not know if that marks him out as an atypical Aussie boy. Renshaw and Smith look like Englishmen.

 

[SeamUp]

Man, Smith is so damn good.

Some crazy stats like since his first test hundred in 2013 he has scored 15 more including over 4k runs at an average of 71.

Lets be honest here, no one in their right mind would have believed this before 2013 with those initial test appearances. It was bad but he looked so bad you just felt it would be difficult for him to come back ala Cameron White.

Just fantastic to see what he has done with the way he looks and his style and to come back after the difficulties. Says he has a bit about him doesn't it.

 

[Burgey]

Some online reports suggesting he may be done for the series.

That's no good at all. Always want the best players out there, especially with a series on the line.

 

[NUFAN]

Hope Nair triples up again, I suppose.

I hope Nair gets out for 3 too.

 

[Compton]

Thoughts on a par score?

Looks a good batting pitch, but there's definitely something in it for the bowlers.

As I see it, Australia have got to look to bat time, as much as runs. First 5 sessions should be the best batting conditions by some way, and Australia should look to bat out as much of that as possible.

If Maxwell and Smith get going again tomorrow, they could take the game away from India.

 

[mr_mister]

Smith is as meek as they come. Don't have to be a kohli hot head to be a good skipper

 

[NUFAN]

Man, Smith is so damn good.

Some crazy stats like since his first test hundred in 2013 he has scored 15 more including over 4k runs at an average of 71.

Lets be honest here, no one in their right mind would have believed this before 2013 with those initial test appearances. It was bad but he looked so bad you just felt it would be difficult for him to come back ala Cameron White.

Just fantastic to see what he has done with the way he looks and his style and to come back after the difficulties. Says he has a bit about him doesn't it.

Yep this although don't completely agree with the difficult to come back part as he was still very young.

Has anyone ever heard Smithy say that getting that taste of Test Cricket when he probably didn't deserve it benefited him or was it more the quality season back at NSW where he batted at 3 (or 4) and played more responsibly and walked away with the Steve Waugh medal for NSW player of the year? I feel like this last part happened.

 

[viriya]

Man, Smith is so damn good.

Some crazy stats like since his first test hundred in 2013 he has scored 15 more including over 4k runs at an average of 71.

Lets be honest here, no one in their right mind would have believed this before 2013 with those initial test appearances. It was bad but he looked so bad you just felt it would be difficult for him to come back ala Cameron White.

Just fantastic to see what he has done with the way he looks and his style and to come back after the difficulties. Says he has a bit about him doesn't it.

How can a leg spin all-rounder just turn into the world's best test batsman with a 60 average? It boggles my mind.

 

[Compton]

To be fair, Smith's performance with the bat match his performances with the ball; the guy is just obsessed with making sure lots of runs are scored.

 

[Burgey]

How can a leg spin all-rounder just turn into the world's best test batsman with a 60 average? It boggles my mind.

I think he was always regarded as a prodigy with the bat. It yeah, just an insane patch of form oh kinda have to marvel at. He's one of the few players I've seen who might fail in the first test of a series but visibly wills himself to make a ton next match.

He's an amazing cricketer. Far from the most classical looking player but so driven and just so damn good right now.

 

[adub]

How can a leg spin all-rounder just turn into the world's best test batsman with a 60 average? It boggles my mind.

But see he never really was a leg spin all-rounder.

He was a top order bat who bowled some handy overs (and nothing more) for NSW. Started with some real good FC scores early on and averaged in the 50s in his first season or so. Then the selectors thought they could make him into Warne 2.0. When that obviously didn't work he went back to NSW batted top 4 and barely rolled his arm over again. Spark's right that he didn't ton up, but he scored 90s and plenty of 50s to be averaging 40s before he got the recall in India.

I certainly never thought he'd be the freak he has become, but he was always going to play plenty of Test cricket as a top 6 bat.

 

[viriya]

But see he never really was a leg spin all-rounder.

He was a top order bat who bowled some handy overs (and nothing more) for NSW. Started with some real good FC scores early on and averaged in the 50s in his first season or so. Then the selectors thought they could make him into Warne 2.0. When that obviously didn't work he went back to NSW batted top 4 and barely rolled his arm over again. Spark's right that he didn't ton up, but he scored 90s and plenty of 50s to be averaging 40s before he got the recall in India.

I certainly never thought he'd be the freak he has become, but he was always going to play plenty of Test cricket as a top 6 bat.

Ah I didn't know abt his domestic exploits.

 

[vitalogy83]

Yea driven is the one word I'd use to talk about Smith. Yesterday's century celebrations said a lot about him. No wild "release of pressure" yells and hollering etc given what went on between Tests. I think he just wanted to come out there and score a 100 no matter what, to put the final stamp on that entire thing.

I'd say you need 450 as a minimum here to set up the game nicely..Have a feeling Maxwell will get LIT once he passes the century mark too. If Aus have a good session India might be in for a real leather chase..

The ball is only 3 overs old. You feel India's biggest chance is using that to nip out a few very very early this morning.

 

[silentstriker]

This pitch won't be great to bat on last. Anything over 400, and the pressure on India, especially without Kohli, will be just immense.

 

[adub]

In terms of "no **** is going to get me out short of my ton' attitude I think it ranks 2nd after Clarke's last test ton.

 

[stephen]

How can a leg spin all-rounder just turn into the world's best test batsman with a 60 average? It boggles my mind.

I really hate this narrative that the media feeds us. People who followed the domestic game knew his batting was better than his bowling and his bowling was just good enough to let him get picked as an all rounder. The best thing he did was stop bowling domestically so that the selectors had to pick him as a batsman, which is what he always was.

The guy is in beast mode right now and it's hard to see him retiring with less runs than Ponting. This purple patch also feels different to other people patches I've seen. It looks like he could bat this way for years without losing form. Other batsmen who have purple patches generally look like they are relying on incredible reflexes and their eye. Smith looks like he just gets in the zone and runs simply come to him. No effort required.

 

[stephen]

I should add that when Smith was originally picked for the test side his batting average was around 45 in the shield.