***Official*** Australia in India 2017

[Burgey]

Amla was great but I think Smith has faced the much tougher conditions here and had precious little support for the most part.

You're all too young to remember TOTAB taking over a team of utter spuds and drawing a series in 86-87 while averaging 81 with the cue. Smith's effort as good, probably better tbh. Just didn't get a drawn series out of it.

 

[quincywagstaff]

Best series Oz have played in since 2005 Ashes. Disappointing end in terms of competitiveness but as late as Lunch on Day 3 I thought it was 50/50.

As I posted on the 1st day, reckon this was a Test too far for likes of Handscomb & Renshaw who are so new to international cricket. The intensity of the series and what India brought in their bowling seemed to wear them down. A combined total of 35 runs from them was very disappointing this Test considering how well they've batted at times elsewhere.

I know he's gotten some criticism on here (and I didn't think he deserved to get back into the side at the time) but I thought Wade justified his selection for this series overall. Improved with the bat as the series progressed (which no other Oz bat did) and generally kept OK.

And I think Lyon deserves kudos for his overall series performance. I've always thought he tends to go missing when the expectation rises in spin-friendly conditions and even after that 8/50, when he failed went wicketless in the next innings when Oz had the trophy in their sights in spin-friendly conditions and then had a poor Test in Ranchi I thought it was back to the same old Lyon. But he was exceptional on the 2nd day in this Test and almost turned it decisively Australia's way. I think this series has been a step up for him, especially in terms of self-belief for future Asian tours.

 

[quincywagstaff]

Yeah most sides should do it, it's just you don't always have the time with the way the program is.

If you look at the old tour itineraries on Cricinfo, even as late as the 90s an Ashes tour went basically from May to mid-late August and there were often two FC games between tests. It just doesn't happen any more.

The modern cricketing structure just makes it unviable most of the time. Australia got a lot of grief here in the local Oz media (and for fans as well I suspect) for sending a 2nd-string side to play the T20 home series against SL while they were preparing for the India tour. You can't please everybody in the modern game.

 

[Daemon]

Great series and enjoyable thread.

Now **** off back to funnel web convict land you cheating ****s #sydney08never4get

 

[Spark]

I was a little disappointed from Handscomb. Not because he looked out of his depth, but because he actually didn't, and therefore should really have scored more runs.

 

[Zinzan]

Thrilling series for us neutrals, just disappointing it slid so quickly when it did towards the end, but can't have everything.

I thought Australia would get done 3-1 when India managed to win the 2nd Test, so full credit for them being right in it until that 2nd innings collapse.

Assuming it won't be viewed as up there with the 2001 series.

 

[Shri]

Potential away squad for Australia:

1 Lokesh Rahul
2 Murali Vijay
3 Cheteshwar Pujara
4 Virat Kohli
5 Ajinkya Rahane
6 Rohit Sharma
7 Shreyas Iyer
8 Wriddhiman Saha
9 Ravindra Jadeja
10 Ravichandran Ashwin
11 Kuldeep Yadav
12 Umesh Yadav
13 Mohd Shami
14 Bhuveneshwar Kumar
15 Jasprit Bumrah / Ishant Sharma

I really don't want Ishant in the squad because if he is in, for some ****ing reason, he's always picked first.

Nair is a ****ing idiot and should be dropped asap.

Jayant Yadav can be flown in if required to carry drinks.

But the most important thing for us to do is focus on slip catching drills. And we should also never take Rahane out of the cordon. Kohli can **** off to extra cover where he flails all over the ball without doing anything.

 

[ImpatientLime]

what does india's upcoming schedule look like?

feels like they've been playing at home for a lifetime.

 

[Shri]

In fact, we should get Greg Chappell back as coach. He will fallout with Kohli and make him lose the captaincy. Then, Ash or Rahane can become captain and win a test series in ENgland.

 

[OverratedSanity]

what does india's upcoming schedule look like?

feels like they've been playing at home for a lifetime.

Tour of SA in Dec iirc. Should be fun.

 

[vcs]

Thrilling series for us neutrals, just disappointing it slid so quickly when it did towards the end, but can't have everything.

I thought Australia would get done 3-1 when India managed to win the 2nd Test, so full credit for them being right in it until that 2nd innings collapse.

Assuming it won't be viewed as up there with the 2001 series.

Nah, not close. Not in my book anyway.

Look at the legendary names in that Australia team. Once in a lifetime series that one.

 

[OverratedSanity]

In fact, we should get Greg Chappell back as coach. He will fallout with Kohli and make him lose the captaincy. Then, Ash or Rahane can become captain and win a test series in ENgland.

Screw England. We've won there several times. Need to meme a win in SA/Aus somehow.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Nah, not close. Not in my book anyway.

Look at the legendary names in that Australia team. Once in a lifetime series that one.

Some of the names in this series are probably going to be legends by the time they retire tbf.

 

[Shri]

Screw England. We've won there several times. Need to meme a win in SA/Aus somehow.

Step one: Kill Ishant.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Step one: Kill Ishant.

He was the one responsible for the greatest meme win ever though. Lord's.

 

[vcs]

Some of the names in this series are probably going to be legends by the time they retire tbf.

Yeah, but that Australia team was already full of them.

Plus we had Deep Dasgupta and Shiv Sunder Das opening the batting, Sameer Dighe keeping and a one-man bowling attack, and still managed to beat them lol.

 

[Shri]

He was the one responsible for the greatest meme win ever though. Lord's.

Which has given him 3 years of test cricket. So **** him.

 

[stephen]

That was a disappointing end to a fantastic tour.

Renshaw did as well as anyone could have hoped, despite throwing the series away on no less than 3 occasions (two dropped catches and getting out softly in the first innings of the second test).

Warner was abysmal. His only half century was flukey and he really should have made more runs as the vice captain and second best batsman.

Smith was immense. His second innings dismissal in this test was akin to Warne's drop off Pieterson in 2005. After carrying the entire team on his shoulders for the whole series, one tiny slip up probably cost Australia the series. His reviews got progressively worse as the series went on, mostly out of desperation. But ending up with a 1-2 defeat was a much better really than anyone thought possible before day 1 at Pune.

S Marsh did not live up to expectations. He had two good innings amongst a ton of dross. One of those innings he threw away a hundred which would have sealed the series. The other kept the series alive. He really should not play for Australia again, it's time to move on.

Handscomb was also quite disappointing. He kept getting starts and then getting out. His one innings of note kept us in the series though.

M Marsh was a footnote. I don't blame him entirely for his low scores in the first two matches but he didn't even bowl which makes me wonder why he was picked over a specialist.

Maxwell did everything that could have been expected of him. Only played two tests but scored more hundreds for us than anyone not named Smith.

Wade was better than expected with both bat and gloves but really lacked game sense at times. He dropped at least one crucial catch. Should never have been picked but was better than he's been in the past.

Starc was good with both bat and ball. Took key wickets but not huge numbers of them.

Cummins was immense. Easily our bowler most likely to claw us back into the two tests he played. Took plenty of wickets on tracks not necessarily conducive to fast bowling. Made a few inexperienced mistakes but nothing that he won't fix with time. Huge talent. Will dominate for a decade if he can stay fit.

Hazlewood was good without being great. He took key wickets but not too many of them. Was possibly the worst quick at times, though that's not saying a whole lot as all of the quicks in the series did a fantastic job.

O'Keefe was great and then disappointing. Never really looked overly threatening after the first test. He basically won the first test for us though so deserved his place.

Lyon was hot and cold. When he had bounce to work with was nigh on unplayable. When he didn't he didn't appear threatening but at least didn't go for too many runs. Was better than Ashwin but worse than Jadeja.

And bloody Kohli. We'd have won if he played the last test.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah, but that Australia team was already full of them.

Plus we had Deep Dasgupta and Shiv Sunder Das opening the batting, Sameer Dighe keeping and a one-man bowling attack, and still managed to beat them lol.

I will not tolerate SS Das hate. Bloke was underrated.

 

[Gob]

What'd he say?

That he is going to tap Anushka