That team isn't stronger than the current Indian team.Australia came close in their last tour with a worse team against a stronger India
O’Keefe missing is huge though tbf
That team isn't stronger than the current Indian team.Australia came close in their last tour with a worse team against a stronger India
O’Keefe missing is huge though tbf
Rahul was in beast mode, made 50+ every innings that series, and vijay's results in tests so far are as good as gill's (Gill is 100% a better player, just hasn't made the runs you'de expect at test level), also every chance rahul opens over gill. Pujara in 2017 was at the peak of his test career, right now he's just come back after averaging 30 for 2-3 years. Rahane in 2017> Kohli now, iyer is better than nair though. This indian top 5 really isn't much better than the 2017 lineup if you think about it, and the current australian team is as good if not better then the team that went there in 2017 on the batting front (not sold on smith's recent form, but if he keeps it up he should perform aswell as he did in 2017).Are India really weaker than in 2017 ?
Look at their top 5 that won at dharamshala in 2017
Vijay, rahul, pujara, rahane and nair
V 2023
Rohit, gill, pujara, kohli, iyer
Mate.. I will give you Rahul and Pujara but come on, Rahane always sucked in India since about 2016. Virat was injured and in bad form before that. Karun was actually in decent form but did not do well. Vijay was very much on the decline then. I think the rest are all better than 2017 counterparts, even without Pant.Rahul was in beast mode, made 50+ every innings that series, and vijay's results in tests so far are as good as gill's (Gill is 100% a better player, just hasn't made the runs you'de expect at test level), also every chance rahul opens over gill. Pujara in 2017 was at the peak of his test career, right now he's just come back after averaging 30 for 2-3 years. Rahane in 2017> Kohli now, iyer is better than nair though. This indian top 5 really isn't much better than the 2017 lineup if you think about it, and the current australian team is as good if not better then the team that went there in 2017 on the batting front (not sold on smith's recent form, but if he keeps it up he should perform aswell as he did in 2017).
Rahane was subpar in india but was he current kohli bad? FFS kohli is averaging 28 in test's over the past 3 years, he's past it in the format. Vijay 1 year each side of that series was averaging 37 in test's. I don't know the specifics of his career at that point, maybe he stats padded somewhere, but it looks like he was performing better then gill is atm.Mate.. I will give you Rahul and Pujara but come on, Rahane always sucked in India since about 2016. Virat was injured and in bad form before that. Karun was actually in decent form but did not do well. Vijay was very much on the decline then. I think the rest are all better than 2017 counterparts, even without Pant.
Rahane averaged teens in India for that period I think.Rahane was subpar in india but was he current kohli bad? FFS kohli is averaging 28 in test's over the past 3 years, he's past it in the format. Vijay 1 year each side of that series was averaging 37 in test's. I don't know the specifics of his career at that point, maybe he stats padded somewhere, but it looks like he was performing better then gill is atm.
Jeez he averaged 31 at home 1 year either side of that series. Still better than kohli atm but the different really isn't significant.Rahane averaged teens in India for that period I think.
I’d take Crawley over current Kohli though…He went from Virat Kohli to Virat Crawley
Tbf Kohli averaging even 28 in that series would’ve been literally multiple times better than what he actually didRahane was subpar in india but was he current kohli bad? FFS kohli is averaging 28 in test's over the past 3 years, he's past it in the format. Vijay 1 year each side of that series was averaging 37 in test's. I don't know the specifics of his career at that point, maybe he stats padded somewhere, but it looks like he was performing better then gill is atm.
Ide completely forgot about Mayank. Made runs vs NZ when they toured India last time around aswell. Not sure about his recent form though.Mayank has a gun record at home. Any chance he is picked as backup?
Who is Andrew McdonaldThink people are overrating Australia a little bit.
it wasn’t that long ago they got pasted by an innings in Sri Lanka and India are a better team than Sri Lanka even sans Pant and Bumrah. The current Aussie side are not a patch on the Australian side of 2004 and despite some of the commentary on the roar, they are not an atg side in the making.
Also, I think the concerns over indias batting are a bit overblown.
if Rohit plays Indias batting looks a lot stronger. Rohit didn’t play in South Africa or the fifth test at edgbaston and I think Shreyas iyer is an upgrade on Rahane in Indian conditions.
kohli and Pujara have only had two bad series at home and one of those against Englandwas on some fairly extreme wickets. Both of them average well north of 50 in Indian conditions and I don’t think Kohli is indecline - he is massively due for runs and Andrew McDonald will be wary of that.
it’s too close to call. Australia definitely have a chance but India still look pretty strong to me.
He is the coach I thinkWho is Andrew Mcdonald
Peter can use his hands to keepLack of a backup keeper annoys me a bit, other than that the squad looks about as good as could have been reasonably expected
Should use his hands to throw all his wicketkeeping gloves in the bin, because he is absolutely terrible at itPeter can use his hands to keep