**Official** Australia in India Thread

[Richard]

The series begins on October 4 I believe, so let's discuss.

Australia will almost certaintly go in with three quicks and Warne, but for India, I believe they should go in with two quicks and two spinners, that being Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. There isn't enough room/balance to play two quicks and three spinners, and I doubt Murali Karthik would have a chance in playing as Ganguly doesn't rate him, and the Australians did target him when he played in Sydney.

My predicted line-ups (barring injury):
Australia are fairly easy:
Langer, Hayden, Ponting, Martyn, Lehmann, Katich, Gilchrist, Warne, Kasprowicz, Gillespie, McGrath.
India are on the whole much harder to predict:
It seems certain enough that Yuvraj Singh and Sehwag are going to open.
Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly will obviously be the middle-order. Am I correct in assuming that Kartik is going to be picked as the wicketkeeper?
The bowlers could be any make-up of Kumble, Pathan, Harbhajan, Nehra, Khan (if fit), Balaji. I'd say Pathan and Kumble are certs given recent figures. The others might as well be tail-on-donkey affairs for mine, can't see them causing many problems unless we get similar conditions that we did 3 years ago. Then any of them could be a handful.
For the rest of the series, surely sanity must prevail and dustbowls be prepared? If so I'd like to see three specialist spinners, plus Tendulkar, Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh. Kumble, Harbhajan and Sarandeep are an attack I believed could cause real problems in 2001\02, but I haven't a clue what's happened to Sarandeep since the following autumn, when he ended a West Indies ODI series by bowling 10 for 31 amid total carniage. Maybe Sangrah, Vish or someone could provide me with an update?
I don't rate Kartik and I certainly didn't rate Bahutule last I saw of him, and I haven't seen anything striking to suggest he's made much improvement. I also hope we don't see premature introduction for that Amit Mishra fellow, but again I don't know whether he's fallen out of the picture. Don't know who else is likely to be in the frame, someone with their fingers closer to the pulse would have to tell me that.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I would go for AA over Zaheer IMO.

Wouldn't we all?!

 

[Tom Halsey]

The bowlers could be any make-up of Kumble, Pathan, Harbhajan, Nehra, Khan (if fit), Balaji. I'd say Pathan and Kumble are certs given recent figures.

And Harbhajan! He's probably been the most impressive recently.

 

[Richard]

Harbhajan's Test figures in his last 3 games:
O: 157
R: 469
W: 7
Av: 67
SR: 134.57
These games haven't been played on spin-friendly tracks, and on a spin-friendly track, as we all know only too well, he is often devestating.
But I'd not say he's a total certainty, because of these figures.

 

[Dar]

I don't like the idea of Yuvraj opening and can't understand why India would want to do it. How can they ignore the contribution of Chopra in Australia. Not only did he prove to be a foil to Sehwag he saw of the new ball perfectly so the start middle order could come in when batting was easier. Yuvraj opening in tests at the moment borders on the ridiculous and this is coming from a huge fan of his.

As for the bowler i'd definitely go for the two spinners and Pathan. if Zaheer is 100% fit and i mean 100, then he should be picked if not i'd go for Agarkar

 

[Richard]

I agree that Yuvraj should not be opening but equally I don't believe Chopra has merited staying in the side.
An average of 28 in 15 innings is not good enough.
*Watches forum-members eyebrows go skyward as debate with tooextracool about Chopra is re-opened*

 

[marc71178]

Idiots picked one seamer last time on one of the most seam-friendly wickets you'll ever see.

So what, remember the India tour (93?) - 4 seamers when India picked 1?

 

[marc71178]

It seems certain enough that Yuvraj Singh and Sehwag are going to open.

It did seem to be the case, but a combination of Yuvraj's poor form and SRT's injury may mean Chopra gets the gig.

Am I correct in assuming that Kartik is going to be picked as the wicketkeeper?

Patel would be more likely IMO.

 

[marc71178]

Harbhajan's Test figures in his last 3 games:
O: 157
R: 469
W: 7
Av: 67
SR: 134.57
These games haven't been played on spin-friendly tracks, and on a spin-friendly track, as we all know only too well, he is often devestating.

Weren't they also when he wasnt fully fit?

 

[Raj123]

I agree that Yuvraj should not be opening but equally I don't believe Chopra has merited staying in the side.
An average of 28 in 15 innings is not good enough.
*Watches forum-members eyebrows go skyward as debate with tooextracool about Chopra is re-opened*

he's having a bit of problem wth the 2nd innings where he perhaps has to score a bit faster, but other than that he's heaps better than his predecessors

 

[Raj123]

As for the bowler i'd definitely go for the two spinners and Pathan. if Zaheer is 100% fit and i mean 100, then he should be picked if not i'd go for Agarkar

if zaheer isnt fit i'd say just pick the best bowler out of the ones playing in mumbai v rest and boards xi

 

[age_master]

if tendulkars out surley Chopra would be in, he did pretty well out here - well he faced alot of bowling anyway. Yuvraj could than slide down the order towards where he should be

 

[Craig]

If they're looking for a 3rd spinner then it would have to be a batsman who bowls really (unless Ganguly takes the New Ball!)

He has done it before, so it isn't that foregin to him, although it would only be for a few overs anyway just to soften the ball up.

 

[Craig]

If Chopra plays (and it is likely given the injury to Tendulkar), this would have to be last chance saloon for Chopra, if he doesn't get runs by the time Tendulkar gets back (if during the series), it could be goodbye and don't come back for Chopra.

 

[masterblaster]

Chopra has to play in my opinion, I know an average of 28 isn't fantastic, but he did contribute significantly towards the team, and that's what cricket is all about.

Plus he'll be playing on home soil, which is even better for him as he'll be more comfortable playing his natural game, where as it was Chopra's first time in Australia and for a a first time, he did pretty well.

Yuvraj has been in horrendous form as of late, a stark contrast from Pakistan. I've always thought he as a superb number 4/number 5 player and definitely not an opener. But with Tendulkar permanantely slated at number 4 and Yuvraj going through a lean patch, Chopra and Sehwag should get the openers positions.

My ideal team for Bangalore:

Akash Chopra
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar (if fit) / Yuvraj Singh (if Tendulkar is unfit)
VVS Laxman
Sourav Ganguly
Parthiv Patel (w/k)
Ajit Agarkar (decent bowling record against Australia)
Irfan Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Anil Kumble

What I like about that side is the batting is fairly long. Having Kumble at 11 gives some depth to the batting as Kumble is a known fighter with the bat. The bowling spearheaded by Pathan looks good, and Ajit Agarkar just pipped Ashish Nehra for me due to his general good record against Australia in the past.

We can all expect Kumble and Harbhajan to bowl plenty of overs, and Sehwag should compliment them as well. As I said earlier, Zaheer Khan should not play until he's had extensive match practice, as bowling against the World Champions would do him more harm than good.

 

[Craig]

Personally I would swap AA and Pathan around, Pathan showed to me as a potential number 8, and AA doesn't look like one to me, and is in all honestly suited to number 9 IMO.

 

[tooextracool]

The first test is in Bangalore , the pitch most suited to fast bowlers in India... Dont know if that will persuade ganguly to field just one specialist spinner ?

given the selectors usual stupidity i wouldnt be surprised if they went in with 3 and irfan pathan, much like they did in the last bangalore test against england.

 

[tooextracool]

I agree that Yuvraj should not be opening but equally I don't believe Chopra has merited staying in the side.
An average of 28 in 15 innings is not good enough.
*Watches forum-members eyebrows go skyward as debate with tooextracool about Chopra is re-opened*

seriously why would you want to start that one again? its not going to get anywhere and i personally do hope that yuvraj fails(idoubt hes going to succeed as an opener anyways) and then we see chopra back scoring prolifically and proving you wrong.

 

[tooextracool]

As for the bowler i'd definitely go for the two spinners and Pathan. if Zaheer is 100% fit and i mean 100, then he should be picked if not i'd go for Agarkar

yea id go for agarkar given that langer has always struggled against him and the aussies didnt have a particularly good time against him last time around.

 

[Waughney]

Akash Chopra
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar (if fit) / Yuvraj Singh (if Tendulkar is unfit)
VVS Laxman
Sourav Ganguly
Parthiv Patel (w/k)
Ajit Agarkar (decent bowling record against Australia)
Irfan Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Anil Kumble

I don't think I could argue with that (except, as Craig said, Pathan is a better batsman than Agarkar, and we all know Agarkar's test record against Australia is well...)
Chopra has to play, no doubt about it.