**Official** Australia in India Thread

[biased indian]

Hmmm...Sehwag using a heavy bat? I though his bat was lighter than Sachin's. AT least that's what I read in the papers.

But sehwags bat might be still heavier than the one langer uses

 

[tooextracool]

I'm really impressed with Simon Katich, a fine workhorse of a player and a fine batsman.

and to think that certain people werent convinced about his ability to play spin before this series.....
personallly i think katich has the potential to become an even better player than darren lehmann and matthew hayden.

 

[tooextracool]

Chennai is a very hard pitch. Hence it affords good bounce to the quicks , who will get wickets if they bowl well. However spinners too like bounce, esp; Kumble and Harbhajan , which is why they will always do well here (given that the pitch turns too) .

which IMO is a far better wicket than preparing slow dust bowls that dont really provide all that much for the spinners if the batsmen apply themselves.
the chennai pitch is quite similar to the ones in australia recently and certainly seems to be helping india far more

 

[tooextracool]

He reminds me of a yound Wasim Akram the way he bats.

err no, akram was more of a slogger. pathan has shown so far that he has the ability to do both.

 

[tooextracool]

I wonder what Tooextracool's views are on Katich's ability to say spin are now?

err the same views that i put forth before this series maybe?
perhaps you misplaced me for richard?

 

[Mister Wright]

It's certainly going to be interesting to see how this one pans out.

Why's walking suddenly become the fashion? I can't imagine what Steve Waugh must be thinking...

Or what Ricky Ponting must be thinking?...

 

[garage flower]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Patel's "wicketkeeping". Granted, he hung onto the one that mattered, but I was amazed at the number of regulation takes he shelled. Must be replaced asap in my view.

Yuvraj also looks out of his depth. I wonder what India will do if Kaif scores heavily and Tendulkar is back for the 3rd test. Could Kaif be retained with Ganguly or Dravid (or Patel - perish the thought) opening?

Still, a fantastic fightback by India. At 1-0 down in the series and Australia 136/0 on a good batting track, the series semed to be slipping away fast.

Encouragingly, Sehwag looked set for a big score. He reminded me a bit of Lara when the Prince is setting himself for a biggie: a naturally aggressive player, clearly making a conscious effort to eschew risks and bat within himself with a view to staying at the crease for a long time. Here's hoping (though, having said that, I'd quite like to see him come out tomorrow and shred the Aussies right from the off).

 

[Arjun]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Patel's "wicketkeeping". Granted, he hung onto the one that mattered, but I was amazed at the number of regulation takes he shelled. Must be replaced asap in my view.

Let's all take our comments together and sign them, then send them together to the BCCI. The selection committee are good men for the job, but they are overruled by the captain once too often. In fact, when a specialist keeper was in the plans for the 2003 TVS Cup, Ganguly had a seventh batsman instead- in the next match, the Aussies made 349, Dravid mis-stumped Ponting who made 100 more runs, and #7 scored next to nothing. Seeing an out-of-form Parthiv and Dravid as wicketkeepers so often, one must ask, do the people who run Indian cricket really care for wicketkeeping? Or is it really murky underneath? Not that any of us have anything against the tiny tot, but the team needs someone who is up to international standards. What have Vijay Dahiya, Ajay Ratra and Dinesh Karthik done wrong?

Could Kaif be retained with Ganguly or Dravid (or Patel - perish the thought) opening?

Another good question. Why not open with Ganguly? He has been opening in ODI's for more than 7 years, against bowling attacks of top quality, so why not open in Tests, rather than give it to a rookie, but do the easy job of ODI pinch-hitting?

 

[Jono]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Patel's "wicketkeeping". Granted, he hung onto the one that mattered, but I was amazed at the number of regulation takes he shelled. Must be replaced asap in my view.

We attacked his keeping for about a page, jinxed him (in a positive way), and he caught Lehmann lol.

If you look back a few pages we've had a fair go at Patel's keeping.

 

[mkamdar]

$25 USD for the series, I will ask if there is a slot, most probably there are 1 or 2

Sehwag309:

Dude! I am interested in your $25 deal. Let me know how to contact you and how does this work. Thanks.

 

[Jono]

Another good question. Why not open with Ganguly? He has been opening in ODI's for more than 7 years, against bowling attacks of top quality, so why not open in Tests, rather than give it to a rookie, but do the easy job of ODI pinch-hitting?

I've heard that. As far as I'm concerned, I want India to have 2 openers, and nothing else. None of this middle order shuffling to open (We've seen Laxman be a victim to it, now Yuvraj, possibly Patel in the future). I think India need to go into games knowing that throughout the series, they will have 2 openers that will play that position as their speciality. Regardless of what people say about Sehwag, I couldn't care less, to me he's a test opener who bats in a different fashion to all others. He's scored a 300+ and a 195 as opener, no point even thinking about putting him anywhere else.

Now the 2nd spot for ME still belongs to Chopra, and I'm hoping he makes his way back in the team. However Ganguly isn't the answer as opener IMO, I feel we need two openers who are able to set a good opening stance, and then let the middle order let loose with a strong position already there (exactly what happened in Australia).

As far as I'm concerned, other than Patel, now Yuvraj, and a missing Sachin, we have the right team. It's just Ganguly has no faith in Chopra, while I do. It's painfully obvious Yuvraj isn't an opener, he was so nervous out there today. Sehwag batted well, and Sehwag likes batting with Chopra. He had a bad test match, whoop de doo, so did all the other batsmen.

I still say my team with Sachin out is as follows:

Chopra
Sehwag
Dravid
Ganguly
Laxman
Kaif
Karthik (???)
Pathan
Agarkar (Whilst Balaji is injured).
Harbhajan
Kumble

To me that's a stronger team than what India have out there at the moment.

 

[garage flower]

We attacked his keeping for about a page, jinxed him (in a positive way), and he caught Lehmann lol.

If you look back a few pages we've had a fair go at Patel's keeping.

Sorry, only went back 2 or 3 pages. Nice work with the (reverse?) jinx in that case. I was gobsmacked when he clung on (as I'm sure his teammates were judging by some of the winces his butter fingers were eliciting during the course of the Aussie innings).

 

[marc71178]

Moresoever, everyone knew Don, but IMO many didn't know Keith Miller

I would've thought that the Indian fans would, knowing how fanatical they are about the game.

 

[Tony Blade]

Finally, someone is standing up to the Aussies inexorable sledging. And, guess what, they can't take it and went crying to the referees. Let's hear the McGrath defense again on what he did to Sarwan and then reconcile with this whining :-)

Singh gives better than he gets
Comment by Ray Chesterton
October 14, 2004

I WOULD rather have a CD of Australia's batsmen being sledged by an Indian bowler than a newly discovered cache of lost Johnny Cash recordings.

It must have been fabulous.

But what on earth could Indian off-spinner Sikh Harbhajan Singh possibly have said that irked Australia so much in the first Test at Bangalore?

And how on earth did they understand what Harbhajan was saying in a local dialect?

Further investigation is obviously needed. A case of Sikh and ye shall find. Ouch. Even I wince at that one.

The clashes happened as Australia used its second innings to build a massive total to crush India and lead one-nil.

Highly combative Harbhajan was so enthusiastic about upsetting Australia he even sledged batsmen as he ran in to bowl.

And the stunned Australians are ropeable. They say such behaviour should be Singh's swansong unless he behaves. In the apparently harmonious world of cricket verbal exchanges, he is simply a discordant note.

I think it is deliciously and wonderfully ironic. How magnificently humiliating for the Australians to admit they have been bettered by a glib, more facile tongue.

Harbhajan has grabbed a kangaroo by the tail and is not letting go. He took 11 wickets in the first Test so he won't alter his style.

Now the abashed Australian players have asked administrators for relief from Singh's verbal aggression.

Turn it up.

Australia has bullied and intimidated opposing teams for decades. They know more about standover tactics than the mafia.

They would have sledged Mother Teresa if she looked like making runs.

Now someone has challenged what they thought was their exclusive heritage.

Harbhajan's approach was as "in-your-face" as anything Australia has ever conceived.

At one stage he even led the applause for Shane Warne conceding a century of runs in the Test.

"You don't mind getting sledged but he seems to be going non-stop all day," whined McGrath, apparently under the impression there is some sort of Marquis of Queensbury rules, and even a timetable, about fair play when sledging.

Australia's Damien Martyn complained to umpires about Harbhajan's behaviour adding just a touch of pots, kettles and the colour black.

Before Australia clashed with Harbhajan, their bilingual skills seemed to be as elusive as McGrath making his maiden Test century.

But they must have understood what was being said, even though the shrieking Sikh is thought to use local dialect as his verbal weapon of choice.

Australia's free-wheeling use of sledging has been detrimental to its overwhelming record of success for a long time.

It is poor sportsmanship and dilutes cricket's character.

It is unlikely Singh will cause Australia to re-think its use of sledging. But he is at least able to give as good as he gets.

chestertonr@dailytelegraph.com.au

Hmm, well Harbhajan did complain when he was sledged by some SL players during the Asia cup. So its not just the Aussies who have double standards.

 

[marc71178]

Yuvraj Dropped

Hmm, good move to open with him!

 

[Arjun]

I would've thought that the Indian fans would, knowing how fanatical they are about the game.

I know of Keith Miller. One of Chris Cairns' role models, which I had heard of in the VB Series, 2002. I have not seen him in action, but I do hope some sports channel or news channel airs those clips. All-rounders are a very interesting and very vital aspect of the game, especially when they're strike bowlers.

 

[Sehwag309]

Yeah but Sachin's bat is like an anchor. I think everyone in cricket uses as lighter bat than the great Sachin.

Either way Sehwag's reaction to Langer feeling his bicep was quite humorous

Dean Jones mentioned once that his bat isn't that heavy as people think

He has seen players using heavier bats

 

[Sehwag309]

Sehwag309:

Dude! I am interested in your $25 deal. Let me know how to contact you and how does this work. Thanks.

Contact me ASAP..inningsdefeat@hotmail.com

 

[JustTool]

Hmm, well Harbhajan did complain when he was sledged by some SL players during the Asia cup. So its not just the Aussies who have double standards.

Agreed.

 

[JustTool]

Well done Anil Kumble, you've made my day.

I can't believe they dropped Chopra and opened with Yuvraj but apart from that a great day for India. It is CRUCIAL they bat well tomorrow, this test is so important in terms of the series.

Amazing that No One, I mean NO ONE, believes that dropping Chopra in favor of Yuvraj was the right move. And EVERYONE (on this BB) agrees that Yuvraj's technique has flaws that are horribly exposed in Tests. What is Ganguly thinking ? Or, is he ? By the way, as I said in one of my posts yesterday he should have brought Kumble on earlier - Kumble was underbowled and still delivered. DROP ZAHEER and YUVRAJ. AND PATEL.