**Official** Australia in India Thread

[marc71178]

Conversely, the Australians are also doing the right thing by not going guns-blazing at the Indians.

Most definitely - and for fear of putting the mockers on him, interesting to see the man who supposedly can't play spin early in his innings playing so well against spin early in his innings (along with another man who according to certain members of this forum cannot play spin).

Makes the 9-4 I just got on Aus look quite nice.

 

[marc71178]

I thought Dravid did not mind keeping and that he was willing to. I did not know he hated keeping.

He's an adequate stand in to preserve balance in the One Day game.

In Tests however I don't think anyone would seriously consider him doing it.

 

[marc71178]

Would you sugest opening with Patel and finding another keeper?

That's an interesting one - wonder what the Indian thinktank on here think of it?

 

[Dydl]

Can Sehwag bowl as well as he batted?

 

[SJS]

The umpires clearly are doomed then, they're onw getting criticised for making the wrong decision when they don't even do anything!

Well Marc. In todays slow motion TV replay scenario, criticism of bad decisions is unavoidable whether the batsman walks or no. We really dont need that as a confirmation in most cases.

However, whats expected is that if a batsman walks, the umpire will raise his finger against his earlier inclination as the West Indian umpire did in the first test. But when a batsman walks and the umpire looks at the non striker as if to ask, "now whats wrong with this colleague of yours", as Shephard did the other day when Kasprowicz walked, then he is really saying that the batsman doesnt know and I know better !

This is going to raise eyebrows and makes it look as if the umpire was somehow 'done in' by the batsman. If the umpire had just reacted normally as they invariably do, no one would have talked of dissent.

 

[marc71178]

will the Indian spin twins be bowling the whole of this final session?

It would be IMO a silly move to - need a bit of variety to break things up if the batsmen get in.

 

[marc71178]

They do do something, they give the wrong decision.

Not if the bloke's walked off before they can even give a decision

 

[SJS]

That's an interesting one - wonder what the Indian thinktank on here think of it?

Yes. If Sachin is NOT available, I would say, take a specialist opener and a specialist keeper and drop Laxman and Yuvraj.

If Sachin IS available, then let Parthiv open and just find a keeper.

 

[Dydl]

Fair enough.

 

[Jono]

I would not drop Laxman. He's gone out to good balls, and is a wonderful player. Why on Earth would you drop him?

He dominated the Aussies in 2001 and 2003/04, surely it'd be stupid to take out the batsmen the Aussies fear more than anyone.

 

[Dydl]

That was last season. He hasn't exactly performed yet. The selectors might be left with no choice.

 

[Dydl]

No choice as to whether they should drop him or not.

 

[Arjun]

Drop Laxman? One of only two World XI quality batsmen in this team?And what great thing have Sehwag, Yuvraj, Kaif and Ganguly done to stay in at his expense? Laxman has played well under pressure for years, and has a very healthy batting average since his return to the team. He has a very good cricketing brain, and he's good enough for the Indian top 6, so why drop him?

 

[Tom Halsey]

Damn funny

Kaif reverse sweeps warne, forgot that he has a runner, starts running, feels the cramp, falls down and gets run out

Sounds like Ronnie Irani in a televised match at Chelmsford last season.

 

[Slow Love™]

We may end up having to drop two batsmen for the next test , since Laxman, Yuvraj and the skipper himself have been performing so poorly. If so, why not get in a keeper and let Parthiv play as a batsman.

Besides Yuvraj, who are you advocating dropping here?

EDIT: Nevermind, you answered my question while I was posting this. But Laxman??? Are there any more fickle supporters in cricket than in India? Crazy.

 

[Dydl]

Katich plumb LBW b:Khan. His 1st success of the tour.

 

[Slow Love™]

Katich out.

 

[Dydl]

Is it just me or are the Indians appealing more than neccessary?

 

[Jono]

Besides Yuvraj, who are you advocating dropping here?

EDIT: Nevermind, you answered my question while I was posting this. But Laxman??? Are there any more fickle supporters in cricket than in India? Crazy.

For every fickle there's one who understands how talented the team is, and isn't willing to drop every classy player they have.

There were calls to drop Sehwag and he scored 155. Now Laxman? That's even more ridiculous. I EVEN remember calls to drop Sachin after the first three tests in Australia

 

[Slow Love™]

Well, how will technology help? It will still have incorrect decisions, and contrary to popular belief, it still is nowhere near as accurate as it needs to be to be brought in.

In terms of technology, is there a strong argument against using them for nicks behind (ie snickometer) and bat-pad catches (perhaps only upon referral by the umpires, as for runouts)? If they can't come to a decision, doubt goes to the batsman, as it always has.

I'd probably leave everything else to the umpires to adjudicate, but this might help iron out the majority of the tight decisions.

As for the shockers though (where the umpire just completely screws up their judgment, and therefore wouldn't refer), we most likely just require more immediate action (in terms of promotion and demotion, like the AFL does for instance with its umpires) to maintain appropriate standards. If we had this now, at the very least, Bucknor would be undergoing "remedial work" to get back on the panel.