***Official Australia in India***

[tugga]

Why mate? Lee has shown in the past he is more than capable with the bat.

 

[social]

Hate to keep blowing my own trumpet but called it re: Sharma. Hope Lee and Johnson can stick around, Mitch should be batting above Lee though, bloody hell.

Lee's batting has deteriorated at about the same rate as his bowling has been improving

Sharma, as I've said, has been excellent

 

[four_or_six]

Hussey is definitely God.

 

[pasag]

Lee's batting has deteriorated at about the same rate as his bowling has been improving

Sharma, as I've said, has been excellent

Yeah been worked out as well with the shorter ball. I think his batting went down the toilet when he started taking it a bit too seriously and started thinking of himself as an all-rounder. Was much better when he went out and had a bit of fun and a tonk.

 

[honestbharani]

Gotta say the umpiring errors have definitely evened out through the course of this innings, at least up until now..


Hayden and Ponting were unlucky with their decisions but Ponting benefitted from a couple of close LBW calls and a definite caught and bowled that would have been picked up had the umpire gone to the 3rd umpire which they can, now with the rule change... And a couple of dropped catches haven't helped India's cause..


Funny that all commentators were going out of their way to say that the one that Dhoni missed off Hussey was a tough take.. Didn't exactly find them queuing up to say the same when Karthik dropped a similar one against Sri Lanka in the series there...

 

[social]

Kumble and Harbhajan are finished as a potent force in Indian cricket. Unfortunately, we refuse to accept that fact in India. They have been finished for close to three years now but the odd performance here and there is enough for us to hail them as our trump cards.

Here is what they have, together, done in the last three calendar years for India.

[B]YEAR	WKTS	AVG	St. Rt.[/B]
2006	76	38.3	73.7
2007	62	33.0	64.1
2008	66	39.0	77.2

The figures for 2008 do not include their figures for today. Kumble did better in the first two of those two years and Harbhajan after ,the most horrendous couple of years in 2006 and 2007, which would have seen the end of most careers (32 wkts in 13 Tests at 50.2 each) has had a bit of a comeback this year.

Kumble should surely go and Harbhajan must no longer be a certainty for our Test sides. We need to blood our younger spinners, Mishra, Ojha and Chawla from this season.

I can understand why they have been picked (captaincy/reputation/Ponting/etc) but there's no doubt in my mind that BOTH the spinners who played for the President's X1 are at least worthy of contention whilst Mishra is apparently better again

However SJS, you'd know better than anyone that it's not all about stats and ability in India

 

[pasag]

We'll take Kumble

 

[honestbharani]

Kumble is intent on bowling his 4 specialists to the dust, isn't he?


Has been doing it throughout his captaincy stint.. His lack of imagination in using the part timers is what bugs me the most about his captaincy. The same problem was there with Ganguly as well. Perhaps the only guy who was at least decent in his handling of the part timers and the need to rotate our 4 main bowlers was Rahul Dravid.


I do think that Dhoni will be better than all those guys mentioned above in this respect though...

 

[Pratters]

We'll take Kumble

I expect him to retire by the end of the England series. If not, he will maximum hang for 1 more year. His shoulder troubles him permanently now.

He will be dangerous in the second inning of this game though given how the pitch is playing from whatever I have seen.

 

[pasag]

I expect him to retire by the end of the England series. If not, he will maximum hang for 1 more year. His shoulder troubles him permanently now.

He will be dangerous in the second inning of this game though given how the pitch is playing from whatever I have seen.

Averaging 54 with the ball for 2008, surley the axe can't be too far away with so many talented youngsters waiting in the wings.

 

[social]

He will be dangerous in the second inning of this game though given how the pitch is playing from whatever I have seen.

Yep, the point you make about a game of cricket being played over 4 innings is a very good one

 

[Pratters]

Averaging 54 with the ball for 2008, surley the axe can't be too far away with so many talented youngsters waiting in the wings.

If he was not the captain, he wouldn't have been a certainty for sure. I always believe that you pick your best XI and a captain from there but that's not what happens and a captain is usually given more time.

 

[four_or_six]

Averaging 54 with the ball for 2008, surley the axe can't be too far away with so many talented youngsters waiting in the wings.

A bit of a Vaughan problem for India though... it's always more complicated when it's the captain.

 

[pasag]

If he was not the captain, he wouldn't have been a certainty for sure. I always believe that you pick your best XI and a captain from there but that's not what happens and a captain is usually given more time.

Yeah I think the fact Dhoni is there to seamlessly take over could be something that makes the selectors decision easier. If Aus win the series though, he will definitely take the fall I reckon.

Awesome 6 from Hussey.

 

[pup11]

Averaging 54 with the ball for 2008, surley the axe can't be too far away with so many talented youngsters waiting in the wings.

If he has a horrible series then can't rule out the possibility of him retiring either, unless he is playing for the 700 wicket mark.

 

[pasag]

India have fielded well today, besides the one Ganguly incident, they've been great.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Kumble has looked pretty innocuous, but it's not as though there's a heap out there for spinners. This pitch should suit Australia's attack a lot more, especially Clark.

Interested to see how Watson and White go with the ball actually. Not sure if they'll be able to block an end up really. I imagine Watson will be pretty hard to really go after, especially on this pitch, and I can even see him picking up a wicket or two, but I'll be surprised if White doesn't get smacked around a bit.

Anyway, Lee looking solid enough out there, Australia should be able to get to the 450 mark or so, which would be a very good score. Disagree btw that Lee should be behind Johnson. Much more experience with the bat in test cricket, I'd rate his chances of sticking around a lot higher. Johnson's a very handy bat, mind.

 

[Pratters]

400 up. India in deeeeeeep trouble.

 

[pasag]

Lee showing me up

 

[Craig]

Michael Hussey is not human? Surely?