***Official Australia in India***

[duffer]

The tactics don't surprise me, what does is how flat the Aussies have come out. They've made it as easy as possible for India so far. Another great day for India.

 

[Johnners]

The problem Ponting has is that really the best way to entice poor shots from the batsmen, or to create chances is by restricting them from scoring. If the bowlers are bowling rubbish, no matter what fields he sets, there's little/no chance of restricting the scoring. Obviously, it sounds like he's made a number of errors, but when the bowling is as poor as it has been, it's hard to see how it can be turned around barring a mistake from the batsmen.

 

[Uppercut]

When you're staring down the barrel of a 200-run deficit, it must be hard to maintain the illusion that your team is still in with a chance, though. Can't win, really; if he'd set 3 slips/2 gullies and Sehwag was 80* off 50 balls right now with with lead touching 350, he'd be pillored too. On this deck, setting an attacking field just opens up scoring opportunities. Many people (not you) forget this isn't ICC2005 where you can set an attacking field and batsmen will just get themselves out going for the spank. Real personalities involved here.

That even with the defensive fields India are going at 4+ per over shows how good the pitch is and how poor the bowling. Throwing everything but the kitchen sink in a Test match under these conditions would be just as foolish as an ultra-defensive approach. I would imagine he'd have been hoping to just limit the number of runs the Indians score this evening and regroup tonight for another crack tomorrow. The bowling has been bad enough that any field setting wouldn't have made much of a difference, though.

I'd say Ponting has very badly chosen the wrong batsman to defend to, though. If you want to keep the scoring rate down against India, you need Sehwag out, it's as simple as that. Unless you have fifty fielders, he's not going to be kept down.

 

[Craig]

Well I guess the old saying is true, you can't set fields to bad bowling.

 

[pup11]

When you're staring down the barrel of a 200-run deficit, it must be hard to maintain the illusion that your team is still in with a chance, though. Can't win, really; if he'd set 3 slips/2 gullies and Sehwag was 80* off 50 balls right now with with lead touching 350, he'd be pillored too. On this deck, setting an attacking field just opens up scoring opportunities. Many people (not you) forget this isn't ICC2005 where you can set an attacking field and batsmen will just get themselves out going for the spank. Real personalities involved here.

That even with the defensive fields India are going at 4+ per over shows how good the pitch is and how poor the bowling. Throwing everything but the kitchen sink in a Test match under these conditions would be just as foolish as an ultra-defensive approach. I would imagine he'd have been hoping to just limit the number of runs the Indians score this evening and regroup tonight for another crack tomorrow. The bowling has been bad enough that any field setting wouldn't have made much of a difference, though.

As for disheartening the bowler, seriously, we're talking professionals here. They might be a bit down but it'd be an excuse if they walked off saying "Well geez, I was all prepared to bowl thunderbolts but then I saw a point and square-leg on the fence and my heart just sank. Was so disheartened...."

I think judging by the way he has bowled, Lee's thinking might be on similar lines...

 

[Top_Cat]

I'd say Ponting has very badly chosen the wrong batsman to defend to, though. If you want to keep the scoring rate down against India, you need Sehwag out, it's as simple as that. Unless you have fifty fielders, he's not going to be kept down.

I'd argue that considering the pitch and India's position in the match, you're not going to keep a player like him down anyway. Some days are ones for cutting one's losses. For Australia, today is the day from what I've seen. Have been utterly dominated by India with bat and ball.

 

[Craig]

I'd say Ponting has very badly chosen the wrong batsman to defend to, though. If you want to keep the scoring rate down against India, you need Sehwag out, it's as simple as that. Unless you have fifty fielders, he's not going to be kept down.

So you would be prepared to give away a lot of runs to get Sehwag out?

 

[Craig]

Anyway that is stumps and India are basically 0/301.

 

[Precambrian]

When you're staring down the barrel of a 200-run deficit, it must be hard to maintain the illusion that your team is still in with a chance, though. Can't win, really; if he'd set 3 slips/2 gullies and Sehwag was 80* off 50 balls right now with with lead touching 350, he'd be pillored too. On this deck, setting an attacking field just opens up scoring opportunities. Many people (not you) forget this isn't ICC2005 where you can set an attacking field and batsmen will just get themselves out going for the spank. Real personalities involved here.

That even with the defensive fields India are going at 4+ per over shows how good the pitch is and how poor the bowling. Throwing everything but the kitchen sink in a Test match under these conditions would be just as foolish as an ultra-defensive approach. I would imagine he'd have been hoping to just limit the number of runs the Indians score this evening and regroup tonight for another crack tomorrow. The bowling has been bad enough that any field setting wouldn't have made much of a difference, though.

As for disheartening the bowler, seriously, we're talking professionals here. They might be a bit down but it'd be an excuse if they walked off saying "Well geez, I was all prepared to bowl thunderbolts and totally knock Sehwag over but then I saw a point and square-leg on the fence and my heart just sank. Was so disheartened. Now I don't believe in nothin' no more."

If defensive field settings are the key, and if the pitch is so flat, how come Australians were crawling at less than 3 r.p.o and finished with a follow-on total?

The pitch is true. It has good bounce and carry. Australian batsmen made it look demonised, while the Australian bowlers made it look like road.

And regarding the strategy, I agree that defensive settings are needed when Sehwag is on song. However, Sehwag is on song, only when he's crossed the nervy 20s, so I expected Ponting to wait for atleast 4-5 overs before he put in the deep point, and thereby give his bowlers a chance to work at Sehwag. However, here from the first delivery he faced, Sehwag is rewarded with defensive settings. I mean, if you think that Sehwag is going to get blast before the innings has started, then sorry, you are not an aggressive captain.

 

[Johnners]

I'd say Ponting has very badly chosen the wrong batsman to defend to, though. If you want to keep the scoring rate down against India, you need Sehwag out, it's as simple as that. Unless you have fifty fielders, he's not going to be kept down.

Sehwag is to good to get out to such poor bowling though. It may be bias from my part being quite a big Ponting fan, but I really don't see what more he could have done in this session due to the direness of the bowling.

 

[Manee]

Anyway that is stumps and Australia are basically 0/301.

Aren't India 0/301?

 

[social]

So you would be prepared to give away a lot of runs to get Sehwag out?

We gave him a shed load anyway

 

[Craig]

Nah it is your bias

 

[Precambrian]

Perfect close for India. 100 on the board with no casualties. They have succeeded in making this pace attack pedestrian.

 

[Jnr.]

When you're staring down the barrel of a 200-run deficit, it must be hard to maintain the illusion that your team is still in with a chance, though. Can't win, really; if he'd set 3 slips/2 gullies and Sehwag was 80* off 50 balls right now with with lead touching 350, he'd be pillored too. On this deck, setting an attacking field just opens up scoring opportunities. Many people (not you) forget this isn't ICC2005 where you can set an attacking field and batsmen will just get themselves out going for the spank. Real personalities involved here.

That even with the defensive fields India are going at 4+ per over shows how good the pitch is and how poor the bowling. Throwing everything but the kitchen sink in a Test match under these conditions would be just as foolish as an ultra-defensive approach. I would imagine he'd have been hoping to just limit the number of runs the Indians score this evening and regroup tonight for another crack tomorrow. The bowling has been bad enough that any field setting wouldn't have made much of a difference, though.

As for disheartening the bowler, seriously, we're talking professionals here. They might be a bit down but it'd be an excuse if they walked off saying "Well geez, I was all prepared to bowl thunderbolts and totally knock Sehwag over but then I saw a point and square-leg on the fence and my heart just sank. Was so disheartened. Now I don't believe in nothin' no more."

Best post.

Seems we have many armchair critics on this website.

 

[Craig]

Aren't India 0/301?

Well on the scorecard they are 0/100 plus their 201 run lead, they are 0/301 effectively. Unless I misread your post!

 

[Johnners]

No Craig, you said Australia.

 

[social]

If defensive field settings are the key, and if the pitch is so flat, how come Australians were crawling at less than 3 r.p.o and finished with a follow-on total?

The pitch is true. It has good bounce and carry. Australian batsmen made it look demonised, while the Australian bowlers made it look like road.

And regarding the strategy, I agree that defensive settings are needed when Sehwag is on song. However, Sehwag is on song, only when he's crossed the nervy 20s, so I expected Ponting to wait for atleast 4-5 overs before he put in the deep point, and thereby give his bowlers a chance to work at Sehwag. However, here from the first delivery he faced, Sehwag is rewarded with defensive settings. I mean, if you think that Sehwag is going to get blast before the innings has started, then sorry, you are not an aggressive captain.

All true

 

[thirdumpire]

Anyway that is stumps and Australia are basically 0/301.

wake up. its india batting

 

[social]

For a further reality check, this is not a particularly great Indian side - they were hammered in 2 tests by SL recently and had to produce a dustbowl to escape with a drawn series against SA

That, my friends, is how far Oz has fallen