*Official* India in Australia Thread

[Gaijin-san]

Sounds to me like they've been put between a rock and a hard place for this. Patel will probably do a good job with the gloves, of that I have no doubt, but if he wants his batting to progress I can't see him lasting 10 runs in an innings against the Aussies.

After having read about him and thought about it a bit, I think Dasgupta would be the right option for India to try. Dravid's keeping is s**t, so is Patel's batting at the moment.
For the time being, it looks as though Dasgupta's keeping is better than Dravid's and his batting better than Patels. I'd go with him. He's someone like Dravid though who is not exactly a natural keeper, but he seems to be coming along. Seems like the best option.

 

[Salamuddin]

Personally I'd give the test slot to Parthiv ahead of Dasgupta.

Dasgupta's really a dreadful keeper -- Parthiv may have made some mistakes with the gloves of late but that's no reason to crucify him.
I still think he's a fantastic talent who will develop over time into one of the best keepers in the world.

His batting too will improve over time -- he does have an agressive streak in him, anyone who saw him bat at the u-19 world cup in new zealand in 2002 will realise that.
He's lacking the confidence to play his shots at test level but it will come with experience.

In short, back potential -- it may hurt in the short term but it will probably work down the track.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Tatenda Taibu struggled mightily with the bat early in his international career, but the selectors continued to play him (even alongside Flower) and he's now rated highly by many a cricket follower. I think there is a lesson to learn from that.

 

[TendulkarFan]

Parthiv already has 9 tests under his belt. A series against the best side in the world may hurt his confidence but it won't kill his career.....in fact, being so up close to them, I reckon it might teach him a thing or two about how to play cricket to win.

 

[Mister Wright]

IMO Dasgupta is in the team for two reasons. The first is a back-up keeper for Patel. I have seen Dasgupta keep, and it is not that good, Patel is a far better keeper than Dasgupta, even when he is out of form with the gloves. The second reason he has been picked is to cover the opening batting position. He has scored a century as an opener for India (I'm not sure if it was in an official test match or if it was in the unofficial test match against South Africa) but Dusgupta is a far better batsman than Patel - from what I have seen.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He has scored a century as an opener for India (I'm not sure if it was in an official test match or if it was in the unofficial test match against South Africa) but Dusgupta is a far better batsman than Patel - from what I have seen.

Dasgupta scored his hundred v England.

I don't think that batting ability factors into the equation that much. Patel has decent technique and is fairly competent, but if Dravid, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Ganguly and Laxman aren't going to do the job...

Besides, as someone said earlier, the Indians have to field well and hold their catches to beat Australia. I for one would be very annoyed if Dasgupta scores 50 out of 300 and then drops a sitter off Ponting before he goes on to score 200.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Wright's probably on the mark - a double cover to prevent India from taking Das/Ratra as well and allowing them to take an extra bowler (should've been Kartik, but no..)

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Wright's probably on the mark

*ignores the Wright's right opportunity*

 

[Gaijin-san]

Mr Mxyzptlk, I think you're dead right actually. Taibu is different because Zimbabwe need to eke runs out of him, but India's batting is most likely going to be fine even with Patel failing.

I'm still not sure exactly how bad Dasgupta's keeping is, but you guys don't seem to have much confidence in him, and you can't afford to miss those chances against the Aussies.

Changed my mind again.. Going for Patel now

Let's just hope he performs to his credit.

 

[masterblaster]

To expect Parthiv to perform like a Boucher or a Gilchrist is downright unreasonable.

To his credit, he is just 18 and playing for his country, and he is quite exceptional when it comes to the gloves.

If he can take the vital catches of the Pontings, the Haydens, Martyns, Gilchrists and contribute about 20-30 runs for India in each innings, i for one will be pretty pleased about that.

 

[anzac]

Hmmmm.....

The start of the series is going to be vital to India in regard to how they perform against the Aussie seam bowling attack & conditions. So far as I know the Aussies will still not have a full strength seam lineup and those coming back will lack in match fitness. However even a less than 100% McGrath, Gillespie & Co will still be a handful in local conditions, and will only become more so as the series progresses.

IMO India's batting weakness is against seam movement early in their innings. Chopra looks to have the technique, but has a new test on the faster & bouncier pitches & bowling attack, than against the likes of the NZ attack he faced on Indian low & slow pitches. The likes of Sehwag, Ganguly & Tendulkar are all aggressive by nature, all use heavy bats, and all lack foot movement when they first come to the crease. NZ exploited this on pitches with exaggerated seam movement, and while the Aussie pitches will be no where near as under done, I think the extra class & pace of their seam attack will be able to expose this weakness again.

I also think that the Indians are well aware of this and it is already playing on their minds. This may cause them to change their natural game which in turn could frustrate them into error, particularly Tendulkar who has so much expectation placed upon him despite the batting talent around him. While he has regained some confidence with 2 centuries in the TVS Cup, he was MIA during the Test series.

Dravid for me remains the key to the batting for the series, and it is a question as to who can stay with him long eough to post a competitive total to bowl at. I will be interested to see how the Indian top order changes as the series progresses if they are unable to establish a solid platform. We could yet see Dasgupta & Dravid enter the opening equation, or the need to drop someone to open with Chopra & Dasgupta with Dravid at No3 to protect the likes of Tendulkar & Co.

Khan looks to be lacking confidence & will struggle against so many 'lefties' as he seems unable to move the ball away to them, unlike Nehra. Agarkar needs to maintain his length & not try to be too aggressive & drop it short of a length, which is when he gets spanked. The spinners will not dominate as they do in India & they must be more patient with their strategies rather than expect something to happen.

 

[Gaijin-san]

Lehmann is out of the test series against India. This gives Michael Clarke 4 tests to upstage Katich for a spot in the side.
Maybe we'll finally get a good look at how good this kid's gonna be.
Aus A have a 3-day tour match against India starting on the 19th of December. This is right between the second and third tests, most probably for the selectors to see who can perform against the Indians and act accordingly for the final two tests.

 

[Craig]

Unlikely they will go for Clarke. Katich deserves his chance and Love should be in front of Clarke. He has preformed more consistantly in FC cricket then Clarke.

 

[Gaijin-san]

I'm not sure they'll want Love at number 6.

Katich's rubbish bowling will be exposed by the Indian batting, which is why he gets a great deal of favour from the selectors. When he's batting comes back down a bit from the dizzying heights of 52 which seem to make his spot so deserved it will take the sheen off him.

 

[Craig]

So you wouldnt of picked Katich in the 1st place?

 

[Gaijin-san]

Honestly, no. Not against India anyway. I think that for number 6, it's between Katich and Clarke. And against India they should go to someone who has had some recent success against them, bar the fact they played in India and in ODIs. I know they're hard to compare, but he's seen the bowlers, he's played them well.
Maybe against another team I'd keep Katich, but his batting still hasn't warranted his inclusion in the side. His bowling was against Zimbabwe for chrissakes, so let's not go around saying Katich is immovable.

If it came down to a spot in the team overall, I'd probably have to agree that Love is ahead of Clarke. But as we keep saying, its for number 6 and Love simply isn't one.

 

[Mister Wright]

Just because most of the people here agree that Love is a better top order batsman, to say that he is not a number six is going a bit too far. Who here a year and half ago would have said that Langer would be a success as an opener? Considering the first test is at the 'Gabba I think Love should play. It's not as though it has been spin-spriendly the last few weeks.

 

[Gaijin-san]

That's true, he could be a decent number 6 batsman. But this goes back to some stuff I was saying before, that Clarke would fit the position of number 6 better than Love.

 

[Top_Cat]

That's true, he could be a decent number 6 batsman. But this goes back to some stuff I was saying before, that Clarke would fit the position of number 6 better than Love.

How?!?!

On Katich vs Love; who can choose? It all comes down to bias because Love and Katich would both certainly do a good job if picked. Too tough to call. The only thing which would give Katich the edge would be if the Aussies felt they needed another bowling option. Other than that, I think they're about even.

As for Clarke vs Katich or Love, SERIOUSLY Katich has hit two hundreds and a couple of 50's in three matches this year so far and Love has hit one 300. Clarke shouldn't even be in the picture, given he hasn't even played a match so far this season. I'd say that the Aussies selectors sent him along to India to give him some game time to satiate him and his fans but I doubt he'll even be considered for the Tests.

Want to see what he's got? Let's see how he goes playing for NSW having played for Aust in the ODI's. If he plays well and has a good season, there'll be no reason to keep him out anymore. If he spits the dummy at missing the Test side (like I personally think he will), he'll inevitably fail and will justify the selectors' reasoning for waiting longer to have a decent look at him before picking him.

As I've said here many times, Clarke looks like he has the good to succeed but he's hardly the first talented player we've ever seen. Ponting, Martyn, Hayden and Boof all had bigger wraps on them at similar stages of their careers (for those younger than 18, just because you don't remember that, doesn't mean it never happened) and they ALL had to pay their dues and prove themselves at FC level before they were even considered. Even as great a prospect as Ponting had to play at least two full seasons of FC cricket before he was even considered for what was a much weaker side. Clarke, like all those before him, will have to show much more than potential if he wants a look-in to this VERY strong Aussie side. No-one can say with any justification that he deserves a spot above Katich, Love or Boof. They've done the hard work and are hardened, quality players. Clarke has 'potential', they have 'performance' having been through the 'potential' stage. It's pretty obvious which way the selectors are going and I think they're right on the mark on this one.

 

[V Reddy]

Guys please update the scores of tomorrow's tour match here. The cricinfo live scores page is not updating on my PC since settings were changed two days back . I have two days off due to Ramzan holidays . So please update the scores from time to time if you could