Australia Tour Of India 2012/13

[SaiSrini]

When Vijay buckled down in the first session to bat cautiously and bat out time, it was quite apparent that he was setting himself up for a big score. The problem with Vijay is, if he can take this approach often enough in tests, he can have a substantial career in tests for India. He started off as a very bright prospect for India in tests before succumbing to the glitz and glamour of T20/IPL. Vijay has scored a century at home against Australia in 2010. That time, he didn't convert it into a long run for him.. Hope atleast this time, he can turn this innings into a career defining one for himself. Pujara is amazing! I should apologize that I didn't know about his knee thing while watching the game. That explains why his running was dodgy. He is a gun. I am so eagerly waiting to see how he fares up in South Africa this year. I am confident that he has the ability and the determination to perform the same way abroad.

This could be an innings victory! Bat out the entire day tomorrow, and put Australia under a 350+ run lead. BTW, amazing crowd today for the game. 28,000+ was huge. That's a full house if it was Lord's. But I understand that quite a few people were disappointed at the end of the day because they didn't get to see the person that they came to watch! But I am not complaining. I am sure he also won't complain seeing India's future pile up these runs.

 

[sifter132]

Oh my...

You see, that's what happens when you don't pick your best squad.

This is the typical proud Aussie fans response. Don't mean to pick on you midget...this is a more general response

It seems Aussie fans love blaming something other than the players for the problems. It's the selectors, or the batting order, or the rotation policy, or the pitches, or maybe the coaching staff - something other than a lack of talent. Because don't you know Australia would have SMASHED South Africa in the 3rd Test in Perth if they'd only played Siddle and Hilfenhaus? (forget that Starc and Johnson were the 2 best things to come out of that match). Sri Lanka of course were lucky to draw the ODI series because Aussies were resting players (it had nothing to do with the continually excellent bowling of Kulasekara and Malinga). And of course in this match India would be on the ropes in this series if we'd only picked our best squad...

It used to be 'whinging Poms' as the stereotype, but Aussie cricket fans love a good whinge too. The selectors might pick 10 of the 11 guys you had in your XI, but the fact they didn't pick the 11th as well apparently makes the selectors clueless and blind.

So back to this match...I can see Maxwell and Doherty as bad calls. Cowan and Wade (maybe Hughes too given his spin play) as less objectionable selections, but perhaps wrong as well. And of course the continual batting order discussions. But how much difference would that really make? India have scored 74 more runs, and lost 8 less wickets in doing so! This is not a close match that might have been swung with 1 or 2 different players in the 11.

The other thing that critical self-inspection does is that it fails to recognise good performance from the opposition. It was great batting from Vijay and Pujara yesterday, yet the focus here in Aus will no doubt be on the selections or some other distraction. Some credit needs to go to the opposition occasionally...

 

[War]

Yea sifter i agree with all of that. I'm not responding to your post as reference to me since you know i'm always critical about the team - but in general as well.

AUS certainly do have a lack of talent in certain area obviously in the batting strength & depth alongside spin. The quick bowlers is the only good spot about the AUS team in the last few years.

However having bad selectors can curtail the progress of any team & since end of glory area after the 2007 ashes & world cups wins, across all three formats AUS progress or lack it has been hampered mainly by brainless selection panels.

When the great West Indies team of 70s & 80s declined, it was observed that this was caused by the caribbean administrators not planning sufficiently for the next generation, since the blindly accepted that they would produce world a viv richards style batsmen & a conveyor belt of fast bowlers every year.

AUS haven't made those mistakes, since AUS domestic structure remains very strong & they have good youth development plan.

Sometimes even if AUS picked what i percieved was the perfect XI, they may still have lost this test or previous other tests, odi, t20 or series where i reckoned they made horrific blunders.

But i rather AUS lose with their best team, that make god awful selection & lose with crap teams.

At least that way we will 100% know what was AUS actually real limit as a team & will have a better gauge of how to improve. Right now after the potentially drubbing in this test, when its time to asses where improvements can be made, we won't go anywhere because we have to wrong selectors.

If there is anything Shane Warne was right about in venting his recent concerns about the state of Australian cricket is that we need some of smartest cricket minds in AUS selecting the teams. And it strongly believe people like Mark Taylor, Ian Chappell, Allan Border come out on the commentary box and become selectors.

 

[Epic]

This is the typical proud Aussie fans response. Don't mean to pick on you midget...this is a more general response

It seems Aussie fans love blaming something other than the players for the problems. It's the selectors, or the batting order, or the rotation policy, or the pitches, or maybe the coaching staff - something other than a lack of talent. Because don't you know Australia would have SMASHED South Africa in the 3rd Test in Perth if they'd only played Siddle and Hilfenhaus? (forget that Starc and Johnson were the 2 best things to come out of that match). Sri Lanka of course were lucky to draw the ODI series because Aussies were resting players (it had nothing to do with the continually excellent bowling of Kulasekara and Malinga). And of course in this match India would be on the ropes in this series if we'd only picked our best squad...

It used to be 'whinging Poms' as the stereotype, but Aussie cricket fans love a good whinge too. The selectors might pick 10 of the 11 guys you had in your XI, but the fact they didn't pick the 11th as well apparently makes the selectors clueless and blind.

So back to this match...I can see Maxwell and Doherty as bad calls. Cowan and Wade (maybe Hughes too given his spin play) as less objectionable selections, but perhaps wrong as well. And of course the continual batting order discussions. But how much difference would that really make? India have scored 74 more runs, and lost 8 less wickets in doing so! This is not a close match that might have been swung with 1 or 2 different players in the 11.

The other thing that critical self-inspection does is that it fails to recognise good performance from the opposition. It was great batting from Vijay and Pujara yesterday, yet the focus here in Aus will no doubt be on the selections or some other distraction. Some credit needs to go to the opposition occasionally...

I hope you're around to tell the Indian fans how it is when their team gets annihilated away to South Africa and they all retort to their usual "if Gambhir was captain..." BS.

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Looking how things are panning out, Sehwag should be out of the squad so as Ishant Sharma.

Zaheer Khan and Manoj Tiwary should rope in.

It was all there, then you lost me right when you brought up Zaheer Khan.

Out with the old and in with the old? No siree!

The game of cricket was awesome- record breaking partnership for second wicket, but personally, Hyderabad crowd was terribly disappointed because they didn't get to watch Sachin. And in the third session, the fours by Pujara and Vijay were booed as well.

Good to see Murali Vijay doing well. I hope he will be the second inning specialist- what we are in search of.

That's just dumb, but I expect nothing more from fans of the "god".

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I don't think it's just the team, like I said, angy made a good post highlighting the preperation that england put in to touring india and the absolute lack of it australia made. however, apart from going back in time there's not a lot they can do.

an interesting point it does raise though is how you manage team selection when you are going into a series where you are expected to lose no matter what you do?

do you really pick your best team, do you experiment with an eye on the next series or do you give it to young players so they understand the difficulties of touring india with an eye on 4 years down the line? you have to look at achieving something, whether it's putting pressure on players not performing by showing them they can be dropped, or showing faith in players, or giving someone a shot so you can know whether they're right for the team or not in more evenly matched series.

 

[Prithvi]

BTW, amazing crowd today for the game. 28,000+ was huge. That's a full house if it was Lord's. But I understand that quite a few people were disappointed at the end of the day because they didn't get to see the person that they came to watch! But I am not complaining. I am sure he also won't complain seeing India's future pile up these runs.

Everyone were like "We want Sachin", but at the end of the day, few people were murmuring "We've come here to see either Sehwag blitz or Sachins class, who are these kids- Pujara and Murali Vijay. We never heard their names" blah blah.I enjoyed thoroughly though.

Not much to blame on Aussies, they could have played Lyon instead of Maxwell. Indian line up has two specialist spinners and an all rounder. I don't understand why Aussies cannot pick up two specialist spinners when they're playing in spin favoring conditions.

 

[SaiSrini]

Everyone were like "We want Sachin", but at the end of the day, few people were murmuring "We've come here to see either Sehwag blitz or Sachins class, who are these kids- Pujara and Murali Vijay. We never heard their names" blah blah.I enjoyed thoroughly though.

Not much to blame on Aussies, they could have played Lyon instead of Maxwell. Indian line up has two specialist spinners and an all rounder. I don't understand why Aussies cannot pick up two specialist spinners when they're playing in spin favoring conditions.

I would classify those people as 'idiots'. If I were in their shoes, I would be feeling happy that I am getting to watch two of India's youngsters play like this against one of the top sides. Of course I get excited seeing Sachin bat (or Sehwag if he is in form) but their batting is not the "be all and end all" of it.

If they didn't hear Pujara's name in recent times, they are just too disconnected from cricket.

 

[Sedition]

I wouldn't have a problem admitting that we were outplayed in the 1st test if it had actually happened. Ignoring the pitch doctoring for a second, had the umpires called the game evenly, both 1st innings would be roughly the same and the game would have been nicely poised for a great victory by either side. India as slight favourites given the time remaining, but could have easily cracked under the pressure as many sides do when attempting to chase down Australia. Couldn't have complained much about the pitch at that point, but then when the curator comes out and proudly admits that he'd doctored it, and has been doing so since at least '99 just made that test a complete joke.

Now in this test, we get to the first session of Day 2, Day kerplucking 2, and the ball can't even reach the keeper. Vijay and Pujara obviously knew if they could just hang around a little longer, it was gonna be a typical batsmen's paradise, hence the 1.5 rpo all morning.

Makes me wonder what Dhoni would have done if he'd won the toss, sent us in to bat anyway knowing that with a little bit in it for the quicks on Day 1, it would have resulted in India being skittled for <200.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

How much ever you whine about things the fact wont change. You are outplayed and you were outplayed in the last test too. Blaming the pitch, blaming the weather blaming the crowd blaming everything is just you.

BTW do you purposely annoy or its you forever kind of? Amazing skill that is

 

[Epic]

Trolling a moderator, kerplucking smart.

Anyway, you guys okay with sending two rather inexperienced openers to open in South Africa? Just another example of poor planning by India really, both Gambhir and Sehwag should've been dropped for this series, thus giving the new openers a chance to get their feet wet if you may...

With that said, I can see the other side to it as well, in that this could've been the series where Sehwag finds his old form and what not...

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Haha I was just kidding man. The pitch is absolutely dreadful to play on. It sucks like anything, the ball is hardly carrying towards keeper. This pitch is just not fit to play for the Aussies.

*whistles and moves away quietly*

 

[Sedition]

Mostly on purpose It's not hard to see the real reasons why we're not doing so well though. Our team is more skilled than India's, given that we're hovering around 1st-3rd day in day out since like 1880 and India are consistently 4th or 5th. We dominate at home and win more often than not away. India can't win away and struggle to win at home even on doctored pitches and umpiring decisions going their way.

Our batting line-up is fine. Hussey's left a hole, but he was inevitably going to retire soon anyway.

Whenever Warner gets out cheaply people can't wait to criticise and say he deserves it for the way he plays. When he racks up a score, they say he got lucky. His record speaks for itself and not many people can play the way he does and put up those numbers, therefore skill is playing more of a factor than luck.

For the most part Cowan has done exactly what is needed from an opening batsman, especially when you've got Warner at the other end. He may only be making 30's every time, but he's occupying the crease and dealing with the new ball. Has a lot of Katich-esque qualities about him and sooner or later he'll convert more of those starts and bump his average up close to 40.

Hughes, Khawaja, Marsh are all quality top order batsmen and have plenty of time to show what they're capable of at international level. Hughes is the one that deserves to be there right now though. Watson and Clarke rounding out the top 5, not much needs to be said there.

Wade's capable at 6, but would rather him at 7. Henriques took his opportunity with both hands, but I dunno about him being a #6. Our bowlers crap all over everyone else, except in India where the pitches have been doctored, so nothing wrong there. Doesn't really matter if we had a quality spinner for India because even with the greatest spin bowler in the history of cricket with Warne, he can be nullified by the pitch doctoring.

All in all, our team is fine, on the cusp of being #1, so I see no reason to blame them when there's some obvious dodgy dealings going on in this tour.

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Trolling a moderator, kerplucking smart.

I see it as good natured, competitive bantering. If there's one place where I don't see taking shots at each other as trolling it's when you're in the midst of a series against one another. Especially when one guy is playing the typical Aussie douchebag card

 

[SaiSrini]

Trolling a moderator, kerplucking smart.

Anyway, you guys okay with sending two rather inexperienced openers to open in South Africa? Just another example of poor planning by India really, both Gambhir and Sehwag should've been dropped for this series, thus giving the new openers a chance to get their feet wet if you may...

With that said, I can see the other side to it as well, in that this could've been the series where Sehwag finds his old form and what not...

India always does this. When have we planned well for an overseas tour?

Looks like with this one innings, Vijay is all set for a long rope with the side. I am not too excited about him, but I would rather stick out for him rather than Sehwag or Gambhir. If we can find one more opener in the next two tests (Dhawan or Rahane), then it will be somewhat manageable. But I don't expect either Rahane or Dhawan to play any games here. Most likely, Dhoni will have to keep the rumor mongers quiet by including Sehwag in the team. And also, they will most likely not drop Sehwag in the middle of a series.

 

[Epic]

I see it as good natured, competitive bantering. If there's one place where I don't see taking shots at each other as trolling it's when you're in the midst of a series against one another. Especially when one guy is playing the typical Aussie douchebag card

Fair enough lol.

India always does this. When have we planned well for an overseas tour?

Looks like with this one innings, Vijay is all set for a long rope with the side. I am not too excited about him, but I would rather stick out for him rather than Sehwag or Gambhir. If we can find one more opener in the next two tests (Dhawan or Rahane), then it will be somewhat manageable. But I don't expect either Rahane or Dhawan to play any games here. Most likely, Dhoni will have to keep the rumor mongers quiet by including Sehwag in the team. And also, they will most likely not drop Sehwag in the middle of a series.

Good point lol, we never do...

And how can I forgot about the "Dhoni-Sehwag rift" story, thanks India-kerplucking-times.

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And just to go back to the boo'ing at Hyderabad, I saw this highlights package of Pujara's innings, they're basically congratulating the guy on his hundred with boo's... Disgusting peeps or what.

 

[SaiSrini]

Fair enough lol.



Good point lol, we never do...

And how can I forgot about the "Dhoni-Sehwag rift" story, thanks India-kerplucking-times.

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And just to go back to the boo'ing at Hyderabad, I saw this highlights package of Pujara's innings, they're basically congratulating the guy on his hundred with boo's... Disgusting peeps or what.

India-kerplucking-times???