Australia's Tour Of India - 2008

[karnog]

Just thinking about it, those Captain knock he plays is why hes in the team. Hes there to bat and what he does best is adapt to the situation. Certainly doesn't need a C next to his name to play those knocks. The captain is there as a strategist not for his ability to play captains knocks.

Very much the case but the reverse is also true. The captain must also perform as a batsman (or bowler for bowling captains). Michael Vaughan and Sourav Ganguly fell by the wayside as captains because they couldn't perform with the bat which held the team back. Fine strategists and fine captains but they couldn't churn it out with the bat. Obviously you don't need to perform like Ricky does but someone like Smith and Fleming who performed decently with the bat and are fairly good captains (actually i rate fleming very highly). But i'm not sticking up for Ponting. He is an ok captain and thats being modest. Good captaincy breeds success but for Ponting it's been the phenomenial players around him that have created such success.

 

[pal]

Does it really matter? Sledging is over-rated. Some of the Indian players presumably don't speak or understand English at a fluent level, not that it matters. As long as we can manage to bat and take wickets with success and consistency, as we've been doing, I think it's really a non-issue if the opponents wish to chatter away in a simian fashion.

Sai, just to add to this post as a point of emphasis, I came across this anecdote in a Cricinfo piece on Ishant Sharma:

In the Sydney Test, as Sachin Tendulkar marshalled the tail in the first innings, Ishant was the last man in. Brett Lee bowled one full and Ishant went for the drive and missed. "Lee said, 'You can't hit like that, cowboy.' I didn't know then what cowboy was, so I asked paaji" Tendulkar asked him to focus on his batting. And so he did: in the 31-run partnership between the two, Ishant managed 23 runs, more than in all his previous first-class matches put together.

To most of our players, some of the attempts at sledging by Australians usually come across as feral warbling in a foreign tongue. Too much is made of the effects of sledging against countries like India and Pakistan when they play English-speaking nations.

 

[Cricketman]

Gambhir better go on and get a double here. Laxman should get a 100 as well, this is a perfect opportunity to get 600 or so and knock Australia out of this series with a suckerpunch.

 

[playkid12]

I don't like the bowling of Mitchell Johnson at all. He always gets lucky with wickets. Whenever I see him get a wicket, it's the batsman's fault, not some splendid bowling by Johnson. That guy should not be in the Australian squad. Overrated imo.

 

[SaiSrini]

Gambhir better go on and get a double here. Laxman should get a 100 as well, this is a perfect opportunity to get 600 or so and knock Australia out of this series with a suckerpunch.

Bat up until an hour into the final session, and then roll out your bowlers on them (Zaheer, Ishant and our two leggies). Hope it can go according to the plan (cant say when Australia decides to come back, I thought they might do it y'day when they took those early 2 wickets but our batsmen continued their good run)

 

[aussie_ben91]

Some people call Watson a dick on the field but as soon as stumps was called Watson sprinted over and shaked Gambhir's hand to congratulate him on a well played innings.

 

[.Mob]

Some people call Watson a dick on the field but as soon as stumps was called Watson sprinted over and shaked Gambhir's hand to congratulate him on a well played innings.

Shook*

I know it's slightly irrelevant, but it sounds like something Sree would do, act like a tit during the game but he's an awesome guy at the end of it all.

 

[aussie_ben91]

I thought Ishant Sharma was the dopest International cricketer of all time until I saw Gautam Gambhir's interview at the press conference.

"The elbow wasn't deliberate, it just happened."

:

 

[Mr.Cricket]

^^ About Ponting vs Waugh....

I think people forget that even Waugh struggled when Warne and Mcgrath didn't play. Remember when India came to Aus in 03/04 , they made some huge scores like 700+. Sure Punter had all the great players around him but so did Waugh for just about all of his captaincy career including Warne and Mcgrath in their absolute prime. I think Punter did pretty well to have this much success with an ageing team.

I am not saying Punter is better than Tugga but hes not that far behind IMO. Even the greatest captain in the world would struggle to win a game in India when your best spinner is Cam White.

Mr.Cricket added 10 Minutes and 46 Seconds later...

Wow, just checked out the video. Its all the anguish of the Australian bowlers at not being able to dislodge Gambhir. When Gambhir stepped out to Katich, he got angry and had a few words with Gambhir. And he was obstructing Gambhir in that run when Laxman hit the ball down the pitch. Watson should also be punished (for putting up his hand in front of Gambhir while he ran). Not sure if Katich will also be. But obviously, the fault is on the side of the Aussies.

haha calm down mate. I am sure saint Gambhir didn't do anything ? I mean Indians doing anything wrong on the field , nah not possible. It was just an elbow,....accidental elbow i mean. Watson should be banned for life though , how dare he sledge the batsman like that ? simply unacceptable . I am telling ya only one team is playing in the spirit of the game here.

Although it would've been interesting if Watson was the batsman in this incident. Fair to say people might see the incident little bit differently then. :cool: Such is life I guess.

 

[aussie1st]

^^ About Ponting vs Waugh....

I think people forget that even Waugh struggled when Warne and Mcgrath didn't play. Remember when India came to Aus in 03/04 , they made some huge scores like 700+. Sure Punter had all the great players around him but so did Waugh for just about all of his captaincy career including Warne and Mcgrath in their absolute prime. I think Punter did pretty well to have this much success with an ageing team.

I am not saying Punter is better than Tugga but hes not that far behind IMO. Even the greatest captain in the world would struggle to win a game in India when your best spinner is Cam White.

Waugh didn't have time to prepare for the loss of Warne or McGrath during that series. And I'm not saying Waugh method was flawless but it certainly got the job done more times than not. Ponting and co have had a full series in the Caribbean to plan where the team is going. It's not just a case of yesterday but in the First test where his defensive fielding settings have let the game drift. One example from yesterday was where Watson had a floating slip and his bouncer catches the glove only to fly through 1st slip.

Also Ponting had the choice to choose between aggression by picking Krejza or defensive by picking White. Add to the fact that Katich was a known turner of the ball yet only got used yesterday after 2 tests including a loss in the 2nd when Katich could have caused some problems.

And finally it's not the team you have it's how you use them. Fleming is the perfect example of this, on paper his team has always been underdogs yet Fleming always got the best out of his players and was always on the ball with his fielding placements to take every chance on offer.

 

[SaiSrini]

haha calm down mate. I am sure saint Gambhir didn't do anything ? I mean Indians doing anything wrong on the field , nah not possible. It was just an elbow,....accidental elbow i mean. Watson should be banned for life though , how dare he sledge the batsman like that ? simply unacceptable . I am telling ya only one team is playing in the spirit of the game here.

Although it would've been interesting if Watson was the batsman in this incident. Fair to say people might see the incident little bit differently then. :cool: Such is life I guess.

So you think Indian fans are just blind supporters of their team no matter who does the mistake? Even if they switch sides, I would say the bowler was at fault for instigating the batsman. I have been watching the game in the morning session and Watson has repeatedly tried to disturb Gambhir by talking some nonsense or the other to him. Its a well known tactic from the whole Australian team (remember Ponting's comment in Bangalore "there comes another blistering cover drive" when Gambhir cover drove straight to Ponting for no run)

I never said Gambhir is a saint or Indians are saints. But in this video, Watson looked the culprit to me.

 

[Cricketman]

Gambhir is probably the most verbal batsman that i've seen anyways. He 'gives it back' to the bowlers the most, no doubt.

But in this case - Watson was just being a prick.

 

[aussie_ben91]

One thing is for sure, if Watson had've done to Gambhir what Gambhir did to Watson then Gambhir would've been lying on his back unconscious.

 

[Jit]

Australia are defensive from the morning and its not gonna help them get wickets. They need to attack little and try to get wickets otherwise runs will keep flowing.

 

[Dare]

so what was so wrong with picking Casson these spinners Australia have are useless.