Australia's Tour Of India - 2008

[Cricketman]

Kumble retired

So sad. What a legend...

 

[sohum]

Boring draw, in the end. I guess Kumble's retirement spiced things up a bit at the end. It's been a great career. On the other hand, I hope Bhajji is fit by Nagpur, or we may be looking at two rookie leg-spinners or Munaf Patel.

India should not be that disappointed by this game. It was our fielding that let us down this time--our batsmen and bowlers did pretty well. We should also take solace from the fact that Australia only took 2 more wickets than we did, bowling 59 more overs.

 

[SaiSrini]

We will win in Nagpur for sure. No matter what lucky charm stuff your stupid board is following. Dhoni to lead that doesn't mean India will win again :

Kumble didnt play at Nagpur because he has announced his retirement at the end of this game itself. He knew that he would not be able to play at Nagpur because of his injury and so, he decided to call it quits here itself. Its not that the decision of the selectors or the board has prompted Kumble to make his decision now. If Kumble said "I am fit for Nagpur", he would have been captain at Nagpur.

Lucky charm? We knew the lucky charm of Australia... they have been dominating world cricket with all their star players. but after those retirements, you guys look a pale shadow of those days.

saisrini80 added 0 Minutes and 56 Seconds later...

I'm real dissapointed. Sure i grumbled a lot but he was one of my favourite players. Loved how he gave everything 110%. Well since Bhajji is most likely injured who's gonna be our next spinner? Chawla? Ohja?

Bhajji is expected to be fit for Nagpur.

saisrini80 added 1 Minutes and 45 Seconds later...

After all the so called ' Indian dominance' its just 1-0. Win in Nagpur and the trophy is ours. If we win the toss , you just never know what can happen. But one thing we do know is that Aussies will come out breathing fire. Cmon Aussies!!!

The trophy is just a piece of silverware (or whatever stuff its made of!). Truth is, we have had the better of you in the last 5 consecutive games (2-0). After the so-called 'Australian world domination', its 2-0 in favor of India right now.

saisrini80 added 3 Minutes and 7 Seconds later...

Boring draw, in the end. I guess Kumble's retirement spiced things up a bit at the end. It's been a great career. On the other hand, I hope Bhajji is fit by Nagpur, or we may be looking at two rookie leg-spinners or Munaf Patel.

India should not be that disappointed by this game. It was our fielding that let us down this time--our batsmen and bowlers did pretty well. We should also take solace from the fact that Australia only took 2 more wickets than we did, bowling 59 more overs.

Of course we should not be disappointed. We batted extremely well throughout the test match (also carrying forward from Mohali). Our bowling has been hard toiling, with not much luck in the first innings here at Delhi. Our fielding needs to be worked at more, and we should be the same side (with no loss of momentum whatsoever). Australia might have gained momentum, but we havent lose momentum.

Nagpur will be very exciting! Hoping for a cracker game. It will also be Saurav's last test.

 

[Leggie]

Still feeling a bit teary...

Anways this will probably be the line-up for Nagpur as it worked perfectly last time...

1) Gautam Gambhir - Super so far, Keep it up
2) Virendra Sehwag - Awaiting that big century from you
3) Rahul Dravid - Been incredibly dissapointing in the series thus far, it's been ages since he scored his last ton.
4) Sachin Tendulkar - C'mon Sachin, Turn those 50's into 100's
5) VVS Laxman - Just needs to continue his super form this series
6) Saurav Ganguly - Looked good in the last innings, needs to carry that to Nagpur, and its his last test so he should go with a bang
7) MS Dhoni C+ - C'mon! Captaincy is amongst you! Create wonders again!
8) Harbhajan Singh - Looked good so far, Nagpur offers some spin I think
9) Zaheer Khan - Wicketless in Delhi but he will definetley come back with a bang
10) Amit Mishra - Has bowled brilliantly so far but was unlucky with poor fielding in Delhi
11) Ishant Sharma - One feels Aus have figured him out, But I think he still has it in him to reverse the ball

 

[Cricketman]

Get Lax in at three.

Gambhir may not play because he has that one match ban, but he is appealing it so there is a slight chance. If he's gone, you have to get Badri in to phase him into the team. Open with either Dravid (probably) or Laxman.

Badri himself could open too.

 

[SaiSrini]

Get Lax in at three.

Gambhir may not play because he has that one match ban, but he is appealing it so there is a slight chance. If he's gone, you have to get Badri in to phase him into the team. Open with either Dravid (probably) or Laxman.

Badri himself could open too.

Gambhir will play. The appeal is scheduled for hearing only after 7 days (6 days from now) and the next test starts before that. So Gambhir will play the next test.

I agree with Laxman at No.3 which will be very good. Dravid should come in at No.5 after Tendulkar and before Ganguly. Once Ganguly goes, Badrinath should replace him and should fill up that spot. It will be exciting as well as challenging times for Indian cricket with the Fab 5 retiring.

 

[aussie1st]

Well, If AUS would have been a little quick to pick Krejza for the third test, as he might've done something as Sehwag has proved.

But well, you or we, never knew sehwag would pick 5 wickets in the match, don't we? Australia will need to examine the pitch And pick carefully. I think they'll get some new players, for sure.

The selectors knew it was a spinning wicket yet they picked a part timer in White as the spinner. He then has only 4 overs bowled in the first day. This once again leaves us thinking "what if". I don't see them dropping White now but I hope they prove me wrong.

 

[tassietiger]

Gambhir will play. The appeal is scheduled for hearing only after 7 days (6 days from now) and the next test starts before that. So Gambhir will play the next test.

I agree with Laxman at No.3 which will be very good. Dravid should come in at No.5 after Tendulkar and before Ganguly. Once Ganguly goes, Badrinath should replace him and should fill up that spot. It will be exciting as well as challenging times for Indian cricket with the Fab 5 retiring.

Just marking down the appeal as a win then? Suppose he's Indian, so it's a fair call.

 

[sohum]

Just marking down the appeal as a win then? Suppose he's Indian, so it's a fair call.

He clearly isn't. The ICC rules state that if an appeal is made then any punishments are suspended until the appeal process is completed. They couldn't really go back on their own rules and change that, could they?

Not sure the appeal was valid in the first place, though.

Also, I cannot understand why, after at least 3 straight Test matches of poor over-rate, Ponting hasn't even heard a sniff of a public warning.

 

[deerkick]

Ponting is not going to get fined, just let it go

So if Gambhir plays this test, he'll most likely not play the 1st test against England huh? Then he would only play 1 test against England. Stupid BCCI and 2 tests 7 ODIs, WTF? Atleast make it classic 3 tests, 5 ODIs if not 4 tests, 5 ODIs. Bleehh whatever. I really wanna watch Sehwag/Gambhir combo against England for more than just one test.

 

[KBC]

The selectors knew it was a spinning wicket yet they picked a part timer in White as the spinner. He then has only 4 overs bowled in the first day. This once again leaves us thinking "what if". I don't see them dropping White now but I hope they prove me wrong.

Well, White's a player who needs to play a little more in ODs and come back into tests for australia. His bowling has been really normal, Saying that he needs to place the ball onto the batsmen, making them play it and giving them no room.

He turns the ball, there's no question about it, but very little compared to the drift he gets. If he can slow his run-up and don't Jump like a basketball player just before bowling, he can get more accuracy into his deliveries. At least, he can Jump less than present, so that the push he gets into his deliveries don't go out of control. See? Many of his balls to the right-hand'ers are mostly outside the off-stump, and nearly most of them collected by the Wicket-keeper.

As we saw earlier, he got sachin out to a nice ball, not a very good one, but good nonetheless. He placed the ball just outside the off-stump line, and got the ball to turn, which took the edge of the bat of sachin and he eventually got the wicket. So, that's the line where he needs to work more on, and when he develops the variety and consistent line in his bowling, he can confuse the batsmen more often. He bowls really good to the left hand'ers sometimes, but gives out loose deliveries too often.

But as far as i can say, give Krejza a chance, there's lot of potential in him, and the only reason why he's still hasn't been picked is because of the fact that he got hammered for loads of runs in the warm-up game? Well, i think CA too might look into the fact that they cannot judge a person on one performance. Krejza can handle the turning pitches very nicely. He's had a hard time in Hyderabad game, not getting adjusted to the match. Once he gets used to the pitch, he can do that brad hogg kind of placing the ball and get to turn the ball the other way with all sorts of surprise created in the batsman's brain, As he did in the domestic season in australia.

Still, this match (Nagpur) will be a crucial one for both the sides. May the best side win.

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

The selectors knew it was a spinning wicket yet they picked a part timer in White as the spinner. He then has only 4 overs bowled in the first day. This once again leaves us thinking "what if". I don't see them dropping White now but I hope they prove me wrong.

White is fine, drop Watson.

 

[age of the fall]

Its a shame to see such a great bowler in Brett Lee have an average rise above 30. Hopefully he get have another good run and get it under once again

 

[aussie1st]

White is fine, drop Watson.

Drop Watson who averages 10+ runs more than White this series? Our lower order is weak enough as it is, losing Watson will make it worse.

 

[Left_Hander]

Agreed Syl.

If Harbhajan isn't fit for the next test who would India look to play? I heard about Piyush Chawala (sp?) and a left-arm spinner, whose name I forgot. Who would you guys think would play?