Border-Gavaskar Trophy (India in Australia) Dec-Jan 2011/12

[Adarsh]

The pitch will get a shave before Day 1. A lot of pitches look very green 4 days before the match.

 

[midgetwars]

YAY!! Another Road.

 

[formula1man]

Sehwag eventually has to move into the middle order because I dont see a long term future for him if he continues to open outside the subcontinent. But moving him immediately for Perth and throwing Rahane into his debut test and that too at opening and that too at a place like Perth is fraught with heavy danger.

but why not sacrifice a new player to the new ball instead of sehwag?

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Think that shows all you need to know, 4 pacemen should hit the favourite for us. And going by our trend we should know by tomorrow.

However with the T20s they have been playing the fast bowlers have not gotten anything out of the pitch, its been all spinners.

 

[SaiSrini]

Think that shows all you need to know, 4 pacemen should hit the favourite for us. And going by our trend we should know by tomorrow.

Is he (Dravid) mock batting on the ground or on the pitch? The area on which he is standing looks like ground to me.

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but why not sacrifice a new player to the new ball instead of sehwag?

If Sehwag fails, it wont matter because he can fail for another 15-20 tests before he is sacked. But with a new player, he gets only 1 game (max 2) before he is sacked.

 

[midgetwars]

Starc or Lyon: That is the question

It looks like a complete 50-50 with the last two games at the WACA having 4 pacemen having one loss and win. Although, Shaun Tait was playing.

 

[War]

Starc or Lyon: That is the question

It looks like a complete 50-50 with the last two games at the WACA having 4 pacemen having one loss and win. Although, Shaun Tait was playing.

The waca pitch India played on in 07/08 was nowhere near the traditional bouncy Perth deck though.

Between 2005-2009, waca pitches lost a fair share of its traditional life and ranged from being absolute roads or slowish. It mainly just had life of day 1.

SA chased down 400+ in 2008 and managed to survive out the last day in 2005, while Gilly slammed that famous 50 odd ball century in 2006.

Last year the waca pitch was back to its best with the bounce present on all four of the days.

 

[binglee]

india go to look at the WACA pith and sh*t themselves with how green it is! enjoi

 

[macintosh]

Perth test is reminding me of poor Chris Rogers, who got just 1 opportunity which was on a bowling paradise can anyone explain why he didnt get more chances??

 

[SaiSrini]

Would be fun if Australia have first strike with the bat on this wicket and India bowl them out cheaply. Indian bowlers are perfectly capable of using the life on the wicket. But will we get that chance? Hope Dhoni is lucky at the toss.

 

[midgetwars]

Perth test is reminding me of poor Chris Rogers, who got just 1 opportunity which was on a bowling paradise can anyone explain why he didnt get more chances??

Because it was not a bowling paradise but batting paradise. It was more a road than like last year

 

[Aditya]

I might be proved wrong but here is what I think. Indian bowlers aren't as bad as they have shown themselves in the last two tests. We all know that Indian bowlers can be surprising at times and more so when the team is failing and no one is expecting any good from them and that's when something remarkable takes place. My point is, if India get to bowl first in Perth, it wont be shocking for me if they get Australia out cheaply and then bat well. Tendulkar and Sehwag both like the ball to come to the bat and considering that the Perth pitch will be quick it might help these two batsmen a lot, if anyone else in the Indian team.

 

[aayush93]

Would be fun if Australia have first strike with the bat on this wicket and India bowl them out cheaply. Indian bowlers are perfectly capable of using the life on the wicket. But will we get that chance? Hope Dhoni is lucky at the toss.

Australia will bat first after winning the toss as in last 7 year they have fielded only twice after winning toss and they lost both matches.
If India wins the toss, then they will bowl first as india will not like to test their batsman technique and form on first day of Perth Test match.

 

[VC the slogger]

India are really missing the retired Anil Kumble.I don't know why they selected Praghyan Ojha and he is not getting a chance also.Ashwin is a good bowler but Aussie pitches don't help off-spinners much.They have some help for leg-spinners as we have seen Shane Warne,Stuart MacGill and Anil Kumble do well some years back.India could've picked Rahul Sharma who is quite tall and can also extract good bounce there.
As far as the batsmen go Kohli should be dropped as he is not patient enough for test cricket and has an attitude problem as we clearly saw when he made that gesture towards the crowd.Rohit Sharma should come in.
Its a matter of time before Dravid and Laxman again start scoring well so let them be and MS Dhoni was also in some touch with the bat in Sydney and his 2nd innings dismissal was a bit unlucky.Gambhir also scored well and hopefully Sehwag returns into some form then India should definately put up a good total.
Dhoni needs to attack a lot more and not give the Aussies oppurtunities to recover from scores like 37/3 etc.The bowlers also have to pitch it up to the batsman in the good lenght area in order to take wickets.Only then can India win in overseas places like Australia and salvage pride after being 2 nil down already with 2 Tests to go...

 

[SaiSrini]

Rahul Sharma for test cricket? Based on his IPL and his one off ODI performance? Just because a leggie did well in Australia before doesn't mean you throw in a guy like Rahul Sharma in a high pressure test match against Australia in Australia. Ashwin and Ojha were the right choices. Ashwin's batting helped him seal that lone spinner's spot. I still think Ashwin can do well. He hasnt bowled badly. Its just that the no wickets for other bowlers is causing pressure on him. When the fast bowlers dont pick wickets on pitches that suit them, its tough to imagine a spinner picking wickets on pitches that dont really suit them. Even a leggie would have struggled at Sydney against Clarke, Ponting and Hussey

 

[aayush93]

I still think Ashwin can do well. He hasnt bowled badly. Its just that the no wickets for other bowlers is causing pressure on him. When the fast bowlers dont pick wickets on pitches that suit them, its tough to imagine a spinner picking wickets on pitches that dont really suit them. Even a leggie would have struggled at Sydney against Clarke, Ponting and Hussey

well you are huge supporter of ashwin, thats why you don't see anything wrong with his performance till now with Bowl.

Kumble (leg spinner) took 12 wickets in 2003 sydney test and 8 wickets in sydney 2007 test match and believe me 2003 pitch was even flatter than this sydney pitch and that australia team had far better players than current Australian team. (Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Martin, Waugh, Katich, Gilchrist).
In 2007 sydney test match a leggie took 8 wickets against the likes of Clarke, Ponting, Hussey, Symonds, Hayden.

Ashwin should consider himself lucky that this time our fast bowlers are getting Australian top order out cheaply, unlike previous tour.
One of the biggest problem for dhoni and India in last 6 overseas test is the performance of spinners. Indian spinners have not taken more than top-order batsman 4-5 wickets (even those wickets came when batsman already made 50 or hundred or 150+) in last 6 overseas test.

After perth test match, i hope india plays Ojha to see what he can do in these conditions.