India in Australia

[Inbox24]

Does anyone reckon Mitchell Johnson is overrated especially by the big Rick? His bowling is generally rubbish and should be replaced by Hilfenhaus, Tait, Bichel or even Noffke. Heck even Bracken could hold up an end and keep the run rate down. Why did the selectors even persist with him? He was rubbish in ODIs besides that flukey 4 fer in India in bowler friendly conditions and his action looks pretty chat. By all means prove me wrong Johnson but I doubt you will.

 

[sohum]

Hogg's flipper and Hogg's wrong-un seem to have the Indian batsmen in all sorts of confusion. I guess it hasn't been as easy to pick as aus5892 made it out to be before the test matches started.

Lee back, this should be interesting.

 

[aditya123]

Did I jinx them of Adelaide 2003? Poor shot from Laxman (wonderful innings for sure, but did it take India to a good position, NO!!!). There was no need for that shot. I knew Ponting allowed Dravid to stay in because he knew Dravid was the most vulnerable to get out.

Next wicket should not fall before 400. I cant count on Yuvraj and Dhoni to do well, so this pair holds the key. Would have been awesome to be only 1 wicket down at end of day's play but what to do? Damn!

Be optimistic. I think you`d have taken 200/3 at the start of the day .
Game is nicely poised though. One good partnership can make a huge difference.
Let us wait and see.

 

[SaiSrini]

Be optimistic. I think you`d have taken 200/3 at the start of the day .
Game is nicely poised though. One good partnership can make a huge difference.
Let us wait and see.

Quite agree. But I am being apprehensive because we are playing in Australia and we are prone to more wickets falling at this situation. Anyways, Sachin and Saurav are looking positive (touchwood)

 

[aditya123]

we've got dravid out about 10 times this series

Unlike Symonds who was in fact out at least 4 times in this innings alone, Dravid was only out once.
You cannot be out on a no-ball or of a bump ball or to a one bounce catch.
He did not get any favours from the umpire unlike Symmo.

And before someone gets after me for starting the umpiring debate again, I was just replying to stmonds_sixes`s post.

 

[sohum]

Just 9 minutes left in the day's play.

Hogg getting a lot of purchase from the track.

 

[aditya123]

Although I do not want him to come in to bat anytime soon, Yuvraj will find this pitch to his liking as well. He will have fond memories of the SCG as well, having scored a magnificent 143 here in a VB Series game in 2004 (although it was in an ODI). The MCG wicket was not one in which you could hit through the line which players like Yuvraj and Dhoni thrive on but this is the pitch for Yuvraj to make a mark as well.

Let us hope that he does a Symonds here.

Cannot help but think about what the match situation would`ve been had those umpiring errors not happened !

 

[sohum]

Solid finish from India, though it would have been nice to have Sachin and Laxman out there. Tomorrow should be an exciting day if Sachin and Sourav manage to dodge the morning bullets.

Though the Indians should not be thinking about it, they must regret not finishing off the Aussies when they were down on the mat.

 

[punterpupnroy]

yeah good days cricket i really hope we can get a couple of quick wickets tommorow morning. and i dont know what your talking about Inbox24 i think mitch's bowling has been pretty good. He got denied a few wickets today but i rly think he doing quite well not only with the ball but also with the bat.

 

[IloveGilly]

Does anyone reckon Mitchell Johnson is overrated especially by the big Rick? His bowling is generally rubbish and should be replaced by Hilfenhaus, Tait, Bichel or even Noffke. Heck even Bracken could hold up an end and keep the run rate down. Why did the selectors even persist with him? He was rubbish in ODIs besides that flukey 4 fer in India in bowler friendly conditions and his action looks pretty chat. By all means prove me wrong Johnson but I doubt you will.

Yeh I'd kind of agree. He's just not ready yet IMO. His bowling action and bowling overall is pretty ordinary, only thing he has is the confidence to be an Australian bowler. Just not persistent enough and left-handed bowlers are what they really need. Bracken or Tait would certainly be a more better choice. Tait is expensive but he has that speed factor that causes batsmen trouble and Bracken is pretty much consistent like Clark but he's a left-arm bowler.

Nothing about Johnson really goes 'wow' for me like Lee or Clark.

 

[symonds_sixes]

Third time's the charm for Mitch. Sachin to come in now--hope he continues to show his good form.

Dravid finally looked to have picked up some form. I hope it stands him in good stead for the rest of the series.


We've got Symonds out about 4 times in this match. And I'm not even exaggerating, unlike you!

symonds twice this test, dravid 4 times this test

 

[IloveGilly]

yeah good days cricket i really hope we can get a couple of quick wickets tommorow morning. and i dont know what your talking about Inbox24 i think mitch's bowling has been pretty good. He got denied a few wickets today but i rly think he doing quite well not only with the ball but also with the bat.

Hard to say he was "pretty good" when he was all over the place, not to mention his No-balling is appauling.

 

[punterpupnroy]

Yeh I'd kind of agree. He's just not ready yet IMO. His bowling action and bowling overall is pretty ordinary, only thing he has is the confidence to be an Australian bowler. Just not persistent enough and left-handed bowlers are what they really need. Bracken or Tait would certainly be a more better choice. Tait is expensive but he has that speed factor that causes batsmen trouble and Bracken is pretty much consistent like Clark but he's a left-arm bowler.

Nothing about Johnson really goes 'wow' for me like Lee or Clark.

I think mitch bowls well soon after he gets a wicket. He tends IMO to ball ordinary bad wides and no balls when he's struggling for confidence to get the all important wicket. I must admit i much prefer Lee and stuey clark and i also thought that tait was a certainty to play on boxing day. But i have a feeling when he sorts out his accuracy coz he is very very quick bowling balls consistently over 140 kmph much quicker than against sri lanka he will be a very very good pace bowler. I just think its the accuracy that he needs to sort out. Oh he and his no balling thats just poor. Maybe mark his run up better or somin.

 

[aditya123]

symonds twice this test, dravid 4 times this test

When did he get out 4 times ? Can you mention how ?
He was caught of a no-ball, a bump-ball and Ponting could not catch it cleanly.None of those are out according to the laws of the game.
Symonds was twice stumped and once caught behind.

Please do not bring the umpiring issue again today. I feel that the Indian spirits will be up again after that VVS masterstroke.

I expect Sachin and Ganguly to fight it out tomorrow.We should get up to about 400 in the end.
Hopefully, we`d have ended the Aussie winning streak by the end of this test by at least salvaging the draw.
Still a lot of work to be done though.

 

[angryangy]

Indian fans should rejoice that Dravid got out when he did, now you have some strokemakers who will try to win rather than draw the match. At the current rate, it will take India 70 overs just to reach Australia's score and they clearly need more runs than that to ensure that Australia do not set a sizeable target.

I'd imagine they need to at least be 400. 200-250 will be pretty easy to scramble through even if India do manage to bowl well and if that leaves a 300+ target, it will be a record chase on the cards.