India in Australia

[King Pietersen]

which batsmen do u mean. i mean india have plenty of class batsmen and there greatest ever batsmen is tendulkar right?

Dravid. Dravid's been forced to open so that Yuvraj can play, Sehwag would have been a much better choice to open with Jaffer. I'm not a Sehwag fan by any means, but he is a much better option at the top of the order than Dravid is. Yuvraj hasnt done anything brilliant in Test cricket in the past. His test match average is dissapointing, and his FC average isnt even massively impressive. If India were going to force Dravid up the order for anyone, then Badrinath should be the first choice. Averages 58 in FC cricket, with 15 hundreds. I'm amazed he hasnt been given a chance so far, could be the Indian equivalent of Mike Hussey, you never know.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Overall a decent day for India, and I say decent because of the two late wickets, otherwise it would have been a great performance. Either Sachin or Sourav need to go on and make the big one, also the tail needs to wag like Australia's did.

Well thank god for this....

http://in.sports.yahoo.com/080102/48/6p4xl.html

India could have only been 120-odd runs behind, I hope Steve Bucknor gets done really badly by the ICC because that was no mistake, it was a clear edge and a clear sound, I could hear it from my TV set for god sake...:

Yeah, that's because you get stump mic. The umpires don't.

Interesting out of all of the current Aussie batsman, Ponting & Gilly are the only ones not to get 100's so far this summer.

I also think Australia are really missing McGrath.

Gilly would've made a ton at Hobart had it not been for Ponting declaring.
http://content-www.cricinfo.com/slc/engine/match/291339.html

 

[Harrypotter_fan]

Interesting stuff on Cricinfo:

True to his word
Ricky Ponting has been intent on umpires around the world taking the fielders' word on low catches, but the rest of the international captains don't want to go along with him. Ponting did his bit, though, after taking a low chance off Dravid when he made it clear that he wasn't sure if it was out. It was a fine gesture in a match that has been marred by poor decision-making from the officials. But why didn't he walk when he edged to Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the first day? And shouldn't the same policy apply for both aspects? It's an interesting moral dilemma.

 

[Animator!]

Its up to the umpire to give him or not out, its the umpires job, not Ponting's. Ponting was actually showing so good will.

 

[angryangy]

Why? He has recently been out of his depth in ODIs and less recently in Tests. It seems that he is only suited to T20. My pick would have been Aakash Chopra for 891 FC runs this season at 63.64 rather than Gambhir who has a similar average, but does not have the quantity of performances nor the vital India A showing that Chopra does. Sehwag is a punt, but I see no point in picking him if there is no intention to play him.

I was mainly thinking of the squad as originally selected, but we're well familiar with Chopra as well. While he was another to be effective in partnership with Sehwag, Chopra and Jaffer or Chopra and Dravid would be cringeworthy pairings.

That's the simple reason for Gambhir, really. There are a number of batsmen in good form who ought to be in there, but he plays his shots, which is a necessary contrast (a left hander is also a very handy contrast). He does need to develop his game more, but he is both young enough to do so and young enough to offer long term stability for India's top order, the place where stability can always be strengthened.

Additionally, I feel Gambhir's style would have suited this tour and possibly found favour with the crowds.

Of course, there is a top order player who is even younger, with an even harder style, who plays a few strokes particularly reminiscent of Pietersen or Hayden. He would also bring elite fielding to the side. For now though, Uthappa is well outside Test plans.

I think the biggest problem for all India's top order talent is the one-day situation. Neither Tendulkar nor Ganguly is a genuine opening batsman and it hurts when the team needs to find such players. Nevertheless, the selectors handle it poorly when players are picked for a few games, then dropped, then picked for another few games. There needs to be some commitment.

 

[zub2005]

i like jaffer and i think we still got to give himatleast a few more chances.

 

[Ollie_H]

Any other reason apart from the fact you like him?

 

[zub2005]

not just that he does perform. he gets low scores and then a big one. so he should be due a big score.

 

[Ollie_H]

Thats the thing though he isnt consistent.You cant have a guy who gets a big score and then doesnt get another one quite a few matches later. He also doesnt look to be able to handle some of the aussie bowlers at time

 

[sohum]

symonds twice this test, dravid 4 times this test

Wrong. We got Symonds out 4 times and you can check the posts in this thread because there's no point bringing that all up again. Dravid, on the contrary, was dismissed only once--as aditya123 mentioned earlier, dropping catches, picking up wickets off no balls and catching bump balls do not constitute wickets.

Eh, I get what you're trying to do but no.

He had a sweeper for good reason. When a spin bowler drops the ball short, it doesn't matter if it is Rahul Dravid or you batting out there, the person is going to whack a cut shot out, and if you have them all up, they WILL get 4 runs every time.

The sweeper for the spinner is part and parcel of the game, they need the protection.

Yup and that's precisely the mistake Kumble made when Hogg and Symonds were batting. Hogg cut Harbhajan's short and wide deliveries away to the boundary with ease.

Dravid was crap. There were a million gaps, everyone was rightfully getting into him. He played shockingly. Australia did India a favour by getting him out. Ganguly and Tendulkar played well at the end, showing some intent hitting some big shots.

He was not pleasant to watch but saying he was crap after he did the job that was expected of him is a poor comment to pass. He saw off the new ball and will have made Tendulkar's and Ganguly's job significantly easier. If Australia did India a favour by not getting him out, I'm not sure why they celebrated so much when they finally got the wicket.

But hes not doing his team any good. Do they wanna win? India's run rate was about 3 and a half because of him. Barely any of the Aussies clapped Dravids 50 but everyone was cheering Laxman's 50 and a big of an ovation for his 100 as we gave Symonds 150 and Bingas 50. OK, maybe not as big

You mean Dravid should have played an over-aggressive shot and got himself dismissed after a poor start? He's not a regular opener which is why he isn't backing his ability as much, not to mention that he is not in the best of form. If the Indian selectors think along the same lines as you, and I'd be surprised if they would after keeping Sehwag out of the XI again, then they will be doing him a great injustice. Furthermore, it looks like playing the waiting game did him a lot of good. He looked far more positive at the end, though nowhere near the best of his touch. I don't know if you recall but when Tendulkar was going through a rough patch a season or two ago, he stuck in and played a really slow and boring knock but it achieved what he wanted--playing more confidently and finding form.

yeah laxman has really tried to attack us aussies and i say good on him unlike other indian batsmen

Did you forget Tendulkar's short but delightful innings in the first innings at Melbourne? It didn't seem anyone knew what to do with him and it was only an inside-edge that got him in the end.

 

[King Cricket]

I think the time has come to drop Jaffer and bring Shewag in. And why is India continiously opening with Dravid when they have two specialists Sachin and Saurav in???? Dravid hates opening. Can't the selectors understand?? They should send Sachin/Saurav to open with Shewag and bring down Dravid at no 3.

 

[harishankar]

I actually attended the Chennai Open 2008 today so that I couldn't feel left out of all the action that you Aussies get to enjoy.

Must be great to go and watch cricket on Aussie grounds. We get so few matches in individual venues and then again tickets are so difficult to obtain, and the police/administrators treat all the spectators like criminals too.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

I think the time has come to drop Jaffer and bring Shewag in. And why is India continiously opening with Dravid when they have two specialists Sachin and Saurav in???? Dravid hates opening. Can't the selectors understand?? They should send Sachin/Saurav to open with Shewag and bring down Dravid at no 3.

They aren't specialist openers! ODI cricket is very, very different to test cricket. I take it that's why you believe they are specialist openers?

 

[.Mob]

Bhajji out, please.

 

[Adarsh]

The hypocritical thing is that Ponting expects everyone to take the fielder's word if he's taken the catch or not, but expects the umpire to make the decision when he's edged it.