India in Australia

[0601731]

India have an uphill task,they somehow need to come thru the 1st test with a draw and then they might have a good chance in the series.howz the weather forecast for the 1st test??

 

[angryangy]

Nah, I can see Johnson going for a pounding in this Test Series.

Why do people keep saying Johnson was impressive in the Sri Lankan series?
He was given the best possible situation to bowl to and he still only averaged 30 odd with the ball?
That's not impressive at all.

We should be going with 4 pacemen.

Shaun Tait - Now there is someone who can knock the Indians over.

While I didn't find Johnson impressive, I still think it's worth a shot to see whether he still has that voodoo with India. I'm trying to comprehend how India might be susceptible to something they have an excess of, the only good reason I can come up with is that maybe their bowlers are not so tall and they are troubled by the extra bounce.

 

[sohum]

And it seems like India have a problem with left arm seam bowling; this time the tall Victorian med-fast bowler Allan Wise. As if that's not annoying enough, they can expect to see the last day of their practice match almost entirely rained out. Their bowlers might not even bowl an over at this rate.

It is kind of weird seeing that they had plenty of left-arm seam bowlers in the nets in Zaheer, Irfan and RP.

And iceman, come off it, a wicket is a wicket, edging onto the stumps isn't unlucky; it's a bad shot or a good ball, but not just luck.

I beg to differ--inside edges are more or less almost completely dependent on luck. They miss the stumps 50% of the time and they hit it 50% of the time. Apart from that, Tendulkar doesn't play those sorts of shots early in his innings in test matches. As we saw on the England tour, he destroyed his opponents in the tour match but was much more sedate in the actual test matches.

I think India are going into the first test match undercooked. It would have been nice to have at least a day worth of batting practice or at least a session worth of bowling practice. The bloody rain in Melbourne didn't help at all.

It might be worth playing Sehwag in the first match just to surprise the Aussies because all the media has been geared towards how Dravid is prepared to and confident of opening. Signs don't look too promising of that happening, though, as a caption in the ToI today claimed, accompanying a picture of Sehwag in the nets without his off-stump, that Sehwag's bad patch continued and he lost his stumps several times during the net practice.

This probably also means that Pankaj Singh will only make it to the line-up based on injury.

 

[aussie1st]

While I didn't find Johnson impressive, I still think it's worth a shot to see whether he still has that voodoo with India. I'm trying to comprehend how India might be susceptible to something they have an excess of, the only good reason I can come up with is that maybe their bowlers are not so tall and they are troubled by the extra bounce.

Like you not Johnson biggest fan but his record against India even though it's ODI is impressive. Also Wise showed the way in the tour match so I'll keep him to see how he goes. This will be his biggest test, if he fails then bring in Tait. This is where playing 4 pacemen would make it easy for us to see which of Tait/Johnson should get the 3rd pacemen spot in Sydney and Adelaide.

 

[Adarsh]

I'm 90% sure that Dravid will open and Yuvraj will play. I don't have any worries regarding the batting. It's the bowling that's key. Zaheer Khan is very important here. He needs to lead the attack and is the main fast bowler for India, aided by RP. I don't have much faith in Pathan making an impact in this series. As long has he takes a couple of wickets and contributes with the bat it should be fine.

As usual, Kumble will need to take about 3 wickets every innings if India are to win this series, imo.

 

[icyman]

India have an uphill task,they somehow need to come thru the 1st test with a draw and then they might have a good chance in the series.howz the weather forecast for the 1st test??

You have started underestimating India again.

Like you not Johnson biggest fan but his record against India even though it's ODI is impressive. Also Wise showed the way in the tour match so I'll keep him to see how he goes. This will be his biggest test, if he fails then bring in Tait. This is where playing 4 pacemen would make it easy for us to see which of Tait/Johnson should get the 3rd pacemen spot in Sydney and Adelaide.

I think Australia should play Johnson in the Boxing Day Test.

 

[angryangy]

Like you not Johnson biggest fan but his record against India even though it's ODI is impressive. Also Wise showed the way in the tour match so I'll keep him to see how he goes. This will be his biggest test, if he fails then bring in Tait. This is where playing 4 pacemen would make it easy for us to see which of Tait/Johnson should get the 3rd pacemen spot in Sydney and Adelaide.

If our batting order is as good as it as looked recently, I'd definitely advocate 5 bowlers for Adelaide. Anything to reduce the chance of the opposition scoring more than 400, which any good batting side is likely to do.

It's not a good sign seeing all the articles emphasising that India are prepared adequately... seems a sure admission that they aren't.

 

[aussie1st]

Playing 5 bowlers has been made easier with Hogg being capable of batting. If they went outside the box I would be ore comfortable having Noffke at 7. Still will be interesting seeing if they go the 5 bowlers seeing as this will be the first time we don't have McGrath and Warne to count on.

 

[SciD]

For those who think Hogg will be a fator this is record of Warne against India in Australia. 9 wickets at 62.5 in 5 test matches is nothing to right home about.


Mat Runs HS BatAv 100 50 W BB BowlAv 5w Ct St


5 116 86 19.33 0 1 9 4/92 62.55 0 4 0

 

[SaiSrini]

Will we play three left armers or will we play Ishant/Pankaj? I feel we need one of them to complement two left armers. Which means I would go with Zaheer and RP Singh with Ishant Sharma as the long right armer. This would mean Pathan wont play, but I feel at Melbourne which is not going to be a batsman's graveyard, we have enough batsmen (7 batters) to counter the Australians and we wont be needing Pathan's services with the bat. RP Singh is more faster in pace and is a much improved bowler.

 

[Left_Hander]

Left_Hander's First Test Australian Line-Up​

Jaques - Had a great series against Sri Lanka, took his chance really well

Hayden - Big striker of the ball. Didn't have a great Sri Lankan series so I am expecting something from him here

Ponting (C) - 2 centuries in affectively 2 Chappell-Haddlee games. Class batsmen, great to watch. I think his form will continue

Clarke - Clarke had a good Test series against Sri Lanka but had a high score of 48 in the Chappell-Hadllee trophy. A big series for him is important

Hussey - Had two big hundreds against Sri Lanka. Will have India worried if he gets a start.

Symonds - Symonds can bowl off spin and medium pace but I reckon he will bowl mostly medium and let Clarke do the part-time spin work. Has only scored one test hundred in the Boxing Day test against England, I am sure he would love to repeat that.

Gilchrist (WK) - Didn't have much to do with the bat against Sri Lanka. A nice half century against the Kiwis in Adelaide. He should have a big series

Hogg - My most debatable selection. I believe having a spinner in your side is essential. Hogg has been bowling great in OD cricket and for WA he has be bowling well in FC Cricket. Hardly anyone can pick his wrong-un and he can bat. Deserves his spot.

Lee (b1) - Has had a great summer. Really come into his own skin since the retirement of McGrath. I am sure he would want to get rid of the demons that plague him of the last time India toured here.

Johnson- I stuck with Johnson here. He didn't put a foot wrong against Sri Lanka but he didn't set the world on fire. He deserves to get another go.

Clark (b2) - McGrath 2. Has done the job ever since he was given the Baggy Green. He hardly ever gives you a bad ball. Should open the bowling as it gives you that contrast between Lee and Clark - one express bowler and the other very consistent.

You can now argue amongst yourselves about my selections

 

[manee]

I think you need more saying why Tait should be left out for Hogg who has an awful FC bowling record in Australia which is where the Tests are being played.

For India, I'd go with:

Wasim Jaffer
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
VVS Laxman
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk.)
Anil Kumble (capt.)
Zaheer Khan (1)
Pankaj Singh (2)
RP Singh

I'm going to go with Pankaj Singh over Ishant Sharma because Pankaj Singh has greater experience leading the attack for Rajasthan and is a consistent performer. Bowling at around 125-135kph, he still bowls a good line and length and gets good bounce whereas Ishant is erratic and bowls no balls. Ishant may be better for skittling a weak side on a sticky wicket but I believe Australia will amass around 350-500 and so, Ishant's skills of innings anhiliation won't come into play. I think it is a no brainer that RP Singh should bowl as a first change after how fantastic he did as the first change in England, attacking middle orders well with conventional (rather than new ball) swing.

I think that Virender Sehwag should come into the side and open the batting. I would prefer Aakash Chopra but he is not in the squad. Sehwag opening can take the attack to the opposition rather than letting Australia bowl to defences which they can make their way around or catch the edge of. He can also mean India can stick to the batting order which has brought so much success in the past. Established batting orders are a great strength and with two having extraordinary records and the other two being in sublime form, it is an order not to be tampered with - even if Yuvraj has to sit out.

 

[Animator!]

If I were Australia I'd go Tait ahead of Hogg and just bounce the Indians out on hard, quick tracks. As far as India has come in the past progressing better against ultra quick bowling, they still don't enjoy it. Sachin, Yuvraj, Dravid are the only ones that I'd say would have the toughness to ignore it, or not go after it.

Ganguly still isn't good against the quick ball and will either spoon one up or go after one. Jaffer doesn't like it up there either. Laxman isn't great up around his neck either. Dhoni can be tested, patience wise.

It's a sound tactic at least for the first test, the four quicks are more than good enough to bowl any side out anyway.

 

[jordox]

I think you need more saying why Tait should be left out for Hogg who has an awful FC bowling record in Australia which is where the Tests are being played.

For India, I'd go with:

Wasim Jaffer
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
VVS Laxman
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk.)
Anil Kumble (capt.)
Zaheer Khan (1)
Pankaj Singh (2)
RP Singh

I'm going to go with Pankaj Singh over Ishant Sharma because Pankaj Singh has greater experience leading the attack for Rajasthan and is a consistent performer. Bowling at around 125-135kph, he still bowls a good line and length and gets good bounce whereas Ishant is erratic and bowls no balls. Ishant may be better for skittling a weak side on a sticky wicket but I believe Australia will amass around 350-500 and so, Ishant's skills of innings anhiliation won't come into play. I think it is a no brainer that RP Singh should bowl as a first change after how fantastic he did as the first change in England, attacking middle orders well with conventional (rather than new ball) swing.

I think that Virender Sehwag should come into the side and open the batting. I would prefer Aakash Chopra but he is not in the squad. Sehwag opening can take the attack to the opposition rather than letting Australia bowl to defences which they can make their way around or catch the edge of. He can also mean India can stick to the batting order which has brought so much success in the past. Established batting orders are a great strength and with two having extraordinary records and the other two being in sublime form, it is an order not to be tampered with - even if Yuvraj has to sit out.

Virender will be slaughtered if he opens the batting. Mark my words.

 

[manee]

Virender will be slaughtered if he opens the batting. Mark my words.

You're obviously going with the percentages but I am taking a punt to say that if he plays, he will score runs.

Ganguly still isn't good against the quick ball and will either spoon one up or go after one. Jaffer doesn't like it up there either. Laxman isn't great up around his neck either. Dhoni can be tested, patience wise.

Ganguly has his way to play the short ball in Tests, he just can't score off it very well.