India in Australia

[zub2005]

where is the 12th that you read if he is not in the 12th then definate ishant will play. they cant go in with 2 seamers.

i read that ishant is in the 12 players. if thats the case they need to 2 spinners and 2 pace, will be dangerous. what is the weather like.

 

[Leggie]

where is the 12th that you read if he is not in the 12th then definate ishant will play. they cant go in with 2 seamers.

i read that ishant is in the 12 players. if thats the case they need to 2 spinners and 2 pace, will be dangerous. what is the weather like.

Well we all know that the pitch is very damp...

 

[smssia0112]

Do the teams assemble for the Anthems before every test match in Australia ?
I believe we should have the anthems played before every cricket game.
It just adds to the atmosphere, especially at venues like the MCG and Eden Gardens which can hold close to 1,00,000 people !

They did against South Africa in 2005, can't remember if they did it last year for the Ashes.

Match starts at 10:30pm AEST, in one hour (minus 11 minutes). Heading out pretty soon.

As for the weather, not much chance of rain today, just blue skies and sunshine at the moment. Forecast reports no rain for the next 5 days too, so looks like a good game!

 

[Leggie]

As for the weather, not much chance of rain today, just blue skies and sunshine at the moment. Forecast reports no rain for the next 5 days too, so looks like a good game!

Yay!

Now for the battle to commence...

 

[aussie_ben91]

Brad Hogg's playing.

Loss or a draw.

 

[Leggie]

Brad Hogg's playing.

Loss or a draw.

Really?, because of one player you think the overall result will be affected that much? :

Australia batting first, India already on the back foot.

 

[aditya123]

Here goes any chance of an Indian win here in the dumps.
We`re playing with 2 spinners and this could cost us big time,especially with us bowling first.
We`ll have to bowl Ganguly as the 3rd seamer and he`ll get hammered.
We should`ve gone in with Ishanth eventhough he is new to Intl cricket.

Australia will end up with the usual 340/3 that they get on the first day. Now they have 2 spinners to feast upon !

 

[0601731]

wow thats giving up easily,the pitch is dry.....so a positive move by india.

 

[aditya123]

wow thats giving up easily,the pitch is dry.....so a positive move by india.

I don`t think that playing 2 spinners is a sensible move though. You`ll find this out very quickly.
We`ve won test matches abroad recently only because we`ve stopped depending on our spinners excessively.

+ Very rarely have we seen off-spinners doing well in Australia. Its only the leg-spinners and leftarm spinners who do well.

 

[angryangy]

Harbhajan could be a useful foil for a Sreesanth or maybe a Pathan when the batsmen get after him, but as part of a 4 man attack I think it's not the best strategy. Still, the question should be asked, are India's seamers going to do anything with the ball after 20 overs? It could be punishment city trying to swing it. The move might yet pay off.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Great first session from our boys. Tough at the start, but we got past that tough period, and we're in for a big total.

India have been very sloppy in the field, but Zaheer Khan bowled brilliantly well.

Wish I was there.

 

[SaiSrini]

Seeing that both Zaheer and RP rely heavily on the conditions for the ball to swing, we needed a bowler like Ishant who has his height to extract that bounce and trouble the batsman.

Australia batting first means Indian win almost out of the equation, and aditya is right. The team cant play with that mentality but its almost like a fact. And now with Australia 113/0, its getting there. After the initial troubles that the bowlers caused, Hayden and Jacques started feasting on the bowling. The fielding was shoddy and as I have said often before, this is Australia and this is where your test match fielding comes under scrutiny.

Its now our Indian batters who will under pressure with a huge first innings total from Australia playing in the back of their minds. Ominous signs here!

The crowd support (for India) is very good and thats heartening. It could help them in lifting their intensity back again.

 

[jordox]

Terrible, terrible cricket from India really.

They just wrote themselves off completely. They had a chance after the terrific bowling at the start and blew it with a mix between bad fielding and shocking field setting ruined it. And the two seam bowlers rely on swing and seam to get there wickets and it wont happen with the kookaburra ball anymore and that means that the spinners will have to take wickets and they aren't good enough I feel to do that with the fields in place.

They only way India can get this game from here is either:

Bad batting from Australia

or

Some enormous luck.

And in reply to saisrini80 saying that Australia winning the toss almost won them the game I mean.. If a team goes into a match and they can only win if they bat first... thats a poor excuse for a team. Lets hope you aren't correct!

 

[sohum]

Poor team selection from India. Does Kumble still think that he is playing in the dry spinner paradises in India? Sure he thinks Harbhajan is one of the top bowlers but he has to look at the conditions as well! Gah.

Good start to Australia. I got up at 5.15 am but decided to sleep through the first session (match begins at 5 am in India) because i went to sleep at 2.30 am.

 

[tassietiger]

Terrible, terrible cricket from India really.

They just wrote themselves off completely. They had a chance after the terrific bowling at the start and blew it with a mix between bad fielding and shocking field setting ruined it. And the two seam bowlers rely on swing and seam to get there wickets and it wont happen with the kookaburra ball anymore and that means that the spinners will have to take wickets and they aren't good enough I feel to do that with the fields in place.

They only way India can get this game from here is either:

Bad batting from Australia

or

Some enormous luck.

And in reply to saisrini80 saying that Australia winning the toss almost won them the game I mean.. If a team goes into a match and they can only win if they bat first... thats a poor excuse for a team. Lets hope you aren't correct!

Good bowling can do it. If they get three wickets in this session, we've gone from looking at 500+ to looking at possibly a 300-400 score. Problem is our next two batsmen are Ponting and Hussey, making three wickets next to impossible.