India in Australia

[sohum]

India wrapped up for 196. A pretty good bowling display from the Aussies but a lot of the Indians contributed to their downfall. The start wasn't positive and I hope Kumble has a good, hard look at the XI for the next game, as well as the braindead selectors who gave him a twelve with one opener. I expect Australia will build a comfortable lead of over 500 before declaring and will leave themselves close to two days to get rid of the Indians.

 

[jordox]

Well...I'm not even going to say anything

 

[sohum]

3 things were proven

1. Australia have a better batting line up then India
2. Brett Lee is consistent and that he's a great bowler.
3. Hogg isn't totally useless in tests ashe was made out to be. 2 excellent wickets which he earned.

I am iffy about (1) but I'll give it to you but (3) I disagree with. Hogg had no clue what to do when the attack was taken to him and he only really was effective when the bowlers at the other end were pressured. I would hardly call Harbhajan an "excellent wicket" either.

I'd also like to slip in a little gripe about the BCCI, who refused to organize two tour matches for India. At least two of the batsmen were done in for bounce (Laxman, Tendulkar) which they may have been more used to if they had a chance to play on similar surfaces. But of course, the BCCI is only about making money.

 

[Sman-21]

yep no point playing hogg the job he did can be done just as well by m.clarke and symonds.

We dont have any good spin bowlers in australia so no point playing them just coz there the best of what we have.

Go with our strength an use 4 quicks.
They all have different styles so its not like we have to worry about no variaion.
Then when we need spin turn to clarke an symo

 

[sohum]

Four quicks should be good enough. They picked up 8 of the 10 wickets today and Hogg would not have had been in the attack for long if Clark hadn't dismissed Tendulkar.

 

[irottev]

I am iffy about (1) but I'll give it to you but (3) I disagree with. Hogg had no clue what to do when the attack was taken to him and he only really was effective when the bowlers at the other end were pressured. I would hardly call Harbhajan an "excellent wicket" either.

He isn't a great player, but Ponting brings up the man, and Hogg bowls exactly the ball he was after, wrong-un tossed up. He made him play the shot and got him caught. He deserves credit. And is Ganguly not one of the best players of spin in the world? He had him totally fooled. Tendulkar took to Hogg, otherwise he did excellent. Tendulkar can dominate any bowler really.

Was it not Harbhijan who made those comments about wanting Australia to use Hogg? I don't believe Warne ever fared much better then Hoggy just did.

And also, forgot to mention, I dunno why Yuvraj was complaining about the decision, pretty obvious he nicked it. He'll defiantly be fined for that.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Hogg had no impact over the match and was easily our worst bowler.

Clark & Lee did the damage required and if it wasn't for them, Hogg could've gone for plenty off of Tendulkar.

 

[mattfb]

Great Innings by Hayden. Since he scored a century at the MCG in 00/01 he has scored a century every year at the MCG except in 04/05... I think that was the stat.

 

[jordox]

Notice how several indian fans have disappeared?

 

[aditya123]

To all those who have started writing obituaries for the Indian team in the series, wait till this series proceeds.
India are into this game straght without a warm-up match and they should fare better as the series goes ahead, hopefully in the second innings here or in the Sydney test at least.
They are too good a batting lineup to fail for too long.

It has been the approach rather than unplayable bowling that has resulted in their downfall. Even Kumble had the right approach.
Tendulkar did look sublime as he has been in the recent past but failed to make it big again.

Dravid has to take the blame . He is too good a player to just offer a dead bat to everything. You cannot win test matches in Australia by batting like that.

Yuvraj should be made to wait and Sehwag be brought in for him. That should clear up most of the mess.

 

[mattfb]

Yeah Dravid, what was he doing. Hes definitely past his best. Career average of 55 and overseas average of 60 but you would think he averages 20. Bring in Ghambir to open and Sehwag in for Yuvraj

 

[aditya123]

Notice how several indian fans have disappeared?

Do you realize that people have other work to do than to just post in the forums.
Wait till we have good days in this series.You`ll cop it back with compound interest.

 

[karnog]

Lol. I can't believe Lee is being praised over Clarke (watching Australian sport news). Again i think Lee isn't that consistent throughout his spells. The spell he bowled to Sachin and Ganguly is an example. If you ask me (and i said it before) Clarke was the key. Brett Lee's ball to Laxman was a mistake on Laxman's part but nevertheless a wicket taking ball. Of Lee's 4 wickets 2 were tail enders. You look at Clarke's wickets and mate they're easily more important. Lee's figures wouldn't have ended the way it did if Clarke hadn't made such a match winning performance. Clarke changed the game and i really think India are going to struggle against him throughout the series. Lee has his moments of brilliance (like against Laxman) but can stutter badly (sachin's innings). I'm not saying Lee is a bad bowler but i think he is getting too much credit.

As for Hogg, i think he bowled well. Unlucky not to get Yuvraj and Ganguly's wicket was sheer brilliance. I don't think Hogg has been that bad. Good on him. I was hoping he would do well.

 

[mattfb]

I Disagree. Lee has consistently been getting wickets against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, taking vital wickets in the early overs. You have to be watching him in his last few matches to know how fast and accurate hes been bowling as well as getting swing and seam. Scary stuff.

BTW its Clark, not Clarke.

 

[angryangy]

I think you'd be crazy to think that they'd change the lineup for Sydney, unless maybe they want to swap Tait for Johnson, which is still unlikely.

Really good bowling by Clark, I think it must be said. He looked pretty flat against Sri Lanka, but this pitch is also doing just enough to keep him in it.

I think irottev is well justified to say that Hogg wasn't completely useless. You wouldn't drop Warne on the grounds that Tendulkar or Lara could get after him and that's pretty much all that needs to be said about today. He bowled a loose one first up to Laxman, but then hit him on the pad and found his edge. Ganguly was attacking him, but paid the price for hubris as they were then 7 down and he was out for a disappointing score. We are also yet to see what he can do with a worn surface, that's where a spinner is in his element and considering the match state, they might think twice about having a slog when they bat again.

I also think Warne or MacGill would have been used first change against the stonewall at the start, Warne certainly was used between 10-20 overs quite often. It might suggest Ponting hesitated too long to bring him out.

I hate to overdo the Ganguly rants, but with his running, he's not really suited to batting with the tail, is he? Not that Laxman or Dravid should really be asked to do it either, but it makes you think a little. Bad luck to Dhoni, who has probably already lamented the lack of tour matches in his tour diary.