India tour of Australia - 2018/19

[aditya123]

Bhuvi in for Ash, Vihari in for Sharma as he can bowl a bit, i.e, if the pitch doesn't change.

Only green wickets are sporting. Turning tracks are made to suit the home team! Biggest cricket hypocrisy! The pitch in Adelaide was perfect. It had everything for everyone- batters, fast bowlers, spin bowlers.

Also, I feel Aussies pacers are more lethal than the Indian counterparts. It all comes down to who can bat longer and that decides the match.

But happy to see anything like this and not flat tracks which Aussies normally rollout.

I get a feeling that they`d have rolled out flat wickets had Smith been there.

 

[SaiSrini]

Do you think Bumrah deserves a place in the team? Looking at your XI, the team is strong but Bumrah is the weak point. He is a very weak Test bowler, he is a specialist T20/IPL bowler. The likes of Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are far more effective than Bumrah in test cricket.

Well... you can get much better on that sarcasm.... To reply seriously to your post - Bumrah has not given any chance whatsoever for the management to drop him. Yes, my personal opinion is that Umesh Yadav is a test specialist and I like him over Bumrah for tests, but to give Bumrah the due credit, he has taken the opportunities given to him with both hands and some more invisible hands. So that makes him stay in my preferred XI.

I don`t know how we`d fit him in but it would be really tempting to play Umesh ahead of Ishant for this test.

I know... I wish Umesh can play. But according to me, there seems to be no spot for him. Though Ishant has that problem with the no-balls, he has been a hugely transformed bowler in tests ever since that county stint that he had. And Ishant has been carrying his good form from the England tour onto this tour and I would not want to break his rhythm by dropping him. If we can somehow play 5 seamers, I would put Umesh in. But as you know, thats not possible.

If he opens in Tests and then We can see whether he is fit for opening or not

No. Such outlandish experiments cannot and should not be done. And its not like India has a dearth of test openers at our domestic and grassroots level that Rohit Sharma has to be converted to a makeshift opener. Test cricket is a serious format and the ultimate format of the sport. You can't disrespect test cricket by converting a flashy/flamboyant middle order batsman into a test opener. Its like saying "Ganguly and Tendulkar were legend ODI openers and so they should be opening in test cricket also". Opening in limited overs and opening in tests is like day and night. Rohit is not important than the game or the format. If he can't find a place in the middle order in tests, he should wait for his opportunity.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Do you think Bumrah deserves a place in the team? Looking at your XI, the team is strong but Bumrah is the weak point. He is a very weak Test bowler, he is a specialist T20/IPL bowler. The likes of Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are far more effective than Bumrah in test cricket.

That made me chuckle !! I guess @bumrahfan has earned the right to throw this to our faces considering how well Bumrah has performed in Tests consistently. He has been quite a revelation in Tests - a prime example of grabbing the opportunities by the scruff of their neck. Guys like Rohit can learn from him. The team/captain takes a punt on you - you better deliver and make yourself undroppable

 

[abhi_jacko]

I keep feeling that all this green top and bouncy wicket hype for the second test might end up fizzling out - just a feeling at the back of my head. I hope that doesnt happen and Perth's Optus lives up to its predecessor's reputation as one of the paciest tracks ever.

Would love to see Kohli/Pujara/Rahane/Rahul having to face the Aussies pace attack on such a track

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Do you think Bumrah deserves a place in the team? Looking at your XI, the team is strong but Bumrah is the weak point. He is a very weak Test bowler, he is a specialist T20/IPL bowler. The likes of Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are far more effective than Bumrah in test cricket.

I think we can safely say that all of us that said Bumrah is no test bowler have been well and truly proven wrong. In fact, I will go as far as to say that he's the best all round bowler in the world.[DOUBLEPOST=1544721900][/DOUBLEPOST]The more I see off that track, the more I'll get annoyed about BK not playing.

 

[Aalay]

Hah it's Vihari and Umesh in the final 11. I can safely say that I did not expect Umesh to play ahead of Bhuvi. However, it's good that he is getting the opportunity after bowling his heart out on those Indian wickets. If we win the toss, I would also like to see India bat first on this pitch.

 

[SaiSrini]

I think it might not be a bad thing for India losing the toss on a pitch no one knows how it will behave. If India batted first and the pitch was very lively, we could've folded up badly and as a result Australia knows how to bat on it and will be more cautious and bat better. I somehow get the feeling that batting second on this pitch might be a better proposition. Hope I am right!

Surprised that Umesh plays ahead of Bhuvi. Which means India are one batsman short in this match. I hope Ashwin's loss is not a big one. His batting will definitely be missed big time.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

As Said Said not a bad toss to lose when you don't know how exactly the pitch is going to behave but it is important to utilize the new ball on a lively wicket Finch is looking to play attacking cricket and Ishant's pace is slightly down. Hoping for another exciting test match on a lively wicket between these two sides.

 

[Aalay]

Even though Bumrah has bowled well, I would have opened with Ishant and Umesh Yadav. Umesh might have used the new ball better.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

What a piss poor start by India's bowling ... Not only Ishant's pace is down but is bowling all over the place including a no ball as well and add to that looks a bit stiff too. For Bumrah the pace is there but struggling to find the right length compared to what we did in Adelaide this is absolutely poor no discipline bowling so far in the first 40 minutes or so and even Umesh is bowling mid 130 ish for a bowler who's been included perhaps included only because of his pace and not known for accuracy things are not looking good for us in the new Perth Stadium.

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

Just get me a ticket to Australia, won't bowl poorer than these guys.. What an inconsistent line and length of bowling display.. Should have gone with Jaddu..Bala Bal in batting and can be crucial with wivkwi taking as well, don't forget his fielding abilities..All seam attack might be Kohli favourite kind to have but the display so far shows, that we can carry on with our work without feeling that we are missing the match..

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Just get me a ticket to Australia, won't bowl poorer than these guys.. What an inconsistent line and length of bowling display.. Should have gone with Jaddu..Bala Bal in batting and can be crucial with wivkwi taking as well, don't forget his fielding abilities..All seam attack might be Kohli favourite kind to have but the display so far shows, that we can carry on with our work without feeling that we are missing the match..

Autocorrect?.....

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Good comeback in the last 10 overs or so much tighter line and four maidens as well.

 

[Aalay]

I think Ishant Sharma has that front foot no ball on his mind since he was called for that first no-ball. His pace dropped down significantly after that no ball call, he started struggling with his follow through and therefore affected his line. Bumrah wasn't good in the first spell but has came back very well in his second spell. Shami looked sharp in the first spell. However, as always the case is with Umesh, he looked totally out of rhythm. It's like when I see him bowling in India, he looks a completely different bowler to this one.

I also think Harris has played really well in this session so far. Finch has looked shaky but the pitch hasn't done as much as the Indian team management were hoping it would. Therefore not picking Jadeja is an odd decision.

Also I am not sure how many people will agree with me on this but this pitch looks pretty flat to me. Nathan Lyon will be a huge challenge for India in the last inning.

 

[asprin]

However, as always the case is with Umesh, he looked totally out of rhythm. It's like when I see him bowling in India, he looks a completely different bowler to this one.

I think it has got to do with the fact that he is usually left warming the bench for 80% of tours and then suddenly drafted in with literally no match practice. Hope that he finds it soon enough though.

My concern right now is that we have gone in with only 4 specialist bowlers on a pitch that he meant to be bowler friendly. We had Ashwin to take up the bulk of the workload in Adelaide, but we don't have that option here. Vihari, at best, is part time and may not be able to block one end out, thereby giving away easy scoring opportunities. Not sure if the pitch isn't as bad as it was expected to be or whether the batting has been top notch, but seems like India are about to go on a leather hunt.