India tour of Australia - 2018/19

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Allan Border mentioned there is 15mm of grass on the pitch but Kohli thinks the pitch will open up and will be difficult to bat from 4th day.

Big Moment for Vihari and Agarwal, I wish both of them good luck.

 

[SaiSrini]

No swing whatsoever, not enough bounce too despite all that grass that shows up on the pitch. On the evidence of the 3 odd overs so far, this looks a batting beauty

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Vihari looked really before he was hit. He survived and did not throw away his wicket with a stupid shot and that is what Test Cricket is about. Rahul would have played 100 rash shots if he would have been so silent in terms of runs. 66 ball 8 is what I would prefer more then 10 ball 15 runs.

 

[SaiSrini]

It was a 'pure gold' innings from Vihari even though he only got 8 runs. He batted 66 balls for it and that is amazing on the first day of a test match in Australia on a pitch that has a good spattering of grass and you are being asked to open the innings when you are not even a specialist opener. This is what Murali Vijay should have done in the earlier test matches (Vijay is known for it).

Vihari keeps growing his 'test reputation' quite rapidly. Its heartening to see players like him still being unearthed in this era of T20. I guess the generation that has grown up watching Dravid/Laxman/Sachin have still not yet phased out.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

It was a 'pure gold' innings from Vihari even though he only got 8 runs. He batted 66 balls for it and that is amazing on the first day of a test match in Australia on a pitch that has a good spattering of grass and you are being asked to open the innings when you are not even a specialist opener. This is what Murali Vijay should have done in the earlier test matches (Vijay is known for it).

Vihari keeps growing his 'test reputation' quite rapidly. Its heartening to see players like him still being unearthed in this era of T20. I guess the generation that has grown up watching Dravid/Laxman/Sachin have still not yet phased out.

They lasted 18.5 overs which surprisingly no other Indian openers have lasted since 2011 in all the away series.

 

[SaiSrini]

They lasted 18.5 overs which surprisingly no other Indian openers have lasted since 2011 in all the away series.

Oh wow. That's a crazy interesting stat. Vihari with that innings actually reminded me of Aakash Chopra from that 2003 tour of Australia, where though he did not score too many runs, he was similarly successful in blunting out the new ball and letting the middle order flourish. I have a feeling Vihari has done a similar thing here with that innings. And I watched the innings live. A lot of Vihari's shots unluckily went to the fielders for no runs. It's not as if Vihari completely played defensive.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Mightly impressed by Mayank Agarwal so far in his debut game. Remember when I first saw him for RCB opening the batting with Gayle was a bit of a dasher really back then but good to see he coming a long way by piling on the runs in the domestic tournaments and the A tour and making a debut for the team in the iconic MCG.


Vihari with his 8 runs off 66 deliveries why we need players like him in test matches - an innings full of grit and determination grinding out the most difficult period of the batting.

 

[SaiSrini]

Aussie commentators already smacking their lips at the prospect of Shaw-Agarwal opening for India on a long term basis. Hold on fellows. Let the kid stabilize himself here first.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Pat Cummins has done it again just at the stroke of the tea got the crucial wicket of Matlab Agarwal who looked very impressive on his debut.

 

[SaiSrini]

Though the pitch has been good for batting, that was an exceptional innings on debut from Mayank Agarwal. The boy certainly showed that he has all it takes to succeed at this level. I was so heartbroken that he could not get that debut hundred.

Onto Pujara-Kohli now. On this wicket, it feels like we have one batsman too many. I think we will need to use Vihari's bowling a lot more on this pitch.

 

[asprin]

Good start by India. Even-steven I would say.

Vihari did a stunning job by hanging in there and negotiating the new ball. As a opener, that is gold. Mayank has had a great debut as well. Of course he would be very disappointed to have missed out on scoring a memorable century given that he was well set. Surviving that long since 2011 says a lot about how we have had been struggling with the opening pair.

Coming to the debate whether Rahul should have been dropped or not, I still feel it was the right decision. It was time to do something about the opening slot. Before the series began, it did feel like Rahul should have been given the luxury of all the Tests, but given how he had fared in the three innings (he had only one innings of substance), he just didn't feel like he was enjoying it. And by that I don't mean his scores, rather his mode of dismissals and the effect that would have had on his confidence level. Clearly, it looked like the opposition have figured him out. Continuing with him would have been risky and could have caused more damage.

Comparing Rahul's case with "Kohli's form in England tour" is, I feel, not fair. Kohli was having success all over the world except England and hence it made sense to stick with him. In Rahul's case, he was struggling in every series. How long are people gonna stick with "100 in England and 100 in Australia"? There has to be a shelf life for that.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Coming to the debate whether Rahul should have been dropped or not, I still feel it was the right decision. It was time to do something about the opening slot. Before the series began, it did feel like Rahul should have been given the luxury of all the Tests, but given how he had fared in the three innings (he had only one innings of substance), he just didn't feel like he was enjoying it. And by that I don't mean his scores, rather his mode of dismissals and the effect that would have had on his confidence level. Clearly, it looked like the opposition have figured him out. Continuing with him would have been risky and could have caused more damage.

Comparing Rahul's case with "Kohli's form in England tour" is, I feel, not fair. Kohli was having success all over the world except England and hence it made sense to stick with him. In Rahul's case, he was struggling in every series. How long are people gonna stick with "100 in England and 100 in Australia"? There has to be a shelf life for that.

I remember even Gambhir was dropped from the team for very same reason, and how the people reacted to it saying that Gambhir won 2 WCs for us and also blamed Dhoni for it. This the problem that we Indian fans have. We don't want to forget the past and keep remembering the good performances but we don't see what is exactly happening with that player whenever he has played for the team in recent past. I too feel that it was a good decision to drop Rahul. He will bounce back for sure and would be our first choice opener. Just need to give him time off the field to help him correct his mistakes.

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

Great review from Australia..

 

[Yash.]

Pujara is going well here.

 

[Perfect Square]

Last time MCG received Poor rating on Boxing Day. Let's see if the pitch cracks up in the coming days. Otherwise, if one more poor rating and MCG will receive a 1-year ban!