India tour of Australia Nov'20-Jan'21

[Velocity]

Amazing win by India. Having watched the last hour of play, I agree with those on here that said that Rishabh Pant is the X-factor that India needs and there's no reason why we need to drop him for Saha, who's career looks arguably finished unless Pant is rested maybe for some home series. Just brilliant stuff from a team that has to rebound from a humiliating 36 all out score and slowly being reduced to playing their 'B' team for the most part to beating a full strength Aussie team which was far better from the 2018-19 series. Although Shastri is pretty disliked on this site, I think he deserves as much credit as the rest of the team for this series performance as being a motivator within the team as Thakur mentioned the other day. Rahane as captain was outstanding, and his calm leadership is what India needed whilst injuries and drama with the whole racism bit. If India can beat Australia in their backyard twice, I fully expect them to do so in England, SA and NZ.

As for the Aussies, I don't think they did too much wrong in the sense that India played their bowlers very well. Lyon's 'bowling into the rough outside off' strategy was always going to fail at some point, this series could show a sign of decline as he's approaching his mid-thirties. Seems like he could do with adding a variation or two instead of being heavily reliant on Mitch Starc's follow through creating some rough spots in the pitch. As LiveLoveABD said, Aus were way too reliant on Hazlewood and Cummins. Cummins bowled this heart out, fully deserved man of the series for his toil and Hazlewood bowled beautifully. Starc didn't do enough to support them although he was unlucky at times he often leaked runs and couldn't pick up wickets as evidenced by his bowling stats of 11 wickets @ 40. Cameron Green was under utilized as a bowler which could've given some breathing space to the Aussie attack with a third attacking bowler while bowling the odd 5 overs per innings. Australia might look to play a James Pattinson (if he stays fit) in place of Starc to mend some support to Josh and Cummins.

As for their batting lineup, I think the Indians planned for them very well with Smith being kept quiet for the first two tests, and Marnus being unable to convert his starts at the beginning while finding form towards the back end of the series. Barring Burns the openers weren't too bad but Australia could do with a batsmen who can hit big hundreds at 5. Wade did decent overall in the series but often times he gets out after getting good starts. With Paine under pressure as well, there's a lot for the Australia team to think about.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Bharat Arun - the bowling coach deserves a whole lot of credit.

The current bowlers in the team do rate him very highly in whatever Interview I have seen the bowlers do mention him.

Even Siraj & Saini were supposedly spotted by him when they were given the domestic trials.

We talk about A team and Dravid but this man deserves a whole lot of appreciation.

 

[RichieBGM]

Paine is substandard in every department

Paine had one poor match and everyone is crucifying him. He is still our best keeper imo. Without confirming. He is the quickest Aussie keeper to 150 dismissals. He may only average mid 30s with the bat.. but he has often got Australia out of some late order trouble. Such as his 75 in the Sydney game or was it Melbourne and his 50 in this game. I do believe his enormous workload of keeping and captaining has taken its toll this series. Still he deserves to leave the Baggy Greens on his terms. He has intimated that will be at the conclusion of the World Test Championship finals.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Paine had one poor match and everyone is crucifying him. He is still our best keeper imo. Without confirming. He is the quickest Aussie keeper to 150 dismissals. He may only average mid 30s with the bat.. but he has often got Australia out of some late order trouble. Such as his 75 in the Sydney game or was it Melbourne and his 50 in this game. I do believe his enormous workload of keeping and captaining has taken its toll this series. Still he deserves to leave the Baggy Greens on his terms. He has intimated that will be at the conclusion of the World Test Championship finals.

People love to kick a bloke when he's down. I have had years of defending Pant for the same crap. For Paine to pick up a team that was in the gutter holes after South Africa and win the Ashes I think was a remarkable achievement. He's still batting very well and his keeping is just fine. Everyone drops catches time to time.

I will say one thing though. He might be a leader of men but I think he does have tactical deficiencies and alarming ones. Some of the fields he's had in the course of this series have been outright shocking.

 

[Ohm]

People who have watched India's tour of Australia from 2012-13 know the real meaning of today's win. That school boy in me had tears today. Proud moment.

 

[blockerdave]

Paine had one poor match and everyone is crucifying him. He is still our best keeper imo. Without confirming. He is the quickest Aussie keeper to 150 dismissals. He may only average mid 30s with the bat.. but he has often got Australia out of some late order trouble. Such as his 75 in the Sydney game or was it Melbourne and his 50 in this game. I do believe his enormous workload of keeping and captaining has taken its toll this series. Still he deserves to leave the Baggy Greens on his terms. He has intimated that will be at the conclusion of the World Test Championship finals.

If he's the best keeper, fair enough, pick him as keeper.

He should not be captain though. It's not just one poor game though, his captaincy was a major reason they didn't win the Ashes series; you could see in the last match his inability to handle the pressure situations affected his temper and then his keeping.

 

[Bevab]

His record is average as a captain. Three home series wins against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand (who might be the best ranked side in the world but were rolled over easily and I believe had their own injury problems). Drew the Ashes when they should've won (he literally threw away a review on a nothing chance thenfound wanting another just a couple of balls later). That series was mainly thanks to a GOAT performance from Smith. Lost at home twice to India - with Brisbane having echoes of Headingley where the Aussies failed to bat themselves into a commanding position that allowed some special performances to win to pull off two unlikely wins.

This series has raised my expectation that England could win the Ashes. Australia have just as many weaknesses as they have strengths. Now, very good chance I'll be proved wrong in 12 months time. But if Australia win the Ashes I bet it'll be down to star players not their captain.

Paine isn't something special as a captain, as I've mentioned he seems to struggle sometimes under pressure and his infamous fields are a clear weakness. Losing to India the first time around was always on the cards given how lifeless the bowling attack looked at that point and the lack of batting strength in that lineup. And this series loss will definitely go down in history as a very poor reflection of his skills.

The problem is that there is no other replacement for both roles at the moment. They've been building Head up as the man to eventually succeed Paine as the skipper but he does not impress me with either bat or as a leader. Labu could be interesting if unproven. Steve Smith should never be near the captaincy again, bloke was worse than Paine on the field let alone off it. One of the bowlers? Cummins could be worth a try but would it be worth the risk of him breaking down eventually?

Funnily enough, David Warner is the one bloke that I would have backed for that role years ago. The stereotyping he has endured to be the bully meant that he never got a serious crack at it but he has one of the sharpest cricket minds in LO cricket and was a regular in tests too. A shame that it never happened due to other reasons.

 

[Bevab]

If he's the best keeper, fair enough, pick him as keeper.

If they were serious about wanting the best keeper, Josh Inglis would have been in the A squad ahead of Alex Carey. But hey, the latter supposedly is a 'real leader' and that is what matters.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

"Can't wait to see you at The GABBA"

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

This series victory was never going to happen with Kohli still as the captain IMO. I'll make a longer post detailing why I feel that way but having a tactically excellent mind with a cool head like Rohit and Rahane combined with a pure motivator like Shastri may be something that could work.

Post that in Kohli a poor Captain?

Lol.... I just feel like laughing on myself thinking did I really tried to defend Kohli, the Captain?

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

I think not many would agree to this but I believe there is definitely something special left to unfold in this wonderful series. I don't quite think the pitch has had anything much in terms of sideways movement. Also few of the Australian wickets were giveaways in search of quick runs. I am not going to write off the Indian team for this match. They would definitely want to take their chances to do something special tomorrow. I believe Australian win has rather faded off with the time that has been lost. It would be bold of me to say this but I believe this is rather an Indian win or a draw. The Aussies are definitely under pressure.

What's your take on this now? @abhi_jacko

Didn't I say there is something special left? Hope atleast now you are enjoying our victory after all that drama and tension.

Party toh deni padegi ab(You need to give us a party now)

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

There is nothing in the world that the Australian bowlers can't do. But don't forget even they are humans and their bodies tire down after a long series. There would be equal pressure on Australia since India have never come so close to winning a series against a full strength Australian side in Australia. This wouldn't play against the Indians but in favour of them. A decade ago we had a similar situation in South Africa and we just somehow managed to draw the match. But this time we even have an X-factor in Rishabh Pant. It is all about the first half of the day tomorrow.

Another prediction that went just dead right!!!

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Pujara batted almost a thousand balls and nearly 24 hours.

Which stat can objectively quantify his contribution to this series win? I think perhaps when careers are over, Hazlewood and Cummins would document it. Those two class acts were pounding away at the fag end of the day but they couldn't breach his defence bar Adelaide.

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Pujara batted almost a thousand balls and nearly 24 hours.

he made twice the runs during the last tour than this

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Pujara batted almost a thousand balls and nearly 24 hours.

Which stat can objectively quantify his contribution to this series win? I think perhaps when careers are over, Hazlewood and Cummins would document it. Those two class acts were pounding away at the fag end of the day but they couldn't breach his defence bar Adelaide.

If I were to be a Cricketer I would love to be a Pujara or a Rahane. These guys are class acts and any team, I would say almost any team would want these 2 in their side.