India's tour of Australia - December/January 2015

[Spickery]

That was a fantastic Test match! Both teams played really well and a close finish was a fitting end to the match.

I am really glad the Australian players managed to win that match for Phil Hughes, they did well to even concentrate on the match. David Warner, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke and Nathan Lyon all played significant roles to help Australia win the game.

Sadly, we may have just watched Clarke play his last Test match. Clarke won't play any further part in this series. He has no regrets in playing the match though and lets just hope he can overcome his injuries.

 

[SaiSrini]

Feel very sad for Virat Kohli. The guy batted as if there was no tomorrow and him along with Vijay gave us dreams that we can win this till the very end. Both teams struggled on this pitch, but ironically Australia won the battle of spinners with Lyon waltzing through us while Karn Sharma having a harsh first lesson of test cricket.

Kohli's positive attitude to his captaincy (he said he was going for the win) is the reason why India threatened to win and made this test match so amazing in the end. If it were Dhoni, I can bet a million dollars that India would have folded up far more easily without much of a fight. And with Dhoni expected to be back for the next three tests as captain, I have a very strong fear that 4-0 is on the nearest horizon. Hope atleast Kohli and Vijay's form keeps going so that India can keep competing. Pujara and Rahane had pretty good games here too (Rahane got a bad decision in the 2nd innings; first innings was a half century).

 

[SaiSrini]

That was a fantastic Test match! Both teams played really well and a close finish was a fitting end to the match.

I am really glad the Australian players managed to win that match for Phil Hughes, they did well to even concentrate on the match. David Warner, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke and Nathan Lyon all played significant roles to help Australia win the game.

Sadly, we may have just watched Clarke play his last Test match. Clarke won't play any further part in this series. He has no regrets in playing the match though and lets just hope he can overcome his injuries.

Thats just too dramatic a statement. I believe Clarke will be back. Having seen international cricket myself for so long, if I were Clarke, I wouldn't lose hope that quickly.

 

[Yuvi.]

Like a Boss!

 

[War]

Been awol for a while, but i just one question for Indian fans, why in god's name did Ashwin not play?. I thought during the England tour that IND have finally realized that he was their best spinner regardless of home/away conditions when they dropped Jadeja.

Plus also even if they didn't want to play him, how is this K Sharma bloke ahead of Mishra or K Yadav?

 

[themusketeer]

We really Missed Dhoni (not as a Captain) but as A Batsman Who can Play Defensive or Aggressive according to the Situation. His Experience against spinners and Unorthodox Batting style Would Have been great For India after we lost Kohli.

 

[Epic]

Been awol for a while, but i just one question for Indian fans, why in god's name did Ashwin not play?. I thought during the England tour that IND have finally realized that he was their best spinner regardless of home/away conditions when they dropped Jadeja.

Plus also even if they didn't want to play him, how is this K Sharma bloke ahead of Mishra or K Yadav?

I think we've completely botched managing Ashwin on these overseas tours, we're at the same exact place with him where we were on our previous tour to Australia, we have no idea if he can go away from home, everytime there's a pitch that turns he's on the bench watching spinners who'd do good to wipe his boots getting a go, it's really tweaked up.

Gabba won't turn, so I expect him to play and be dropped just in time for the SCG.

Now that the "easiest" Test of the tour is out of the way, the Gabba now the fastest pitch in international cricket welcomes us, we'd do good to not get an innings defeat there given how strong Australia's record is at the venue and our batting can't alone win the game there unlike Adelaide where it's possible.

I'd like to see these changes;

1.) Ashwin rightfully back in there for Karn, don't really have to say more.
2.) Shami dropped for Umesh, he was dreadful right through the England tour after showing promise in the South Africa tour, so he's got to go for me.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Ashwin should definitely come in for Karn. And I would pick Raina/Jadeja for Rohit. They cannot be any worse in batting, can actually be a good 5th bowler tying one end up.

 

[Aalay]

Rohit's batting is a big worrying sign especially in overseas test match. I am willing to give him one more chance considering how tough the pitch was for a new batsman but he really needs to improve. Also seeing Indian players struggle against a spinner is embarrassing. Yes, Lyon was bowling well but I don't think he bowled as well as he did in the first inning. Vijay was probably the best player against Lyon followed by Kohli. Pujara and Rohit just looked horrible against him. Even though Shami bolwed better in the second inning, Umesh Yadav shoud replace him for the second test match. Ashwin has to come back in and Dhoni will also be back. Hopefully they play this competitive attitude for rest of the series.

 

[grkrama]

raina.. even with short pitch trouble is 10x better than rohit..[DOUBLEPOST=1418490360][/DOUBLEPOST]also dhoni the finisher was the missing link..

 

[SaiSrini]

I believe if we had to play Ashwin, his best chance was Adelaide (or Sydney). Not at the Gabba. I would in fact persist with Karn Sharma next game too. Dhoni for Saha is a happening swap. I also would drop Shami and bring Umesh Yadav in. Both Aaron and Shami leaked runs here, but I would keep Aaron for his hustling pace and glimpses of serious potential and the very limited opportunities that he has got till now. Want to see if he learns from his mistakes. I would also be tempted to play Raina for Rohit. That gives us a good slip fielder, and a better offspinner in case we need one. Batting wise, not much to seperate them in terms of overseas but Raina can bring variety in the middle order with his left batting.

M Vijay
S Dhawan
C Pujara
V Kohli
A Rahane
S Raina
M Dhoni
K Sharma
I Sharma
V Aaron
U Yadav

raina.. even with short pitch trouble is 10x better than rohit..[DOUBLEPOST=1418490360][/DOUBLEPOST]also dhoni the finisher was the missing link..

Dhoni the finisher also comes with Dhoni the test captain.

 

[Epic]

Karn was hardly effective at Adelaide, he's going to do fearsome tweak all at the Gabba.[DOUBLEPOST=1418495660][/DOUBLEPOST]I didn't really think about Rohit when I made that post, he was quite poor in the 2nd innings, but it was obviously tough for any new batsman coming in, so maybe I would be inclined to give him another game, also if I remember correctly he only got 1 game in England because of the 5th bowler idiocy (which people continue you suggest in an attempt to sabotage our whole tour).

 

[grkrama]

Dhoni the finisher also comes with Dhoni the test captain.

while im also eager to see kohli aggro, i dont see what would have been different in this match apart from ashwin playing and dhoni finishing if msd had been the captain.Though one positive is kohli seems to be relishing the responsibility thats a big positive, but apart from that our problem is with bowlers and batsman rather than captain.

 

[abhi_jacko]

I dont think Dhoni would have gone for the chase after we lost Rahane We will obviously never know what would have actually happened, but if we take MSD's track record in Tests, he would have given up on the chase when we went 4 down

And considering how flat Karn was on a helpful pitch, I dont see any point of persisting with him on an unfriendly pitch. Especially since his competitors are much better batsmen than him

 

[grkrama]

kohli was always the one going for/ as well as capable of the chase on this wicket on 5th day i dont think MSD would say kohli to defend or that kohli would listen ...... so if MSD was there.. he would have farmed the strike for kohli well and made the chase possible , if not once kohli was out MS would have gone to save match mode.