India tour of Australia - 2018/19

[Perfect Square]

What does Australia's lower order of batting look like? Any pointers? If we have any kind of sensibility, we should be focusing on Australia's lower order

Tim Paine can bat. After that Starc and Cummins, each are capable of scoring quick 20 to 50 runs. So yea it's decent

 

[SaiSrini]

Rahane is mentally gone I feel. Sadly, we do not have a sane technician or man-manager as a coach. He needs to go back, take time off the game and work with someone like Dravid. He is too good a test batsman to be written off so soon. To begin rectifying his issues, he must sacrifice limited overs cricket altogether. Its test cricket that he is made for and can do a mighty fine job at it.

True that. I feel he needs to clear the huge cobwebs that have been built in his mind. But I still feel hastily dropping him mid-series is not the solution. He should have been dropped for this series and sent to work on his game. I still believe he should play the series and then a decision should be taken on him. We can't have every guy in the team apart from Kohli, put on an insecure footing. Right now, only Kohli is assured of his place. No one else is.

 

[aditya123]

True that. I feel he needs to clear the huge cobwebs that have been built in his mind. But I still feel hastily dropping him mid-series is not the solution. He should have been dropped for this series and sent to work on his game. I still believe he should play the series and then a decision should be taken on him. We can't have every guy in the team apart from Kohli, put on an insecure footing. Right now, only Kohli is assured of his place. No one else is.

True. I will have him till Perth at the very least before dropping him.

 

[Aalay]

Just because Rahul is low on confidence? I think it's more of a mental thing than technical with him right now. As soon as he got exposed to those incoming deliveries in England, he has been very inconsistent. Yes, it was great to see him get that century in the last test but TBH that was the slowest wicket that we played on throughout that series. However, I did think that century will help restore some of his confidence. However, he again failed against WI in the home series and as Sanjay Bangar mentioned during the press conference, he is just finding new ways to get out now. I am a huge KL Rahul fan and want to see him cement his spot in the test line-up because I know how ridiculously talented this guy is when he gets going. It's just that I feel a break might be good for him. Again, I might be wrong but that's what I am sensing right now with his game. It's all in his mind. The shot that he played yesterday, it felt like he was still in T20 mode.

Virat played a couple of shots like this in the first England test as well. However, he was lucky that he got dropped and then he controlled himself again to score tons of runs that he did in that series. So I am not surprised to see him play that shot yesterday. He is also one of those players in this line-up who likes to feel the bat on ball and like to get going quickly. If he doesn't get going quickly, he will definitely play at a ball that he should be leaving comfortably early in his inning.

Rahane is just low on confidence just like Rahul is at the moment. Still, he was playing positively yesterday when he came in to bat. Although he also has this tendency to poke his bat outside the off-stump once in a while during his inning. I still remember he did that when we went to play in NZ in 2014. He was batting so well and poked at a delivery outside the off stump to get out. He is definitely not the same player that he was during that overseas series of 2013-14 when he came out as our best batsman.

Rohit playing a typical Rohit inning again. Looks amazing while he is out there and scores effortlessly and then the brain fade.

Good to see Che playing his natural game and helping the team to reach to an ok total.

It will be really interesting to see how our bowlers do on this pitch. Bumrah key bowler for us if we want to come back in this game.[DOUBLEPOST=1544111666][/DOUBLEPOST]

What does Australia's lower order of batting look like? Any pointers? If we have any kind of sensibility, we should be focusing on Australia's lower order

Mitch Starc scored 99 against us in India and Pat Cummins is also not too bad.

 

[Rehan_24]

I think Aussies would pile up huge totals out there... getting them out under 300 would be a pleasant surprize.

Australian pitches have been famous for bounce rather than turn. No matter if they are flat. The bounce and carry is there and Australians are masters on their pitches specially in test cricket.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Really happy for Pujara First got some runs in England and now a much needed 100 in Australia at crucial situation.Played an outstanding innings and stood like a rock when wickets were tumbling at other end sadly got runout trying to steal a quick single but nonetheless a superb innings which atleast puts India in the game otherwise it could have been a sorry story just like all previous tours.Why is Bhuvi not playing? He is more than handy with the bat and can swing the new ball as wickets upfront are crucial because once the kookabura loses its shine then it becomes harder and harder for the bowlers to put any inroads. Shami, Ishant are way too inconsistent to pick wickets and to put sustain pressure on the batting lineup plus for Bumrah is too raw for test cricket although the extra bounce in Australian will suit his bowling.Also Ashwin is a patchy bowler so it might another closely fought match just like the SA and England series with India going down as a loosing side.

 

[aditya123]

Unlike what others are saying, I reckon we are up against it here. This is a flat deck and 400 is par for the course here. I expect guys like Finch, Head and Paine to cause a lot of pain for us, with Starc and Cummins adding salt to the wound.

 

[Aalay]

I love Ishant 2.0

 

[abhi_jacko]

Ashwin bowling too fast... 90-95ks

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Interesting discussion/analysis in the comm box by Harsha and Warne only 3 deliveries have the hit stump and 77 were just wide and are just too easy for Australian batsmen to leave the ball.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Great start by us too four wickets for 87. Still a long way to go in the test match important thing is India have not allowed Australia to score freely thus the wickets have put the pressure back on the Aussies.

 

[aditya123]

Bumrah bowling poor lengths. Will turn out to be costly for us. Cannot just rely on Ashwin to do all the work today.

 

[zwarrior]

When Kohli is excited and takes review, you just know it's going to be opposite of what he wants.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Bumrah bowling poor lengths. Will turn out to be costly for us. Cannot just rely on Ashwin to do all the work today.

He has come back strong. Seems definitely more comfortable bowling to right handers than to lefties

 

[asprin]

Australia 6 down. Now comes the real fun. I'll lose it if the tail wags again. Get them dismissed within 200. Anything more than that would not be good.