Team-BHP - The Cricket Thread

With our team's strategy of heavily-favoured spin pitch boomeranged at Indore, all the hopes of seeing better or green-top pitch at Ahmedabad to acclimatize themselves for pitch they might get in WTC finals went up in the smoke.

After this loss, I am guessing the team, in order to qualify for the WTC final, would again ask for pitches that turn square from day 1 for the 4th test, probably win it, go to The Oval and get beaten by the same side they might end up beating 3-1. :Frustrati

BTW, I'm beginning to wonder if this is the worst no. 4 batsman we have had in our team since ages when it comes to facing spin? I guess so.
Right from the days of Vengsarkar, I can't think of any No. 4 test batsman in our team who is uncomfortable against spin.
Most of our bastmen would have had spinners for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the past since I started following cricket closely.
Now it looks like those days are gone!

Quote:

Originally Posted by PPS (Post 5505572)

Quite clearly Team Management is clueless when it comes to strategy! Axar should have been batting at no.5 or 6 on this kinda pitch.

Ironically Axar has a batting avg. of 92 and bowling avg. of 103 with just 1 wicket in 39 overs in this series.
And so far, he is the second-most run getter for us and also looked quite comfortable facing spin, unlike our top-oder batsmen rl:

Don’t know why everyone is reacting like Aus is 3-0 ahead in the series. They are a very good side and I always knew that they will win atleast 1 test in this series. Infact if I’m not wrong some people had predicted a 4-0 in favour of them. I think we had just one off day in the office, that’s just about it. And talking of giving chances to new players, you can’t play with the whole 11 having an experience of 10 games combined. In test cricket, you need the right mix of experience & youth. And VK still has more runs in this series than Pujara & Iyer (who is supposed to be a better player of spin). Gill was bought in this game and what he did? Playing a rash shot in the second innings rather than putta price on his wicket? So after KL, should we leave him put too? No, you need to backup your players.
Now coming to fourth game, I think first change we need is to bring in Kuldeep in place of Axar who has looked the least threatening spinner in this series. Kishan can also be brought in place of Bharat to make batting strong, though it will be a bit harsh on later. Or maybe we can bring in Kuldeep in place of Siraj and keep Axar in for batting strength.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deathwalkr (Post 5505663)

Meanwhile Sunny says India lost the match because of Jadeja's no ball! That was really harsh considering the scenario.

I was talking to my friend when this happened and I told him if Marnus goes on to make atleast 30 this blunder will cost us the game. And it happened. That wicket could have opened the gate for Australia collapse but he went on to make 31 but crucially a 96 run partnership with khawaja which changed the match situation.

And a spinner bowling a No ball is absolutely unacceptable that too on this level and he is doing it every match in this series.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10 (Post 5505715)

That wicket could have opened the gate for Australia collapse
And a spinner bowling a No ball is absolutely unacceptable that too on this level and he is doing it every match in this series.

It could have, we don't really know that. The team has only itself to blame for folding like a pack of cards. Singling one person out seemed a bit harsh.

And he is taking wickets right?

One loss and we can see a lot of ifs and buts, could have & should have. Coaches, captain and players bashing started. It’s not like we were playing against Bangladesh and by default we must win. Why cant we simply accept the fact that Australia played better and won. They were not very bad in the previous two tests as well. It was the Indian lower order batting that won the matches for us and the margin was one or two better sessions played by India.
The Indian batting has constantly been poor for the past couple of years irrespective or the pitch and environment. I would blame the BCCI for too much cricket and scheduling overlapping series. The players don’t get time to adjust to the situations and focus on the basics. They just don’t have bandwidth to go in domestic or county cricket to practice in first class cricket which is backbone of longer format. IPL, back to back T20is, ODIs and then Test matches are taking a toll on the multi format players.
I read somewhere long ago ( don’t have the article to share here) that SRT got out once playing a sweep shot against a spinner, he was so dejected that he practiced before the match and ensured that he did not get out the same way in that series. Its time that India should give proper rest and opportunity to the test players to play country cricket in England and Ranji trophy at home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by khanmaj (Post 5505794)

I would blame the BCCI for too much cricket and scheduling overlapping series. The players don’t get time to adjust to the situations and focus on the basics.

I agree, I too feel Indian cricketers are over-worked. The blame part though rests equally on the players too IMO, look at English players continuing to ditch IPL in favor of domestic cricket.

Quote:

Originally Posted by khanmaj (Post 5505794)

I read somewhere long ago ( don’t have the article to share here) that SRT got out once playing a sweep shot against a spinner, he was so dejected that he practiced before the match and ensured that he did not get out the same way in that series.

Did you mean cover drive? There is a pretty cool video too which I was just watching the other day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_P8fpLsi-A

Australia are right on top in this final test. Don't think they would want to bat for the 2nd time. Our bowlers looked toothless today. Khwaja deservingly got the ton and Green accelerated quite well in the final session. :thumbs up

India really have to bat out of their skin to save this test. Win would be a miracle from here. If our top order doesn't fire in this match am sure we will see some radical change in the team going forward.

Edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis (Post 5509200)

But also, have faith. The Aussies collapsed once in the second innings after scoring 300 in the first innings, in 2017. Smith scored century in that test.

So, fingers crossed. :)

That's the kind of miracle am talking about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoumenD (Post 5509195)

Australia are right on top in this final test...
Our bowlers looked toothless today.
India really have to bat out of their skin to save this test.
Win would be a miracle from here.

Agree on all points.

But also, have faith. The Aussies collapsed once in the second innings after scoring 300 in the first innings, in 2017. Smith scored century in that test.

So, fingers crossed. :)

Just get a feeling that Rohit missed a trick by going for the new ball. The pacers were getting some reverse swing (Handscomb dismissal), and the spinners were economical if not threatening. Green was looking very tentative against pace. But as soon as the new ball was taken by a tired Umesh who was bowling in the mid 120's, things changed and Australia capitalised.

Until the new ball was taken in the 81st over Australia had scored 199/4 at around 2.5 runs per over. And the 9 overs with the new ball went for 55 runs, about 6 an over. As a result, the Aussies are ahead in the game, even if marginally so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fx14 (Post 5509206)

Kuldeep would have been a good option to try out for a change.

Because of the collective failure of our top order, Ash/Jaddu/Axar are literally undroppable. :unhappy

I think it is a bit premature to predict match result based on opening day's play. Indians bowling tight lines and restricting Australia to a score less than 325-350 can't be ruled out. However if the Aussies manage to score in excess of 400-425, there's no reason to think why our batters cant match or better the team total. Today's first session is going to be an exciting one to watch / follow.