[PPS]

We have Arshdeep Singh coming in to bat at no.8 while in the Opposition you have Coetzee smashing our bowlers at a Strike Rate of 200 at no. 9! Batting depth ultimately proved to be the difference between both the teams though 120 odd was never going to be enough. It was Chakravarthy & Bishnoi who got India back into the game. Axar was only given 1 over, surprised to see lack of faith across formats!

Also, since Gambhir has 2 Assistant Coaches at his disposal - Ryan & Nayar, atleast 1 of them should have been with the team here in SA! Do not know why Laxman needs to be summoned from the NCA regularly for the Senior Team. There anyways is a 1 week gap between this SA T20 series & Australia Test Series. The first batch of players have left for Australia today & half the SA T20 series is over, so its not that they're missing out on a lot.

[dailydriver]

An interesting instance of Nelson in the land of Nelson (Mandela).



Source

[msdivy]

The Aussie mental disintegration process started. This is Ponting on current Indian test top order's stats in the last 4~5 years:

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by msdivy

The Aussie mental disintegration process started. This is Ponting on current Indian test top order's stats in the last 4~5 years

He is actually not wrong. Gavaskar should have said it before Ponting did.

Jadeja's career batting average is more than KL

Jadeja's past 5-year batting average is within 10% of Rohit & Gill and more than Virat, Rahane, Pujara, KL in the same period.

The highest rated Indian batter in the ICC Test rankings is < 1.5yr old in the format, the 2nd best was away from the game for over a year after a life-threatening accident and is also the wicket keeper.
Virat is rated #22, 1 position above the perennially injured Sri Lankan Allrounder Angelo Mathews.
Rohit is further down at #26

Source: https://www.relianceiccrankings.com/.../test/batting/

Then people (PR Articles?) have the audacity to claim that we lost the last series because Ashwin and Jadeja lost their mojo. Seriously?

[AbhishekNigam]

Good news for Indian cricket fans, Md. Shami will be playing in a Ranji match starting tomorrow.

I just hope he’s fully recovered and joins later on for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. They just cannot solely rely on Bumrah all the time and his addition will strengthen our bowling attack big time.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by msdivy

The Aussie mental disintegration process started.

I don't mind this. A bit of needle between both the teams on the field is necessary to spice up the series. Earlier version of Virat Kohli would thrive on this. Lets hope he gets going & he has a good series.

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

Then people (PR Articles?) have the audacity to claim that we lost the last series because Ashwin and Jadeja lost their mojo. Seriously?

PR articles maybe, but I feel another big reason is that we are a batting country. Our cricketing heroes right from Lala Amarnath to Gavaskar to Tendulkar to Kohli have always been batters. The "next superstars" like Gill & Jaiswal are also batters. If a batter like Sarfaraz performs in Ranji, the hype is infinitely more than what a Mukesh Kumar or Akashdeep gets after giving arguably better performances in the same tournament! Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler we have seen in the last 110 years according to Jarrod Kimber, but is he really a superstar on par with guys like Kohli or Rohit? Or even Gill for that matter?

We as a country are in love with batting, hence our batters get a lot more leeway than our bowlers unfortunately. Let's go back to all of our major losses, 21 WC loss to Pakistan, 22 WC semifinal loss to England & the 23 WC final loss against Australia. In every instance, the bowlers were blamed for the loss, but it was the batters who actually shat the bed. Even the 24 WC final that we won, the batters failed and it was Bumrah & Co. who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. But all we hear is how the "King" won us the game. Hence, I feel it's no surprise that Ash & Jadeja are being blamed for the NZ whitewash. Their only fault was that they didn't bat well enough to cover up for the non performing top order, in almost a decade.

[Ananthang]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

Their only fault was that they didn't bat well enough to cover up for the non performing top order, in almost a decade.

You nailed it in the last few lines, plus NZ played spin well especially Rachin R.

[Asish_VK]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

Rohit is further down at #26

IMHO, Rohit should't be even considered as a batter in Tests, let alone captaincy. He is a free wicket in pitches which have any assistance for pacers. Virat also seems past his prime, but still I will bet on Virat than Rohit in tests any day.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by AbhishekNigam

Md. Shami will be playing in a Ranji match starting tomorrow. I just hope he’s fully recovered and joins later on for the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Saw a short clip of Shami bowling in this game and it isn't looking good to warrant a comeback & fly to Australia for the time being! He's definitely not a 100% fit, he appears to be bowling around 60% of his usual self & he's definitely not hitting the crease like before. His physio & other team members have to really work on his match fitness. I do not know why he rushed to play this game.

Originally Posted by antz.bin

Then people (PR Articles?) have the audacity to claim

Rohit's PR yesterday circulated news that he's working hard at MCA & Reliance ground by posting a pic of his practicing taken last year! After a while they circulated news that Hugh Jackman's favourite Indian Cricketer is Rohit Sharma, interestingly the actor had stated this back in July! Then there's Virat PR who have proclaimed that he's the 1st Indian cricketer to land in Australia along with his family, completely neglecting that the likes of KL,Jurel & others landed much earlier & were playing a game. This whole PR blitzkrieg is a different level of entertainment!

[facelyft]

IMHO, Rohit is not a leadership material; especially in Test format, where the game demands innovation and pro-active approach. Limited over formats, both shorter and longer ones puts that constant pressure on the teams by means of scoring rates where batters must take some amount of risk which results in momentum in the game (wickets, runs and constant forward movement in the game). This gives the game momentum to play with. In tests, batters can play with freedom (not the T20 freedom like hit out or get out), batters can pace their innings based on conditions and they can see off tough condition or a bowler or a new ball or something. They have the-all-important TIME to build an innings (if they are determined). That is when leadership matters the most. How to put a batter under pressure? Subtle fielding positions, plan B for each batter and so on.

From that 47 all out, India was chasing the game all the time. Indian bowlers were under tremendous scoreboard pressure. They couldn't set aggressive fields for Ace spinners like Ashwin on turning tracks. India is a beast at home; win games on auto-pilot literally. This NZ test series, the roles were just reversed.

India's leadership group lacks that quintessential innovation during that test series against New Zealand and ended up on the losing side.

In his short career as a leader, Rohit was saved by individual brilliances on most occasions. The test series against England was a classic example.

[Shumi_21]

Meanwhile in Ranji, Anshul Kamboj of Haryana has picked up all 10 wickets in an innings against Kerala. He was recently a part of the Indian emerging teams' Asia Cup and played last IPL for MI. Now we have 3 prospective fast bowlers (Harshit, Anshul & Akashdeep) who can genuinely whack it with the bat as well.

Shami is also back playing for Bengal, he took 4 wickets, but more importantly bowled 19 overs. Hopefully he can make it to Australia by the third test.

KL, Kohli & Sarf XL have been hit on their elbows/forearms by Prasidh Krishna during the intra squad match during Perth. All three have been taken for scans and hopefully there's no injury scare. Although it wouldn't be the worst idea to replace KL, Kohli & Sarfaraz with Washington, Sai & Jurel.

[harry10]

A rare feat indeed.
It's extremely hard to get a fifer. Let alone 10 wickets in an innings. Hopefully he gets an international career too.

Meanwhile just saw on reddit, in the intra team match this is the situation -
So from the cricinfo article-

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/k...lation-1459732

Jaiswal 15 (caught behind)

KL. 29*(retired hurt)

Gill. 28 (caught at gully)

Koach. 15 (second slip)

Pant. 19 (bowled)

Jurel. 21(caught behind)

KL was batting so Jurel will take Sarfraz place and KL will open. Management has learned zilch as usual. Kohli still fishing outside off and getting out in same way as well.

Plus these guys didn't last a session against our bowlers like Prasidh, Mukesh, Reddy etc. What they gonna do against Hazelwood and Co. No one even crossed 30. Should play Ashwin and Jaddu both. Atleast they may try to make runs when these paper champs fail again.

[AtheK]

Seems KL Rahul got himself Injured and others did not fare any better against India A Bowlers.

Rahul Injury is good for us as he would have any way been a walking wicket, but all other continue to Struggle that too against India A bowlers. They threw out Pujara saying he plays slow, all wanting to follow T20 format. Sorry state of affairs with test matches now.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Sorry state of affairs with test matches now.

Spot on! These were the exact thoughts in my mind too.
The recent home series loss to New Zealand, especially the manner in which we lost (we were vanquished literally!) has made me think that our test team is on the wane and our supremacy in tests will die a slow death for which the process is well and truly underway now.