[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

The only bad thing about this win is Sanju Manju commentating on the winning moments. I physically cringed when he anointed Jaiswal as the "new king"

Wonder how he manages to commentate on some of the best Indian wins. He is appalling. Recently disparaged Vinay Kumar for no reason! There is a campaign going on X (ex-Twitter) to get BCCI to remove him from the panel.

Originally Posted by rx100

Going to raise it to 3-1. Any bandwagons want to join now?

Ah... I'll take any which way we retain BGT. We are the only team to continuously thump the Aussies in their fortresses.

PS: we need to win BGT 4-0 to qualify for the WTC final.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Eddy

4-0 Australia.

I do not see the Indian batting stand up to the Aussie bowlers.

These bloody armchair critics, they know nothing. Just sitting on their couches and trying to be experts.

[Oxy]

I really don't want Rohit to be back to ruin it. He is way below par especially compared to Bumrah when it comes to astute captaincy.

Also his return will disturb the opening combination and Rahul would need to bat at 6 again. Why fix something that is not broken?

[vijaykr]

Phenomenal victory and enjoyed watching every bit of it. Playing Aussies at their home grounds seems to bring out the best in our squad even without several 1st choice names in the team. Or the 11 that actually play realize it is a one-time opportunity and make it count to get their names into the books. Either way, Pat and team may not have seen this hiding coming their way especially after our 3-0 loss to NZ

Originally Posted by NPV

An interesting stat is that India haven’t lost a BGT series after winning the first test.

No issue with the OP on this one, but I saw this stat on Star Sports as well and was wondering whether it really means anything or is it more for social media hype and eyeball grabbing by the broadcasters. If this stat was going to stand the test of time, then they might as well give us the trophy and be done with it now, right? Our series win may still happen for sure, but to base it on these kinds of stats is a bit wonky in my opinion. Like my mom wanting to pray at the temple on the way to school to get an easy question paper Didn't happen every time or as often as I'd like, but happened enough to continue the practice...

[RMN]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Also his return will disturb the opening combination and Rahul would need to bat at 6 again. Why fix something that is not broken?

I get a feeling that he will take Jurels spot and batting position instead. With Gill replacing Padikal.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by Oxy

I really don't want Rohit to be back to ruin it. He is way below par especially compared to Bumrah when it comes to astute captaincy.

Also his return will disturb the opening combination and Rahul would need to bat at 6 again. Why fix something that is not broken?

Agreed that Bumrah looked a better captain, but it is only fair that Rohit walks in. Had it been the reverse, Bumrah would have walked in too.

That said:
- Gill will come back for Jurel.
- Rohit will open with Jaiswal (Padikal will warm the benches).
- KL will drop down to 6th (which might be a good thing considering the lower order likes to go back to the pavilion in a jiffy these days).

Will be interesting to see if either of Jadeja or Ashwin come in place of Washy.

[NomadSK]

This is the weakest Aussie team I have ever seen or was it the brilliance of Indian batting in 2nd innings and extra ordinary bowling by Bumrah to break the Aussies back in the both the innings. Good they declared the game at the fag end of 3rd day shows astute captainship acumen and trying to find the result in our favour.

But warning for Bumrah and Co, oops I mean Rohit and co, surely they will come back harder in the 2nd test, so brace yourself !! Interesting series to follow.

Looks Padikkal & Rana will have to give way for Rohit and Akashdeep, I hope Jurel doesn’t get dropped for Gill.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vijaykr

No issue with the OP on this one, but I saw this stat on Star Sports as well and was wondering whether it really means anything or is it more for social media hype and eyeball grabbing by the broadcasters. If this stat was going to stand the test of time, then they might as well give us the trophy and be done with it now, right? Our series win may still happen for sure, but to base it on these kinds of stats is a bit wonky in my opinion. Like my mom wanting to pray at the temple on the way to school to get an easy question paper Didn't happen every time or as often as I'd like, but happened enough to continue the practice...

The thing with any stat is that it is valid from a certain time till the current time when it is mentioned and all it takes is one result that goes against it, so take these things with a pinch of salt, it does not really mean this series will go the same way.

[Asish_VK]

Originally Posted by AtheK

True, I think if India does not qualify for WTC they will make him full time captain, with Rishab as deputy, and Rishabh can captain in dead rubbers.

If it was on me I will declare that he is full time captain now itself, just like how transition happened between dhoni (another undeserving test match captain) and Kohli.

Too early to say that Bumrah can be full time captain, but agreed on Rohit's captaincy. Rohit is not a good test captain (not a good test batter too ). He is very defensive especially in field setting and bowling changes.

Kohli was a terrific test captain, who bought the intensity and fast bowling revolution to Indian test team.
I felt the same intensity from team India, under Bumrah's captaincy. Worried if that will change once Rohit is back.

Originally Posted by Oxy

I really don't want Rohit to be back to ruin it. He is way below par especially compared to Bumrah when it comes to astute captaincy.

Also his return will disturb the opening combination and Rahul would need to bat at 6 again. Why fix something that is not broken?

Making Rahul one down will solve the issue. Any assistance to fast bowlers, Rohit will be back in dugout within no time, effectively making Rahul an opener

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by Asish_VK

Making Rahul one down will solve the issue. Any assistance to fast bowlers, Rohit will be back in dugout within no time, effectively making Rahul an opener

Why have a walking wicket in the team then? I would rather give Jurel another go.

[rajeevsulu]

Very very pleasant turnaround for the Indian team. It turned out to be a very good decision to bat first on winning the toss. The conditions changed at alarming speed in favour of the Indian team and Australia bore the brunt of a two paced wicket.

What was surprising was the speed with which the wicket deteriorated. I would not write off this Australian team in a hurry. Looking forward to the Pink ball test which is next.

Cheers

[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Why have a walking wicket in the team then? I would rather give Jurel another go.

Rohit in for jurel at number 6. Old ball or second new ball, both bases covered.

Gill for padikkal (only for the sake of continuity).

To all those writing off the Aussies, ESPNCricinfo sums it up best -

“India came here on the back of a 3-0 home defeat to New Zealand, and absurd as it seems, this performance reinforces a few truths about Test cricket. One, there are a lot of very good teams floating around right now. Two, conditions really, really do make a difference. New Zealand were both lucky enough to have conditions go their way in India, and good enough to make the best of that advantage. The same two things applied for India here. And just as India remained a very, very good team after that series defeat, Australia remain a very, very good team after this drubbing.”

[It's Magic]

Originally Posted by vijaykr

No issue with the OP on this one, but I saw this stat on Star Sports as well and was wondering whether it really means anything or is it more for social media hype and eyeball grabbing by the broadcasters. If this stat was going to stand the test of time, then they might as well give us the trophy and be done with it now, right? Our series win may still happen for sure, but to base it on these kinds of stats is a bit wonky in my opinion. Like my mom wanting to pray at the temple on the way to school to get an easy question paper Didn't happen every time or as often as I'd like, but happened enough to continue the practice...

I feel there are too many statistics these days. Commentators talk about stats unnecessarily almost every few minutes.

Sometimes, I miss the good old days of commentary, where each ball and each shot was described on it's merit. It used to get the audience involved with the live action. You could feel feel the joy, disappointment, and built-up they created before delivering the next ball.

These days, they mostly talk about stats or keep discussing something among themselves rather than describing the live action ball by ball.

[Vinod_nair]

BGT - Trivia

Nice to hear and see Russel Arnold (SL) and Wasim Akram (PK) in the English and Hindi commentary box, both Australian?

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

Wonder how he manages to commentate on some of the best Indian wins. He is appalling. Recently disparaged Vinay Kumar for no reason! There is a campaign going on X (ex-Twitter) to get BCCI to remove him from the panel.

Sanju Manju actually has good insights to the game. The problem is he presents them in such a grating and smug way, that it turns off most people.

Even with the Vinay Kumar comment, the point Sanjay was making was valid; that average pace bowlers were making it to the Indian team because the BCCI forced Ranji sides to leave at least 6mm of grass on every pitch. Vinay Kumar & Ashok Dinda are good examples of this. But then again Sanju Manju went ahead and called Vinay Kumar a 120 kmph bowler. Recently, Shami also was ticked off by something Sanju Manju said. Before that it was Jadeja. And all of us fans have been ticked off listening to his commentary for years now. I dread a day when we'll have Sanju Manju & Murali Kartik commentating at the same time.