[searacer932]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

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.

And in between he offended Pollard and recently Gambir as well saying instead of Gambir, Rohit or Agarkar should come for press conference.

He had also offended Sania Mirza passing some uncommon sense comments against her and she came back strongly.

[libranof1987]

How does our team manage to: crush our hope and belief in the most heartless fashion, and then, not too many days later, inflict the same misery on the opposition and waltz away to an emphatic win. Just, how.

Spectacular stuff from the team, barring the first batting innings, of course. And happy that Bumrah got the MoM award, given how batsmen typically hog them.

[kavensri]

I get the feeling that test cricket has become more unpredictable than ever. PAK losing 0-2 to BAN at home, IND losing 0-3 to NZ at home and now AUS losing a match at Perth. May be, the advent of T20 has indirectly made test cricket more exciting and hard to predict? Any thoughts?

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by kavensri

I get the feeling that test cricket has become more unpredictable than ever. PAK losing 0-2 to BAN at home, IND losing 0-3 to NZ at home and now AUS losing a match at Perth. May be, the advent of T20 has indirectly made test cricket more exciting and hard to predict? Any thoughts?

India took NZ lightly and paid the price on it and they played on some lottery pitches (Mumbai and Pune) which I am not a big fan of. Since 2021, India have been playing on some lottery pitches at home and it backfired massively in this series. We cannot take credit away from New Zealand for maximizing the situation.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by searacer932

India took NZ lightly and paid the price on it and they played on some lottery pitches (Mumbai and Pune) which I am not a big fan of.

True! Even the Chinnaswamy hasn’t been kind to us in the past.

[PPS]

After being dismissed for 150 I don't think anybody ever thought India would go on to beat Australia by 295 runs! This has to be one of India's most famous Test victories. But at the same time I feel Australia can still compete & Indian Team should not relax and get complacent like in the NZ series. In the bowling department, its really Bumrah or nothing. Siraj bowled better than expected. Rana is still very inexperienced at this level & him leaking 5rpo will prove costly some day. Feel AkashDeep could be a better option for the pink ball Test considering he does get some movement & bowls much fuller than Rana. Main aim of our batters should be to bat long & keep the ageing Australian bowlers on the field for long duration.

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

Sanju Manju actually has good insights to the game.

Manjrekar is pretty good at deciphering techniques. But in between all of that he speaks lots of rubbish.

Originally Posted by lightfootdriver

Not really a ZERO chance. If Dravid can declare while Sachin Tendulkar is on 194 in Pakistan, declaring when Kohli is in 90s is acceptable and I'm sure, with GG as head coach, it wouldn't have been controversial.

Well, that was a different era! If something like that were to happen today heavens will fall & all the Viratians/Virat Army would attack Bumrah & family.

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Wonder why S Khan was not played instead of one of them. His technique is questionable however he was among the few who scored against NZ.

The only slot vacant was no.3 & Sarfaraz wouldn't possibly fit in that position. He infact bats at no.5 for Mumbai.

[samitjain]

I really love test cricket and it’s a moment to enjoy a test match like this.

I think Test Cricket is the real cricket. There is something for both - like in this test match for batsman and bowlers. There are elements of swing/seam/turn/uneven bounce pitch deterioration, patience, concentration and a lot of other things. T20 cricket and to some extent one day cricket has robbed most of these elements.

New ball/old ball, first day session, bat first / bowl first, test cricket is actual cricket and playing in Australia and beating them in their own backyard is the epitome of test cricket for me.

Kohli got a great hundred, but I would put KL Rahul 70 much above the hundred as it came under much difficult conditions and under pressure. Nothing to take away Kohlis century, but it is a lot easier when you come to bat when the ball is old and lead is already more than 300 and you score a hundred, his century in Adelaide in 2013-14 I would rate as his best century in Australia as it was batting 4th and almost took india across.

[rx100]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

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

A 4-0 series win gives us sure shot guarantee to the final. But without that also we can qualify, but it depends on the other series results. Here’s the scenarios explained by Cricinfo.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/r...-to-do-1461683

[dust-n-bones]

Google win predictor AI did a Marnus yesterday, shouldering arms to the inevitable.



Edit: excuse this message, saw too late it had been posted already. Mods pls remove if feasible.

[Shumi_21]

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe have managed to beat Pakistan in the first ODI of their tour.

Zimbabwe have an opener awesomely named Joylord Gumbie, which sounds similar to Gambhir and everyone knows our Gambhir is the opposite of a Joylord. They also have a medium pacer hilariously named Trevor Gwandu, which sounds similar to....... nevermind

I want Trevor to take a 5 wicket haul just for the meme potential.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by rx100

A 4-0 series win gives us sure shot guarantee to the final. But without that also we can qualify, but it depends on the other series results. Here’s the scenarios explained by Cricinfo.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/r...-to-do-1461683

As it appears, NZ and SA are in pole position to make it to finals. Australia is going to have a tough series in Sri Lanka.

For India, Perth win gave a good head start, but let us not underestimate how tough it is to win down under. But again, if we win the BGT, do we really care for the WTC?

[padmrajravi]

Rohit returning as opener is a bigger problem than Rohit returning as captain. He does not have the technique to negotiate the moving ball. And KL seems to have the knack the do it in SENA conditions. The difference between India's first and second innings here was Jaiswal's discipline in leaving good balls in the first 10 overs. If a wicket had fallen in first few overs in the second innings, the flood gates would have opened and the story would have been similar to first innings. Pitch did not magically become flat in the second innings. It was still doing its thing, just that our opening pair did a great job negotiating the first hour. For now, Jaiswal and KL are our best option to negotiate the new ball. Even Kohli is a walking wicket when ball moves.

If Rohit is adamant on opening, we should at least have KL as number 3. He is much more suited for No 3 compared to Gill and Kohli, simply because of his ability to negotiate moving ball.

[searacer932]

The following will be my 11, in the below order, for the 2nd test in Adelaide -

1. Jaiswal
2. KL Rahul [I know I had a go at him before start of the series :-)]
3. Rohit Sharma [He has to play as he is the captain :-)]
4. Kohli
5. Pant
6. Nitish Reddy [I don't think Gill should play in middle order. In my opinion he should be opening the batting but there is no place there and Nitish would be better suited to middle order than Gill]
7. Sundar
8. Rana
9. Akash Deep
10. Bumrah
11. Siraj

I would go with Akash Deep instead of an additional batter. India's bowling looks quite lite touch and I would aim to bolster the bowling.

[ValarMorghulis]

My God, the deluge of saccharine articles eulogizing the Indian test team as if they've won the WTC final!

Calm down cricket experts
Let the team win the BGT (fingers crossed)

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by searacer932

The following will be my 11, in the below order, for the 2nd test in Adelaide -

1. Jaiswal
2. KL Rahul [I know I had a go at him before start of the series :-)]
3. Rohit Sharma [He has to play as he is the captain :-)]
4. Kohli
5. Pant
6. Nitish Reddy [I don't think Gill should play in middle order. In my opinion he should be opening the batting but there is no place there and Nitish would be better suited to middle order than Gill]
7. Sundar
8. Rana
9. Akash Deep
10. Bumrah
11. Siraj

I would go with Akash Deep instead of an additional batter. India's bowling looks quite lite touch and I would aim to bolster the bowling.

There is no way both Rana and Akash will play. I would personally prefer Akash though, considering his ability to get more balls in the right areas (read pitched up), which is going to be crucial in the Adelaide pink ball day/night test.

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

If Rohit is adamant on opening, we should at least have KL as number 3. He is much more suited for No 3 compared to Gill and Kohli, simply because of his ability to negotiate moving ball.

I think this is exactly what will happen in the next test. Gill has a fractured thumb so he will need time to recover. I don't see him making it to Adelaide.