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Pakistan’s best batsman in recent times, Sayim Ayub is out with ankle injury, so they are down by 1 wicket already in both innings.

Why the rush? Is this the only way we know to play test cricket? It's only day 2.

I was over the moon to see Australia folding for 181, only to see us being rolled over once again. What on earth is wrong with our batsmen?

The pitch is such that you can't stand there for long and not risk your wicket. So it is a good thing to score fast. Moreover, 4th and 5th days are expected to see rain and hence important to score good and make use of the time available.

However, given the supposed 'seniority' and 'experience' of our batting gurus, this entire series has been a let down on batting front. At-least 2-3 guys in our top order should have added 40-60 runs in stead of getting out under 15 runs.

India are only back in this game thanks to Pant & our Seamers who have given it everything. Luckily Siraj bowled much better and Prasidh picked up crucial wickets of set batsman with even Reddy chipping in nicely. Somehow Jadeja & Washington need to stretch the lead to 200 minimum. But with Bumrah still uncertain to bowl its going to be an uphill task to close this game!

Meanwhile, this Rohit Sharma's PR/Media team is doing more damage to him but its kinda funny so its ok. After a carefully orchestrated interview during lunch time with a fanboy host & commentator, Rohit in his usual tone said that he's not retiring,etc when the entire focus should have been on the team's fightback in the 1st session. And now his celeb endorsers (Farhan Akhtar,Vidya Balan,etc) who never posted anything after WC are now praising Rohit for his selfless act.:D

We need 200-250 runs to give our bowlers something to defend against these rampaging Aussies. The bigger scare is if Bumrah will be fit enough to bowl, hope he recovers from the back spasms. Without him, our chances are bleak.

Bumrah will most likely come back. Both for batting and bowling. If India can stretch the final lead to around 220 runs, then we have a good chance to win this one. Pitch will become a little bit easy to bat on tomorrow but still batting conditions will remain challenging. 200-220 will be a good target.

I doubt we’ll cross 175. And that will be a formidable target for sure.

My predictions-
1. all 14 wickets will fall today (ie result guaranteed). No doubt about it
2. If Bumrah bowls with full tempo, India have the upper edge
3. Aus will have learnt from Pant’s cameo and will try to replicate his methods


Key reference is this local match here from last year that had a similar outcome in 3 days. 24 wickets fell on 3rd day. The common point - the same grass was used. Only on these two matches.

Bumrah is the reason India is still alive in the series going into the final session of the last match. Unfortunately, though, when the crunch moment has arrived, the master is out injured. :Frustrati

We need a major overhaul of our Test team, we can start by retaining Jaiswal, Rahul, Sarfaraz, Padikkal, Pant, Jurel, Nitish, Bumrah, Siraj, Prasidh, Jaddu, no place for non-performers!
We need to draft more players to complete the squad.

From a long term perspective, we need to give these guys all games in 2 full test series and then tweak the team, we are in transition essentially and should be fine to evolve over a few games, regardless of the results.

Such a shameful batting performance one innings after another. Kohli the most shameful jumping jack of the series. How the mighty have fallen.

I can bet my life on it that if we were chasing we would have folded for under 125. Bumrah finally fell to an injury after carrying the team for 4 and a half test match, he must be really feeling bad.

Championship vs Personal milestones.

Done and dusted for India, debutant gave the last blow. Just displayed poor cricket from day-1 of this tour, from team selection to toss decision. Congrats Australia for 3-1. Well deserved. Unfortunately it was always Bumrah vs Aussies. Batting only 1-2 good batters entire test isn't good enough. Guys like Gill etc are not test standard. He's the no.3 batsman and giving up his wicket for poor shot selections. Keep filling the team with jacks of all, master of none.

Look at this guy Webster, 31 years of age, well cooked and playing best among both teams, coming with tons and tons of experience.

What an erratic display of bowling with no consistency and no plans. When pitch is offering you the movement, these bowlers are doling out half volley for any damn club cricketer to score runs off. Minus bumrah the bowling department is just toothless. Yes they got the wickets, that’s because of the pitch, look at the runs given for those wickets, when pitch is so fiery. One going at 6RPO and other at 5RPO, chasing a modest target of 162. How many 4 balls are doled out is simply out of mind. Simply garbage bowling. Man the gap between Bumrah and the rest is really on show here. They have taken wickets (although a fair few of them were gifts), but there's just zero control.

Pick Sundar as a spin bowling all rounder on one of the seamiest decks in Australia in ages. Bat him at 9. Don't bowl him.

Just India things. What's the point of this selection again? Thanks GG for taking this team to another nadir, keep celebrating saving follow-on. Minus Bumrah and rains we were looking at embarrassing 5-0.

We are allowed to lose BGT once in 10 years - Sharma Ji’s take !!

Man of the match - Boland
Man of the Series - Cummins

Oh man well said, that’s what GG brings to the table with his IPL mentality and picking players on his whims.

This team is a disaster starting from management.
Deadweights like Rohit, Kohli and even KL aren't shown the door. Youngsters like Jurel, padikkal, Sarfraz don't get games because of this. Look how Australia dropped Marsh and Webster contributed. They even brought Konstas and he made a positive contribution.

Bumrah injury meant game is gone. Still batters couldn't even give a 200 target. They made Ashwin retire and what exactly has Sundar contributed or even Jadeja did. Siraj is overrated as usual.

Anyways, all will be forgotten in few days so why bother.

It's over. I hope the thinktank realises that Test matches cannot be consistently won without specialists. In a way, I am glad we lost this. If we had somehow managed to scrap through this match they would make no changes.

Overbowling Bumrah came to haunt us. But there is absolutely no justification for going into a major test match with only 3 effective bowlers.

Packing in all rounders to bolster the batting due to non-performers has to stop!

This sums up the story of two men deputed to lead their teams to victory in the BGT.

Any semblance of respect for cricket must compel the selectors to dial the Sharma-Kohli duo and bid them goodbye. Any semblance of respect for cricket must compel BCCI to dial the selectors and bid them goodbye. Any semblance of respect for cricket must compel the Union Sports ministry to dial the head honchos at BCCI and bid them goodbye.

It is high time the ground is given a good shake up and dilapidated structures dismantled forthwith.

As I predicted, Bumrah's magic and some support from other end led to victory in the first test. No one standing up except Bumrah and we lost 3 of the remaining 4 tests. :)