[Eddy]

A factor that contributes to bowler fatigue is back to back matches. Test matches nowadays are played at gaps of 3 days sometimes so the workload has to be managed.

Another factor that the captains are scared of is batting last with the pitch crumbling and combating the score card pressure.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by carboy

Steve Waugh enforced the follow-on each and every time his team had a chance to.

Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, Steve Waugh shouldn't have been on that list of captains in my earlier post!

But that loss in Kolkata made other Aussie captains a little hesitant when it came to enforcing the follow on.

In fact, Steve Waugh enforced the follow on 7 times after that Kolkata defeat and won all 7 matches
A good read on that here

[landcruiser123]

Unfair to say West Indies drew the match due to the weather conditions. When the side was 4-48 overnight, I thought the match is over when we get a lot of overs on day 5.

WI played really well. This draw means a lot for them. India can't relax now.

[NPV]

West Indies definitely deserve a lot of credit for some excellent middle order batting, they were determined and resilient and went on to save the match, good performance by Roston Chase. A very good draw from their perspective.

[PPS]

Credit to the West Indies but this is exactly the kind of situation why we were playing 5 bowlers in the first place, so that we could bowl the opposition out. When the batsman starts attacking, our bowling looks pretty listless irrespective of opposition. Kumble will have some work to do with the bowlers.
And i guess Pujara will be dropped for next test if Vijay has recovered from his thumb injury.

[carwatcher]

I really can't understand that why Kohli is averse to using part-time bowler for couple of overs just to break the concentration, match was anyway going to be a draw. I like his clear cut approach, aggressive captaincy but I believe he should've tried couple of overs at least. He himself bowls spin.

At the same time WI played very well, no doubt. Good to see some competition.

[mukul32]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

I really can't understand that why Kohli is averse to using part-time bowler for couple of overs just to break the concentration, match was anyway going to be a draw. I like his clear cut approach, aggressive captaincy but I believe he should've tried couple of overs at least. He himself bowls spin.
At the same time WI played very well, no doubt. Good to see some competition.

Well, I'd like to correct you a bit there. Kohli doesn't bowl spin, he bowls right arm slow-medium seam.
He has a rather odd trundling action, similar to the Pakistan seamer Sohail Tanvir.
He probably didn't use part timers because he wanted to reaffirm his faith on the five bowler strategy.

[Eddy]

We don't want to walk away from the field wishing we had the fifth bowler. If five bowlers have given their best, and the opposition have done well, you just doff your hat to them.

This sums it up pretty well from Kohli.

I did not see the match but cricinfo commentary suggests that Ashwin was introduced very late and that Yadav & Mishra did not bowl too well.

[karanraheja]

Originally Posted by Eddy

This sums it up pretty well from Kohli.

I did not see the match but cricinfo commentary suggests that Ashwin was introduced very late and that Yadav & Mishra did not bowl too well.

Ashwin was introduced quite late and infact he took Blackwood's wicket in his 2nd/3rd over. I saw few overs of Yadav and his bowling was quite poor. I think Shami to an extent bowled ok. Otherwise poor bowling performance in 2nd innings.

[harry10]

In my honest opinion both Umesh and Ishant do not deserve any place in our team. Instead we should try bhuvi and someone else. Also, our batters need to play a little faster as this is no longer ninety's cricket where you can play and play dots after dots for your spot in the team. At least a 65-70 strike rate is needed by top 4 if we want to dominate test matches.

[vamsi.kona]

If there are any young decently talented batsmen who can play spin in this forum, no need to be great, they can try their luck in Australian team.

[carwatcher]

Looking at the Indian batsmen capability of playing spin, they can try their luck even in Indian team.
Asian pitches make a strong case for 4 day Tests.

[vamsi.kona]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Looking at the Indian batsmen capability of playing spin, they can try their luck even in Indian team.
Asian pitches make a strong case for 4 day Tests.

Haha. I believe there is some improvement with the quality of batsmen we have. Vijay, Kohli, Rahane and Pujara are decent players of spin. Dhawan is also not bad against spin. Can only judge Rahul after some more tests. So all in all Indian stocks are better I think, and hope, than Australia.

Its sad that we are capitulating against part time spinners also off late, but I hope that is more because of lack of application and temperament rather than lack of skill. Let's see what happens.

[pratyush6]

I was seriously disappointed with India not winning this one. Credit to WI lower order. I was somewhat amazed by some strategies.
Thought the moment we had the new ball, we would have introduced one of the spinners for sure. The pitch was slow and waiting for the ball to be roughed up made it even harder for the bowlers. With a coach like Anil Kumble, I expected this move - but saw absolutely no plan B. I can't understand Yadav playing! He was abysmal, to say the least. Ishant was actually good.

3 things we did not do right:
1. Introduce Ashiwn really late on Day 5
2. Not give spinners a chance with the new ball
3. Bowlers sticking to the line and length - not trying anything, I mean every bowler here

Hope for a better performance in the 3rd Test. This WI team is really poor and if we don't win such tests, it does not augur well.

On the other hand Australia is getting rolled over by Sri Lanka spinners. I was aghast to see some of the dismissals. It looked school boyish really. Zero Confidence in the batsmen. Yes, the pitch was taking a lot of turn, and that too sharp turn but the technique left a lot to be desired.

[vamsi.kona]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

On the other hand Australia is getting rolled over by Sri Lanka spinners. I was aghast to see some of the dismissals. It looked school boyish really. Zero Confidence in the batsmen. Yes, the pitch was taking a lot of turn, and that too sharp turn but the technique left a lot to be desired.

The pitch is a decent one and playing true to how it used to behave in that ground. No demons in the pitch. If you see many dismissals were straighter balls, not one's which turned. It is lack of temperament and poor shot selection. What was voges thinking going for reverse sweep for a ball well pitched outside legstump. He could have just padded it up. If they are unable to master regular sweep, which Hayden used very effectively against spin, how can they master reverse sweep. And for what reward to such a huge risk. Its not as if they have 4 runs of 1 ball to score.