The Cricket Thread

[NPV]

21/2 already! And no more reviews

Losing is ok, but not without a fight, hope it doesn't end with a pathetic low score.

Stats heavily against India now:
Last time India were 2-down for less than 20 when chasing at home, also vs Australia - in Nagpur (2 for 9, chasing 542) and Bangalore (2 for 7, chasing 456); lost both.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Would be a great achievement if they did so, but for all the accolades that have been heaped on the line up, I think they should.

Ok, you had your time of glory with the predictions and now it's time for reality as the moment(s) of truth are already out there - At Tea, India are 99/6 and Kohli's "double century" is over

Preparing rank turners is boomeranging badly on us - our batsmen can't play spin as well as the Aussies! Heck, we can't even bowl spin as well as they can *sad*

[Chetan_Rao]

World's best players of spin, undone by a rookie.

The LOL notwithstanding, it's not funny at all. Losing is fine, folding like this is ridiculous!

[Sawyer]

When the cricketing world calls us flat track bullies we get upset; and now, we are shown up even in India.

It will be an interesting series. And Kohli's character will be severely tested.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by NPV

Ok, you had your time of glory with the predictions and now it's time for reality as the moment(s) of truth are already out there - At Tea, India are 99/6 and Kohli's "double century" is over

Preparing rank turners is boomeranging badly on us - our batsmen can't play spin as well as the Aussies! Heck, we can't even bowl spin as well as they can *sad*

Yeah..

Wish pigs could actually fly!!

So lost it that I am watching Avengers in Hindi

[Eddy]

This is definitely England 2012 part two. Their spinners are faster in the air and therefore more effective on these kind of pitches.

I foresee Jayant being dropped for the next match. If we play safe, Nair may come in. But given that the match will be played in Bangalore, an extra batsman may not be required. So who plays ? Kuldeep Yadav ?

[Sawyer]

The other nice thing that Australia has done is score more than 500 runs on this wicket and more in their second innings than the first. It will now not be easy - as much as they will be anxious to - for the Indian team management to blame the lost toss or the wicket/curator, though the remaining tracks must now be getting a lot more attendance, water and rolling right away.

We were outthought and outplayed.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Yeah..

Wish pigs could actually fly!!

Sorry to nitpick....Both innings put together India just about totalled little more than a double century - 105 & 107

The writing was always on the wall - a team scoring under 150 in their first innings going on to win a match is extremely rare.

[Santoshbhat]

Unbelievable scoreline! If the pitch was so unplayable how did we let them score 285 in the third innings with such world class spinners?

Indian batsmen seem to be clueless against left arm spin (Remeber Monty Panesar?). Lots of classic left arm around the wicket dismissals with batsmen planting their foot down the middle and not picking the straight ones.

[landcruiser123]

Well played Australia.
I think the Indian batsmen played ordinarily in both innings. Had we got at least 350 in the first innings, the game could have been different with scoreboard pressure on Australia in the third innings.

I think the 5 bowler strategy will remain. I'll not be surprised in Hardik Pandya makes it to the team in place in Ishant Sharma. Also, I think J Yadav will make way for Kuldeep Yadav.

[libranof1987]

Wonder if all the arrogance from not the player themselves, but past cricketers got into their head.

Ganguly said this will be a 4-0 whitewash, he even reiterated how he had correctly predicted 5-0 or 4-0 with England and it happened. Gavaskar was so bullish when he said Aus will be all out within day 2 in about 60-80 runs.

No problem with the defeat as such but the manner is concerning.

England must be feeling so stupid! Aus did to India what India did to England all winter!

[Eddy]

The next one starts on Saturday in Bangalaore. And we have won just 5-6 tests there, out of the 20 odd we've played. Not too encouraging, is it ?

[Engine_Roars]

Had been to witness the fall of the GIANTS on the last day of match(Did not know it would be the last hour of the match). Entered the stadium around 2 PM, was out by 3 PM, was stuck in traffic till 3:30 PM and was home by 04:00 PM. Wify could not have asked for more, Indian team just made her day.

[pratyush6]

It was a tough one for us, the last test. There was a sense of control that was missing. But when you field so bad, you can expect such things. I wonder what's happened to our catching - dropping sitters is absolutely normal these days. Look at players who regularly drop them - in slips you have Vijay & Rahane who routinely drop catches; in the field you have slow men like Ashwin, Pujara, Ishant.

Aussies literally ran us ragged - stealing singles from below our noses. Then came our famed batting - I am convinced we cannot play decent spin, this has been proved time and time again. We win, simply because the opposition batsmen are sometimes worse than us.

I'd drop Rahane, Jayant and Saha for Nair, Bhuvi and Patel. Someone also needs to have word with KL Rahul, the man literally gifts his wickets away and in Tests you don't do that. A good team will absolutely murder us and it showed up in the first test.

I have no idea why Jayant is in this team? He cannot bowl, cannot field and can only bat on flat tracks against a ragged attack. Saha is generally good behind wickets and generally bad in pressure situations. Same for Rahane - I maintain he tries to hit his way out of trouble, when there is pressure, which is so unlike him.

God help us now.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Eddy

And we have won just 5-6 tests there, out of the 20 odd we've played. Not too encouraging, is it ?

True that, exactly what I was thinking
From my memory (not sure if this is statistically true of all the tests played at Bangalore), opposition spinners have mostly done better on Bangalore pitches in the past.
Let's see how this one goes!