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I think India has done really well until now. Middle order has stabilized the innings well and they have been good for a first test match ! If they play like this in both innings, it will depend on the bowlers on how we do in the test.

I dont think I can ever forgive Rahane after what he did. Similar incident with Pant in the NZ series too. No other way kohli would have gotten out today, such good touch he was in.

I hope we can get to 300 tomorrow, else even a draw becomes highly unlikely.

Before this, both in ODIs and Tests Kohli didn't have a 100 only in his debut year of 2008 and 2011 respectively. It is 2020 after all!

Bowling is definitely cause for concern because I'm not sure really sure if Shami, Bumrah, Umesh and Ashwin and maybe few over from Vihari are enough to get 20 Aussie wickets.

To add to it our first inning total may not be significantly big to put any pressure on the Aussie batting. Fingers crossed.

Sehwag was exceptional because of his excellent hand eye coordination, don't think Shaw is in that league. Sehwag knew only one way to play and he blasted his way through but in the latter part of his career most good international bowlers had figured out how to get his wicket.

300 is the magical number our batting unit needs to look at everytime when they are overseas. It was quite a sad end to a gritty innings from Virat.

Agreed. Don't think hand eye co-ordination is something one can work on, either you have it or you don't!

Sehwag despite all his flamboyant stroke play had a pretty decent defensive technique in test matches. He wouldn't have been able to notch up all those triple hundreds without that. All players who relied on hand eye coordination had their abilities on the wane once they were in the wrong side of thirties, Chanderpaul may be the only exception who went on till 40. It would be interesting to see how Smith(another player who's more of hand eye) fares once he reaches that stage of his career.

I really don't understand why Shaw was picked. He was in no kind of form in IPL as well as in the warm up games. Rahul would have been so much better.

I don't understand why people will even compare Shaw with Sehwag. Sehwag wasn't a slogger trying to hit every ball, he had impeccable defensive technique which he readily used in SENA countries.

In tests he would mostly start cautiously and then smash the bowlers around. Where as Shaw has flaws in his technique and his defence is very poor. Also, Sehwag was street smart and knew which bowler to target when. Shaw needs to go back to domestic and correct his flaws. Also, I blame the idiotic team selection by management once again for picking an out of form player based on stats.

Rahane is a gentleman cricketer so I am sure he would be cursing himself for getting Kohli out. We could have dominated this match at that point. Now we need to struggle and get to 300 somehow.

I am predicting a fifer for bumrah or Shami. This match is seriously fun to watch now.

Just saw this now. Still early days for Shaw at test level.

Don't forget Ponting was his Coach in the IPL. Wonder if they especially international coaches and captains have some non disclosure agreements? Ponting would very well know Shaw's weakness and may pass on his learnings to Australia.
On another note I am expecting half centuries from both Saha and Ashwin. Some long slogs from Umesh and Shami. All together putting India more than 350 :)

How can you forget our Lord Bumrah who made a run ball 50 in the practice match :D On a serious note I hope tail contributes and we manage 300 minimum.

Ponting doesn't needs to pass on anything. These days with all the video analysis and stuff everyone knows everyone's weakness. Remember even the great Tendulkar had to sacrifice his favourite cover drive in that 2004 tour when Aussies figured he was suspectible to get out on that a lot.

On a lighter note -

What form are you referring to ? Definitely the IPL and practice games aren't a real indicator of form from Test cricket perspective.

Shaw had a great test debut series in 2018 against West Indies with a century on debut (youngest Indian test centurion and player of the series) and earlier this year against New Zealand, he got one 50 in 2 tests, so from a statistical perspective he's had a decent run. However, he doesn't seem very sound technically and does have chinks in the armour which are being exploited by international bowlers as we saw in the IPL and now in this test by Starc.

Prithwi Shaw test stats - Link

Overall, a middling day for India. Australia slightly ahead in the current position, but all it takes is one good bowling spell from Indians to come back.

• I really hope Pujara finds a way to work Lyon for 1s and 2s. It seemed to me that he gave Lyon an opportunity to set him up
• Kohli run-out should have been avoided
• I wonder whether the Kohli runout played a part in messing up Ajinkya Rahane's focus. The new pink ball might be tough, but he could have been a little more careful
• A lot will rely on Saha and Ashwin playing out session 1 to get us to 300. Some quick runs from Umesh & Shami will be a bonus
• India needs to get Australia to start batting in session 2. It'll be hard for the batsman as the human eye takes some time to get adjusted to the transition from daylight to the dark sky
• A lot will depend on getting Steve Smith & Marnus Labuschagne out cheaply

***

Unfair to compare Sehwag & Shaw. Sehwag is a tremendously gifted player who had brilliant eye-hand co-ordination. The odds of India finding another Sachin are higher than finding another Sehwag.

With all due respect, WI isn't the greatest opposition on the planet. International cricket is ruthless - coaches & analysts observe video footage and pick weakness very quickly and Shaw has been found wanting regularly.

Who doesn't have weaknesses? Marvan Attapattu started with 5 ducks, but was a solid player for Sri Lanka. I think Shaw can be a wonderful player for India if he works on his technique. Now is just not his time.

On a close watch both Pujara and Kohli played Lyon too tentatively. Both were worried about the bounce he was getting. Kohli's uncharacteristic stepping out and lofting him was an indication that they wanted to rattle him a bit. Rahane often play Lyon with caution too. It's critical to have Mayank to stay long enough so that Lyon threat is negated to an extent with his positive stroke play. Our batters soon should have an answer against him. Presently it appears they've prepared well for the examination against their pacers, not Lyon.

With Australia having literally a five pronged attack with Green in the mix, there's no respite whatsoever, there's long hard work for our batsmen ahead in the series. If Indians continue to play Lyon tentatively, he'll wreck more damage than their pacers. He may not have a pacers tally in an innings but he'll keep taking out that key wicket here and there.

Agree, which is why I said Test stats look decent for Shaw. However, the horses for courses strategy hasn't been applied consistently and in the right spirit as Kohli and Shastri may claim (that's the usual reasoning given for effecting team changes in every game). So, largely they go by statistics and it was expected they will play Shaw and if he failed, will go with other options like Gill.
Gill seems very promising but I just hope he lives up to the expectations and isn't shoe-horned into playing at some position that he's not comfortable. He's technically sound and has shown that he can handle playing different positions like the opening slot or top/middle order, but again at the international/test level things could turn out to be different.