[KPR]

2 smilies in a post: This is Prithvi Shaw .
Why should Starc have all the fun? Let Cummins have one innings fun too.

[srishiva]

I think its the pace and nip coming back to Shaw. He seems slow in his movements. He has a almost Lara like flourish (my friends think he is Richards jokingly ofcourse ) to his batting when balls keep straight ! Need to have very soft hands in defense and cant really push into it.

[VWAllstar]

How many of you think Bhumrah can occupy the crease longer than Shaw?

Surely Shaw needs to come back to Mumbai and work on his technique playing the domestic tournaments.

Agrawal and KL Rahul must open in the next match.

[jkrishnakj]

And to think that every defence of Bumrah was applauded , would have rubbed it a lot more harder for Shaw.

I think it’s curtains for him in this tour.

Tomorrow’s first session becomes super crucial. 50-60 runs with just one more wicket given means that India will be in the drivers seat. But , 3-4 wickets lost for 20-35 runs means , the game will get interesting. Lets see what the morrow holds.

[Oxy]

We could have probably ended with a 100 plus runs lead had we held on to those dollies we dropped. The fielding coach needs to be held accountable.

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by KPR

Regarding Rahane I don't have high hopes on him. He is currently the 'bits and pieces' player for ODI, IPL and Tests for India. I will be happy if Rahane proves me wrong.

In tests, Rahane has terrific record against SA in SA and against Australia in Australia. His away average is more than his total average and home average. He has played a stellar role in many Indian wins away. Only two Indians in the current test team who can boast of a hundred in an away win are Pujara and Rahane which something even Kohli can't boast off. He seems like a bits and pieces player because he is neglected. He is the perfect test player in away conditions based on his contributions and his average. He had a bad NZ away tour and so did all Indian batsmen.

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

KL Rahul is another batsman who should be preferred over Rahane considering his form and state of mind. He showed great composure and maturity as a captain in IPL and looks destined to be a good player if chances been given at the right time.

Vividly remember that KL Rahul & Pant couldn't even bat a session to save a test in England when they had completed their hundreds and we want Rahul to be part of this team. The thing with Rahul is he is very skilled but when it comes to temperament and patience to succeed in tests he seems lacking in it.

Originally Posted by KPR

2 smilies in a post: This is Prithvi Shaw .
Why should Starc have all the fun? Let Cummins have one innings fun too.

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

How many of you think Bhumrah can occupy the crease longer than Shaw?
Surely Shaw needs to come back to Mumbai and work on his technique playing the domestic tournaments.
Agrawal and KL Rahul must open in the next match.

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

And to think that every defence of Bumrah was applauded , would have rubbed it a lot more harder for Shaw.
I think it’s curtains for him in this tour.

Think we need to give the youngster some space. He has not been on form since his surgery. He was picked because he averages 54 in Ranji at S/R of 80 and he has scored a 100 on both FC & Test debut. His FC debut came vs TN in a big match which happened to be Ranji SF where Mumbai had a tricky target of 251 in the 4th inn. So he has done enough to be picked into the National side.

BTW Sehwag averaged 26 in NZ & SA. Laxman averaged 34 in ENG. By that yardstick Prithvi Shaw has failed just in two of his 4 tests. So we need to cut some slack for the kid. He is just woefully out of form. Hope he will be back in form. He has the technique, just needs the temperament to handle tests and not hit or poke every ball.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by Oxy

The fielding coach needs to be held accountable.

It's akin to blaming the car manufacturer for one's rash driving and a resultant mishap

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

It's akin to blaming the car manufacturer for one's rash driving and a resultant mishap

Sorry but there has to be a justification why this Sridhar guy is our fielding coach ahead of people like Jonty Rhodes.

We dropped Labuschagne thrice, Smith once, Paine once and Lyon once from what I can remember. There has to be some accountability to this. We could have been easily 150 runs ahead by now.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by Oxy

We dropped Labuschagne thrice, Smith once, Paine once and Lyon once from what I can remember. There has to be some accountability to this. We could have been easily 150 runs ahead by now.

By the way my reply was in jest

Originally Posted by Oxy

Sorry but there has to be a justification why this Sridhar guy is our fielding coach ahead of people like Jonty Rhodes.

By having a high profile player like Jonty as a fielding coach doesn't quite translate to higher fielding standards. One of the most successful coaches John Buchanan never played international cricket but guided Australia to two world cup wins and oversaw Australia's domination for nearly a decade and had a staggering win % of some 80% or so across formats. It's all about what they bring to the table than prowess during their heydays.

Using that yardstick, Sanjay Bangar and now Vikram Rathour as batting coaches should be held accountable too for Shaw's obvious technical flaws. Shastri is answerable too. Shaw has been with the team since 18 months or so. How come they didn't spot such a glaring deficiency in his batting and not worked on it?

[creative420]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Sorry but there has to be a justification why this Sridhar guy is our fielding coach ahead of people like Jonty Rhodes.

We dropped Labuschagne thrice, Smith once, Paine once and Lyon once from what I can remember. There has to be some accountability to this. We could have been easily 150 runs ahead by now.

TV feeds you with real-time data. The number of catches taken and dropped. But it doesn't show the butterflies in stomachs. The hardships of a year gone by and then playing a test after it. For the kind of year we've had, I'm glad about the position we're in. Let the beautiful game unfold in its true raw nature. It's a 'test' match. It tests everyone, the player, players' kin, the fielding coach, and us - the viewers.

[ABHI_1512]

Coaching positions for Cricket in India is a joke. How many people remember John Wright was the coach when India had the fabulous time in many outside tours and almost won the World Cup. Everyone remembers Saurav Ganguly and he is the one who is credited for the turnaround in Indian cricket post the match fixing saga.

Greg Chappel wanted to be the guy who calls the shots in everything and promptly got dumped, liked him as a batsman though. Gary Kirsten and Duncan Fletcher almost reaped the good work of John Wright and stayed on behind the scenes because they were anyway smart.

Anil Kumble was the one I had high hopes but he was also promptly made to go since in India player power is always bigger then anything and hence we got the cocky Shastri. So blaming coaches for the flaws of our cricketers is not even a question otherwise a Vikram Rathore or Shridhar would not have been in the support staff at the first place.

Now, coming to the actual part, Prithvi Shaw doesn’t have the technique to play in overseas pitches where the ball seams and swings but then even Sehwag had the same technique. This is a fact that folks like Prithvi Shaw and Shubmaan Gill have to play more domestic cricket before being in the Indian Team. It’s the bad effect of IPL which catapults players in the Indian team without the first class statistics. Shaw and Gill are young and should be playing more overseas matches as part of the A team or similar before being in the main team. Scoring heavily on docile Indian pitches counts for nothing if you are not technically correct !

Players like Mayank Agarwal played and scored heavily in the domestic circuit before making it to the Indian team and that should be the right way but then when was the right thing ever happened in Indian Cricket.
A player with suspect technique will always be sorted in red ball cricket and unfortunately, in these days of 20-20, majority of the players lack that.

Earlier, overseas tours involved practise matches or first class games before the test series. At least players got the measure of the pitches and the bounce. The pitches are lot more true now then it was before across Australia. Playing a 20-20 or one-dayers are no way to judge a player’s familiarity with the pitches, specially when teams these days are different for each format.

This pink ball swings and seams much more than the red ball and therein comes the talk of technique. The performance of batsmen from both the teams tells you about the state of the technique that the current batsmen possesses against the moving ball. Apart from the major batsmen, very few today can bat for a session against the moving ball.

I am sticking my neck out to say that India despite taking a lead in the ongoing test, might lose the test and it is only on Virat the player and Rahane/Pujara to do an encore to avoid that. I don’t have high hopes from Virat-the Captain !!

[jkrishnakj]

I feel the Pujara/Virat and Rahane combo together should get about 150-160 runs. One of them should stay and bat around everyone else. Stay and bat at least till after Tea on day 3.

Mayank should see through the first hour tomorrow. He is one player who can give it a go against Lyon, or at least he is one guy who can make it tough for Lyon tomorrow.

So, my bet is a 50 for Mayank, a 150-160 from the Pujara/Virat/Rahane combo and 25-35 from our tail.

If this happens, then, my bet will be on Shami, the 4th innings man for us. Shami can bring it home.

[harry10]

What an amazing 2 days of Test cricket. I believe since 2001 Aus vs Ind series these has to be the 2 best teams against each other. Yes, Poms will argues Ashes and all but for the sheer competitiveness Ind vs Aus rules.

Anyways, coming to the match. Was highly disappointed with our tail adding just 11 runs for 4 wickets. But, bowling was fantastic, Shami was unlucky not to get a couple, Umesh bowled with heart, Ashwin was fantastic with his variations and change of pace but the Star was Bumrah, created so many chances and would have gotten a fifer if not for Butterfingers by Indian fielders. Based on this tour alone Sridhar should be immediately fired and someone competent with good credentials should be appointed. Still, can't believe bcci rejected Jonty Rhodes as fielding coach, absolutely brainless.

Paine batted beautifully to guide the tail and adding crucial 80+ runs otherwise lead would have been 100+. Pant can make a similar impact and he did on the last tour.

Today, Bumrah had a better defense than Shaw. I don't want to be too harsh on Shaw as he is just 21 and has time to rectify his game if he has the resolve for that. But, he shouldn't be anywhere near Indian team till he sorts his technical game out.

We just need 250 total to defend in 4th innings. Barring catches dropped we should have a 100+ lead today. Still 62/1 is a good platform to build on.

Next match, Gill in for Shaw, Rahul in for Kohli but he should bat at 5 and Rahane should bat at 4. Pant in for Saha. Hopefully we don't have any more selection blunders. Also, KL Rahul should have batted in one of the practice matches cos now he will be roped in straight into an intense series. Same goes for Rohit Sharma who already isn't a great red ball player. I so wish we could have Kohli for the entire series. But, family comes first.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by harry10

I so wish we could have Kohli for the entire series. But, family comes first.

There was a time when the country came first, even before the family. Kapil Dev didn’t even start a family when he was playing, Sunil Gavaskar did not get to see his child for long since he was playing for the country.

When you are representing your country, there are sacrifices to be made and that’s my view. Not everybody gets to play for the country and one should never take the spot in the Indian team for granted but then times are different now !!

[anandhsub]

What an amazing day of play. Will watch every ball this weekend, praying we get to a 275-300 lead tomorrow and win on Sunday.

Can only imagine what we could have achieved if we had this bowling attack during the golden age of batting in the 2000s with Sehwag/Sachin/Dravid/Laxman