What's new

Australia v India | 3rd Test | Mohali | Mar 14-18, 2013 | Day 5

Status
Not open for further replies.
@Buffet - Nope, match will be played till 4.30 PM closing time regardless of those 40 overs being bowled early or not :)
 
This partnership would have to go on for another 20 overs for Australia to avoid losing.

India fans should relax, this one is in the bag.
 
As I was fearing from yesterday, our inability to get the lower order out quickly means that we are going to screwed today. Might not have many overs or much time to chase this total which is getting bigger by each passing over.
 
Doherty of all the batters is allowed to play this long, just doesn't augur well for the conclusion of this match. It slowly appears that the poor time/balls wasting batting (which reduced the number of overs that we could bowl at OZ batters) yesterday is probably going to haunt our team today.
 
Another 30-40 odd runs and then game is on....
 
OZGOD said:
You're probably too young to remember our team in the 1980s then. We couldn't even beat NZ back then.

Nobody is justifying what has been a terrible tour and a poor performance all around. It was to be expected though. We haven't won in this country since 2004 and the last few tours have been difficult, admittedly against stronger Indian opposition than we are facing at the moment. Since the last time we played India and SA we have lost 2 veteran batsmen to retirement. Before this tour began everyone knew that the only gun batsman in the lineup was Clarke. Warner is an Afridiesque slogger who comes good about 10% of the time, Cowan is a slower version of Chris Tavare, Hughes doesn't have the mental strength to deal with repeated droppings and doesn't have the technique to play spin, while Twatto was a perennial underperformer at Test level. Twatto's real value to the side was the fact he was a viable third seamer - as a batsman he isn't consistent enough to bat in the top order. It worked when there as a strong middle order coming after him but that isn't there now and his limitation is exposed. Wade for Haddin, well that's six of one vs half a dozen of the other.

You keep talking about pathetic selections but the reality is, for the most part, these are the blokes that have performed well in Shield cricket. You could argue that Doherty doesn't deserve to be there on form and he doesn't since he averages 60 in Shield cricket. You can see that they have been given a reaming out by India but there's not a lot of other players back home who you could say might have done better. The only players that come to mind are: Steve O'Keeve (questionable as I don't think any OZ spinner would be effective in India, if Warney and MacGill struggled then these other blokes are up against it), Pat Cummins (injured), Jackson Bird (injured), Hilfenhaus (only averages 43 in India).

The question that needs to be asked is, is Shield cricket still producing the best cricketers that can handle the mental pressure that comes with playing not just in familiar home grounds with consistent bounce, but hostile overseas tours where the ball will be turning square or swinging or reversing. That's the question that needs to be asked. Is our system still preparing cricketers not just physically, but mentally, for the demands of playing in different conditions?

During the glory days you could identify a couple of things that happened to kick it off in the early 1990s: 1) some promising young players started to string together some consistent performances and grew in confidence as a result; and 2) there started to be some consistency in selection. Then as time wore on it became a real challenge to get into the side - players like Hayden, Hussey, Hodge and Marto had to wait years till they were in their late 20s/early 30s for their opportunity, and in the meantime they honed their skills in Shield cricket. These days we have no consistency leading to a revolving door of selection, and the players being blooded are a lot younger and don't quite have that mental strength. I feel that these days things are coming too easy for these blokes as well, they have people to look after everything they do and they get paid a ton more than the blokes did back in the 1980s/90s.

Maybe that contributes to the "overpaid, underachieving, entitlement culture" that I think is starting to permeate through Australian sport, not just in cricket, but in rugby and other sports as well. These little disciplinary lapses and backchat and not doing what the coach tells you is a symptom of that. Those of you who are only young enough to remember Australian cricket's glory days will have no idea of how factional infighting, disrespect for captain and coach and lack of discipline destroyed our side in the early 1980s. We can't have a repeat of those. If not picking those 4 players contributed to us losing this Test then so be it. Hopefully those who were given the @rse for this Test will take it on the chin and be stronger for the experience.
Click to expand...

You make some good points but when i mentioned pathetic selections i meant the simple fact that players are dropped far too early and not allowed to develop themselves. Shane Warne left a huge void and the world class, once in a life time bowler he was he has set such a huge benchmark that the selectors, captains, coaches and even fans have very high and unreasonable expectations of the spinners that come through the ranks. You cannot be spoilt, you will have to play with what you have, identify 2-3 spinners, one wrist spinning leg spinner, an offie and a left armer and just stick with them. Allow them time to develop. Give them 20-30 games to establish themselves, build confidence because this aussie attack needs spin options and variety.

As far as the batting is concerned, i personally feel there are too many bits and pieces players in the test side. If Watson wont be bowling in test matches then he should stick to ODI and T-20's. Warner looks fine as the Sehwag type player but you have to do away with Smith and the other bits and pieces players. Hughes looks so ugly at the crease, you can clearly tell he is going to struggle in international cricket. Surely there must be other options in domestic cricket. Is performance and high scoring in Sheffield Shield the only criteria? How about identifying a few batsmen who look to have the technique, potential with the bat and drafting them in?

Previously the aussies had a lot of quality in the national team and hence it was easier to make domestic performers wait out till their late 20's, early 30's before a slot became available in the national side but the dynamics have changed now. Right now the problem i feel plaguing Australian Cricket is not first class cricket but the fact that the players are just not of the same standard as their contemporaries but there is nothing wrong with this as every country eventually goes through this phase like the WI, Pak, India etc and SA will go through it as well when Kallis retires.

While i believe its good to have options but as far as fast bowling is concerned, Aussies have too many options i.e. Siddle, Starc, Pattinson, Johnson, Cummins, Hilfenhaus, Harris etc. I mean they are all good wicket taking aggressive bowlers but you cant play all of them. With the ashes coming up the Aussies should have identified their top 3-4 pacers. Its been 6 years since Warne retired, thats enough time to find another spinner.

These suspensions of these players has just looked drama queenish to me and it shows a side that is under the pump of late and a captain, coach looking to find ways to divert attention, scapegoat others.

Ponting, Hussey were needed for atleast another 2 years. I am surprised no effort was made to convince these guys to keep playing in the larger national interest.
 
120 runs with 30-odd overs to get is only 4RPO on a wicket good for batting.
 
Aussies might actually save this Test, what an all rounder Starc is
 
JibranAnsari said:
India might get these in 15 with dhawan on attack.
Click to expand...

He can't bat due to not being on field for long time. Anyway, 150-160 to chase in quick time might be tricky if Aus can take few quick wickets. I want to see that kind of situation.
 
Dhoni's pathetic captaincy exposed again. This guy has to be the most defensive captain ever.

2-0 ahead, opposition 140/8 and he had almost 4 fielders on the boundary for the last 25-30 overs
 
Who cares India have nothing to lose, they cannot lose from here and are already 2-0 up
 
The general lack of intent has been appalling to watch. No energy on the field, waiting for things to happen..and now Aussies have nearly saved the test
 
When I complained yesterday about the lack of intent from our batters to score quickly and not waste overs, I was heckled upon by some posters here. This is what will happen when you waste so many overs batting without scoring any runs. Now we have too less of a time to bowl to OZ batters and will be even lesser time to chase whatever total they sets upon (that is if we can get this final wicket) :facepalm:
 
The last wicket pair for OZs have batted 16 overs between them and scored a very valuable 39 runs so far
 
A score of 140-150 is common in ODIs at the 30 over mark , anything over that and India will throw in the towel.
 
avidlearner said:
When I complained yesterday about the lack of intent from our batters to score quickly and not waste overs, I was heckled upon by some posters here. This is what will happen when you waste so many overs batting without scoring any runs. Now we have too less of a time to bowl to OZ batters and will be even lesser time to chase whatever total they sets upon (that is if we can get this final wicket) :facepalm:
Click to expand...

How would that have helped when the captain has 4 fielders on the fence with the opposition effectively 50/8
 
It happens...India are 2-0 up already, no need for the wrist slitting
 
RexRex said:
A score of 140-150 is common in ODIs at the 30 over mark , anything over that and India will throw in the towel.
Click to expand...

Well, in test you can bowl and set field defensively. It's not same as ODI. that's why it will be interesting to see Indian approach if Aus gives 150 target to chase in 30 overs. But I doubt that Aus will go for that, I will be temped to declare and let India take few chances to chase at over 5 runs an over. It's not that easy in test matches.
 
Last edited:
Avenger said:
You make some good points but when i mentioned pathetic selections i meant the simple fact that players are dropped far too early and not allowed to develop themselves. Shane Warne left a huge void and the world class, once in a life time bowler he was he has set such a huge benchmark that the selectors, captains, coaches and even fans have very high and unreasonable expectations of the spinners that come through the ranks. You cannot be spoilt, you will have to play with what you have, identify 2-3 spinners, one wrist spinning leg spinner, an offie and a left armer and just stick with them. Allow them time to develop. Give them 20-30 games to establish themselves, build confidence because this aussie attack needs spin options and variety.

As far as the batting is concerned, i personally feel there are too many bits and pieces players in the test side. If Watson wont be bowling in test matches then he should stick to ODI and T-20's. Warner looks fine as the Sehwag type player but you have to do away with Smith and the other bits and pieces players. Hughes looks so ugly at the crease, you can clearly tell he is going to struggle in international cricket. Surely there must be other options in domestic cricket. Is performance and high scoring in Sheffield Shield the only criteria? How about identifying a few batsmen who look to have the technique, potential with the bat and drafting them in?

Previously the aussies had a lot of quality in the national team and hence it was easier to make domestic performers wait out till their late 20's, early 30's before a slot became available in the national side but the dynamics have changed now. Right now the problem i feel plaguing Australian Cricket is not first class cricket but the fact that the players are just not of the same standard as their contemporaries but there is nothing wrong with this as every country eventually goes through this phase like the WI, Pak, India etc and SA will go through it as well when Kallis retires.

While i believe its good to have options but as far as fast bowling is concerned, Aussies have too many options i.e. Siddle, Starc, Pattinson, Johnson, Cummins, Hilfenhaus, Harris etc. I mean they are all good wicket taking aggressive bowlers but you cant play all of them. With the ashes coming up the Aussies should have identified their top 3-4 pacers. Its been 6 years since Warne retired, thats enough time to find another spinner.

These suspensions of these players has just looked drama queenish to me and it shows a side that is under the pump of late and a captain, coach looking to find ways to divert attention, scapegoat others.

Ponting, Hussey were needed for atleast another 2 years. I am surprised no effort was made to convince these guys to keep playing in the larger national interest.
Click to expand...



Agree about the point made that players need some time and security to try and establish themselves in the side. That goes to the lack of continuity that I have mentioned. What is confusing is some new players are given lots and lots of time while others are discarded after a couple of matches. That doesn't tell me that there is a consistent standard applied to players.

The bits and pieces players thing is something that needs to be addressed. I know Inveriarty has this dream of having multitalented cricketers who can contribute to the side in multiple ways, and if you can come up with those then fair enough. But for mine the rule with allrounders has always been that they need to hold their side in the team as one or the other alone if needed. Hence Twatto was a decent enough bowler that he could be picked as a bowling allrounder for Australia, he wasn't a huge strike bowler but he could fulfill that stock bowling role and keep things tight. Now that he's just in there as a batsman he doesn't have the runs on the board to justify his spot. Same goes for Smith or Henriques, neither have proven to be consistently good enough as a batsman OR a bowler to win their spot on either.

Definitely the quality of players prepared enough to enter the national side isn't there. What is there is potential but potential always includes an element of risk. The questions that need to be asked though are what is being done at grassroots level, at grade level and district level to prepare players for Shield cricket, and then what is happening at Shield level to make sure these guys are well prepared both technically and mentally. Possibly they just aren't good enough at the moment.There are a raft of technical problems particularly with batting against spin, which is understandable given there are very few good spinners bowling in the Shield, but the bigger issue is mental I think. When the going gets tough they can't quite hack it. Maybe the odd performance here and there (Henriques, Starc, Siddle) but can't string it together. And there's a risk with picking players who don't perform well in Shield cricket - perfect example is Doherty who they picked because he was a left hander and could turn the ball away from the Indian batsmen, but there's a reason he is averaging 60 in Shield cricket, he just isn't that good. There are some promising young player but a tour of India is probably not where you want to blood them. The hope was that Warner and Cowan would develop as an opening partnership, that Twatto would lift his game, and that Hughes would carry on his form in Shield and vs SA. None of that has happened.

As for Ponting and Hussey, well it's no secret that OZ selection policy can be ruthless and unsentimental. The pressure on Ponting after a couple of dodgy scores against SA in what was a competitive series was immense and had he stayed on and failed in India it would have been very difficult for him with the media and ex-players, pundits, etc all calling for his head. I think they wanted to go out on their own terms.
 
Last edited:
cricketindiafan said:
Yep, as I said the most defensive captain of all time..glad he got exposed again today
Click to expand...

I said the same thing yesterday even quoting our infamous chase in WI few year back under the same captain as an example but was mocked at for being too impatient to understand test cricket by some posters :facepalm:
 
Ridiculous appealing. These guys thought they had the match in their bag and got complacent
 
There's still 150 mins to go ... well over 30 overs to go here
 
Dhoni is too defensive. With his kind of attitude, it would be very difficult for India to improve in the longer run...
 
So we have got a minimum of 27 overs to score off this target

Needed a blistering start from Vijay and whoever opens with him.
 
Time for starc to ramp it up to 150km, if Pattinson was playing I doubt India would be able to chase this.
 
Well done Stac. He should bat bit higher. He looked comfortable facing spinners.

Aus should try to have slow over rate here.
 
Last edited:
The target is chaseable for India, IMO rather than taking wickets Australia should turn to Misbah-mode.
 
Saurav said:
dunno why he didnt bowl earlier

anyway this a tough target now,specially without Dhawan
Click to expand...

Some of MSD's decisions we will never be able to understand, i guess.

Hope we chase this target down in the alloted overs. I will take even a 1 wicket win over a meek draw.
 
Australia should try not to bowl any spinners just have starc and siddle bowl the 30
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Buffet
Congratulations to Pakistan on their first Test win at home in three years
Replies
53
Views
904
Cricket Warrior
C
Buffet
Joe Root: ‘Winning the Ashes in Australia would mean more than anything’
2 3
Replies
165
Views
2K
Buffet
Buffet
Unbiased-Fan
What are your Top 5 favorite wins in test cricket?
Replies
20
Views
587
Vikram1989
V
BouncerGuy
India tour of Australia (2024/25)
5 6 7
Replies
494
Views
42K
KingLiton
KingLiton
The Bald Eagle
  • Poll
Australia (337 & 19/0) defeat India (180 & 175) by 10 wickets in the second Test match to level the 5-match series 1-1
12 13 14
Replies
1K
Views
11K
sweep_shot
sweep_shot
Back
Top