Smith is currently easily the best test batsman in the world.
Australia tour of India - 4 tests
- Thread starter The Man Himself
- Start date
Me neither, but has bowled very well so far.
He averages 75 over the last 4 years.
Wonder what other batsmen have averaged like that over 40 matches. I think Ponting's done it.
I saw him bowl in the u-19 WC few years back and he looked very good.
But this is super impressive to see how much he has come on to translate that potential into control.
I was thinking there's not a lot of room for a chinaman bowler in test cricket with so many right handers, but he looks to have incredible control for a bowler in his first match.
Brilliant. What a debut.
Maxwell had no clue on what had gone past him,great delivery from Kuldeep.
Series defining wicket this imo.
Australia have already let slip the massive advantage they built up over the first session.
Great match already.
Great match already.
This is a good batting wicket for day 1/2 and India have the upper hand now.
Love it.
Bye bye Cheaten Cheat
Bizarre batting by India. All the initiative has been lost
Can't deal with Lyon. Rahul threw his wicket away though after letting Cummins get to him.
Today has been a fantastic day for Australia.
What was the score by close of play? Still three down or not..
India 248/6 trailing by 52.
It's almost as if Indian management forgot that they'll be batting 4th.
Damn.. very much in the balance then.
Australia are ahead on paper. New ball in hand. If our last 4 wickets put on 60 or so, we're in the game. I hope they do.
Hopefully more than that. Need around 100 to stay in the game.
The problem is we can't play 5 bowlers without all our batsmen fit. Feels like we're playing with about 3 batsmen at the moment.
Plus it's way over the top. There's only so many overs you can bowl, unless you have a genuine all-rounder 5 is too much. One of them won't bowl enough to make enough of a contribution.
Our tail starts at #5 now.
Karun needs to feck off. Living off a 300 vs a garbage team.
Karun needs to feck off. Living off a 300 vs a garbage team.
It's weird isn't it. Rather than have Ashwin's batting a point of strength coming in at 7 or 8 he's batting a place too high at 6. Sure you can get away with it at times and against certain teams, but I'm not at all convinced it is actually beneficial.
To be fair, we dont have anyone deserves to replace him. Rohit is normally shit, so it will have to be another debutant. Maybe Iyer? Pandey? Not sure who else has been good in domestic.
Iyer.
Everyone in our team has a first class hundred. Jadeja and Ashwin are good with the bat. Yadav has improved a lot - I remember him smashing a 40 (?) ball 90 against Aus A a few years back. Bhuvi is also very decent. I think our top order is a little weak. Rahane and Vijay havent been good in recent months.
Tbf i have real questions about the quality of domestic bowling level in India. Jadeja has like 2 or 3 300s and he looks like a tailender at international level
Are you basing that on a game where Kohli is injured?
KL, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Karun/Iyer, Saha, Ashwin, Jadeja, Bhuvi, Umesh has plenty of batting depth.
Agree with both.
Rarely see 5 bowlers as a useful strategy. The 5th bowler is almost always underbowled. 4 bowlers + a part timer is good balance.
Often see teams with 5 batsmen look like they could use a 6th. Statistics apart, it feels like it limits the approach of the lower middle order.
Its not like Kohli's injury has led to a batsman less playing. This is a team balance that he's on record saying he likes (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-bowlers-Virat-Kohli/articleshow/53308006.cms) and has been picked frequently.
I agree that that side has more depth, but thats precisely my point.
Ashwin wouldn't be playing at 6 if Kohli was fit is what I'm saying. He's fine at 7 or 8, with Saha at 7 who has displayed good application this series.
As for 5 bowlers, the 5th bowler added was Kuldeep and he did well in the first innings, in fact if not for him the game and the series could be over so I'm not sure that can be criticised.
Depends on the team composition they wanted. Had Kohli been fit I'm not at all sure they'd have gone with the team you suggested and would have instead dropped Nair and played 5 specialist batsman with Ashwin at 6 – a team that they've picked frequently since Kohli became captain.
It's a difficult conundrum because, as well as Kuldeep bowled, you can't help but feel they're now a batsman short and will possibly concede a first innings lead because of it. You can see why they like the flexibility of it, but I'm still not convinced it's a good idea.
They went with 6 specialist batsmen + Saha, Ashwin, Jadeja in the last game so that could have been the case again.
The reason they would concede a lead is because the primary batsmen cannot do their job properly and fail to convert good starts after getting set on the wicket. Pujara got out at a pathetic moment, right after tea, when he should have won that session for India.
Not like the 5th bowler is keeping a great batsman out either. The 6th specialist would be Karun (has nothing to show apart from a meaningless triple against a feckall team), Iyer (unproven though I'd like to see him) and Rohit (
) so that only plays a part. We obviously bank on the combined lower order of Ashwin, Saha and Jadeja to provide a decent amount of support to the top 5 and not let them miss the 6th bat. This series isn't a good sample to look at our batting setups as hardly anyone can be proud of their performances, apart from Pujara and Rahul to an extent, no wonder the support ones would look worse as a side effect.
If a bowler is to be dropped it should be one of fast bowlers, Ishant and Umesh have been useless so far and just take up overs that can be bowled by spinners with better results, combined with some horrible captaincy from Kohli and Rahane to persist with them for long periods at time. The 3 spinners strategy is fine for me.
Well replacing Kohli with a bowler makes no difference really because he wasn't scoring runs anyway. So I see the logic. Try and bowl Australia out quicker and let the batting do the job, with your best batsman Pujara leading the way.
Also:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2016-17/content/story/1088468.html
There is no one better atm, not even close. Who goes to India and improves a 60 average! Insane.
Also:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2016-17/content/story/1088468.html
There is no one better atm, not even close. Who goes to India and improves a 60 average! Insane.
Jaddu showing it to the top order on how to do it.
feck
feck
8 down now. Saha should change gears now and get a minimum lead of around 50 odd.
Need atleast 80 runs more to put severe pressure on Aussies. Both Bhuvi and Kuldeep can bit a bit so I'm hoping they can do the job.
Excellent by Jaddu though. What a player he is turning out to be.
Excellent by Jaddu though. What a player he is turning out to be.
Well feck.
looks like australia isnt that successful with the DRS either when Smith has to take the decision on the field eh