Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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The rivalry between India and Australia has become so great that one day it could surpass the Ashes IMO. It could be sooner than we think, considering how fresh Australia is (this could be a liability) and how experienced India is (this will probably be the last series for the VVS, Kumble, Dravid, Tendulkar types against Australia) which will mean the teams are quite closely matches skill wise.

In the current tour match, http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/indvaus ... 69454.html - Katich is opening with Hayden. Jaques in the middle order which is odd, and considering Katich is playing well it makes things a whole lot more interesting. No McGain, no Watson for this game.

So, who will come out victorious from the series? I think that while India will give it a good hard crack with some very close games, Australia will come out on top. Either 1-0 (three draws, one win) or 2-1 (two wins, one loss, one draw) is what I predict.

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Re: Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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Indeed the India - Australia rivalry has reached great heights ever since the 2001 home series at India, where Laxman turned the heat on with that legendary 281, with Dravid's support. Since then, every test series has been very closely fought. Till then, it was the story of home team dominating the series. Not any more.

With the surprise reselection of Ganguly for the first 2 tests, India can boast of even more experience, but whether it was a good selection or not, would come into debate after watching him perform. But surely, India are risking a mass exodus of all the seniors at a time (voluntary or forced), while the voluntary phasing out of the Aussie seniors looks to have worked, as they did not have to rebuild from scratch at any stage.

The problem at hand for India is tricky, as none of the younger lot have stepped up and performed consistently enough to force the seniors out of the side, as Dravid and Ganguly themselves did, more than a decade ago. But as it is evident, soon we would be seeing the likes of Badrinath, Raina, Rohit Sharma and Kohli replacing the much celebrated Indian middle order, purely out of need, if not on merit. But the biggest worry is what about the replacements for India's greatest match-winner in tests - Anil Kumble? It seems there is no one around with even 10% as talented as him as of now.

Anyway, another deciding factor for the latest edition of the rivalry would be the state of pitches prepared for the tests. Of late, we have seen barren tracks, with no help at all for bowlers. Looking at the high profile venues hosting the matches this time, we can hope that there would be sporting tracks to treat us with high quality battle between the bat and the ball.

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Re: Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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Aussies aren't going too well in the tour match, 4/191 chasing 455. Ironically, it was the upcoming middle order batsman that you were talking about CrimsonAvenger, Sharma and Kohli, that have done all the damage with 105 each, they will be fuming that they didn't make the squad... based on this form one of them probably would have slotted in ahead of Ganguly who seems to be the scapegoat for India.

I quite like Ganguly, I'm not sure why the BCCI is trying to "exit him out"... he's been a quality batsman for India for a long time, and his recent form has been fine (50+ in the past 2 years). In all honesty, this will probably be the last time the Indian greats play together, so I hope they are all selected (they deserve to be IMO, based on form).

As for the Australians, well the first thing they need to do is get rid of the deadwood aka. Jason Krezja... 0/123 from 20 overs... yep, he's ready for Test matches :roll: And with McGain going home due to injury, it leaves Australia in a pretty ordinary position. Will Beau Casson get flown over and thrown straight into the team? Surely they would not play Krezja after that embarrassing performance?

I know Indian pitches are great for spinners... but the catch is that they are great for good spinners. Of which Krezja obviously is not. It was the Aussie fast bowlers that took wickets, so I'd be inclined to go into the 1st Test with a 4 man pace attack. Siddle took 2/64, which is fine. Even Shane Watson could play the role of the fourth quick (even though he is the most overrated "allrounder" in the world) if the selectors don't want to risk a debutant quick bowler. Let Michael Clarke be the spinner... I'd say it's quite safe to assume he will be more effective than Krezja, Clarke of course did do rather well in India in 2004 as a bowler. Speaking of Clarke, he should be batting at number 4, not 5... he is a top order batsman, so he should be as close to number 3 as possible.

I can't wait for this series, it will be a ripper!

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Re: Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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Well, Saurav Ganguly has scored well over the last few series, except the abysmal one at SL, but it is his fitness level which is on serious decline. And to be fair, it was never up there where it should have been, and that has made him look like a kind of scapegoat. The latest news is that he has announced retirement at the end of the Indo-Aus series, and by doing so, he might have just extended his test career by a couple of matches.

Coming to Aussie spin problems, Krejza is definately nowhere close to world standards. Now they have called up Cameron White, who, I believe does not have enough control over his legspin to be playing as the lead spinner in a test side; any test side currently for that matter. I agree with you that Michael Clarke appears to be the best spinner in the side, followed by Simon Katich. :) And there are health concerns for Clarke too.
brmtaylor.com admin wrote:Even Shane Watson could play the role of the fourth quick (even though he is the most overrated "allrounder" in the world)
I can't agree more with you on the Watson Remark...

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Re: Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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Katich is a legend, I totally forgot about his (chinaman?) spinners. Very useful indeed... I'm sure Zimbabwe in 2003 will attest to that :)

White should definitely not be the lead spinner, I think on occasion he bats at number 3 for Victoria (but Hodge and D Hussey ensure that he stays in the middle order now). He is a batting allrounder, to put him in the side as a specialist spinner is a joke... he even said himself a while ago that his bowling has really dropped off over the past few years so he could concentrate on his batting. My gut feeling is that White will play in the 2nd Test (meaning Krezja will debut in the 1st Test) if Australia lose - the selectors will think that seeing Krezja is useless and White couldn't possibly be worse, he will also strengthen our lower middle order.

I don't know why Beau Casson isn't in India. He didn't disgrace himself in the West Indies, his non-selection seems unfair to me.

The Cricinfo article says Clarke should be right to play, which is good. He is the best player of spin in the side, he will be crucial against Kumble and Singh. Not to mention he'll be our main spinner considering he's actually better than both Krezja and White :lol:

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Re: Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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Well, India has beaten Australia emphatically, and the fact that it happened when the "Fab 5" Indian greats played together for one last time makes the victory all the more sweet. Ponting's captaincy and tactics have been questioned throughout the series, but to be frank, the Aussie team did not have the ammunition in the bowling department to topple India. India themselves will move on from the sure and steady leadership of Anil Kumble to the flamboyance of Dhoni, and how well he handles the expectations will decide the future of Indian cricket.

Two of the modern day cricketing greats from India have retired at the end of the series, and their exit was nothing but anticlimax. Kumble's final delivery went for a boundary and Ganguly got out for a golden duck. But those incidents take nothing away from their illustrious careers.

Ganguly's all round contributions and captaincy were phenomenal in India's ODI success for last decade or so, although I still didn't like him in this match. :)

Anil Kumble has been the single most successful match winner for India in both tests and ODIs for nearly two decades. And the bespectacled engineer from Bangalore has been a great role model on and off the cricketing field too. Here's my tribute to Kumble.

Great series again, and the rivalry continues, from where it all started in 2001.

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Re: Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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Well done to India, far and away the better team of the series.

As for Ponting and Nielsen... geez: http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/indvaus ... 77809.html
Ponting stuffed up big time by bowling Hussey and White, he should have got Watson or Johnson on. That Nielsen is so quick to defend Ponting shows maybe he was part of this decision.

How stupid not to used your best bowlers. Maybe Chawaguta, Utseya, Nielsen and Ponting can have a little party together and discuss new and innovative ways of throwing matches.

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Re: Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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brmtaylor.com admin wrote:Maybe Chawaguta, Utseya, Nielsen and Ponting can have a little party together and discuss new and innovative ways of throwing matches.
:lol: :lol: :lol: Add the selectors of the two boards too.

Considering the circumstances, Katich was severely under-bowled. And, Watson turned out to be a good (and only) exponent of reverse swing.

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Re: Australia in India - the biggest series since the Ashes

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Yeah, Watson was actually half decent, but I think it's a reflection of Australia's imminent decline that he is taking wickets while Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, etc are not.

I think Nathan Bracken is really stiff not to be in the Test side to be honest.

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