Shastri is a puppet and nothing more. And this same team management has made massive selection blunders right through 2018 which probably cost the series in SA and England. The advantage here has been also that this is the weakest Aussie team in ages. Had Smith and Warner been around, the results would have looked significantly different. Lyon and Cummins have been exceptional with no real support from others overall.jaybro wrote: ↑Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:06 amI will say that credit needs to go to India and especially Kohli & Shastri, their plans in the field have been well thought out and superb and their bowlers have been sensational. I’ve never before seen an Indian team bowl so well, Bumrah & Shami have been 10/10 this series.
Can you believe this Indian team management dropped Pujara for the first test in England last year and went down 0-1? The reason given was that he was playing in Engaland and hadn't scored big so he could be low on confidence! And Pujara has been dropped twice with Shastri at the helm so he has no sense of team balance whatsoever. At the same rate, Rahane should have been dropped some 5 times by now but not to be. Agarwal should have debuted more than a year ago too. The absolute stubbornness in not giving him a go - a guy who scored 1000+ FC runs in a month in 2017 - was insane.
This win is totally architected by Pujara and the bowlers. Bumrah is getting the much needed attention but Shami too has been an unsung hero for many years now. The guy is lion-hearted.
Was that a serious question? No one really. BRMT might push it very close but a full strength Australia might not have space for him too. If Williams continues to prosper for next couple of years, we can revisit this.