Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Well, how good was that!?!? (to quote our not so erstwhile Prime Minister)

Brilliant series, each test, and a fantastic even historic victory for India.

Disappointing, but also exhilarating. Got to be excited for India.

Other than the 2nd innings in Adelaide India have been the dominant team and are deserved winner of the series.

Scary amount of depth in India at present. The question is were India better with out Virats captaincy?

As for Australia, the batting cupboard is looking very bare at present. And a new captain incoming possibly?

Time will tell if India can convert this into something long term, but it certainly is scary that India have displayed at various times in this series an ability to play various forms of the game to a high level. Their bowlers can blow you away, they can also keep you anchored down and use subtly to grind you out. The batsman can play their shots, but they can also bat a lot of overs and tire your bowlers out. The bowler depth is massive in both slow and pace, key younger batsman have made scores at key times..... and against a new ball partnership that in home conditions is by far the best around.

I dont think Virat's leadership not being present can be looked at much; he did win last time in Australia too. If anything I think Kohli's combative attitude and high standards have drove India to where they are now.

Great series win this. Two back to back series victories for Team India in Australia. This was more special as India beat Australia in presence of Warner and Smith and in absence of Virat and few first choice players in one or more tests.

For Australia, they desperately need Will P to be a test class bat. Warner has shown to be flaky vs top class attacks recently, and while I have no doubt when conditions favour him he will still do well, Australia just cant expect to do well with two opening spots not returning runs. That puts pressure on the two below which are the foundation of the team, and we see in this series where both openers got out, Smith was nullfied; when they got starts, Smith scored runs. Its a simple dynamic, if Australia's top 3 knock the shine off and Smith is coming in to even manageable situations, you are in trouble.

The 5 slot and 7 slot are also debatable. I said earlier in the series, I dont get Paine. He occasionally grinds out a few runs, but often in situations that stave off the inevitable. Hes not a match winning fielder nor bat, and his captaincy maybe have been a tonic for a problematic situation, but its served its purpose. Time to look elsewhere.

Cameron Green may also be an absolute legend in the making, but his bowling this series has looked non-existent. Get him into the top 6 as batsman and drop Wade. Wade averages in the 20s, how the hell do Australia not have another top 6 bat? If Wade plays, its in Paines place, and get more full time bats in there. I mean even Travis Head is better than Wade, how can you drop the specialist bat and put the wicket keeper who averages less in his spot

Long term I wouldnt be concerned about Lyon or Starcs form, it will come back

For Australia, they desperately need Will P to be a test class bat. Warner has shown to be flaky vs top class attacks recently, and while I have no doubt when conditions favour him he will still do well, Australia just cant expect to do well with two opening spots not returning runs. That puts pressure on the two below which are the foundation of the team, and we see in this series where both openers got out, Smith was nullfied; when they got starts, Smith scored runs. Its a simple dynamic, if Australia's top 3 knock the shine off and Smith is coming in to even manageable situations, you are in trouble.

The 5 slot and 7 slot are also debatable. I said earlier in the series, I dont get Paine. He occasionally grinds out a few runs, but often in situations that stave off the inevitable. Hes not a match winning fielder nor bat, and his captaincy maybe have been a tonic for a problematic situation, but its served its purpose. Time to look elsewhere.

Cameron Green may also be an absolute legend in the making, but his bowling this series has looked non-existent. Get him into the top 6 as batsman and drop Wade. Wade averages in the 20s, how the hell do Australia not have another top 6 bat? If Wade plays, its in Paines place, and get more full time bats in there. I mean even Travis Head is better than Wade, how can you drop the specialist bat and put the wicket keeper who averages less in his spot

Long term I wouldnt be concerned about Lyon or Starcs form, it will come back

Some turnaround from the first Test! Great team (or squad) performance for India. Feels like they didn't really have a dominant player. In fact, the big numbers in the series come from the Aussies. But someone tended to play a key role for India at the right time.

Lyon's non performance seems to be abig factor in the outcome.

was Lyon's no show his fault or was it that the India batsmen are just much better players of spin? His economy was as good as most in the series which suggests he bowled with control. If he had bowled poorly the batsmen might have tried to tuck in and his wicket count might have gone up. I do get the feeling though that the India batsmen (one test aside) were pretty disciplined in their approach, were happy to use all the days available and were focused on patiently taking the runs on offer rather than trying to force anything, the way an England side might. A lesson perhaps that simply nullifying the bowling attack is a safer and perhaps more effective way of imposing yourself on bowlers than losing patience and taking them on

Lyon might well have been the hero in Sydney it Paine had held his chances.

Small things like catching seem to make a difference. Manus figures look really good, though he was dropped 6 times in this series.

Think I had to login again just for this result mad how india won the series.

Amazing win, but some are suggesting this heralds a new era with India dominating like Aus and WI have before. Do we think that's likely?

As an Ind fan I'm a bit wary of that and half expecting dodgy selections and iffy decision making to recommence soon!

With india resources, population, money etc if they don’t dominate it is a massive failure.
India will still screw up selection and stuff though.

India depth in bowling very strong though siraj looks good and Natarajan looks decent as well.
Sundar is probably not even in the top 10 spinners in India yet he bowled well at the gabba so future looks bright.

It's always felt just a matter of time before India do dominate the world game. So why not now.

But, two weeks ago, the India team was being judged very differently, so maybe a broader view is justified.

Red Devil wrote:... some are suggesting this heralds a new era with India dominating like Aus and WI have before. Do we think that's likely?

It really has been just a matter of time, for some time now, imo.

Whether this is the time, time will tell. Time I stopped using the word time, methinks.


When do India next tour New Zealand? That seems to be the toughest tour these days - and they are the top team in the world...

Certainly a lot of people are comparing this to the Aus WI series in 95.

It will all come down to how the Indian players respond. One thing for certain is that strong depth creates a good team. People fighting to keep their places should not become complacent.

Bright times ahead for Indian supporters.