Australia tour of India, Feb 17-March 29

[bigfluffylemon]

I can still remember Nicholas reading out Ricky's apology on the dvd, to 'all who view me as a role model'.

Both of them?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Steve Smith and someone else?

[meninblue]

Waiting for match to start.

[alfie]

Waiting for match to start.

Patience , Adi ...hour or so yet .

Are you just a little bit nervous ? So near and yet...

[meninblue]

Waiting for match to start.

Patience , Adi ...hour or so yet .

Are you just a little bit nervous ? So near and yet...

Today is holiday, so i want to watch the match.

Not at all nervous. As i mentioned in one of the post few pages back, Aussies needed at least 200 on this wicket as we would be chasing on Day 4. If we lose this then India and Australia should also label their test series as Ashes.

[alfie]

Yeah I don't really think you'll have too much trouble , Adi. Just gently stirring

Now if you were an England fan , in a similar situation , I know you would be nervous...

[meninblue]

Yeah I don't really think you'll have too much trouble , Adi. Just gently stirring

Now if you were an England fan , in a similar situation , I know you would be nervous...

Maybe considering the example that Shanky was an Indian fan for more than a decade but the became an England fan and could hardly support them for one or two years. Then turned to Australian fan since last two years. So something must be wrong with the England cricket team if England fans are getting so nervous in such short time. The way we are playing we might get one ex-fan back, however it can also be debated that given we will now play out of subcontinent as honeymoon matches are over, ex-fan will continue to support other teams.

Time pass apart, i like the way Haseeb Hameed plays test cricket. Yes, tortoise like scoring but he showed how capable he is in removing shine of the new ball. He will not score fast runs himself, but because he does one of openers role well, his team mates will score faster and have less potent bowling to face. Cook was someone who at one point of career looked like he will break some records of Sachin, but he will be bit short now as he seems to have lost the habit of big 200 scores. Now only normal range innings are being played by him, but still good i suppose as there is no exceptional long innings player waiting to replace. Joe is quality both against pace and spin irrespective of the country conditions overhead or on wicket. Johnny has developed well as a batsman, and he will improve with experience. What they lack imo is two more batsmen who will score more runs consistently in the middle order or whose average is better. You cant expect all rounders like Ben and Moeen to average more than 30 - 35 with bat. They are doing what they can but they would need someone averaging 40+ runs in 2 more spots. Problem seems to be that because there is no five fer specialist bowler after Monty-Swann, they have to include Moeen for his bowling. So a batsman place gets sacrificed. The have to find a good specialist spinner so that one place in middle order becomes vacant and then the specialist batsman can score more runs.

[meninblue]

Nice line by Hazelwood in the first over.

[meninblue]

First 4 of the day

[bigfluffylemon]

Time for either a fine Indian win, a nerve shredding hour, or a famous Aussie victory. Either way it should be good.

This has been a fine series, despite the ugliness that always seems to precipitate when these two sides face each other. Australian fans can be pretty proud of their team, on the whole.

[alfie]

Bit surprised to see O'Keefe not Lyon first up ?

In fact I'd have expected maybe a couple of overs from Cummins too. But in truth it probably doesn't matter much...just 75 needed now...

[meninblue]

Another four, nicely driven all along the ground by Rahul.

[meninblue]

Now swept by Rahul for 4.

[alfie]

Rahul has had a fine series. No big scores ; but he's been India's most consistent with the bat ...and his top order contributions have been absolutely vital , especially with Kohli not firing .
Taking any nerves out of this little chase too .

[meninblue]

Rahul has had a fine series. No big scores ; but he's been India's most consistent with the bat ...and his top order contributions have been absolutely vital , especially with Kohli not firing .
Taking any nerves out of this little chase too .

If this is Rahul's best form then his score conversion is not at all good. An Indian opener in best form in these conditions must be looking to convert 50 into 150+ or 200+ innings. However, he has ensured that he has scored decent runs as well as done the openers job of removing shine of the ball to make it easy for Chet and others. He is still not that experienced in test cricket. So i think his best is yet to come.