India tour of Australia, Nov 21 - Jan 18

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Both openers have realized that they are specialist batsmen and are playing test series. Staying away from flirting outside off and leaving lot of unwanted stuff outside off stump. 8 overs have been done with no early wickets for Aussies. Lead is now 23. It feels this pair has done a herculean task given their overseas performances sicne SA tour. Good batting so far, nice to see this change in mindset shift from T20 to proper test match stuff.

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First spell of Starc has been successfully seen. Pat replaces him as first change.

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4 Lead is now 34. All wickets intact.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Sounds like Rahul is getting away with a few loose slashes outside off.

[bigfluffylemon]

Pant had six catches in that Australia innings (I noticed, as I was totting up the FL scores for the first innings). Joint record for an Indian wicketkeeper

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Rahul has rubbish temperament. Can't see him playing big innings overseas in sena countries as has been the case. Has been batting like tailender since SA tour and now after getting set looking to throw it away like tailender again.

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One down but the lead of 90 looks good with 9 wickets intact. Poor show yet again by Vijay.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Rahul out going for another big drive.

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Rahul has rubbish temperament. Can't see him playing big innings overseas in sena countries as has been the case. Has been batting like tailender since SA tour and now after getting set looking to throw it away like tailender again.

And that's that. Rubbish. Gets out on 44. Gift wraps it to opponents yet again like has been case in most of his career.

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Lead by 111, 8 wickets intact.

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70 runs partnership between Virat and Chet. Lead is now 161. This pair is batting very well. Ball is 55 over old and the pacers will be in third spell of the day.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I thought Rahul was supposed to be more of a Test match prospect than a white ball biffer?

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I thought Rahul was supposed to be more of a Test match prospect than a white ball biffer?

Initially in his career he was struggling in T20 (IPL) where he even got dropped and was benched for many matches when he represented Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was doing well in longer format for domestic teams. Now things are vice versa, he has a impressive T20i record and is also first name for his IPL side. His expansive stoke play is giving him success in T20i but the impact of that is seen in test format. Temperament is an issue. He is not someone who will grind multiple sessions.

The way he bats, he will be better for T20i. And his career stats too reflect that. His worst format is tests. Averages 37 which is below par for an Indian specialist batsman. Now averaging worse than even Rohit Sharma in tests.

[Dr Cricket]

TBH in terms of talent kl rahul is like kohli he should be able to play for india in all 3 formats.

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Lyon grabs the big wicket of Virat Kohli. Chet is still there and more importantly he is the inform batsman of this test. At 148/3 we need at least another 120 odd which will make us favorites. Chasing 280 against a strong bowling lineup won't be easy for Aussies without Warner and Smith. There will be free gifts from Aussie side as well when they bat.