This is the preview for the first match starting on Boxing Day between Australia and India. Cricketfiles is pleased to cover in depth analyses of this series. We hope you will enjoy reading this preview just as much as we enjoyed writing it!
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The atmosphere in tomorrow’s first encounter between Australia and India is expected to be electric. Cricket fans all around the world hope with bated breath that this will be a competitive series.
It does have reason to be competitive. India in the past three or four years have transformed into an admirable Test side, sharing the opposite fate really to their arch rivals Pakistan. It is a wonder how India since 2003 until 2007 were considered to be an average ODI side whereas Pakistan were considered more competent in the international arena. However, this year has seen India catapult to a respectable ODI status and the Indian team has never looked more confident in Tests. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s performance in both ODI’s and Tests has plummeted this year.
Coming back to tomorrow’s match, India have reason to be confident. In the last 3 series the teams have played, India have won 4 matches and Australia have won 4 matches too. This is something the Indians can take with them in the first Test.
The Indians can also take heart from the fact that, whereas India’s performance generally on foreign pitches has always been substandard, they do tend to perform above their potential on Australian pitches. So if statistics are anything to go by, India can prove to be a worthy opposition.
Meanwhile, Australia remain the true world champions when it comes to Tests (might I add, they are the best team easily when it comes to ODI’s, too). The Australian team appears to be more balanced than the Indian team. I have expressed before that the Indian squad is always packed with quality batting but lacks depth in bowling. Even now there is a solid chance that the playing XI tomorrow will consist of two pacers and two spinners. Unless Zaheer and RP can work wonders in almost every session they get a chance to bowl, India will struggle to pick up wickets. It goes without saying that Australia’s fielding is a huge factor when it comes to the difference in class in both teams. The other aspect going in Australia’s favour is that Hogg although not a Test specialist might well play. Indians are the best players of spin but they face difficulty tackling “chinaman” bowling. Paul Adams has been the most successful spinner against India- so Hogg’s chinaman deliveries may trouble the Indians.
THE PITCH
The pitch is also much alike how I earlier anticipated it to be. In the early sessions it appears to benefit the pacers but towards the last few days it will assist the spinners. Apparently currently the Melbourne pitch has a decent amount of moisture, slightly more than you would expect on a typical Melbourne pitch.
What matters now is how attacking the toss-winning captain will want to be. I said before that in this series Kumble just can’t afford to be defensive. He will have to exploit all options available to him. Of course, it depends on the condition of the pitch tomorrow morning to see who will play and who will be left out. This in turn will decide what the toss-winning captain will want to do- bat or bowl. I think Kumble should bat first if he wins the toss. The reason I am saying this is because, batting first means bowling last and it will be in the final sessions that the cracks in the pitch will assist the Indian spinners the most. We have all spoken about the negative mindset of the Indian captains historically. In my view being aggressive means utilising your most potent weapon at a time when it will do the most damage. So although India might lose a few quick wickets in the first session (if they bat first that is!), they have the batting to stabilise their middle order- they will need to play positive cricket and the onus will be on Kumble the most to “turn” the match around for Indians in the final few sessions. This is of course assuming a lot of different factors, but it is only being mentioned for “illustration purposes”. I feel Australia’s position is more clear- if they win the toss they need to bowl; their pacers need to fire and they need to put pressure on the Indians.
THE PLAYING XI
This as mentioned earlier will be decided according to the pitch conditions and the extent to how attacking or defensive the captains want to be. However, a likely playing XI for Australia is:
1 Phil Jaques, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Mike Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Brad Hogg
The reason why Johnson may be played instead of Tait is because he has a good record against India and because he has been in excellent form of late. He can also bowl consistently around 85-90 mph which always helps against India.
India’s playing XI is likely to be:
1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Rahul Dravid, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 RP Singh, 11 Ishant Sharma/Harbhajan Singh
My guess is Kumble may well decide to opt for Harbhajan over Ishant because the latter might be too nervous and Harbhajan has the benefit of experience as well as commendable previous performances against Australia. Jaffer is likely to get a nod over Sehwag owing to his exemplary form against Pakistan, but I would have opted for Sehwag for reasons mentioned earlier in my previous posts.
CONCLUSION
Fielding, mental strength, home crowd- Australia are going ahead with these obvious advantages. Their team is more balanced and their pace attack is likely to pose plenteous problems even to giants like Tendulkar and Dravid. Plus I feel Hogg may have a few surprises for the Indians.
From India’s point of view, they will once again have to rely on their supreme batting prowess to post a challenging total. When all is said and done though, Tests is a game for specialists and all specialists whether openers, middle order batsmen, spinners or pacers, need to fire in from all quarters. That is when you become a top Test team. This is not to say India does not have the talent, but the job of neutral cricket enthusiasts is to make predictions on the basis on common sense, reasonableness and balance of probabilities. So owing to the obvious advantages Australia carry with them plus considering their balanced team, I think it will be a tough fight for the Indians. However, the Indians have done it before, and if they have done it before they can do it again.
Hi guys;
Good to see the new face of this website with added features and I must congratulate the people behind it.
Awas
I agree with you and in fact share same concerns over Yuvraj getting a slap on his wrist for showing dissent against the umpiring decision. In fact this is the second time in the past few weeks that he has done this and got away without any punishment, last time I think it was against Pakistan that he did something similar? Had this been any Pakistani player they would have banned him for a couple of matches at least. Remember poor Inzi was banned for 2 tests for clenching his fists when Sehwag was not given out in the Bangalore test a few years ago, which Pakistan finally won.
I need to catch up with a lot of things so I won’t be writing a lot but these are my brief comments and I will write later about India’s pathetic performance and defensive tactics which has exposed them. The PAPER TIGERS have failed once again – even without the express pace of Shaun Tait.
Before, I finish writing my comments here, I want to acknowledge the magnificent batting of Brendon McCullum who scored 80 in 28 balls, the way he was hammering the BD bowlers he was almost on the verge of breaking Afridi’s 37/100. Never heard a match won within 6 overs! I think this must be a record.
Shouldn’t someone post a u-tube link here? It must be worth watching. Also, those of the fastest 100′s and fastest 50′s.
So India lost the 1st Test in 4 days… While this was along expected lines, the performance of the superstar batsmen was shocking. I felt that the bowlers did a good job in restricting the Aussie batsmen to less than 400 in the 1st innings, but the defensive approach of the batters blew away all the advantage Kumble and Zaheer had gained on the first day.
There has also been a big debate on Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh. About Dravid, I think his Test form has been on the decline ever since the SA tour, and his average has dipped from 58 at the beginning of the year, to 55 now. Rahul has been one of the most consistent players for India, but many are speculating that he’ll be dropped. I think he must definitely play in the Aus series, but for the home series against SA, I think the selecters must look at other alternatives. As for Yuvraj, out of the three available fringe players, Sehwag, Karthik and UV, I think Yuvraj appears to be the best bet based on recent form and confidence, regardless of what happened in the 1st Test.
In a way though, it’s good India lost so miserably. Now hopefully they will reconsider their defensive strategy and play more positively. India traditionally start their away tours poorly, so chances are that they’ll bounce back in Sydney. I hope they will anyway.
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you’ll all have a great 2008.
It’s surprising how Yuv got away with dissent. Had it been a Pakistani player like Inzi once did after being given run out avoiding being hit by a throw which was no more serious than what Yuv did, he was penalised.
I like what Mukul has said on his latest blog in Men in White and quite agree that the flat track bully and another one, if I might say, Dhoni are finding the going tough in foreign conditions. For a change Mukul has written a good article after a long time as is evident by the number of postings he has had in this thread which are over 600.
It was only the tried and tested experienced Indian batters who showed a semblance of fighting ability. However one may criticise Dravid about his slow going but the fact is he showed that there was a price at his wicket and he would hang around for as long as possible. Had it worked and made a decent score out of his long vigil, people would have been admiring his courage. It was just that the Australian attack was too good. I do agree with Mukul as well that his place is well down the order and Sehwag should come at the opening slot. So, that arrogant Yuv needs to be dropped in place of Sehwag.
The latest news is that the Indian team is upset with Yuvraj’s attitude. In assistant coach’s words “Yes, there’s a problem with Yuvraj’s attitude. We will have to have a one-on-one with him in Sydney.” That doesn’t surprise me as I have said before; he is arrogant as he is more interested in winning a beauty contest than anything else and quite surprisingly some people do think he is a pretty boy
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In this first test match, Australia really did show what they are made of. A lot was expected from India especially from their much vaunted batting line up but it was not to be. In home like conditions, India probably had their best chance; now gone. After India’s good showing in their last series in Australia, many were expecting more of the same but most people forget that Australian were then without McGrath and Warne. This all new Australian attack is now showing its worth and that is where they have the edge over India. I think Australia will win the series quite comfortably. By the time India get used to the conditions in Sydney test; they would be heading for Perth next where they would find the going tough again on a bouncy wicket.
India again paid the price of being too cautious and defensive in batting, You cannot win against Australia with a defensive approach, I wonder after failing in the first Innings why Dravid employed the same technique.
Assalamualaikum Wasim Saqib
I just wanted to say that I like your match bulletins in the right column of your front page. They are written well. Congrats on regularly updating us with coverage of this India-Australia series.
Dr Haroon
Seattle
FOR SURE WE ARE GOING TO WIN the test series against India 4-0.
And we shall NOT be going to go to Pakistan after what happened today. After all its a game and why should we risk the lives of our players? I don’t think even Zimbabwe will go to Pakistan now! Good Luck Pakistanis, enjoy playing domestic cricket and politics.
Indian openers got too defensive and paid the penalty, it was a good plan that the openers should see off Lee and Johnson but you cannot just leave every ball you face you have to score runs also in the process because if you lose wickets in the process as India did the whole plan backfires, VVS looks in good form, all he needs is support from the other end, India has plenty of batting left they need to bat positively only then they can come close to the target set by Australia.
Now what a “showdown” that was on the first day of the Boxing Day test. The Australian openers having done so well, after a shaky start, in the first session at about 110 without and then 337-9 is a great come back by India. Having watched the first session, it was well past my bed time so I was anticipating a big Australia total on the board in the morning. So, when I checked first thing in the morning, it was quite surprising to see how Australia kept loosing wickets regularly. No doubt, Kumble is overjoyed and especially at his own performance and no wonder he rates his 5 for in this innings higher than even his over-rated 10-74 against Pakistan which no doubt came about with the help of Indian Umpires.
It would have been nice to hear an Indian voice as well at the commentary team but I am surprised none was considered by the Australian TV. This is quite surprising as all other countries when they host a test series do bring in a commentator from the visiting side. Someone like Sanjay Manjrekar would have given a good balance instead of Mark Nicholas. The only reason he seems to be in is that either he is over awed by the Australians or he is good at Australian TC. We are often critical of Pakistani commentators, rightly or wrongly but Mark Taylor just rambles and is not a good voice to listen to.
Well…it’s the big match tomorrow an both the teams must be raring to go. While the Aussies have the upper hand, they will have in mind that the only team that has really challenged them and has the best record against them in this decade is India. So the Aussies may not be taking this series lightly. India on the other hand will be hoping that the Aussies will be over-confident and take advantage of that. I feel this series will be more competitive than the Aus-SL and Aus-NZ ones.
Aus must be having a debate over whom to pick between Hogg and Tait, and that’s really the only selection problem they have. India do not really have their preferred opening combo and are forced to make Dravid open the innings. This means that Yuvi will play and it will be interesting to see how he will perform in Australian conditions. He has been in great form this year, and this tour, in my opinion, will be his biggest test.
The bowling does not look impressive, and a lot will depend on Zaheer and kumble.
I think India’s best chance will be to bat first, and if we manage to not lose too many wickets in the first hour, the match may get interesting. if the Aussies bat first, then India may well be under a huge mountain of runs and the ‘Fab Four’ will have to show their experience and class.
While I really hope India will win a Test, if not the series, I hope all the India fans are realistic about our chances.
Merry Christmas to everyone.