*Official* Australia in India - ODIs

[G.I.Joe]

Are you telling me that the pitch played out the same in the morning as it did in the afternoon.........? If the answer is no to this question then u should get my point. Regardless what the time zone is, a start which is between hours of 8-10AM is 1st 45 mins with the new ball are always dangerous. And when you are playing an important game like this......with a batting line up as strong as India......(mind u Ind. almost chased down the mamoth batting second in the last game), there absolutely no reason to go in and gamble like that...even if Aussies would have posted 300 runs, India would have chased it down in the afternoon..........there was no need to go in and bat first with conditions being dicey for batsmen.

To me it was simply a bad call by Dhoni.......no matter how great of a batsman you are.....negotiating 145kmph swinging early in the morning is very tough.....

IMO, This particular Aussie team was not better then Ind on paper "overall". Mitch might have tilted the balance a bit but even in bowling Aussies were playing there 2nd choice attack.

There is a lot of difference between an 8:30 am and 10 am start in India. A 10 am start is equivalent to a 2 pm start to all intents and purposes here as far as movement is concerned.

 

[silentstriker]

Funny how quickly the fielding turned to pot. It was only the fourth ODI that was being heralded as the greatest Indian fielding performance of all time.

Well, it's always been up and down, though it's mostly down.

 

[analyst]

Australians always win the battle of mental courage,Indians still lack a spine when it comes to winning big matches. Always has let them down in the past, trend does not seem to have been remedied. Dhoni can only carry them across the line so many times. He has been quite good with an inconsistent bowling attack.

Australians will gain a lot from this series, especially with the knowledge that Marsh is a solid opener in ODI's who can be called in tough situations.

 

[NUFAN]

Does Bolly's emergence from a bit-part player to a quality bowling option end Bracks career given the latter's poor bowling form recently and injury troubles?

Bracks is what 32 now. I think he'll still be in the mix for the next World Cup, but he's certainly not a shoe in for a spot in the XI anymore as the selectors will probably go for more wicket taking options. I still think that Bracken is the most economical bowler in the country, so if he gets back from his injury I would be picking him in squads still.

 

[aussie]

yeah.. Aussies seem to lose all tri nations stuff in INdia but never a bilateral series, which is amazing to say the least.


Congrats Aussies... This triumph is a triumph of the character of the blokes who played as much as anything.. They showed better nerves to handle the tighter situations and also a better heart for a fight than some of the INdians.. And of course, the fielding...... Congrats to them again!!!

Actually 3 out of 6 ODI series wins in India since 98 have been tri-nations stuff. 98 (IND, AUS, ZIM) - TVS Cup 03 & Champions Trophy 06.

 

[Burgey]

Bracks is what 32 now. I think he'll still be in the mix for the next World Cup, but he's certainly not a shoe in for a spot in the XI anymore as the selectors will probably go for more wicket taking options. I still think that Bracken is the most economical bowler in the country, so if he gets back from his injury I would be picking him in squads still.

Still think he'll be well in the mix. Those cutters he bowls with no pace on the ball might be very handy on slow decks.

 

[irfan]

I doubt it, and I'd hope not, cause I still think Bracken has a role to play in the Aussie team. Given the selectors' strange thing against picking too many left armers, it does probably mean that at least one of Johnson, Bollinger and Bracken will be missing out more often than not. And it almost certainly won't be Johnson.

I too reckon Bracks is a quality ODI bowler and no one else in the team possess such a wide variety of deliveries but the fact Johnson has pretty much got the selectors in his top pocket despite his performances and Bollinger is a few yards quicker and given the selectors absurd aversion to more than one left armer - all of this ust surely ring alarm bells for Bracks's career. Bracks has kind of been projected as the consistent, harworking, dependable type and these types of bowlers tend to get discarded quickly if their performances drop (i.e. S Clark) unlike guys who have the supposed 'X' factor like Johnson.

 

[Uppercut]

I too reckon Bracks is a quality ODI bowler and no one else in the team possess such a wide variety of deliveries but the fact Johnson has pretty much got the selectors in his top pocket despite his performances and Bollinger is a few yards quicker and given the selectors absurd aversion to more than one left armer - all of this ust surely ring alarm bells for Bracks's career. Bracks has kind of been projected as the consistent, harworking, dependable type and these types of bowlers tend to get discarded quickly if their performances drop (i.e. S Clark) unlike guys who have the supposed 'X' factor like Johnson.

Indeed.

People are always very quick to jump on players like Bracken and label them "past it" after a few bad performances. The guy's a quality bowler. He'll be back.

On the other hand, Bollinger is a properly exciting prospect. Not seeing enough schoolboy crushes on the man around here for my liking. Zac's long-standing love aside.

 

[Top_Cat]

On the other hand, Bollinger is a properly exciting prospect. Not seeing enough schoolboy crushes on the man around here for my liking. Zac's long-standing love aside.

Tends to be a heart-breaker, has been injured a lot. Plus he's not as pretty as the others.

A FC average of around 30 shouldn't be too heavily read into. For a long time, was another cog in the wheel in NSW (when he wasn't nursing an injury of some sort) and I think the perception of him as a support to the gun bowlers is still around if Hilf being picked ahead of him earlier in this series is any indication. Has worked his knackers off the get to where he is and is bowling pretty well, deserves to get a decent run in the ODI side at least.

 

[bagapath]

Totally agree with this. I've enjoyed watching Australia so much since then. Just makes them so much more watchable to me when Watto's in there and playing well.

four or six. i never liked watson. but, with his recent string of performances and your enthusiastic support of him i am also converting to his fan club from now on. go watto go.

 

[Burgey]

Tends to be a heart-breaker, has been injured a lot. Plus he's not as pretty as the others.

A FC average of around 30 shouldn't be too heavily read into. For a long time, was another cog in the wheel in NSW (when he wasn't nursing an injury of some sort) and I think the perception of him as a support to the gun bowlers is still around if Hilf being picked ahead of him earlier in this series is any indication. Has worked his knackers off the get to where he is and is bowling pretty well, deserves to get a decent run in the ODI side at least.

Should've been on the Ashes tour tbh.

 

[honestbharani]

Funny how quickly the fielding turned to pot. It was only the fourth ODI that was being heralded as the greatest Indian fielding performance of all time.

it was a gr8 fielding effort from India but the Aussies went even better... And in the other games, the fielding WAS woeful. I don't see how it is funny at all as the Indian fans here, at least, have been completely consistent in the assessment of the side AND the fielding..

 

[honestbharani]

Actually 3 out of 6 ODI series wins in India since 98 have been tri-nations stuff. 98 (IND, AUS, ZIM) - TVS Cup 03 & Champions Trophy 06.

yeah.. got that zim series mixed up with the tri series in Sharjah.. sorry abt that... Of course, they haven't lost in this decade. That I well remember. I was thinking of the 98 series where both the Indians and the Zims absolutely murdered Warne most of the times.. AT least handled him with more ease and contempt than anyone would have ever done earlier..

 

[SJS]

it was a gr8 fielding effort from India but the Aussies went even better... And in the other games, the fielding WAS woeful. I don't see how it is funny at all as the Indian fans here, at least, have been completely consistent in the assessment of the side AND the fielding..

Indian fielding has been poor throughout. The match in question seems to stand out because of the four run outs. It is safer to put the direct hits to statistical chance rather than expect that someone like Nehra just improved his throwing over night. Even a poor fielder like Nehra will hit the stumps once in a while. I dont read too much into India's 'improved' fielding.

The taking of Robin Singh as a fielding coach and all that was made of it never cut much ice. The Indian cricketers, at least a large number of them, do not give much importance to fielding and coaches are not able to get the stars of India to go beyond the routine drills of fielding practice.

 

[honestbharani]

Indian fielding has been poor throughout. The match in question seems to stand out because of the four run outs. It is safer to put the direct hits to statistical chance rather than expect that someone like Nehra just improved his throwing over night. Even a poor fielder like Nehra will hit the stumps once in a while. I dont read too much into India's 'improved' fielding.

The taking of Robin Singh as a fielding coach and all that was made of it never cut much ice. The Indian cricketers, at least a large number of them, do not give much importance to fielding and coaches are not able to get the stars of India to go beyond the routine drills of fielding practice.

Indeed.. and hence my post in one of these threads (not sure this one or the Sri Lanka in India one) about picking a side full of solid to good fielders and trying to work with that. It may mean some stars would miss out, but at least the guys coming in would be hungry and give that much more of an effort on the field, perhaps making up for the difference in skill, as in ODIs the difference in skill levels get compressed anyways.


Note: I am talking about the pure cricketing skills of batting and bowling here. I am aware that there are a few other skills in which you need be more proficient in ODIs than you do in tests.

 

[four_or_six]

The iron-man speaks...

All hail Victor Popov.

 

[ret]

Anybody thinks that Bhajji has had more than 9 lives as the primary spinner?

 

[four_or_six]

Anybody thinks that Bhajji has had more than 9 lives as the primary spinner?

He looked a class above all the other bowlers to me yesterday. Also, I thought he had a lot more fight about him than the others.

 

[R_D]

Funny how quickly the fielding turned to pot. It was only the fourth ODI that was being heralded as the greatest Indian fielding performance of all time.

Thats been the frustrating thing... one day they do great in field and than can't seem to do anything right another day. Fielding has been so inconsistent.... really annoying.

You can even see it with players like Raina.. he'll pull a great save and than misfield a easy one.

 

[R_D]

Still think he'll be well in the mix. Those cutters he bowls with no pace on the ball might be very handy on slow decks.

this... there's bound to be fair few slow tracks at the world cup. I seriously hope there aren't any slow tracks at the world cup.. really makes for dull game of cricket.