4th Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, 15 - 19 Jan 2021

[Prince EWS]

Precisely the reason why our fast bowling standards improved. Kohli is tough and expects high fitness standards from his team, this in turn transformed Shami and Ishant into the bowlers they are today.

Shami got better as he got fitter, I don't think this is really the case with Ishant though. His problem wasn't that he dropped his standards as the day went on - he used to start ****.

 

[morgieb]

It's crazy that if you had said Australia were 5/274 usually the situation would be far from bad but today it feels extremely underwhelming.

 

[Kirkut]

Our dropped catches got neutralized by bad shots from Wade and Smith. Justice has been delivered here

 

[Burgey]

Good last few overs there for our blokes.

 

[sunilz]

What is the par score on this pitch ?

 

[Kirkut]

Shami got better as he got fitter, I don't think this is really the case with Ishant though. His problem wasn't that he dropped his standards as the day went on - he used to start ****.

Ishant followed a negative strategy of waiting for a mistake from the batsman before Kohli was the captain. He would short ball after short ball to Matt Prior in India, waiting for him to mis-time one of his cuts and pulls.

Under Kohli he's been a lot more positive, bowls attacking lengths without being express and can sustain energy by the end of the day too!

 

[Victor Ian]

274

 

[GotSpin]

It's crazy that if you had said Australia were 5/274 usually the situation would be far from bad but today it feels extremely underwhelming.

It absolutely is underwhelming. Australia should have been aiming to bat for two days out there and grind them down

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

This bowling attack has more holes in it than Chris Cairns' court testimony

So what you're saying is they're gonna win

 

[Starfighter]

Shami got better as he got fitter, I don't think this is really the case with Ishant though. His problem wasn't that he dropped his standards as the day went on - he used to start ****.

Ishant started doing what everyone was telling him to do - pitching it up. Not attempting to bowl outswing helped too.

 

[TheJediBrah]

What is the par score on this pitch ?

400 IMO

 

[honestbharani]

On the Kohli captaincy for fast bowlers thing, yes, it is definitely true that he is a fast bowlers' captain and that has surely helped in our collective bowling being this good at this point. At the same time, someone like Ishant improved as much due to his county stint and especially Gillespie's coaching than anything that happened in the Indian set up. People forget that while the results started coming from around 2016, he was improving from around about 2014 and I think it was that time that he had the county deal and Gillespie got to work with him.

I said earlier you cant blame every failure and success under Virat on Virat, and this is one of the latter, I think.

 

[honestbharani]

Today could have gone worse, Australia kept taking the lead but India kept pulling them back, somehow. Expect us to fight more and do better than what most expect again, tomorrow.

Saini's injury was really bad timing but I am more upset by the two drops, RAhane and Thakur. Taking those catches, we could well have even bowled out Australia today. Hopefully we do lot better tomorrow and then bat better than we have done all tour.

 

[Starfighter]

Today could have gone worse, Australia kept taking the lead but India kept pulling them back, somehow.

India didn't do any pulling back. Australia did a lot of gifting.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yeah that would be the "somehow" lol

 

[Senile Sentry]

Eons better than expected performance from India C. Was expecting a 400/2 by close of play. Actually proud of the boys having put in, despite some of.them being literally retained as nets bowlers.

 

[Bahseph]

India somehow managed to stay in the game. Although by the final session you could tell how far the standards dropped with the bowling. Sundar especially looked like someone who hasn't played a FC game in a long time. Siraj has stepped up though. Genuinely looks like a bowler who will be in the game no matter the conditions.

I like the look of Green's batting. Looks a little mechanical but he plays with a straight bat. Appreciated Border(I'm sure it was him) for calling Wade out. I don't want to get into the Head vs Wade debate but I'd be surprised if I see him in SA.

 

[sunilz]

Chances of rain ?

 

[Spark]

Chances of rain ?

Shouldn't be an enormous amount except maybe on day 4. Rain in Brisbane this time of year tends to come late afternoon and evening.

 

[Teja.]

Siraj is a very good test bowler who can compete with Umesh/Bhuvi for the first waiting list replacement slot in the bowling attack and even Natrajan looks potentially like someone who would be a solid test level bowler for us in a less bountiful era in the pacers department. The issues with them today are mainly about being made to fill different roles than they are expected to on short notice without any experienced bowlers to bowl around.

Sundar (despite doing the holding spinner job admirably today considering the circumstances) and Shardul are LO bowlers who shouldn't ordinarily be anywhere near the test side.

Overall, with the exception of Shardul, they did extremely well and far exceeded my expectations tbh.