Have you watched Australia bat recently? The fact that there is no mortal* in the top 23 batsmen in the world who currently plays for Australia should tell you something.I think ICC rankings clearly discounts the batting average of Australian batsman Both Smith and Kohli have same ICC rating points despite huge difference in their batting average .
https://www.icc-cricket.com/rankings/mens/player-rankings/test/batting
True but Boycott's grandmother could run through the current Saffer top order.The 4th pacer of choice took out the Saffer top order. In India.
not really. the great aus attack was poor against them in 18. elgar, markram et al. all scored runs.True but Boycott's grandmother could run through the current Saffer top order.
That didn't seem to help Warne much...I mean I can see your point, but I also suspect Ashwin/Jadeja have played way more Tests in turning conditions than not.
Except that Lyon's home conditions are considerably more challenging for a spinner than the conditions Ashwin/ Jadeja face. Hell, Warne averaged nigh on 30 in Australia after the turn of the century.I think average of home and away average is a good way to compare Ashwin, Jadeja and Lyon. This takes away the average protected by not playing away as often as home.
Ashwin - 27.01
Jadeja - 27.86
Lyon - 32.42 (after clubbing his neutral record to away)
Quite simply makes Lyon a considerable downgrade on other two.
Their no. 3 averages under 20. Bavuma is ordinary. Markram and Elgar coming back to the field. Like Aus and Eng their batting is barely test standard.not really. the great aus attack was poor against them in 18. elgar, markram et al. all scored runs.
I think he's been pretty ordinary out here tbh. Even the last tour when India was putting up good numbers and the quicks were firing. Tough place to tour for finger spinners, mind you.I don't think Ashwin is bad away from home. He did bowl crap in one important test in England but is otherwise better than India's front-line spinners of past. I wouldn't drop Ashwin for Jadeja overseas fwiw.
For spinners in general. Kumble did great in 2003 (Waugh's final tour), when India drew the series down there and Kumble had by far the most wickets of any player on either side, and he still averaged about 30. Kumble was not a traditional wrist-spinner obviously, but still. And averaging 30 is fantastic for a (visiting) spinner in Australia.I think he's been pretty ordinary out here tbh. Even the last tour when India was putting up good numbers and the quicks were firing. Tough place to tour for finger spinners, mind you.
Lyon's average in india is worse than his away average. It is almost as poor as his home average. And some of those pitches he played in india were rank turners. I would pick someone good enough to take advantage of helpful conditions rather than someone whose record doesn't improve in friendly conditions.Except that Lyon's home conditions are considerably more challenging for a spinner than the conditions Ashwin/ Jadeja face. Hell, Warne averaged nigh on 30 in Australia after the turn of the century.
I think in terms of Depth India are comfortably better, we are far less hurt if our top pacer or spinner is injured. In terms of the best that can be put on the park - I still think Australia does have a better if not much better pace attack compared to India's, more than compensating for the spin disadvantage.Australia recently played Siddle ffs, of course India is better
Even more so if you consider Hardik
Hasn't he retired? We can argue that Australia misses Bradman or India misses Tendulkar in the same way.And there's a very important batsman missing since that series. A bloke by the name of de Villiers. You may have heard of him.