@cnerd123
Hate Aussie media and ex-players . But none of the current players complained about the pitch.
True but I also think a lot of the responses and body language in the interviews suggested at least internally they had gotten it into their heads that this was a consiparacy pitch prepared primarily to reward left arm spinners and punish left hand batsmen. I actually think it must have been touch and go as far as Agar playing was concerned, and he must have been in mighty awful form if they felt he cant be played here.
It worked out great as Murphy has shown he is extremely capable and that around the wicket line with the ball just about kissing the edge of the mat for the leg stump line is a very good ball against right handers as it can go either way from there a slight distance and batsmen will have left 3 or 4 ways of getting out open.
Anyways, the pitch was totally fine and a regular Indian pitch and they won the toss and yet lost by an innings even though India only made 400. I think they should start thinking about their strengths than the opponents' to an extent with the selections.
All that said though, I think they really did compete and played to their best. India and esp. Jaddu, Shami and Ashwin from his last spell in the first innings were just relentless. Siraj started brilliantly before tailing off a bit. Rohit played an amazing amazing knock, Jaddu and Axar and Ashwin showed why their ability with the bat as bowlers can be so crucial in tests. The only aspect that really disappointed me about the Aussies this game was how much they let the pitch stuff affect them mentally when it was always a nothing-burger, and then at the end, Smith being very selfish which is rare with Aussie cricketers who are brougth up so much on team sport.
Great game to follow for me personally as I had called Jaddu, Rohit doing well here and Marnus was someone I backed for a while to be good esp. in the SC conditions. Australia will definitely fight back hard and Starc will add a very different threat and Delhi can help seamers a lot more than Nagpur did. That said, I think our batting can and probably will improve and our bowlers, if they dont get carried away, will continue to pose such a huge challenge for the Aussies.
Both teams had 4 tailenders, just that ours batted 2-5 while the Aussies batted theirs 8-11.
