***Official Australia in India***

[Rickripper]

I think if India wanted to produce a dustbowl, then they should be allowed to, it is their home advantage. Providing it's within reason, of course. It's down to Australia to be able to play spin.

 

[silentstriker]

1st Test Pitch

Completely expected. We do love shooting ourselves in the head.

 

[Top_Cat]

I will be surprised if the pitch is as the curator suggests. Doesn't appear to make a great deal of sense, when you consider the strengths of the Australia and India side respectively. Although I'm all for pitches with a bit in it for everyone.

Some Indian curators are fairly notorious for being fiercely independent, though. The bloke for the first Test is one of them, I believe.

 

[Burgey]

Completely expected. We do love shooting ourselves in the head.

Having said that though, India's seamers caused Australia a fair bit of trouble out here. India certainly enjoy the edge in spin, but I wouldn't say they are miles behind Australia in the pace department. Bare in mind none of the Aussies have bowled a ball in a test in India, and guys like RP and Ishant caused bulk problems for Australia here. Remeber how unlucky they were day one in Melbourne, and of course they won in Perth. I can see Sharma and Clark causing equal problems for batsmen if it bounces, and of course Lee is real quality these days - but so is Zaheer.
Not saying a bouncy pitch doesn't suit Australia more than a real turner, just that I wouldn't say India are a forlorn hope on one that bounces either, provided they bat well. They just need to get a decent opening stand away IMO. Everyone know their middle order is quality but how often have they been one-for jack against Australia recently?

Would be nice for Ponting though.

 

[Top_Cat]

Having said that though, India's seamers caused Australia a fair bit of trouble out here. India certainly enjoy the edge in spin, but I wouldn't say they are miles behind Australia in the pace department. Bare in mind none of the Aussies have bowled a ball in a test in India, and guys like RP and Ishant caused bulk problems for Australia here. Remeber how unlucky they were day one in Melbourne, and of course they won in Perth. I can see Sharma and Clark causing equal problems for batsmen if it bounces, and of course Lee is real quality these days - but so is Zaheer.
Not saying a bouncy pitch doesn't suit Australia more than a real turner, just that I wouldn't say India are a forlorn hope on one that bounces either, provided they bat well. They just need to get a decent opening stand away IMO. Everyone know their middle order is quality but how often have they been one-for jack against Australia recently?

Would be nice for Ponting though.

They'll have to bowl well, though, and they haven't been all that on the ball of late, though guys like Zaheer lift for the Aussies (for one Test, anyway, before he dislocates something). I maintain this series will be a battle of who bats better. The bowling is important, of course, but aside from Lee, there's no-one on either side who is genuinely feared right now. They'll have to bowl well in packs to have an impact on what I reckon will be pretty flat decks. So I reckon it'll come down to who puts a big total on the board first and lays on the pressure with suffocating field-settings. Doubt we'll see many 7-2 fields unless that's the opposition's score!

 

[gettingbetter]

Inexperienced Australia will be competitive - Gilchrist.

Am I the only one who thinks that people are overreacting to the squad selection? THe squad may be inexperienced, but the team that will be selected is relatively the same team bar the spinner.

 

[pup11]

They'll have to bowl well, though, and they haven't been all that on the ball of late, though guys like Zaheer lift for the Aussies (for one Test, anyway, before he dislocates something). I maintain this series will be a battle of who bats better. The bowling is important, of course, but aside from Lee, there's no-one on either side who is genuinely feared right now. They'll have to bowl well in packs to have an impact on what I reckon will be pretty flat decks. So I reckon it'll come down to who puts a big total on the board first and lays on the pressure with suffocating field-settings. Doubt we'll see many 7-2 fields unless that's the opposition's score!

AWTA, as important as the bowlers from both sides are eventually how well likes of Ponting, Hayden, Clarke and Hussey for Australia and Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman for India perform, would eventually decide which way the series goes, so core batting of whichever team performs better would have a better chance of doing well in this series.

 

[honestbharani]

better report about the pitches.


http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repo...cjAxOTAw&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

 

[pup11]

better report about the pitches.


http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repo...cjAxOTAw&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

I am sure the Indian team-management would make sure that by the time the test series begins they convince the curators to turn the pitches into dust-bowls.

 

[ret]

Not surprised at the pitch report as you can see from one of my posts

If the pitches are going to aid the quicks then India will have to play 3 quicks, so either it have to bench one of the spinners or play a bowling all-rounder like Pathan .... playing 3 quciks and a spinner will pose selection challenges to India as they can't drop Kumble and they would not want to bench Bhajji

the test squad appears to be in a mess .... would like to see how some of the old guns perform against Delhi. if they struggle against Delhi then you can probably expect a miserable series against Australia and IF that happens then Ind has only itself to blame

 

[Top_Cat]

From the article;

Those plans may, however, remain unfulfilled due to the delayed monsoon. It means we won’t see dry conditions when the Aussies are here. That would indicate that the pitches will be sluggish or flat; in fact, they might even help the seamers in bursts.

And....

According to Daljit, the Kotla pitch at Delhi is problematic because the clay layer is about one and a half feet deep. It doesn’t dry easily. The soil profile thus is dicey. More compacting is needed if the bounce were not be variable. The upshot of this is that Kotla pitch will be result-oriented.

Hardly conducive to raging turners, no? As I've been saying, the curators can't just produce a turning deck, they need help from mother nature and, for the purposes of producing a deck which turns from day 1, she ain't co-operating.

 

[pup11]

From the article;



And....



Hardly conducive to raging turners, no? As I've been saying, the curators can't just produce a turning deck, they need help from mother nature and, for the purposes of producing a deck which turns from day 1, she ain't co-operating.

Ricky Ponting would be one happy man after learning this.

 

[silentstriker]

Get a shovel and dig it up if you have to. I'll go crazy if we get a fast bowler's pitch.

 

[Manee]

I know sweet FA about pitches, but surely a bouncy pitch would help Kumble and Harbhajan as well as Ishant and Zaheer to an equal or greater extent as it would help Lee, Clark and Johnson.

 

[Prince EWS]

I know sweet FA about pitches, but surely a bouncy pitch would help Kumble and Harbhajan as well as Ishant and Zaheer to an equal or greater extent as it would help Lee, Clark and Johnson.

Perhaps, but it'd help the Australian batsmen more than it'd help the Indian batsmen...

 

[Manee]

Indeed. Something which I have also considered - does Sehwag and Tendulkar's proficience on the backfoot and Laxman's brilliance in Australia make the point moot or would you disagree?

 

[Rickripper]

Perhaps, but it'd help the Australian batsmen more than it'd help the Indian batsmen...

I thought that generally, the Australians were good off the front foot, so a bouncy pitch wouldn't help them... or am I getting that completely wrong?

 

[pasag]

Reckon the Aussie batsmen would be much more concerned with a rampant Sharma and Zaheer as opposed to whatever spin attack India offers up. On the other hand anything helping Lee and Clark obviously won't please the Indian batsmen too much. Whatever, as long as they're not flat I'll be happy, even if we're at a disadvantage.

 

[Prince EWS]

Indeed. Something which I have also considered - does Sehwag and Tendulkar's proficience on the backfoot and Laxman's brilliance in Australia make the point moot or would you disagree?

Well I think Sehwag and Tendulkar would handle extra bounce as well as the Australians would; there's no secret there.

However, while Laxman has been successful in Australia, I'd still back him to be much more successful on a pitch that had consistently low to average bounce than one that lifted at all. He tends to get rooted to his crease early in his innings and bouncier pitches tend to exaggerate this with him as he gets stuck on the back foot.

Dravid, Dhoni and Ghambir are players who I definitely think would benefit more from lower bounce, though, along with essentially only Clarke from the Australian team who you could actually say that about. Whoever replaces Ganguly (or indeed Ganguly himself, if selected) would probably fit into this category as well although we obviously can't be sure.

I think Clark would actually benefit more than the other bowlers (from both teams) as well although that's a separate debate. I'll agree that it's not as significant as it might be made out by some, but I don't think it's "moot".

Obviously though, the main factor with the pitches will be how much turn they take.

 

[silentstriker]

Reckon the Aussie batsmen would be much more concerned with a rampant Sharma and Zaheer as opposed to whatever spin attack India offers up.

What? No way. Not in India.