Congratulations Australia

Your team made seem it effortless. Australia were far superior in all departments of the game so a well deserved win.

Now for the next one where I hope we show more of a fight.

Very gracious, furry.

It's the game we need to equal the record (16 straight) and for Gilly to crack 400 Test dismissals. No changes anticipated; for India ... ? Sehwag in for Jaffer or Yuvraj?

Sehwag for Yuvraj, IMO.

But Sehwag for Jaffer is also an interesting idea. However, in this case we will still have a problem with our openers.

I hope to fack Sehwag does well, never mind that I have been against his inclusion all along. because if he doesn't, India will really have run out of options in the batting. And our batting is where we went wrong in this test.

What bothers me more than the openers issue is that both our 'golden boys' (sic) Yuvi and Dhoni came a cropper. And that is putting it mildly.

sehwag in for yuvraj, dravid to drop to 6 and dhoni to get one more chance in australia. he doesnt seem cut out for test batting and perth will certainly be tough for him. so karthik might get a chance, though dhoni seems the better keeper. bhajji seems to have lost the plot like saqlain, in one-day mode all the time. flight the ball ffs!

Why drop Yuvraj and not Jaffer? Who do you honestly think is the better player?

in tests? jaffer. he got a century in south africa under tough conditions. yuvraj just seems lost in tests, esp early on. even that great century against pak had a few chances at the start

also balance. dravid cant open it seems, dhoni is not getting dropped for karthik. so unless you are suggesting yuvraj opening jaffer seems a better option

Bhajji does not like the depressed seam of the Kookaburra. And he doesn't perform well if he is tense/tight and running in quicker. But he proved everyone in second innings that he can be potent with the Kook as well if he runs in just a tad slower and gets more flight.

Jaffer is more promising than Yuvraj because Jaffa is the type who takes a few innings to settle down in new conditions. He like any other Indian batsman needs a bit of time to come to grips and acclimatise in foreign conditions. But he usually comes good in his 4th or 5th innings on any tour.

he also looked in control of his shots unlike Yuvraj.

Jaffer played 2 awful shots to get out in this test. Yuvraj got 2 good balls. The logical decision should be that Jaffer gets dropped.

A lot of batsmen are likely to give a few chances at the start of their innings, especially attacking batsmen like Yuvraj. If Yuvraj can survive his first 30 balls he becomes a major asset for India coming in at six. He can hurt the opposition. Jaffer will plod along, but Australia wont mind it. Let's also not forget that India's fielding will officially become schoolboy standard if Yuvraj is replaced by Sehwag. I also think that Kumble blundered in not giving Yuvraj more of a bowl. Could have been a handful bowling into those footmarks to the left handers.

Sehwag's bowling will be welcome. Perhaps Dravid and Dhoni should swap batting slots.

Ishant and Pankaj is included will lift the fielding, they are not bad fielders.

Yuvraj can't replace Jaffer because Jaffer is a plodder at top of the order.

You can't have two plodders at teh top, just as there can't be two big hitters at the top.

A plodder to gently rotate the strike and a big hitter are what is preferable.

Henry wrote:Jaffer played 2 awful shots to get out in this test. Yuvraj got 2 good balls. The logical decision should be that Jaffer gets dropped

if you only look at two balls each. the fact that jaffer played two bad shots means its something that can be rectified by himself. yuvraj did not look comfortable at all in both his innings and was in fact out a few times before he was given out

i am basing this on seeing both batsmen play test matches over the last 2-3 years. on what i have seen jaffer is a better test batsman than yuvraj. he plays some stupid shots but has a tighther defence and looks comfortable against the new ball. yuvraj keeps on getting beaten by both pace and spin

*Buckaroo* wrote:Ishant and Pankaj is included will lift the fielding, they are not bad fielders.

Yuvraj can't replace Jaffer because Jaffer is a plodder at top of the order.

You can't have two plodders at teh top, just as there can't be two big hitters at the top.

A plodder to gently rotate the strike and a big hitter are what is preferable.

It's a CIA/MI6 conspiracy I tell thee...

The One wrote:

Henry wrote:Jaffer played 2 awful shots to get out in this test. Yuvraj got 2 good balls. The logical decision should be that Jaffer gets dropped

if you only look at two balls each. the fact that jaffer played two bad shots means its something that can be rectified by himself. yuvraj did not look comfortable at all in both his innings and was in fact out a few times before he was given out

i am basing this on seeing both batsmen play test matches over the last 2-3 years. on what i have seen jaffer is a better test batsman than yuvraj. he plays some stupid shots but has a tighther defence and looks comfortable against the new ball. yuvraj keeps on getting beaten by both pace and spin

Yuvraj's biggest problem seems to be a chronic lack of ticker.

No surprise Sandy rates him.

Aye, hearty congratulations.

furriner wrote:Your team made seem it effortless. Australia were far superior in all departments of the game so a well deserved win.

Now for the next one where I hope we show more of a fight.

Back to normality! Well tried India, for Aus first innings' total restriction, and congratulations Australia.

Yep, congrats to Australia.

Apart from the 1st day (even though they scored 337 runs in a single day which is helluva lot) and may be for a brief period when Tendulkar and Ganguly looked in total control on day 2, Australia were way ahead of us.

They simply outplayed us in every department of the game.

As for India, they've plenty of problems.

As they say you got to have a good start upfront, if you want to do well against any opposition, not just against an all time great side.

Jaffer and Dravid ensured that India doesn't get that even in 1 innings. I was apalled at the way Dravid batted in both the innings. Is this the way to bat against Australia? If only he could see the difference between his approach to batting in '99 and '03.

SG - my sentiments exactly. And as for Dravid, the worst I have EVER seen him bat in a test match.

Invader Zim wrote:No surprise Sandy rates him.

Congrats on the new visual aid sheety. Outstanding - is it the budgie?

Very gracious furry.

Dravid, much admired by me & many others but if a change is to be made then it should be him. I'm a little afraid for him in Perth.