Can India beat Australia down under ?

I reckon that this Indian team, provided BCCI sticks to sensible selections based on performance and not sentiments has more than a decent chance of taking the lion in its own den successfully.

The preparation is a bit worrying with only one lead up match before the first tes, however the Pakistan tour immediately before will help with the buildup. That said ability to quickly adjust to the Australian condidtions will be vital before too much damage is inflicted through the early ambush the Australians specialise in.

Spectator wise it should be interesting given all that has gone on with Symonds and Sreesanth and the fact that there is more than a sizeable contingent of Indians that will be attending the matches.

In answer to the thread title - No!

Basil wrote:In answer to the thread title - No!

Ah the English cricket fans, always starting with a negative frame of mind when it comes to the Aussies

What have you got to throw at the Aussies, which is going to catch them off guard on their own patch? Surely not Sreesanth - the guy may have talent, but he ain't got a brain to go with it.

From a bowling perspective I reckon RP, Zaheer and SS himself will all go well. If the selectors dare to pick Piyush I reckon he will add to the variety. Bhaji is not bowling badly these days either.

Batting wise there are a lot of options, my preference is for more youth.

Above all of that what I am counting on is the new attitude, doggedness and fight the youth are bringing into this team.

Not saying they will be successful, but from my own take this is the most confident I have been with a down under tour for a long long time.

Fair enough, but if Tendulkar and Dravid are in long term decline, who's scoring your runs?

I am not counting on Tendulkar, if it were up to me he won't be going. I reckon Dravid is capable of being at his best once he can get over the mental reverse of the Captaincy saga. I wouldn't bother with Ganguly either and I have my doubts on Yuvraj in the test arena.

From the rest Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Tiwary, Kaif would be my top picks. Guys like Dhoni may struggle particularly if he were to be captain and keep not to mention his documented weaknesses. From that perspective the choice of Captain is`crucial. If they picked Dhoni and pakked him to do everything even if he cracked in one discipline ie. batting or keeping that could become a nightmarish situation for the whole team. Last team around hard as they tried the Aussie players and their fans could not crack Ganguly and that went a long way towards India's performance.

If Dhoni were to Captain he should play as a specialist batsmen and the keeping be given to somebody like Karthik.

Josh Carney wrote:From a bowling perspective I reckon RP, Zaheer and SS himself will all go well. If the selectors dare to pick Piyush I reckon he will add to the variety. Bhaji is not bowling badly these days either.

Batting wise there are a lot of options, my preference is for more youth.

Above all of that what I am counting on is the new attitude, doggedness and fight the youth are bringing into this team.

Not saying they will be successful, but from my own take this is the most confident I have been with a down under tour for a long long time.

Bhaji is bowling terribly.....

PearlJ wrote:

Josh Carney wrote:From a bowling perspective I reckon RP, Zaheer and SS himself will all go well. If the selectors dare to pick Piyush I reckon he will add to the variety. Bhaji is not bowling badly these days either.

Batting wise there are a lot of options, my preference is for more youth.

Above all of that what I am counting on is the new attitude, doggedness and fight the youth are bringing into this team.

Not saying they will be successful, but from my own take this is the most confident I have been with a down under tour for a long long time.

Bhaji is bowling terribly.....

Is he actually "bowling"? Hard to tell in the long sleeves . . .

tac wrote:

PearlJ wrote:

Josh Carney wrote:From a bowling perspective I reckon RP, Zaheer and SS himself will all go well. If the selectors dare to pick Piyush I reckon he will add to the variety. Bhaji is not bowling badly these days either.

Batting wise there are a lot of options, my preference is for more youth.

Above all of that what I am counting on is the new attitude, doggedness and fight the youth are bringing into this team.

Not saying they will be successful, but from my own take this is the most confident I have been with a down under tour for a long long time.

Bhaji is bowling terribly.....

Is he actually "bowling"? Hard to tell in the long sleeves . . .

Of course

no...unless they bring a big stick out here

India are probably the only team that will actually be facing a stronger bowling lineup than the last time they came to aus.

please don't yell wrote:India are probably the only team that will actually be facing a stronger bowling lineup than the last time they came to aus.

Good point.

If they can bat first in most games and their batting lineup consistently puts 450+ on the board then India have a real chance. They've been consistently playing well away from home for 2 years now, and a drawn series against South Africa on their home patch with pitches that were tailored for Ntini and co, and a series win against England during a wet English summer should not be dismissed as irrelevant.

and a drawn series against South Africa on their home patch with pitches that were tailored for Ntini and co

As far as I remember, India lost that series.

I am not counting on Tendulkar, if it were up to me he won't be going.

Similar Josh rant. Thank god, you're nowhere near to powers that be.

Don't know why he even bothers posting it. Everyone is so much aware of his one-point agenda.

Going by his logic, Indian selectors should replace someone as good (or as bad as Tendulkar is in his eyes) with likes of Kaif, Tiwary and Rohit Sharma, with last 2 yet to make their debut.

Yep, thats the only chance India have in Australia.

I think india's bowling is stronger than in 03/04 but the batsman aren't in the same form.

In the 03/04 series ganguly laxman dravid sehwag and tendulkar were all in peak form or as close to it as they get.

Tendulkar's performances in tests in the last 2-3 years, barring against the minnows will not earn him a place in any of the leading test nations. He is purely there on reputation and other influences. And thanks to his in and out phases due to his physical fitness issues more deserving yougsters have been unnecessarily shafted even though they did better in the limited opportunities they were provided.

He needs to go.

please don't yell wrote:I think india's bowling is stronger than in 03/04 but the batsman aren't in the same form.

In the 03/04 series ganguly laxman dravid sehwag and tendulkar were all in peak form or as close to it as they get.

True, but Tendulkar was in pathetic form throughout that series apart from that sublime 241* at SCG in which he didn't play a single cover drive.

please don't yell wrote:I think india's bowling is stronger than in 03/04 but the batsman aren't in the same form.

In the 03/04 series ganguly laxman dravid sehwag and tendulkar were all in peak form or as close to it as they get.

Tendulkar flopped in the first three tests and had two big not outs in that runway pitch at Sydney to make up the numbers. He was nowhere near his best. Laxman, Dravid and perhaps Viru were at their best, Ganguly was above average.

If Indian selectors showed some ruthlessness, defied sentiments and brought in the youngsters I reckon that the batting will go fine. If nothing it will be a good start for the future.

We have as good a chance now as we ever had in recent times. Strangely, the batting worries me more than the bowling nowadays. Sehwag must be picked, also Munaf Patel. That'll give us the best chance. And I won't have Kaif or Sharma aywhere near the test squad IMO.

The Pakistan series will be crucial, since we should be expected to beat them.

As for India's current bowling lineup, though its largely untested so far, it has to be better than whetever we dished out to Australia in that series, apart from Kumble and Agarkar's spell at Adelaide.

Josh Carney wrote:

please don't yell wrote:I think india's bowling is stronger than in 03/04 but the batsman aren't in the same form.

In the 03/04 series ganguly laxman dravid sehwag and tendulkar were all in peak form or as close to it as they get.

had two big not outs in that runway pitch at Sydney to make up the numbers.

Yep, whenever Tendulkar clicks its due to pitch being a runaway.

So I reckon MCG and Adelaide weren't runaways, especially the latter where India and Australia both raked totals of 550+ in their first innings. Is that because Dravid boosted his own average there by a double ton?

And its his fault that Australian bowlers couldn't take his wicket at SCG.

And Tendulkar was virtually out of form throughout the year before that series.

His scores before Gabba test were 8, 51, 9, 32, 8, 7, 55 and 1. '03 was his worst ever year in test cricket when he averaged just 17-odd in the whole year.