Australia vs India 4th Day review

Hi Cricket Lovers

A day which started with a lot of promise for test cricket with the first 3 days showing an equal contest of bat and ball between the two teams. ended with Team India meekly surrendering to the Aussie pace attack. First the Indian bowlers failed to capitalize on the early Hussey dismissal and allowed the tail-enders Pattinson and Hilfenhaus to add 43 runs for the last wicket to lift the lead to a very tricky though gettable score of 292.

Indians started slowly but Sehwag could not contain himself and got out to a sliced shot to gully where Hussey grasped a sharp catch. Gambhir who had a chance to redeem himself could not do so and got out poking outside off as he snicked a Siddle delivery to Ponting at the 2nd slip. Dravid and Sachin were to assume the same approach like the first innings so that India had a chance of chasing the total down but Dravids defence was broken by Pattinson this time similer to his 1st innings dismissal. Laxman could not show his 4th innings form of the last 12 months and perished mistiming his favorite flick shot to square leg. Soon Virat got out plumb in front to a straight Hilfenhaus delivery to register a golden duck to his name.

Sachin was playing very freely as he did in the first innings which led to his dismissal while offering a mistimed shot to a Siddle delivery straight to Hussey at gully. India were reeling an 81/6 dismissing all the belief any Indian fan would have had about a Indian win till then. A few good shots from Ashwin and Dhoni took India past the 100 but as soon as Ashwin got out at 30 an Aussie win looked like the only result possible with all but the paltrry crowd of 30k fans packing there bags to go back home or move towards SCG for the next battle.

India were all out with 122 still needed when Umesh could not get hold of the heave to long on to get the maximum to hand Lyon his solitary wicket for the match. If you leave aside the meek surrender of the Indians in the 4th innings this test was a good example of test cricket and ended the Year of which we can talk about lot of re-vetting test matches in 2011.

I will be Starting a new post match analysis Article in the next few days which will use Impact Index (please go through it the link is here). I have been associated with it for the past 8-9 months and think its a very novel way of looking at cricket. i will elaborate on it in my next article.

Till then
Bye

Australia vs India 3rd Day Day review

Hi Cricket Lovers

Contrary to what i said in my last blog the day began with Rahul Dravid's wicket on the 2nd ball of the morning which triggered a collapse. Bowler of the day for the Aussies was the comeback boy Hilfenhaus who picked up 5 wickets. India lost its last 8 wickets for a paltry 68 with Ashwin being the highest contributor with  gutsy 31 runs to his name. VVS,Dhoni and Virat could not add much to the total perishing to good bowling from both Siddle and Hilfenhaus. Last wicket stand of 23 between Ashwin and Yadav reduced the deficit to 51.

Australian opening pair looked a bit uncomfortable against the opening bowlers this time around. Umesh bowled a fiery spell getting the trio of the openers and Marsh. Soon Aussies were tottering at the score of 27/4 before the old stalwarts Ponting and Hussey dug in and added another century partnership to there names before Ponting drove a full widish delivery from Zaheer to gully. While all this was happening Hussey was going on steady though some adventurous shot making from Haddin given the situation Aussies were in might prove costly to his future in the squad.

At the end of the day Aussies were reduced to 179/8 with a lead of 230 till now. Indians will be happy with their bowling for sure except for the missed chance at slips when Dravid dropped Hussey while he was on 65.Except for Ponting and Hussey all scored in single digits. Indian bowlers will look to wrap up this innings as soon as possible not letting the lead reach above 250 which will anyway be a tricky one for the Indians.

will be back with more

Till then
Bye

Australia vs India 2nd Day Day review

Hi Cricket Lovers

As i had said yesterday, it proved to be exactly what i expected from today except for what happened in the final over of the day when GOD en route to his 100th International ton got bowled by an inducker from Siddle.

 Zaheer started the day well by getting Haddin and Siddle early. After a brief resistance from Hilfenhaus and Panttinson who took them past the 300 Hilfenhaus was caught off Ashwin while heaving towards long on. Ashwin brought the Aussie innings to a close at triple nelson (333) with Lyon getting bowled behind his legs. Sehwag and Gambhir survived the overs bowled before lunch was taken.

Sehwag and Gambhir resumed after lunch and soon Gambhir lost his wicket by edging to Haddin with an open face to a seaming ball from Hifenhaus. His loss of form in 2011 continues.Then came the Wall who with the shot maker Sehwag managed a 75 runs partnership. Sehwag score was 67 when he got dismissed but his innings was full of excitement with a lot of missed chances. He survived an easy chance to Hussey at the start of the innings,then he nearly mistimed a shot to Warner at long on when he tried to attack Lyon after hitting him for 2 consecutive 4's. He survived another chance to the diving hands of Haddin during a fearsome spell from Pattinson but got an inside edge driving him just before tea was to take place.

The GOD came to the crease with the standing ovation from the MCG crowd and survived a scare just on the 2nd ball he face while his nick just dropped few inches shot of the short leg fielder. Resuming after the break it was looking as if Sachin switched into Sehwag mood determined not to leave any deliveries outside off by guiding the first ball to the maximum above the slip cordon and the next ball for a triple to the midwicket. Sachin never looked back for the next 2 hours with Siddle and Lyon suffering the most from his form. On the other side Dravid was doing what he does best by sticking his bat around till the close of play even though he played and missed a lot. Dravid and Sachin reached their 20th century partnership as pair (most prolific pair in world today) and soon after Siddle got one ball to go through Dravid's defence but the roaring crowd at MCG was silenced when the replays showed that Siddle had overstepped.

GODs inning came to an end at the stroke when all of us in India started believing that he will reach his 100th Century tomorrow but still we cannot forget to appreciate the fact that his inning was a masterclass till it lasted and am sure that day will come sooner rather that later when he scores the elusive TON.

All in All a great day of cricket for India and India will hope to build on this day tomorrow by adding at least 300 more to its score tomorrow and take there lead over Australia near 200 and attack them in the 2nd innings.

will be back tomorrow with more updates
Till then
Bye

Australia vs India 1st Day Day review

Hi Cricket Lovers

 After winning the Toss, Michael Clarke had a tricky decision to take and he could have put India on to face the testing overcast conditions at the MCG on the Boxing Day morning. But, i guess he missed the trick and decided to bat first. Zaheer and Ishant started well with both of them swinging the ball and Ishant get the bounce from the surface. But both the openers survived the first 11 overs without any major problem
 The lapse in concentration came due to a brief delay of rain which triggered warner to lose his wicket trying to repeat his pull shot he had hit for a maximum against the shot ball from Umesh in the previous over. In the next over itself Shaun Marsh lost his concentration and mistimed a shot straight to Virat at gully to give Umesh his second for the day. Now came Ricky Ponting with a huge expectation behind of giving another epic performance. The debutante Cowen was steadily but slowly building a partnership while Ponting started picking up the pace.
 At the score of 113 came the next strike in the form of Ponting by Umesh getting him to nick a ball to Laxman at the slips. The captain came in to give able support to Cowen but perished to a delivery from Zaheer after adding 46 with Cowen. Then a jaffa of a delevery took a thin edge and Hussey was gone for a golden duck.Haddin averted the Hattrick. but soon Cowen lost a wicket to a wrong decision from Gould where the umpire thought the Ashwin caught the thinnest of edges to the gloves of Dhoni while the hot spot could not detect anything. As DRS is not being used here only the Australian side would be complining.

With Australia score at 214/6 one would have thought Indian bowlers will wrap it up soon but resistance from Siddle and Haddin meant Australia reached 277/6 at stumps. I guess both the teams will be will be content with whatever happened but i hope that India pick it up tomorrow to wrap up the Aussie quickly and Set up a  good 1st inning lead by batting for the next 2 days.

will be back tomorrow with more

till then
Bye

India Australia Series Preview

Hi Cricket Lovers

This is my Attempt to write a blog about one thing i can never get bored of. CRICKET. I would like to be begin this journey as a blogger with the one series i had aspired to watch live.Now i will have to be satisfied of watch it on TV. No problem!!

I would like to start with my Analysis of the both the Squads for this series.

Starting with Team India.

1.    Virender Sehwag

2.    Gautam Gambhir

3.    Rahul Dravid

4.    God (Sachin Tendulkar)

5.    VVS Laxman

6.    MS Dhoni (capt/wk)

7.   Virat Kohli

8.   Rohit Sharma

9.   Ajinkhya Rahane

10.Zaheer Khan

11.Ishant Sharma

12. Umesh Yadav

13. Ravichandra Ashwin

14.  Abhimanyu Mithun

15.  Pragyan Ojha

16.Wriddhiman Saha (wk)

Top 5 are comprise of the best top order batsmen in the world today with the God (Sachin) leading the way followed by the Wall (Dravid), then VVS laxman is there to strengthen the middle order. The opening pair of Viru and Gambhir as set to give India blistering starts to set up this Series into one of the most awaited series in recent years.

Dhoni is a very able captain and has grown a lot as a wicket keeper in the past 12-15 months.  There might be a fight for the last spot of the batsmen between Virat and Rohit with Virat making a statement by scoring a century in the tour game in Canberra.

I think this tour might put Zaheer into the league of greats like Kapil and Srinath for India. This is only possible if Zaheer’s fitness does not become the road block once again. Add to that if Ishant can repeat the form he had shown in the 2007-08 series when he trouble the Australian top and middle order batsmen especially the Punter.

This series can be career defining moments for the 2 young bowlers in the team. The tearaway fast bowler Umesh Yadav and the new off spinner Ravichandra Ashwin.

I hope they get ample opportunities to showcase their skills on this  tour.

Now moving on to the Australian Squad for the Boxing Day test.

1. David Warner
2. Ed Cowan
3. Shaun Marsh
4. Ricky Ponting
5. Michael Clarke (capt) 
6. Michael Hussey
7. Brad Haddin (wk)
8. Peter Siddle
9. James Pattinson
10. Nathan Lyon 
11. Ben Hilfenhaus
12. Mitchell Starc

Looking at the new look Australian side i must say there Batting will depend on the experienced Ponting and Hussey. Though both of them are not in form. New opening pair of Warner and the debutante Cowen might be crucial for Australia. Clarke is not only the skipper but has been in good form. Shaun Marsh's return from his injury will also be very critical and this is the point where the Indian bowlers can cash in on the inexperience Batting lineup.

The bowling side also looks depleted  as they have Ben Hilfenhaus joining the team after a long time while he will partner Pattinson and Siddle. I am not sure if the Indian Batting line up will be troubled by the offies of Nathan Lyon. 

Aussies will be missing the services of Shane Watson,Pat Cummins and Mitchell Johnson through injuries. If Indian team does not suffer the same fate it went through during the humiliating 4-0 loss to the England in the Away series.

I guess this series will be a very closely fought one with a few unpredictable things coming out of the series. 

My take on the Indian XI for the first Test will be 

1. Virender Sehwag
2.  Gautam Gambhir
3.   Rahul Dravid
4.  God (Sachin Tendulkar)
5.  VVS Laxman
6.  MS Dhoni (capt/wk)
7.  Virat Kohli
8. Ravichandra Ashwin
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Umesh Yadav
11. Ishant Sharma
12. Rohit Sharma

I think if the Indian batting fires and starts the series on a positive note this will auger well for it and pave the way to an elusive series win in Australia having missed the chance last time they were here.

I will post my Daily updates once the Boxing Day Test starts.

Till then 

Bye.