Make no mistake

[Mateyman]

Does anyone seriously come away from that series thinking australia has improved its batting in the subcontinent?


It's bowling - undoubtedly. Days gone by it wouldn't matter what sort of pitch they played on over there, Indias batsmen would have a picnic. That's no longer the case.

Batting I'm not so sure.

Batted out a test match, batted pretty well in Pune. Better efforts than the last series.

 

[Mateyman]

You could substitute 'Australia' for 'India' and this post would still be 100% valid.

South Africa in South Africa is a better scalp than any India have this decade

 

[Mateyman]

Australia struggled to win 2-0 last time. I doubt it will be 4 zip walk in the park.

We didn't really struggle. The only times they looked like winning games was when's we declared to try and force a result, and we were well on top in the 2 drawn tests.

 

[SherbertLemon]

You could substitute 'Australia' for 'India' and this post would still be 100% valid.

I would have thought winning in South Africa against that team was somewhat difficult.

 

[Seagrave_Holmes]

Let's hope the nex time India come over here, it wont be a snooze fest with flat decks designed to put the bowlers into an early retirement.

 

[DT_fanatic]

Does anyone seriously come away from that series thinking australia has improved its batting in the subcontinent?


It's bowling - undoubtedly. Days gone by it wouldn't matter what sort of pitch they played on over there, Indias batsmen would have a picnic. That's no longer the case.

Batting I'm not so sure.

Difficult to say IMO. Smith really did carry the batting, and you could say Handscomb and SMarsh showed a lot of temperament in that Ranchi test but would that be offset by the number of failed starts from Handscomb and otherwise relatively poor series from Marsh? What would have really happened if Smith wasn't in that kind of form and scored that many runs. Difficult to say.

Renshaw showed a lot of potential but he'd want to improve on his vulnerability to short ball tactics. Obviously only 20 tho and hasn't had another subcontinent tour previously to compare against.

Warner was Warner.

I think Maxwell is the biggest win especially for future subcontinent tours, he should be a lock for #6. Might still be dismissed to the occasional lapse/poor shot but it looks like he's sorted the mental part of it out for the most part, and he's always had the talent to play spin well.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Does anyone seriously come away from that series thinking australia has improved its batting in the subcontinent?


It's bowling - undoubtedly. Days gone by it wouldn't matter what sort of pitch they played on over there, Indias batsmen would have a picnic. That's no longer the case.

Batting I'm not so sure.

Of course it improved, if it was going to get any worse Glen McGrath would've been strapping the pads on & striding in at #3

But the series showed that
S Marsh, M Marsh & Warner should never go to Asia ever again.
Question marks still over;
Crenshaw, handscomb & Maxwell & wade

So in a way you're right we didnt really find a player to lock in for future tours batting wise. And at a minimum we need to find 2 new ones.

What they did learn out of all of it, is that preparation is essential if you want to be competitive you need to put in the work beforehand.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Let's hope the nex time India come over here, it wont be a snooze fest with flat decks designed to put the bowlers into an early retirement.

Do you think india will play the pink ball test? Or are they gonna sook up about that as well

 

[PhatBoy]

Of course it improved, if it was going to get any worse Glen McGrath would've been strapping the pads on & striding in at #3

But the series showed that
S Marsh, M Marsh & Warner should never go to Asia ever again.
Question marks still over;
Crenshaw, handscomb & Maxwell & wade

So in a way you're right we didnt really find a player to lock in for future tours batting wise. And at a minimum we need to find 2 new ones.

What they did learn out of all of it, is that preparation is essential if you want to be competitive you need to put in the work beforehand.

Smith everyone already knew could bat over there. Warner was at a subcontinental crossroads and made no forward progress. Marsh went there with a reputation and came away without it. Handscomb and Renshaw started with clean slates and didn't really write much on them. As a unit (and I'm not saying they went backwards either) I don't think they improved.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Smith everyone already knew could bat over there. Warner was at a subcontinental crossroads and made no forward progress. Marsh went there with a reputation and came away without it. Handscomb and Renshaw started with clean slates and didn't really write much on them. As a unit (and I'm not saying they went backwards either) I don't think they improved.

They definitely improved, there was 4 hundreds this tour compared to 1 last time.
They batted out the day several times, last series we were dismissed inside of 60 overs a lot. I doubt we batted more than 90 overs more than once last time
The ability to hold out for a draw in the 3rd test is unknown to the Australian team, let alone on day 5 in india.

They still have a lot of work to do & some more batters to find but there's no question they improved

 

[frankrizzo]

Smith everyone already knew could bat over there. Warner was at a subcontinental crossroads and made no forward progress. Marsh went there with a reputation and came away without it. Handscomb and Renshaw started with clean slates and didn't really write much on them. As a unit (and I'm not saying they went backwards either) I don't think they improved.

Renshaw batted very well in the lowest scoring games early in the series, his 68 at pune was one heck of an innings even more so when you consider starc going the tonk was the only other 40+ score we made.

We still have a long long way to go but from where we started i can't see how anybody could say there was no improvement at all, even just renshaw playing the way he did on those tough pitches and us batting 100 overs for a draw later in the series were way above anything we have achieved lately.

We missed some huge opportunities to close games out and those horrible rapid middle order collapses are still there but really overall we still batted much better than any tour to asia since the 2011 SL series.

 

[Mateyman]

Smith everyone already knew could bat over there. Warner was at a subcontinental crossroads and made no forward progress. Marsh went there with a reputation and came away without it. Handscomb and Renshaw started with clean slates and didn't really write much on them. As a unit (and I'm not saying they went backwards either) I don't think they improved.

I think showing the ability to grind out a draw just alone is sign of a big improvement in the batting. No chance we do that last time. Absolutely 0.

 

[CrazyInjun]

Smith everyone already knew could bat over there. Warner was at a subcontinental crossroads and made no forward progress. Marsh went there with a reputation and came away without it. Handscomb and Renshaw started with clean slates and didn't really write much on them. As a unit (and I'm not saying they went backwards either) I don't think they improved.

Smith and Warner did what was expected, although Smith was really amazing. To me, Handscomb is the most promising find of this series for Australia. Renshaw needs to develop quite a bit - India figured him out and got him out cheaply 5 times in a row. Maxwell, well is Maxwell. Problem for Australia is that they already have a lottery ticket at the top of the order - carrying 2 of them in the top 6 is a bit iffy.

 

[damochandler]

Smith and Warner did what was expected, although Smith was really amazing. To me, Handscomb is the most promising find of this series for Australia. Renshaw needs to develop quite a bit - India figured him out and got him out cheaply 5 times in a row. Maxwell, well is Maxwell. Problem for Australia is that they already have a lottery ticket at the top of the order - carrying 2 of them in the top 6 is a bit iffy.

Warner was expected to score runs. Not get starts and get out cheaply

 

[CrazyInjun]

Warner was expected to score runs. Not get starts and get out cheaply

If you genuinely expected Warner to make runs this series, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[Borisdog]

Will be a great series. Australia v India should be as big as Aus v England, Aus v RSA.
It should be a five test match series. I loathe the Indian cricket team. A lot of nasty pieces of trash in that side.

Why on earth would you want them here for a full series then?

Frankly I'd be happy to never play them again. They're absolutely more trouble than they're worth. I suppose that's what happens when almost the whole team consists of "high born" types who think everyone and everything is beneath them and they're never ever wrong.

I cringed when the ACB caved when the Indians threatened to go home last time ( ? ) they toured here.

I would have asked them if they wanted a lift to the airport.

 

[PhatBoy]

Why on earth would you want them here for a full series then?

Frankly I'd be happy to never play them again. They're absolutely more trouble than they're worth. I suppose that's what happens when almost the whole team consists of "high born" types who think everyone and everything is beneath them and they're never ever wrong.

I cringed when the ACB caved when the Indians threatened to go home last time ( ? ) they toured here.

I would have asked them if they wanted a lift to the airport.

Because many - not all - great sporting rivalries are built on genuine dislike.

As long as there is an amount of respect - and even Kohli was able to give credit and respect to the Australians for how they played - that dislike can create a great rivalry

The obvious one is Ali-Frazier. One was a loudmouth who called out racism and in doing so accused the other of accepting racism. The other was quiet and humble and thought Ali was a showboater who needed shutting up.

Mickelson and Woods from memory didn't have very high regard for one another.

Soccer sides are blatant about it.

Here in our own backyard, Geelong and Hawthorn.

India and Pakistan in cricket before Australia became the number one target - it was viewed like war.

Just makes it more watchable and tense IMO when you know that both teams hurt doubly when they fail.

 

[Borisdog]

Because many - not all - great sporting rivalries are built on genuine dislike.

As long as there is an amount of respect - and even Kohli was able to give credit and respect to the Australians for how they played - that dislike can create a great rivalry

The obvious one is Ali-Frazier. One was a loudmouth who called out racism and in doing so accused the other of accepting racism. The other was quiet and humble and thought Ali was a showboater who needed shutting up.

Mickelson and Woods from memory didn't have very high regard for one another.

Soccer sides are blatant about it.

Here in our own backyard, Geelong and Hawthorn.

India and Pakistan in cricket before Australia became the number one target - it was viewed like war.

Just makes it more watchable and tense IMO when you know that both teams hurt doubly when they fail.

A fair argument, but my belief is they create more shit than enjoyment and they're not worth it IMO. As an example of what I mean - I think it's how terrorism should be handled by the media. Don't give them an audience. Nothing. No oxygen at all.

 

[DT_fanatic]

A fair argument, but my belief is they create more shit than enjoyment and they're not worth it IMO. As an example of what I mean - I think it's how terrorism should be handled by the media. Don't give them an audience. Nothing. No oxygen at all.

I think its a bit naive to think it's all one-sided.

India rarely have any issues when playing against other sides. Even when they play Pakistan, rare as they are, it generates less controversy.

 

[The Swans Blog]

Apart from Smith the batting was pretty poor. The bowling and fielding was superb.

 

[Borisdog]

I think its a bit naive to think it's all one-sided.

India rarely have any issues when playing against other sides. Even when they play Pakistan, rare as they are, it generates less controversy.

I don't think it's one-sided, nor did I say it was. However when you have a guest that you always clash with , and it always ends in a shit-fight then why not just stop inviting them?

I'm a prevention rather than procedure kinda guy.

 

[Blue1980]

I think its a bit naive to think it's all one-sided.

India rarely have any issues when playing against other sides. Even when they play Pakistan, rare as they are, it generates less controversy.

Same could be said of Australia.

A lot of it comes down to India wanting to emulate Australia's dominance from 95-08

 

[Leeda]

Will be a great series. Australia v India should be as big as Aus v England, Aus v RSA.
It should be a five test match series. I loathe the Indian cricket team. A lot of nasty pieces of trash in that side.

trash means 'extra good' no... cos that is only when you want someone to be binned.
you are right about the other ashes and the south africans though

 

[Bradesmaen]

Does anyone seriously come away from that series thinking australia has improved its batting in the subcontinent?


It's bowling - undoubtedly. Days gone by it wouldn't matter what sort of pitch they played on over there, Indias batsmen would have a picnic. That's no longer the case.

Batting I'm not so sure.

Spin bowling has improved over there, pace bowling has gone backwards.

 

[Jimthegreat]

Half-way through the 2003-04 Boxing day test, Sehwag had just dropped a 195 on a quick bouncy track against an Aussie team that expected to blow India away for next to nothing. So, pretending that India always play poorly in Australia is inaccurate. India were extremely competitive 3 out of the last 4 times we have toured this millennium.

2003 Steve Waugh's farewell series - we tied 1-1, and only fell a few wickets short of winning 2-1 - thanks to a missed stumping by the worst clanger ever to keep wickets for India - Parthiv Patel.

2008 - India beat Australia at Perth. And if not for Clarke, Ponting etc claiming dodgy catches - MUCH worse than the catch which Vijay is being viliifed for today, and Steve Bucknor consistently screwing India over, that series would be have a very different result.

Last tour, we barely lost the first test at Adelaide - but benching Ashwin for a rookie legspinner who hasn't played international cricket, let alone tests, was a major factor.

But the ignorant can keep pretending that India supposedly can't compete in Australia. It is the era of "alternative facts" after all.

They weren't screwed over in Sydney. Umpiring was shocking on both sides. I remember about 13 shockers that Test, 8 India and 5 Aust so India got slightly the worst. Rear view showed Clarke's catch as legit. Need two eyes for an imformed opinion.

2003. no McGrath, Warne didn't play, Gillespie and Lee had injuries a missed Tests and were never fit. Our bowlers were the likes of Nathan Bracken and Brad Willams.

Last series we produced 4 of the flattest track imaginable. All first innings were 500 to 400 and Australia were well on top in all of the last 3 Tests after a small win in the first Test. should've been 4-0 as India were only just hanging in tests 3 and 4. Curators tried to help you but to no avail.

Of course you leave out 2012 where India were smashed 4-0.

India's piss weak overseas. Never won a series here. They'll get smashed. ou talk shit.