Skip to main content

India vs. Australia: series preview

The last time India played Australia at home was also the last time they won a series against opposition that ranked in the top 5. The series winning match in Bangalore was marked by several key performances with Tendulkar scoring 214 and 53*, Vijay scored his maiden century, Pujara announced his arrival with his knock of 72 in the second innings chase, and Zaheer and Harbhajan led the charge for wickets amongst the bowlers. Given what's happened since then, you couldn't blame Dhoni if he wished desperately for a repeat of at least a few of those in the 2012-13 series launcher in Madras. Tendulkar has since not scored a Test match hundred at home (and averages 28.83), Vijay has only now reclaimed a place in the side, and Zaheer and Harbhajan are a shadow of the bowlers they were and are struggling to even keep their places in the side. Pujara is the only one who has actually enhanced his reputation and is starting to show signs that he can become the fulcrum of the batting order in future. The other fulcrum of the batting will have to be Virat Kohli and this is probably going to be the series that determines whether he has it in him to hold the line-up together and potentially be the next in line for the captaincy. As for the little giant from Mumbai, while it would be good to see him bow out with glory, the chances of that happening look slim. As much as the batting has been hot and cold (as has Dhoni's personal test match form), the shambles that is the bowling attack will be an even bigger worry for Dhoni going into the four match series. Ashwin needs a quick turnaround if he is not to go the Ajantha Mendis way of mystery bowlers rather than the Saeed Ajmal way. Ishant Sharma has now played nearly 50 games but it now looks like Warne made the "he has played the same Test 33 times" comment about the wrong bowler. That leaves Ojha and he's never going to be the bowler who singlehandedly runs through sides. Patience and perseverance are going to be the key for Dhoni's men and if they are to win it will have to be session by session, brick by brick.

One other thing that will give them some confidence is looking at the opposition. From that game in Bangalore, they have just two survivors (Clarke and Watson) whereas India have seven. No Ponting, no Hussey, and no Katich means they are light on experience and Mitchell Johnson is in a similar phase to Harbhajan (ie he's still in the squad but will struggle to make the playing XI). In Siddle, Starc, and Pattinson they have a strong pace attack and their effectiveness will be the real key to how they fare. Get it right and they will restrict a shaky Indian batting lineup to manageable totals. Get it wrong and their inexperienced batting will face up to the Indian tweakers boosted by runs to play with which will be an uphill battle. Especially given that Warner, Cowan, Hughes, and Wade will all be playing in India for the first time. They have been making the right noises and have made the right selection (in my opinion at least) in picking Henriques over Maxwell, the proof will really be in their response to pressure.

Whichever way it swings, it should be a fascinating series between two teams that are in the throes of rebuilding. And while all of the nonsense around the absence of DRS, radio and media rights issues etc does leave a bit of a bad taste, I'm really looking forward to it and am certainly not going to be as cynical as Sid Vee seems to be about it :-)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When reactions lack proportion

There's been much brouhaha over India's rapid descent into one-sided football scorelines and becoming what some would term "the world's worst overseas team". And while there's some logic to the cries for wholesale changes ,  revamping the team , and attitude problems , much of it is over the top. About the only two sensible pieces I have read recently are by Ganguly and Siddhartha Vaidyanathan questioning the lack of spirit and fight shown by the team. What's most surprising to me is that some people seem to think that the team (which was ranked #1 till recently and won the World Cup less than a year back) is suddenly a pile of dung. This when there are still several pieces of information (numbers of course) that have either been ignored or not analysed clearly at all. So here's an attempt to balance the books a little. Consider the following - 1) India's overseas record in 5 year segments roughly over the last two decades is as below: 199
Post a Comment
Read more

Kohli's team on the way to greatness?

Growing up (from a cricket watching perspective) in the 1990s, I am terribly unused to Test cricket being the format in which the Indian team is most successful and looking like potential world-beaters. Still early days, but this is exactly the way things seem headed currently for Kohli and his men. Since Jan 2015 (when Kohli took over as full time captain), India's record reads: P 21, W 14, L 1, D 6. The absurd W/L ratio will of course not last and many critics will point to the fact that most of the victories have come at home. Teams can however only overcome the opposition they are faced with and so far India have ticked off the overseas boxes they have been faced with (in Sri Lanka and the West Indies). And at home they have been utterly dominant, destroying everyone they've met. But most hearteningly, it's the way they have battled back from adversity that builds the most promise for the future. Too often in even the recent past (let alone the 1990s), Indian teams
Post a Comment
Read more

Old dog, new tricks?

After Virat Kohli's stupendously successful start as India captain (admittedly in a different format), the cries for Dhoni to be replaced as captain for the shorter formats will undoubtedly renew again. And while Kohli might be ready to take over, I think India still have a lot to gain from Dhoni the batsman and captain at the Champions Trophy in England next year. Aside from the fact that we are not exactly rolling in good new limited overs keeper-batsmen and couldn't therefore find an adequate replacement at short notice, Dhoni has looked fitter and fresher since he gave up Test cricket. He has also, in a distinct departure from the recent past, looked keen to get stuck into situations tactically and work out ways to win with newer players. The Zimbabwe tour was a pretty light weight test but it definitely started there and its carried on into the current series against New Zealand. Most hearteningly, he has not been stubborn about his own waning skills as a batsman and
Post a Comment
Read more