So we're at the halfway point of the series and so far its been enthralling, even if the cricket hasn't always been. The most pleasing aspect has been that is has been so unpredictable and that most of the pre-series predictions have turned out to be totally wrong. I think this is what makes Test cricket so fascinating for me as a sport, something that the one-day and T20 formats (though they have their own thrills) are never quite able to showcase.
The Indians have played far better and much more as a team than I expected them to. They usually start all series somewhat sluggishly (akin to how I start a week sometimes ;-)) so its good to see that they picked themselves up starting with Harbhajan and Zaheer's batting in the first innings in Bangalore and haven't looked back since. Zaheer, along with Ishant Sharma, has also been instrumental in knocking down the pre-series expectation that the Aussie pace attack would outshine the Indian duo. Its been great to see the two of them working as a pair and hopefully they can stay injury free for a good period of time now. Ishant has also continued his hold over Ponting thus not even giving him a chance to show how his game against spin has improved! And Amit Mishra's dream debut (plus Dhoni's excellent captaincy) will hopefully finally make Kumble realize that the greatest service he can do Indian cricket currently is to announce his retirement. India is lucky that for once they have such great bowling stocks with Munaf Patel, R.P. Singh and Sreesanth as pace back-up and Mishra, Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha as talented spinners. The latter especially need as much exposure as they can get at home before bowling abroad and Kumble hopefully realizes that he is only standing in their way. The batting too has held together well and hopefully Gambhir now has the confidence to go on to do what Jaffer and Chopra weren't able to, i.e. form a long-term pair with Sehwag. Dravid and Laxman are in need of big innings but they seem to be around the corner. Tendulkar and Ganguly have played really well so far but more on the former in a separate post. The most interesting post-series decision for the selectors (assuming Kumble sees sense and does the obvious), is who to name as Ganguly's replacement. Badrinath as the standby in this series would be the main candidate I guess but there are at least four other players who would be hoping for a chance and two teenagers who might get lucky. Yuvraj and Kaif have both had chances in the past and there'll be a big outcry if they get picked but I do think that having an assured place (at least for a few Tests) might see them play very differently. Rohit Sharma must also be in the fray, as must Suresh Raina not least because he is a left-hander. The outside bets would be the two former under-19 captains, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. From what I have read about the two and followed online, Pujara is probably the better batsman but I think both of them will be in the team in the next 5 years so blooding either wouldn't be a bad choice. Overall, there is so much bench strength now that Dhoni is probably the only player for whose position its difficult to find strong alternatives (the decline of Dinesh Karthik is rather sad). A good time for Indian cricket and a definite chance of being the no.1 team in the next year or two.
Turning to Australia, its difficult not to feel a bit sorry for them. The last time I saw them struggle so much so evidently was in the 2005 Ashes (where if not for Warne, Ponting, and McGrath they would probably have lost 3-0). And this team does not have Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Langer, Gillespie and Martyn. Moreover, they didn't have two of the guys who had become such good replacements in Symonds and Clark. Any team of any time would struggle to cope with so many lost personnel (India too are probably going to find out soon how it feels). While their bowling has clearly struggled immensely, their batting too has been shaky with a lack of partnerships at the top of the order. Hayden looks past it and is in the same boat as Kumble except that with Jaques injured there is no obvious replacement. Knowing him, he'll probably score a big hundred in Delhi :-) Of the new guys, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin have been impressive, as has Mitchell Johnson. They are really missing Symonds though, with Cameron White being nowhere near his level (even as a fielder). If I were Ponting, I would bring in Jason Krejza for White in Delhi. India have always struggled against finger spinners they haven't faced before and White's not been scoring any runs so they won't be losing anything on that front. If Clark is fit, he'll probably come back in but if not, I would pick Doug Bollinger ahead of Peter Siddle if only because the Indians have again traditionally struggled against left-arm quicks. Amazing as it is, India currently have the stronger bench strength. Now who would have thought that at the beginning of the series!
The Indians have played far better and much more as a team than I expected them to. They usually start all series somewhat sluggishly (akin to how I start a week sometimes ;-)) so its good to see that they picked themselves up starting with Harbhajan and Zaheer's batting in the first innings in Bangalore and haven't looked back since. Zaheer, along with Ishant Sharma, has also been instrumental in knocking down the pre-series expectation that the Aussie pace attack would outshine the Indian duo. Its been great to see the two of them working as a pair and hopefully they can stay injury free for a good period of time now. Ishant has also continued his hold over Ponting thus not even giving him a chance to show how his game against spin has improved! And Amit Mishra's dream debut (plus Dhoni's excellent captaincy) will hopefully finally make Kumble realize that the greatest service he can do Indian cricket currently is to announce his retirement. India is lucky that for once they have such great bowling stocks with Munaf Patel, R.P. Singh and Sreesanth as pace back-up and Mishra, Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha as talented spinners. The latter especially need as much exposure as they can get at home before bowling abroad and Kumble hopefully realizes that he is only standing in their way. The batting too has held together well and hopefully Gambhir now has the confidence to go on to do what Jaffer and Chopra weren't able to, i.e. form a long-term pair with Sehwag. Dravid and Laxman are in need of big innings but they seem to be around the corner. Tendulkar and Ganguly have played really well so far but more on the former in a separate post. The most interesting post-series decision for the selectors (assuming Kumble sees sense and does the obvious), is who to name as Ganguly's replacement. Badrinath as the standby in this series would be the main candidate I guess but there are at least four other players who would be hoping for a chance and two teenagers who might get lucky. Yuvraj and Kaif have both had chances in the past and there'll be a big outcry if they get picked but I do think that having an assured place (at least for a few Tests) might see them play very differently. Rohit Sharma must also be in the fray, as must Suresh Raina not least because he is a left-hander. The outside bets would be the two former under-19 captains, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. From what I have read about the two and followed online, Pujara is probably the better batsman but I think both of them will be in the team in the next 5 years so blooding either wouldn't be a bad choice. Overall, there is so much bench strength now that Dhoni is probably the only player for whose position its difficult to find strong alternatives (the decline of Dinesh Karthik is rather sad). A good time for Indian cricket and a definite chance of being the no.1 team in the next year or two.
Turning to Australia, its difficult not to feel a bit sorry for them. The last time I saw them struggle so much so evidently was in the 2005 Ashes (where if not for Warne, Ponting, and McGrath they would probably have lost 3-0). And this team does not have Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Langer, Gillespie and Martyn. Moreover, they didn't have two of the guys who had become such good replacements in Symonds and Clark. Any team of any time would struggle to cope with so many lost personnel (India too are probably going to find out soon how it feels). While their bowling has clearly struggled immensely, their batting too has been shaky with a lack of partnerships at the top of the order. Hayden looks past it and is in the same boat as Kumble except that with Jaques injured there is no obvious replacement. Knowing him, he'll probably score a big hundred in Delhi :-) Of the new guys, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin have been impressive, as has Mitchell Johnson. They are really missing Symonds though, with Cameron White being nowhere near his level (even as a fielder). If I were Ponting, I would bring in Jason Krejza for White in Delhi. India have always struggled against finger spinners they haven't faced before and White's not been scoring any runs so they won't be losing anything on that front. If Clark is fit, he'll probably come back in but if not, I would pick Doug Bollinger ahead of Peter Siddle if only because the Indians have again traditionally struggled against left-arm quicks. Amazing as it is, India currently have the stronger bench strength. Now who would have thought that at the beginning of the series!
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