Sundry thoughts post Chennai

So the first Test in the second marquee series of this Indian winter follows a script remarkably similar to the first match of the India-England series albeit in a slightly different order and of course different central characters. India score 500 plus with a double hundred and a hundred and run down a small chase in their second innings with plenty to spare. One of their spinners dominates taking the bulk of the opposition scalps on a dusty but not terrible track. The opposition pick only one specialist spinner and duly struggle. Their captain is by far their best batsman though there is strong resistance also from one their middle-order all-rounders. Dhoni and the Indian team will be hoping that the rest of the series doesn't continue to follow the same script whereas Clarke and his men will keep faith that they can turn things around the way England did though with the personnel they have its likely to be tougher.

Sundry other thoughts from the match (which is probably the most I've watched of a Test in a while - while the wife is away the husband will play and all that ;-)) -

• Through a mixture of poor performance, desperation, and luck, India (and Dhoni) appear to have found the right team balance for home Test matches. In a time of batting transition (which began ever since Ganguly retire and continued with the retirements of Dravid and Laxman), the #6 spot has been the most troublesome for India. Raina and Yuvraj's total lack of success meant that India have really struggled to find the right mix of stability and power needed there but now it looks like their skipper is the best long term bet (as Dravid put it too). Ironic then that it came about because of the need for a fifth bowler given the decline of Zaheer and Harbhajan :-) Even overseas, I would like to see Dhoni at 6 especially if Irfan Pathan is fit and firing again and can play a similar role to what Jadeja is doing at home.
• Dhoni now has the most wins by an Indian captain (level with Ganguly) and the best win-loss ratio of all Indian captains (who've captained in 15 or more games). Not only that, his batting average as captain is the third best ever amongst Indians (who've scored more than 2000 runs). Behind Tendulkar and Gavaskar only and ahead of Dravid, Ganguly, and Azharuddin. So much for a lack of passion for Test cricket. He obviously has sterner tests ahead with taking a young team to South Africa later this year and England next year but to question his position as captain is laughable.
• Clarke continues to amaze as captain too, especially with his batting. After 22 games as skipper, his average of 70+ is only behind Bradman's, and as Henriques put it the other day, its more a surprise these days when he doesn't score a hundred after getting off to a start! His captaincy (or at least whatever I've seen of it across a few different series now) is also very attacking and positive, even under pressure which is great to see. After a bit of a meander as Ponting and Strauss wound down their careers, suddenly world cricket seems to have some good captains around with the emergence off Clarke and Cook and with Smith and Dhoni having found second winds.
• More than the bowling, Australia's batting line-up seems all wrong to me. They are effectively playing four opening batsmen from 1-4 which is too many against good spin bowling on these wickets. I would go with Watson and Warner at the top, Cowan at three, Clarke at four, and one of either Khawaja or Smith at five (preferably the latter to get one more right hander into the top seven).
• I thought that the new version of Peter Siddle (after his struggles in 2011) would be more effective in this series but the fact that he's played only four of his 38 Test matches outside of Australia, England, and South Africa (ie in alien conditions) still shows in his bowling. Starc's struggle was not as much of a surprise. I still think though that Australia need to go in with three seamers, especially given Henriques rawness, but maybe bringing in Johnson instead of Starc is one option for them to think about. Nathan Lyon was always going to struggle against India but in my book he should still play as the lead spinner with maybe Smith in support.
• India have their fair share of batting and bowling problems too despite the handsome victory. Of the 41 opening partnerships innings since 2011, there has been just one 100+ partnership and only nine 50+ ones (with five of these ten against the West Indies and New Zealand). 13 single digit and 23 below 20 makes the figures truly abysmal. And the scary thing is that there don't seem to be any options especially given the team management's seeming reluctance to play Rahane as an opener in Tests.
• The bowling too poses quandaries and Ashwin and Ojha's excellence at home masks several deep inadequacies. Harbhajan is nowhere near the bowler he was and despite the southpaws in the Aussie line-up, I think Ojha would be a better bet. And the less said about the seamers, the better. Ishant Sharma continues to deeply disappoint and the fact that he's played 48 Test matches now despite taking less than three wickets per game at a strike rate of 68.5 and an average of 38.4 (and since 2011 these are 80.2 and 43.4 respectively) shows that the Indian pace barrel is bottomless. Umesh Yadav can't come back soon enough.

All in all, though the series itself should continue to be a fascinating one between two deeply flawed teams. England and South Africa must be quietly smiling away :-)