Skip to main content

India vs. Australia: bullet point preview

The last leg of India's marathon home Test season kicks off in a couple of days, with Kohli and his men a good chance of going into fourth place on the list of consecutive matches without defeat. But while it is tempting to write off Steven Smith's team (like many are doing), the current 8-0 scoreline for the season masks how hard the Indians have had to fight at times. Expect no less from the Australians. Notwithstanding the fact that they got clobbered in Sri Lanka and have lost their last 9 matches in Asia (and 8 out of their last 10 in India), they will fight hard. And Kumble clearly realises this, one of the many reasons why he's the best choice for the Indian team in its current stage of evolution.

My India vs. England preview wasn't the most accurate as pre-series callouts, and especially in terms of the best players (Broad and Rahane were mostly injured!!). Here's hoping this one works out better. Thoughts on the factors/players that will make the difference -

  • The venues and the fact that three of the four are new to Test match cricket might favour the visitors slightly, if only to make the balance even in terms of the unknown and especially how the wickets might play. That said, England also had two new venues (for the first two matches of the series) but couldn't capitalise. Interesting aside: the venue most likely to be seamer friendly (Dharamsala) hosts the fourth Test by which time the series might be gone for Australia.
  • Sounds like a cliche, but selection and tactics are paramount in India and visiting teams don't always grasp that. Under Kohli, India have made a concerted effort to always play the best XI for the situation and conditions. That has meant that over this 19 match unbeaten streak, they have not played the same XI more than once. The focus has not been on individuals but what can be done to get 20 wickets, score the necessary runs and win matches. Steven Smith will need to be similarly flexible and even ruthless (from a personnel management standpoint). It looks likely that Australia will play 5 batsmen plus Mitchell Marsh and Wade as all-rounders and four bowlers in Pune. If that formula doesn't work though they need to be bold enough to take risks like dropping Wade and playing Handscomb as the keeper, or bring in Maxwell or Agar for Marsh.
  • Ashwin and Jadeja as always will be the key for India. Their home record bowling together is of course astonishing, but the runs they have contributed in the last couple of years have been equally critical in India's victories. They've effectively (alongside Saha) made up for the lack of a true all-rounder (as I had half-wishfully written many years ago). India will need their output as all-rounders to continue. Australia will need their nos. 6-8 (the likes of Marsh, Wade, and O'Keefe/Starc) to match up at least in terms of runs.
  • Similarly, Starc and Hazlewood will be the biggest challenge (bowling wise) that India have faced this season. They are approaching their peak as quick bowlers, strike at under 55, bowl really well together and now have the benefit of having played 25 plus matches. Keeping them fit and firing will be key for the visitors.
  • To round off the deadly duos, Australia have two truly gun batsmen in Smith and Warner (even though the latter is yet to truly prove his credentials away from home and South Africa). If they get on song early in the series, then the rest of the team will likely get inspired and make India's challenge much tougher. Warner's duel with Ashwin and Jadeja in particular looks key. New Zealand and England had only one such batsman each and well though Williamson and Root played, they lacked for enough support, especially the former.
  • Australia's top seven will likely have at least four left-handers and that tribe has struggled against the Indian spin duo recently. Can they turn it around? Especially if Jayant Yadav plays as the third spinner in some of the matches.
  • Slip catching will be super critical. It has been the one blip on India's performance this season and they've been lucky it hasn't come back to bite them badly so far. So far. A repeat against Australia will have far greater consequences. Australia too will need to be aware that there will be more slip catches to be had off the spinners and will want to back up Lyon and O'Keefe as perfectly as possible.
Finally, it wouldn't be a preview without some predictions. So here goes. I think India will win 3-0 and anything worse than 2-0 would be a poor result for them. Players of the series for each team -

India: Rahane (batting), Jadeja (bowling)
Australia: Smith (batting). Hazlewood (bowling)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Et tu?

As a single sport website, I think Cricinfo has brought about a revolution and the fact that they were bought by ESPN is testament to how highly valued they've become. Their editing and approach to articles/opinion has been refreshing to say the least and even though they seem to have had a lot of editorial staff movement they've usually maintained very high standards. Off late though, both in their headline styles as well as in actual content, there seems to be an occasional slippage of standards and an inching towards the modern media sensationalism which is a bit of a pity. This piece  by Siddharth Monga is a classic example. Granted that the last two press conferences by Dhoni and Sehwag  indicated clearly that the captain and his deputy did not agree on this aspect of selection but "discord", "dissent", "public sniping" feels rather presumptuous and heavy handed. Yes, it is a team sport but there is no reason why everyone on the team needs ...
1 comment
Read more

First thoughts on the Ashes

The only minor surprise for me in the 2013 Australian Ashes squad announced last week was the selection of James Faulkner ahead of Moises Henriques as the second all-rounder. Minor because given  the Shane Watson shenanigans of recent times, I would have thought that Inverarity and co would have opted for a second batting all-rounder (which is what Henriques clearly is). Instead they've gone with a bowling all-rounder in Faulkner and it'll be interesting to see what happens if Watson's batting woes in Test match cricket continue in the first two Tests. As for the rest of the squad, given the way the inexperienced batting performed in India, Rogers and Haddin were always going to make it in to the team and the choice of Khawaja over Smith appears sound too given that the latter's strength is in playing spin bowling. The batting still looks as unsettled and shaky as the Indian fast bowling line-up and its here that the series will be won or lost for the Aussies. The retu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Much ado about a run-out

Judging by the amount that's been said and written about Ian Bell's run-out-that-wasn't at Trent Bridge, you would think that it has been the most significant occurrence of the series so far when nothing could be further from the truth. Andrew Miller  and Samir Chopra seem to be of the opinion that it was the crucial turning point in the match, which I completely disagree with (the post-tea sessions on days one and two were far more critical and momentum shifting). Andy Flower says that if Tendulkar had been run-out similarly in Bombay, it would have caused an international incident. He's clearly feeling the effects of having been in the England cricket set-up for too long given that a) its very improbable that Tendulkar would do something as daft as Bell did, and b) when a controversial run-out (but within the laws) did happen to him (against Pakistan at Eden Gardens no less), Tendulkar went out to the crowd and appealed to them to calm down and let the game proceed...
Post a Comment
Read more