India in Australia, 2018-2019

[RohitG]

Meanwhile, no mention of KL Rahul's presence or absence? Many were saying in the media, social media that his inclusion will massively depend on his 2nd innings. My question is whether his performance was good enough to justify his selection.. or is there really no alternative right now?

[Prem]

Are they really injured or is it one of those convenient injuries that miraculously appears in the Indian cricket team when a big name needs to be sat down?

Rohit’s looks like he is dropped/rested as he was going to fail in the fast Perth track.
Now, Shastriji will be hoping that Vihari fails and Rohit can play on a better pitches in Melbourne and Sydney.

Ashwin might be injured after bowling 90 overs or so in last match. He is getting older and with little gap between Tests to recover and looking at Perth pitch, it’s a sensible decision to rest him as Jaddu is an equally good replacement.

Shocking that we haven’t called for any replacement batsman yet with Shaw and Rohit on sidelines, which again suggests that Rohit is ok

[Prem]

Meanwhile, no mention of KL Rahul's presence or absence? Many were saying in the media, social media that his inclusion will massively depend on his 2nd innings. My question is whether his performance was good enough to justify his selection.. or is there really no alternative right now?

It didn’t matter in the end. With Shaw injured, they should have called up Mayank or Shikhar.
It would have put pressure on Rahul and Vijay.
With no other openers (team management might say there is Parthiv) in the team, both survive.
Now, one has to make way for Prithvi Shaw for the Boxing Day Test.

Opportunity missed to bring Mayank or someone else into the team.

[PKBasu]

Really irritating that they are choosing to open with Rahul and Vijay despite their complete failure in the first test, especially Vijay. Parthiv would have added so many options, but I think Pant is a big favourite with the powers that be.

[prasen9]

Parthiv has been rather useless. The farther away he and Rohit are from the team, the better. Rohit may still be able to learn to bat and turn it around. Parthiv has been tried too many times and dropped too many catches and missed stumpings to be of any use as a keeper. His technical deficiencies make him a sitting duck against good pace bowling in seaming conditions.

Rahul is our best young talent. And, Vijay, at least, has done well in Australia. We need to try them and then whoever is worse among them over the last two tests should play the third test along with Prithvi. I would have, of course, called Mayank in as a cover and used him here. But, it is what it is.

Rohit has a back problem. I hope Vihari takes the opportunity and plays a gritty innings to contribute. Rahul made a century in the last innings in England. So, he gets this tour or part of it to show that he can be consistent.

My XI: Rahul, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Vihari, Pant, Bhuvi, Ishant, Shami, Bumrah

The tail is still too long. I hope all the bowlers are asked to take serious batting practice. And, Vihari is asked to take serious bowling practice in the day in between or two.

[prasen9]

Right. So have an even longer tail with Umesh in. This is crazy

[Sin Hombre]

No Bhuvi but rather spraygun Umesh. Bit of a strange decision on a tough batting pitch.

India lost the toss so will be tough to win.

[prasen9]

Actually, Bumrah and Umesh (as usual) sprayed things around a bit. Maybe Ishant too. Shami has been very on-target in the first few overs and got a few lbw shouts. When will these folks learn not to use reviews in iffy cases?

[ankit1407]

Stupid to play with 4 seamers in this heat ...Shami has been by far the best bowler so far ..

[prasen9]

And, maybe India will go under the over-rate and Kohli will be banned for the next test

Shami 0.8, Ishant 2.28, Bumrah 2.88, Umesh 3.8.

runs/over at lunch. Nobody has gotten any wickets. So, maybe this says something?

[RohitG]

Vihari gets smashed for 2 boundaries off his first two deliveries. 9 runs in his first over itself.. Seems like a relief bowler for Australia.. With 38-40 degrees temperature, wonder whether our bowlers can divide the workload that Ashwin had taken (22 maidens off 87 overs) Perhaps we should have gone with Jadeja or Bhuvi in place of Umesh

[prasen9]

Bumrah is really a gem. Umesh gets a wicket. Good! Bumrah and Ishant have kept it tight after tea. Vihari slipped in 3 overs for 10 runs and got a wicket. If Kohli does not want a hefty fine or ban, he has to bowl Vihari a bit more. Gade now has the best average among the Indian bowlers 4 wickets total. And, this is his second test!

[ssp]

Really stupid selections yet again. If Pujara, Kohli or Rahane don't get big scores, we are going to be thrashed as the rest are unlikely to get too many. The tail is ridiculously weak, even by Indian standards. Why pick both Ishant and Umesh and leave Bhuvi out? Why do we need 4 quicks when 3 were perfectly capable of picking up wickets in the 1st test. There were similar crazy selections in the England series. We always carry 2-3 passengers in the team.

[RohitG]

277/6 at 90 overs, end of day 1. Despite all that wonderful bowling from Jasprit, we didn't manage to get them all out. Vihari out of nowhere gets 2 wickets with all that pie chucking albeit being a costly affair. Vijay too was snuck in to bowl an over. Perhaps an indication that our bowlers were exhausted in the heat.. not to mention the slow over rate.. I guess this is where the absence of Ashwin hurt us the most. With their strong tail, I expect this to be a 350+ total. What happens wrt slow over rate? does he get a fine or a ban? How does that work?

[prasen9]

If they bowled a full 90 overs, then there is no slow over-rate. Or did they have to extend play to make the 90 overs?