Australia in India, 2010

[Kumar]

I thought kerala didn't have much rain in October... so not sure if we can blame that much...but definitely the blind quota system where chennai gets to host a match in october/november is stupid...

[ssp]

Aussies absolutely slaughtering our 'quick' bowlers. 84 off the last 5 overs. Looked like we would be chasing 230 or even less after first 10 overs and now we are looking at 290. Shocking stuff from Vinay, Nehra & Praveen.

[prasen9]

The Vinay experiment seems to be a dud. Two matches are too early but it seems like it may be a better to give Munaf Patel a few matches to get in form given that only 11 matches are left to the WC. Ashwin, on the other hand, has looked impressive. Ashwin, Ojha, and Harbhajan seem to be the most impressive spinners in ODIs with Piyush Chawla being the backup if any of these players are hurt. The pace department is not that clear. On the basis of their career bowling record only, Zaheer, Nehra, and Munaf have been the best bowlers.

Vijay and Dhawan go quickly. Vijay has had five matches and in ODIs, he continues to disappoint greatly given his talent. I hope he or the-one gets a big one soon and keeps Karthik at bay.

[prasen9]

Yuvraj played slowly and then got impatient. The stoppage due to Kohli's cramps and the drinks stoppage affected him. Kohli is cramping badly on the other side. I hope the rest of the Indian batsmen put their hands up and get the rest of the runs. It should be gettable.

[Kumar]

India wins by 5 wickes... Tiwary was making it interesting with lot of dot balls... but india won with 7 balls to spare...

Dhoni is in very bad form and he needs to take some time off... hopefully he can rests himself for the final ODI and may be couple of matches in NZ series?

[PKBasu]

Marvellous win today. Virat Kohli again rose to the occasion with yet another superb, perfectly-timed century. I hope this is the decisive factor that ensures that the #3 slot in ODIs is his until the World Cup and beyond. To have won an ODI for India against Australia is the ultimate stamp of class. Raina was superb as well. Yuvi struggled, but did the job of stabilizing the middle order after a wobbly start.

I think Vinay Kumar and Dhawan have been rewarded out of turn (and I think the same of S Tiwary, who is being rewarded in ODIs for performances in T20s -- which are not quite the same thing). Among bowlers, Dinda has done better than Vinay in ODIs and should still be ahead of him in the pecking order. Unadkat too needs to be given a chance. Among batsmen, I think Pujara, Rahane and Manoj Tiwary deserve chances ahead of Dhawan and Saurabh Tiwary -- and the Salve Challenger trophy should have reinforced that view among the selectors.

[Atithee]

Congrats to India who showed that we can win without the "stars." I am pleased to see Yuvraj contribute because in ODI, he is one who can help us win the elusive World Cup title that we have not won since 1983. Of course, I have always been a Raina fan and also that of Kohli.


What is your opinion of this picture?

The groundstaff

I cannot understand what the groundstaff does with the household brooms on a cricket field? At best, it can sweep the playing surface. Why do we keep using these things instead of mechanized equipment or at least a commercial type of broom? Even during the CWG games mad dash for readiness, a lot of pictures showed the workers with rather primitive tools. If we are trying to claim that we can provide world-class infrastructure, I think these things only set us back. Anyone else who gets annoyed by this?

[prasen9]

Great job by Kohli. Our not-so-serious bat is showing what the uber-talented Rohit did not. Application and grit. More power to him. That is why it was sad when Rohit was preferred to Kohli in Sri Lanka. Good that they rectified the injustice.

[prasen9]

I saw parts of the game and Hastings and McKay were bowling pretty well on this dead wicket. I do not think that the other regulars except the left-handed Bollinger maybe would have done much better. The Aussies seem to have the best depth with respect to pace bowling stocks.

[Atithee]

Look at this one in Goa now. I counted 32 people in this one shot with pails. What are they using to soak the water -- A big sponge? Don't we have squeegees or something like that? Or we just unleash human army at everything? Wow!

http://www.cricinfo.com/india-v-austral ... tml?page=1

What is your opinion of this picture?

The groundstaff

I cannot understand what the groundstaff does with the household brooms on a cricket field? At best, it can sweep the playing surface. Why do we keep using these things instead of mechanized equipment or at least a commercial type of broom? Even during the CWG games mad dash for readiness, a lot of pictures showed the workers with rather primitive tools. If we are trying to claim that we can provide world-class infrastructure, I think these things only set us back. Anyone else who gets annoyed by this?

[PKBasu]

It is absurd to try playing international cricket at a football ground -- all because of some bizarre rotation policy that the BCCI has developed. Nowhere else in the world does a country try to send cricket to every nook and cranny like India does. So we had two ODIs against the #1 ODI team in the world abandoned without a ball being bowled -- because BOTH were to be played on football grounds (that have been converted for cricket use in recent times). Drainage was extremely poor in Goa: it was sunny all day, but the rain from Friday (and a bit on Saturday morning) couldn't be drained, so the spectators were deprived the opportunity of watching a match. Ludicrous!