India in Australia, 2020-21

[PKBasu]

At the SCG test in 2003-04 (which began on 2 Jan 2004), Parthiv was still more than 2 months short of his 19th birthday. He was blooded way too early, and the memory of that test coloured the rest of his career. Sad. He became a much better batsman -- and a decent 'keeper (much better than DK) -- later, although by then Dhoni had come along with his unorthodox but effective 'keeping and brilliantly effervescent batting.

[Atithee]

I’m too lazy to check the full context but this is becoming a “bodyline” series. Sad, that the best can’t play due to dirty tactics however legal it is. Couldn’t the Kohlis have planned the pregnancy better?

[arjun2761]

, Pujara and Rahane will have to last until lunch at least (or an hour into the next session) if India are to chase this score. I would send Ashwin ahead of Pant. And Jadeja to follow, if needed.

I think one of Pujara or Rahane will have to bat through the day. Otherwise, our tail is too fragile to last out the day....

[prasen9]

Pujara, Vihari, Mayank, and Prithvi have consistently failed in this series. It is time for the first two to bat 1-2 sessions together and pull out a draw. Maybe. Tough chance though. Or at least make the Aussie bowlers bowl a lot so that they are tired.

Mayank, Rahane, and Rohit have all failed to average 30 in the last 4 years in the SANE countries. All of them are about 29. The problem is that Rahul, Vihari, Dhawan, Vijay, Shaw, etc. have faired even worse. They hardly break 20. I suppose we continue with M,R, and R.

If Pant is fit, the next match, it is not Rishabh vs Saha, but Saha vs Mayank vs Vihari. We will need to replace Jadeja. I suppose we will do so with Vihari because he can bowl a bit. And, because Brisbane will be a pacy wicket, Pant should be fine. If we think Saha produces more value because keeping is hard, we have to see how many runs he gives up vs how many more Mayank or Vihari is going to score. Pant plays as a keeper or as a bat.

[indiansportsfan]

I think Pant's promotion over Vihari means that Vihari is likely done, unless Vihari can come up with a match saving effort. Infact it could be his international career on the line.

[prasen9]

No, I think if we replace Jadeja with a bat or a keeper, then we will want Vihari to be there to bowl 10 overs or so. Unless, they can get Gill or Rohit to start bowling. But, he may have this series to show what he is capable of. Maybe he will win the match for us today? Unless Pujara and Pant do it for us already.

Pant was promoted to counter Lyon and to have a right-hand left-hand combination.

[indiansportsfan]

If they needed Vihari to bowl, he could have very well done so in the 2nd innings here.

[prasen9]

No. He did not bowl:

1. Because this inning only went 87 overs. Our pacers can take up to 20-25 overs per innings. Beyond that, they are signing up for stress fractures/injuries. So, Vihari would perhaps gotten to bowl if the inning went over 100 overs. If you had two spinners, then perhaps you do not need the fifth bowler. That is because spinners can take a lot more load. But, I do not think they will play Kuldeep and Ashwin both in Brisbane. If Brisbane looks totally green and we can almost guarantee that all innings will be less than 80 overs or so, Vihari will perhaps not play. Even then, see #2.

2. Because none of our top four bowlers were injured in the 2nd innings. Think about what happened in Melbourne and Sydney. We lost one bowler in each match. Umesh and Jadeja. Anyone wants to guarantee that that will not happen in Brisbane? We survived because we had five bowlers. We are going in with four in Brisbane. We need to have the half bowler.

In essence, Vihari is the health insurance. He will not help you to win matches. But, he will make sure that these bowlers are not driven to the ground and catch injuries. After all, our qualifying for the test championship finals depends upon our whitewashing England at home. Anyway, getting players injured by not managing their load is a terrible idea.

Makes sense? Not at all the match-winning insurance.

[Sin Hombre]

prasen, we also lost a bowler in Adelaide in Shami. We should have sent Ishant to Australia with Rohit.


This whole Pant is India's worst keeper ever nonsense needs to stop. He is competent against the quicks and takes very good catches, and has a problem with hard hands against spin like most modern keepers including his opposition in Paine who has dropped twice on Lyon already.

At the same time, Pant is also India's best ever keeper batsman outside Asia on the evidence we have seen so far. And as Gilly has said many times on commentary, he is a game changer based on how fast he bats.

Dropping him again for a guy who scores <10 runs in SENA is foolish.

[PKBasu]

Very gutsy effort from Pant, who has put India firmly back into the game. A lot now depends on whether Jadeja too can bat a bit. At Brisbane, I would consider playing Pant as a specialist batsman. He certainly is worth his weight with the bat.

[Sin Hombre]

India are going to the Gabba which is the greenest pitch in Aus, and there is no Jadeja. No reason to bring Saha back in as a specialist spin keeper.

Would rather play Mayank in the middle order and see how he does.

[Rajiv]

brilliant innings from Pant... he almost pulled off a heist. Atleast have put us in a position of strength. Shutting shop was not an option.
Australians were panicking!

[prasen9]

prasen, we also lost a bowler in Adelaide in Shami. We should have sent Ishant to Australia with Rohit.

Yes, thanks for pointing that out. We almost have to get Vihari as I said unless we can get Gill and Rohit to turn their arms over in the nets. Or Pujara figures out how to bowl his leg-spinners without going for more than say 4.5 per over. I do not know why we did not bring Ishant over. Maybe he is not fully fit.

This whole Pant is India's worst keeper ever nonsense needs to stop. He is competent against the quicks and takes very good catches, and has a problem with hard hands against spin like most modern keepers including his opposition in Paine who has dropped twice on Lyon already.

At the same time, Pant is also India's best ever keeper batsman outside Asia on the evidence we have seen so far. And as Gilly has said many times on commentary, he is a game changer based on how fast he bats.

Dropping him again for a guy who scores <10 runs in SENA is foolish.

Pant is the best ever batsman keeper we have had. And, one of the worst keepers we have ever had. I think Parthiv is the worst technically among the ones I have seen. But other than that, Pant is worse than the rest of the lot. Some of the very "good" catches were because he was out of position and responded late and had a phenomenal dive to get the catch at the end. He is *the* worst modern keeper against spin as the data that Vishnu quoted showed. Just because the Aussies have a keeper who misses a couple of catches does not mean we should put up with that. The criticism he gets about his keeping is very well deserved.

That said, given our batting, we need his bat. The real question is who gives us the most value among Mayank, Saha, Kuldeep, and Vihari. Throw in Prithvi if you want. Choose two among them.

[prasen9]

brilliant innings from Pant... he almost pulled off a heist. Atleast have put us in a position of strength. Shutting shop was not an option.
Australians were panicking!

Absolutely brilliant innings from Pant. But, as we have seen before, such innings from Kohli, Pujara, Pant, KL, etc. in the 4th innings seldom take us to a famous victory. They fall and then the rest of the players fold. That is not Pant's fault. But, this has happened many times in the past. Sometimes, we will go until the 2nd last over and then fold.

[Sin Hombre]

4th innings collapses are not an India exclusive phenomena, nature of the game.

Pakistan collapsed in the last session against NZ a couple of weeks back.