India in Australia, 2018-2019

[ankit1407]

Happy to see Mayank finally get a chance , hope he makes full use of this one ..

[Sin Hombre]

Definitely a good toss to win with the ball not doing much. Think it will be a good batting pitch until end of day 3 and we need to maximize the toss advantage.


Cummins had Vihari's number right from the start and he goes from 8. Played 65 balls so at the least, ensures that the new ball has been taken care of. I think everyone will target his weakness against the short balls from this point though.

[prasen9]

Well, tough on Vihari. Why do we have Rohit and not Pandya? The stupid selections continue . If the pitch is totally batting pitch, then maybe our FTB Rohit can score some. I have not seen the game. Is the pitch really flat such that even Rohit can score runs? If yes, should we not need 5 bowlers?

[prasen9]

As per reports, Vihari is going to open alongside Mayank, Rohit at #6. A sensible choice within the XI picked but I too would have gone for Pandya and Bhuvi for Rohit and Ishant.

How is it sensible to invest in a old guy who cannot bat abroad in the team? I have not checked but Pandya's average abroad is possibly not much worse than Rohit's. We get his bowling as a plus.

[Sin Hombre]

Well, tough on Vihari. Why do we have Rohit and not Pandya? The stupid selections continue . If the pitch is totally batting pitch, then maybe our FTB Rohit can score some. I have not seen the game. Is the pitch really flat such that even Rohit can score runs? If yes, should we not need 5 bowlers?

Kohli wants to protect his buddy by playing him in the middle order.

The pitch will deteriorate over the match, Vihari will come in handy as the 2nd spinner.

[prasen9]

Sure. I did not say Vihari should not be in the team. I said that Rohit should not be.

On another note, why on earth is Rahul in the ODI team. We should have tried someone like Iyer. The WC will be played on flattish pitches. So, he should be fine. He was only given 5 matches and did not do too badly.

Going ahead it seems our openers will be Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal. Who would have bet on that even six months ago?

[ankit1407]

50 on debut for Mayank , hope he can convert this into a big one .. shame Kohli/Sharti combo kept him out for this long ..

[Sin Hombre]

50 on debut for Mayank , hope he can convert this into a big one .. shame Kohli/Sharti combo kept him out for this long ..

I blame the duo for a lot but not for this.

Everyone, including this board, thought KL would be the long term opener. Fast tracking Shaw ahead of Mayank makes sense as well.

[ankit1407]

50 on debut for Mayank , hope he can convert this into a big one .. shame Kohli/Sharti combo kept him out for this long ..

I blame the duo for a lot but not for this.

Everyone, including this board, thought KL would be the long term opener. Fast tracking Shaw ahead of Mayank makes sense as well.

Well what explains getting Vijay back ahead of him .. sure I have had big hopes from Rahul but he is turned out be pretty poor so far .. Home series against WI was an ideal chance to try Mayank but he was never picked in 11 and then droppped for Aus series .. so Yaa we may not agree but Kohli for sure has had a role to play in it ..

[Prashant]

Rahul is younger than Mayank. It is still possible that both of them can be the medium term solution. We do need two openers, and for all his promise we don't know what Shaw will turn out to be.

[Sin Hombre]

50 on debut for Mayank , hope he can convert this into a big one .. shame Kohli/Sharti combo kept him out for this long ..

I blame the duo for a lot but not for this.

Everyone, including this board, thought KL would be the long term opener. Fast tracking Shaw ahead of Mayank makes sense as well.

Well what explains getting Vijay back ahead of him .. sure I have had big hopes from Rahul but he is turned out be pretty poor so far .. Home series against WI was an ideal chance to try Mayank but he was never picked in 11 and then droppped for Aus series .. so Yaa we may not agree but Kohli for sure has had a role to play in it ..

Home series against WI was supposed to get Rahul back in form, and give Prithvi his debut. Sounds very reasonable without hindsight knowledge of KL completely disintegrating.

Made sense to take Vijay as 3rd opener to Australia given his past success there and decent county stint.

[ankit1407]

Sorry the guy who failed in SA, Eng did not deserve to be 3rd opener just because on some county runs .. respect the domestic and A team structure .. also Vijay has been done for a while so it’s a waste of time hoping for a miracle from him ..

[sameerph]

As per reports, Vihari is going to open alongside Mayank, Rohit at #6. A sensible choice within the XI picked but I too would have gone for Pandya and Bhuvi for Rohit and Ishant.

How is it sensible to invest in a old guy who cannot bat abroad in the team? I have not checked but Pandya's average abroad is possibly not much worse than Rohit's. We get his bowling as a plus.

I said sensible for Vihari to open and Rohit at #6 within the XI which was already picked. Vihari does appear better in tackling the new ball in pitches abroad. I did say that Pandya should have been there ahead of Rohit.

Mayank doing great in his first test but must say this looks to be one of the easier pitches to play on in Australia. Vijay/Rahul may be a bit unlucky not to play here.

[ankit1407]

Sameer rest assured if we had Rahul/Vijay this would have looked like a minefield .. agree though this one is slow and not much side movmenent and all..

[Atithee]

I heard during the commentary that Indian openers have averaged 20 and a partnership of 39 balls over the last two years. If this is true, it’s pretty damning. Not sure if this includes home tests or not or even if I heard it correctly. That’s why Vihari sticking around for that many balls is crucial.