India in Australia, 2020-21

[prasen9]

True. So, I am not really getting my hopes high.

[PKBasu]

Pant has set up the victory chase brilliantly. He seemed to get a bit desperate to get to 100 before the new ball, and lost his wicket in the process. But that was an absolutely invaluable 97.
Pujara has stepped up nicely since. Vihari playing the sheet anchor -- and playing for his future (like Dravid was at the Eden in 2001...). Can he rise to the occasion? The chase is definitely on: 135 runs needed in 44 overs. Jadeja will have to come out for a cameo if another wicket falls.

[PKBasu]

Very poor from Pujara. That is the game, I think.

[SaniaFan]

Actually India should go for win still. I don't think draw has any value in the test championship. I win would be very helpful

[prasen9]

In the meantime, Pujara scores 6000 runs. An achievement. Now, actually, our slowest bat who at least scored 3,000 runs was Shastri. Followed by Amarnath and then Dilip Vengsarkar. Followed by Dravid, Vishwanath, Sidhu, Gavaskar. All slower than Pujara. I think if we go below 2000 we will find one ML Jaisima, who was before my times. My dad said that he would come and sit at the wicket. Shastri/Sidhu, Gavaskar, Amarnath, Vishwanath, Vengsarkar (although they may not have played together) must have been really a slow batting lineup. Followed by one of a kind hurricane Kapil. What a contrast! Kapil was the flag-bearer in the 80s (SR) club which is led by Sehwag and the inimitable Gilchrist. These three are the only ones who have scored maybe above 5000 runs or 6000 runs and had an SR over 80! Modern day Warner is in the low 70s.

Pujara falls. He has been half decent this series. Not terrible but not really great either. I would have called him a failure overall if there were not these utter failures of Mayank, Shaw, Vihari etc. around. Hope Vihari turns the game around and wins it for India.

[Sin Hombre]

Vihari has injured his hamstring and can't run so a win is out of question.

It is all about batting out 34 overs now.

[indiansportsfan]

How can Ashwin be an allrounder for so long and not know how to play short pitched balls? He is just a sitting duck and clearly unnerved. We need all of our tailenders to be able to survive this sort of bowling without getting hurt.

[indiansportsfan]

The plan against Indian tail is pretty simple. We need to work on it, that I think is the major reason why we are not #1.

[Sin Hombre]

The plan against Indian tail is pretty simple. We need to work on it, that I think is the major reason why we are not #1.

We will be back to #1 in a year after a couple of home series.

We had 5 series in SENA in a row.

That said, as I have said before, Australia has been deliberately targeting all of our bowlers' bodies all series. And given the success they had had in injuring them, other teams may follow suit.

[indiansportsfan]

And I cannot blame them, our tail is simply so incompetent against this sort of bowling. You deserve better from at least your #7.

[rajitghosh]

In hindsight if Jadeja and Vihari were not injured India could have won this match. Jadeja at 6 could have made a lot of difference. Again dropped catches played a role. If yesterday some of those catches had been taken and the lead had been 30-40 runs less it could have been a different story.

[sameerph]

In hindsight if Jadeja and Vihari were not injured India could have won this match. Jadeja at 6 could have made a lot of difference. Again dropped catches played a role. If yesterday some of those catches had been taken and the lead had been 30-40 runs less it could have been a different story.

Yes, but Australia declared the innings with 3 wickets still left. So, they could have scored those 30-40 more runs.

[rajitghosh]

I am assuming that if India had got a wicket of the 2nd ball of the day they would have got into the Aussie tail earlier and got them all out or at least restricted their score.

[Kumar]

What a fantastic rearguard action! Kudos to the Indian team!pant was just fantastic

Australia finally bowled to the stumps, but it was way too late! Was trying a lot to bounce them out

[Sin Hombre]

And Paine dropped three catches and the Aussie substitute fielder dropped one as well.

The "what ifs" can keep continuing, and are pointless.

This is without a doubt the grittiest Indian test team in my years of watching. They may have one bad session once in a while like Adelaide, but they always bounce back and keep fighting after body blows and injuries.