The Sports-India Community

Atithee wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:51 am Doesn’t Dhawan live in Melbourne? Could he be drafted and be within the quarantine exemptions? He would be a good replacement.

He is in India ,playing SMAT

Even if he was, it would be hard since technically people who are not in the bubble are not allowed. Maybe if he could establish that he had not come in contact with anyone and was isolating for some time and tested negative, you could try.

Some folks were writing a month ago Dhawan and Hardik should stay back. Dhawan, Hardik Maybe the thinking was for Iyer and Pandey to stay back but both got injured and returned. And are out now. Maybe Dhawan and Hardik were let go before that. It is crazy!

I think what all this adversity creates is for players to summon up some extra adrenaline and decide to keep just fighting. And, that sometimes comes up with some miracles. We should just tell our pacers to bowl line and length the whole day and not really (over-)try to get wickets per se. I mean you try a few things to mix it up. But, just put it in line and length and let the wicket do its bit and the weather. Don't over-try. For top bowlers, it is hard to be this disciplined especially when you are not experienced. But, Natarajan has the discipline and can perhaps be used as a stock bowler and in favorable conditions, he will get assistance from the pitch and in the air and take wickets. Let us hope. Ditto for Sundar. Or whoever else will play.

Very interesting article about racism in Australia.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/aust ... se-1247630

Ed Cowans has stated the truth, unlike the usual nonsense Cricket Australia or their coaches or captains spew out. We need more players to call out this disgraceful behaviour.

prasen9 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:55 am I am unfortunate that I was not there.

Ashwin seems like a no-go

It seems like: Gill, Rohit, Pujara, Rahane, Pant, Mayank, Sundar, Thakur, Saini, Siraj, Natarajan.

A bit of a long tail but with reasonable number of bowlers. Given the weak tail, I could not make space for Saha. Anyway, with four pacers, Pant should be fine.

If Pant, Mayank, Ashwin, and Pujara do not recover from their injuries and all cannot go on, then god save us.

I would probably consider Saha and not risk having pant reinsure his elbow! Just have Pant as specialist bat! I would go with Yadav for Sundar / Natraj / Thakur!

Gill, Rohit, Pujara, Rahane, Pant, Mayank /Saha, Sundar, Thakur, Saini, Siraj, Natarajan /Kuldip.
Unless Natraj has evolved into line and length bowler , Kuldeep could be a surprise weapon that could potentially work

Also Iwould definitely not play Ashwin if he is not 100%! We have seen that his efficiency plummets when he plays injured!

More and More a stupid decision to not bring in Ishant to the bubble! Why not bring with Rohit

ssp wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:37 pm Very interesting article about racism in Australia.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/aust ... se-1247630

Ed Cowans has stated the truth, unlike the usual nonsense Cricket Australia or their coaches or captains spew out. We need more players to call out this disgraceful behaviour.

The sad truth is Indians are no less racist. It just depends on which race we are taking about. That’s all I’ll say. None of it is acceptable and no excuses (case in point—check out Miya Ponsetto’s defense) justify it.

Seems like Pant will be fit. Training Unless he is just doing a photo op, he is back to training. So, his elbow must be fine.

Will Pucovski's has been ruled out of the fourth Test after failing to recover from a shoulder injury ... So as per report, Marcus Harris will be the only change to the 11.

Is Vikram Rathour trying to confuse the Aussie think-tank?

Bumrah, Ashwin still not ruled out of Brisbane Test

I think if Aswin and Bumrah are not fit enough to go tonight, then they should not play! Especially Ashwin, we have seen too many times that his performance dips below average when fit! I have a feeling that Kuldeep if selected may make huge impact!

If Mayank is not going to open, wouldn’t we be better served by Saha as specialist keeper!I know this probably makes our batting weak on paper, but Saha’s rearguard action during first tour match ( 54 not out highest score in second innings) gives me hope that he can probably handle bat equivalent to Mayank or Prithvi as a middle order bat

Considering that our bowling may not be par, can we afford dropped chance ?

Kumar wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 1:50 pm I think if Aswin and Bumrah are not fit enough to go tonight, then they should not play! Especially Ashwin, we have seen too many times that his performance dips below average when fit! I have a feeling that Kuldeep if selected may make huge impact!

Sorry meant to say unfit

Well, many times his performance dips below average when fit too Otherwise, his average would not be his average. Or if we are talking about all bowlers' average, then I suppose that happened many times when abroad. But, he has improved this tour. What I like about Ashwin is he is a thinking person and willing to try many different things.

On another note, I thought Rahane over-bowled Bumrah. Not because he was not needed then. But, because you cannot put that much stress on your main bowler who has played all the ODIs too. He underbowled Jadeja. And Saini. I think he should have bowled Bumrah a tad less. And, I thought this during the last two matches. I complained about underbowling Jadeja. But, I thought that they knew better and Bumrah was fine and fit and ready to go. He was. It turns out the human body cannot really take that much. At least in covid days, where you are coming in to play without the regular physical regime and after months of being out (first test series in months).

Yes, Rahane leaned too much on Bumrah / Ashwin! Ashwin’s efficiency started going down from 2nd innings of the second test onward!
I think Ashwin needs to work on building his overall core strength to handle the vigor of bowling this many overs

If he is reasonably fit, would u mind selecting Ashwin in place of Jadeja where he will bowl few overs, and bring in Kuldeep as the main bowler?

Mayank or Saha for Vihari
Ashwin for Jadeja
Kuldeep for Ashwin
Shardul for Bumrah (if not fit)

That sounds like an interesting take. If Ashwin is not fully fit, use him sparingly. But, that depends upon whether he can bowl his best balls at full tilt but not go for long. Basically, if it is a stamina issue, then yes. If he cannot bowl his best balls due to physical limitations, then no. If not, he will be like in Sydney, go without taking wickets. Then, we are choosing him primarily for his batting. Is it better on these conditions than say a Saha or a Prithvi or a Washington Sundar? The other would be to choose him as a batsman in the first innings and hope he will be fit enough to go full tilt (wrt effectiveness, not stamina per se) after some rest in the second innings. I hope the Indian team considers all these ideas and chooses the best possible option instead of going with some set theories.

To be honest, I have no clear best XI for this coming test because of so many variables that we have little information about.

https://indianexpress.com/article/sport ... ssion=true

Article from Ashwin’s wife! Very interesting read from a family member

And they have the same team in this article (with Saha for Vihari)
https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/ ... 21137.html

Everyone has gotten into my favorite game now! Each newspaper has started guessing the final XI with some hints and information from BCCI sources and other connected friends and has started listing probable XIs. Earlier on, they would only print very-confirmed information. Very soon I will lose my position in this board.

For example, Bumrah is *most possibly* out but many newspapers have listed him to be out! No more waiting for final confirmations.

The Hindu thinks Sundar will make his debut. Sundar set to make his debut. I like him because he is also a left-handed bat. We need a couple of those in the middle-order to neutralize the threat of Lyon. We saw what Pant can do. And having a left, right combo makes it difficult for the bowlers to bowl at the same spot regularly and upsets their rhythm a bit. Although I would have liked Axar Patel, given that he is not here, I want a Sundar debut. Unfortunately, Washington Sundar has not been added to the 17 or whatever it is. That either means that the team is not considering him seriously. Or they do not want the opposition to do their work on him and want to unleash him as an unknown.

Seems like Kuldeep got a low of bowling in the nets.

Sin Hombre wants the best batting lineup XI to draw in Brisbane (given that it is going to rain). Here it is:

Gill, Rohit, Pujara, Rahane, Mayank, Prithvi, Pant, Saha, Ashwin, Sundar, Kuldeep.

Will leave the Aussies scratching their heads. And everyone else for that matter.

If you really do not want 3 spinners, take out Kuldeep and Thakur comes in. Now you want to take out the weakest batsman. Keeping Sundar as injury insurance. Saha comes out for Saini. If you want a third pacer, Natarajan comes in place of Prithvi. Or Bumrah if he is fit. I chose the bowlers on their batting alone.