Australia v India: 3rd Test - Marks Out of 10

Australia:

Warner: 10 - broke India with his brutal 180 and was a raging pitbull in the field as usual. MOTM
Cowan: 8 - the perfect foil for Warner and looked in great touch for his 74.
Marsh: 3 - struggling to score runs again.
Ponting 4 - batting was a disappointment after Sydney but took some superb catches in the slips.
Clarke 5 - must have been hard to follow up his last knock but took some brilliant catches.
Hussey 3 - expectations were high at his home ground but he failed to deliver with the bat.
Haddin 3 - took some good catches but was hopeless with the bat once again.
Siddle 9 - cleaned up the top-middle order in both innings. Bowled his heart out, 6/85 match figures. Handy with the bat too.
Harris 8 - only one wicket in each innings but it was a solid comeback and he had the best economy rate of all the bowlers.
Starc 8 - Bowled very well in his return to Test cricket. 2nd innings wickets of Gambhir and Tendulkar paved the way for victory.
Hilfenhaus 9 - set the tone - ripping through the top order in the 1st and cleaning up the tail in the 2nd innings. 8/97 for the match.

Total: 70

India:

Sehwag 2 - had another horror match. Never got going in either innings and not much use in the field apart from the Hussey catch.
Gambhir 4 - made a start in both innings but unable to go on with it.
Dravid 6 - glimpses of previous form in the second innings but still found a way to send his stumps flying.
Tendulkar 3 - just not the Sachin we all know. Looked completely out of sorts on this wicket.
Laxman 4 - struggled to gather some momentum after a decent start in the 1st innings, not there for the 2nd.
Kohli 7 - with scores of 44 and 75 - India's best batsman by a long way. Technique looked solid but faced an uphill task with no support.
Dhoni 3 - poor again with the bat and just too lacklustre in his captaincy.
Kumar 3 - seemed totally out of depth in this match. Most expensive of the Indian bowlers and too gung-ho with the bat for no result.
Zaheer 4 - toiled away with the ball but not much reward; hopeless with the bat.
Sharma 3 - was expecting him to be more potent on the bouncy Perth wicket; but he never really showed up.
Yadav 7 - if it wasn't for him, Australia would have posted over 500 again. His 5/93 gave India a chance to compete; but the batsman failed again in the 2nd innings.

Total: 46

Australia can thank their bowlers... and Warner and Cowan.

India needs answers fast.

Virat Kholi looked the only bright light and Umesh Yadav had a great bowling spell yesterday morning.

Dhoni won't be missed in Adelaide after his performance in this Test. Wriddhiman Saha gets a chance with the gloves and Virender Sehwag will be Captain for the final match in this Series.

Linebreaker wrote:Australia can thank their bowlers... and Warner and Cowan.

India needs answers fast.

Virat Kholi looked the only bright light and Umesh Yadav had a great bowling spell yesterday morning.

Dhoni won't be missed in Adelaide after his performance in this Test. Wriddhiman Saha gets a chance with the gloves and Virender Sehwag will be Captain for the final match in this Series.

As India's batting problems seem to revolve around the inability of the top order to see through the new ball, how about India playing 3 openers with Sehwag moving to 3, Dravid moving down to 4, Kohi to 5, Sachin at 6, Dhoni to 7.

Any thoughts about this idea?

It could happen. For the next Test, I would imagine Rahane or Sharma comes in for VVS because let's be honest, changes have to be made now. I would prefer Rahane, but either is good.

Gambhir
Sehwag/Rahane
Sehwag/Rahane
Kohli
Tendulkar
Dravid
Saha?

Maybe. And who will captain India in the next game with MS suspended?

JD sehwag will captain the side.

AUSTRALIA:

Warner: 10
Cowan: 8
Marsh: 6
Punter: 6
Clarke: 5
Hussey: 5
Haddin: 3 (has to go, hopefully paine will be fit soon)
Siddle: 9
Starc: 8
Harris: 9
Hilfenhaus: 9

INDIA:

Sehwag: 4
Gambhir: 4
Dravid: 6
Tendulkar: 5
Laxman: 4
Kohli: 8
Dhoni: 3
Vinay: 3
Zaheer: 7
Ishant: 5
Yadav: 8

Australia

Cowan 8
Warner 10
Marsh 3
Ponting 4
Clarke 5
Hussey 4
Haddin 5
Siddle 8
Harris 8
Starc 8
Hilfenhaus 9

India

Sehwag 4
Gambhir 4
Dravid 5
Tendulkar 3
Laxman 4
Kohli 8
Dhoni 4
Vinay Kumar 2
Zaheer Khan 4
Sharma 3
Yadav 6

JDizzle wrote:It could happen. For the next Test, I would imagine Rahane or Sharma comes in for VVS because let's be honest, changes have to be made now. I would prefer Rahane, but either is good.

Gambhir
Sehwag/Rahane
Sehwag/Rahane
Kohli
Tendulkar
Dravid
Saha?

Maybe. And who will captain India in the next game with MS suspended?

Sehwag will probably skipper though Gambhir has done well with it in a few ODIs when neither Dhoni nor Sehwag are playing and is likely to be the next captain after Dhoni.

Sehwag has captained India in 3 Tests with 2 wins and a draw, 11 ODIs with 7 wins and 4 defeats and 1 T20I which India won.
Gambhir has captained India in 6 ODIs with 6 wins

My team would be Sehwag, Gambhir*, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Kohli, Saha (wk), Ashwin, Zaheer, Mithun, Yadav. I would resist the temptation to drop Laxman at this point although he would find himself in the 'last chance saloon' at Adelaide. I don't see what would be gained by giving Sharma a debut in tough conditions 6 months before the next Test match - for me it would be better to give Laxman a chance to either save his career or go out on a high. Mithun hasn't really shone in his 4 Tests but it's important for India to assess which bowlers are worth taking a longer look at - Yadav has shown some promise but Vinay and Sharma have been disappointing and so I would leave them out whilst bringing Ashwin back in.

sehwag has been confirmed as skipper for the next game!!!!!

cricketfan90 wrote:sehwag has been confirmed as skipper for the next game!!!!!

Thanks. Just saw that

IMO vinay kumar will have a very short test career. he looked way out of his depth, and also from the very start i said vinay wont succed in test cricket...

when aaron recovers from injury he will take his place back.

Some people rated Marsh quite highly I see...
He was definitely a passenger again in that Test.

A question for you guys.

Do you think Warner is too much of an aggressive batsman to become a real threat to other test playing teams.

He is without doubt in the right mould to dominate attacks in T20 and ODI's

Taking into considerarion that his 69 ball 100 came up against a poor indian bowling performance and it is unlikely that that kind of batting performance can be emulated against SA and England.

India are woeful...England and South Africa best teams in the world at the moment.

Lets see if Australia can get the whitewash.

Sehwag is long past his best as a Test cricketer, plays in a completely brainless way when the situation demanded otherwise, and he is cementing the fact that he simply cannot play very well for a long period of time outside of India. They should ditch Sehwag and bring in Rahane, and likewise ditch Laxman and bring in Rohit.

As for the bowlers, well - they're pretty much all useless, and I'm afraid it'll be a long wait until India have a potent Test attack once more.

Reading that back it seems very harsh indeed, but they need a big overhaul and they need it now, because this isn't Test cricket that they have been playing, it is village in every single aspect.

biltongbek wrote:A question for you guys.

Do you think Warner is too much of an aggressive batsman to become a real threat to other test playing teams.

He is without doubt in the right mould to dominate attacks in T20 and ODI's

Taking into considerarion that his 69 ball 100 came up against a poor indian bowling performance and it is unlikely that that kind of batting performance can be emulated against SA and England.

He hit a good ton against New Zealand on a testing track. He is unlikely to score 100 off 69 balls against the top attacks because they will give him far less to hit than India did, but he could easily score a run a ball 60 to set the game up, or a more sedate 100. Of course he will do (a lot) better on flat tracks than otherwise, but he has a similar technique to Trescothick, and importantly the mental ability to play test cricket.

I reserve judgement on Warner. He does look like he could really take the game to a side if he was in good touch, but I do think he may struggle a little against say a Steyn or an Anderson (but then who doesn't?) if the conditions favour the bowler in particular.

I'd expect him to average around 40 after say 20 Tests.

Who knows Biltong?

Scoring fast is nothing new. Gregory (1921), Jessop (1902), Benaud (1954), Sinclair (1902), Viv Ricahrds (1985), Gilchrist (2006), Chanderpaul (2002), Gayle (2009), etc have all done it before. Some of those innings may have been against better bowling attacks than others. I realise that it is not a regular occurrence but obviously the chances are greater in the modern game.

It's just that we maybe have this mind-set that openers/top order batsmen should be steady and slow in the traditional sense of how Test cricket is played. There will always be the more aggressive player who makes a name for himself scoring "at will" it seems - and also they will come a cropper every now and then.

It will be interesting to see how he fares in the coming years but he is surely a breath of fresh air at the moment - and is more attractive to watch than Sehwag, imo. (more footwork, in the 'V' shots as opposed to Sehwag's more square of /behind the crease type strokes.

Warner will be anything but consistent but a very quick 80 or more can beat the hell out of the opposition. Ask Dhoni.

The last game was effectively over on day one thanks to him.

I hope Australia do get the Whitewash against India, because then maybe the BCCI will take some of the neccessary steps required, to get such a great Test nation back on to the main track, namely Test cricket.

They should severely limit the IPL, because that is more akin to Showbiz than real sport and get some of the Pitches to take pace, because practice on these pitches may well allow India not to embarass their Cricketing heritage in future.

How the mighty are fallen, and it has been one hell of a fall.

Absolutely spot on, English Warrior.

I only watched highlights. Once again it is tough to judge some of the Australians who only got one chance, but in general fielded well. In particular, Marsh (and Ponting to a lesser extent) will have spent a large amount of time with their pads on, watching seemingly serene progress only to have to go in and bat. Anyway, for what it's worth:

Warner: 10 - I was considering withholding a 10 score on the basis of him getting out, but that would be petulant. A simply breathtaking innings and outstanding in the field as usual.
Cowan: 8 - Very important knock, and again looks the part at short-leg.
Marsh: 4 - Got out after failing to move his feet. Caught the ones which came his way.
Ponting 4 - will be very unhappy about his dismissal, but he's been very good in the slips recently: surely an indication that his hand-eye is still there to some extent.
Clarke 4.5 - similarly disappointing with the bat, but caught well and gets an extra half mark for good captaincy, rotating his bowlers well and setting the right fields.
Hussey 4 - will be disappointed with the way he got out to a short wide delivery. Got a start but couldn't push on.
Haddin 4 - kudos to recover so well with the gloves (movement to get Shewag out was exemplary). failed again with the bat though, and probably on his last legs.
Siddle 9 - Australia's best bowler as he has been so often. And made handy runs. I don't know what McDermott has done to him but hey...
Harris 7 - bowled as well as most but without luck at times. Did get the two crucial wickets of Tendulkar and Dravid (to break partnership).
Starc 8 - showed his test credentials with pace, venom, swing (although speaking to Joe Scuderi he says it always swings at the WACCA because of the wind there so we shouldn't measure too much on that) and much improved control. Clearly easier to perform in a winning side, but Starc was arguably Australia's strike bowler in the absence of Pattinson. Will probably make way for Lyon at Adelaide.
Hilfenhaus 9 - what a return to test cricket it has been. Swing, nip, control, what's not to like? I think he should try and reign himself in when batting against spin though...


Sehwag 2 - Dreadful.
Gambhir 3 - didn't look up for the fight.
Dravid 5 - just out of sorts. I don't think I've ever seen Rahul Dravid quite so stuck on the crease and playing with his hands away from his body.
Tendulkar 3 - Played some nice shots, but out twice playing across the line which is unlike him (he usually hits those for 4), undone by late movement. Disappointing reaction in the second dig.
Laxman 3 - Past it.
Kohli 8 - clearly being given the confidence of the selectors has helped (as I said it might after the second test) and he looked India's best batsman by a distance. Still has problems in that it doesn't take a great ball to get him out - second innings dismissal was a shame it was a poke; either leave it or play it.
Dhoni 2 - terrible batting always out in the same way, and captaincy is passive. Selection was all wrong as well, and he must take some of the blame surely.
Kumar 2 - not test class from what we've seen here.
Zaheer 5 - gave his all in the field for which there is much to say for, and on another day would have picked up a few more wickets. Played the right way with the bat (he's not going to hang around anyway so may as well look for a quick 20 to get some momentum) but Australia bowled too well.
Sharma 3 - should have been his type of wicket, but not fit enough. Like many of his more illustrious colleagues he doesn't seem to learn from his dismissals with the bat.
Yadav 8 - came back well with the ball. As I say, the type of bowler who'll make things happen but go for runs. India's problem was that of the other 3 bowlers, 2 made nothing happen and still went for runs.