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Blimey...just flicked back to see Australia making a meal of chasing 34 to win. Warner another fail (is that a strong hint that his time is all but done ?)

But also Smith Khawaja and Head gone...29/4 and extras has made 14 of them !

Only need five more so no problem...but SA might wonder what might have been if they'd been able to produce a bit more resistance in that awful second innings.

Supports kingraf's pitch assessment , I guess

It just makes the exclusion of Travis head more bizarre alfie.

I did say Axar was a decent number 9. Won't go full KP Fan and quote myself saying that. I am as much a stopped clock being right as anyone else!

I have never seen a more average bowler than Murphy picking a 5-fer
he got 3 lucky breaks those of Rahul, Kohli and Pujara
and the other 2 LBWs were because of his line.....clever, restrictive, credit to him.... and Indians fell for it this time

Next time they will come prepared...standing further outside with a leg stump guard...or careful not to try and turn the face of bat and miss contact...but rather present full straight face.

Smith & Manus started their career as leg spin batting allrounders.......would have expected to see them used to put 15 to 20 overs on a day like this

Rough day at slip for Smith...his drop of Rohit didn't cost - but dropping Jadeja right at end of day not the way you want to end a session.

Can see no way back from here for Australia. Will be an achievement if they can make India bat a second time. Credit to them , they fought hard for two sessions and some - but Axar coming in at nine has put the nail in the coffin.

Bit of a change of pace from Bazball but still an interesting watch.

Think that lack of a true 5th bowling option really came home to roost in that final session - lot of overs for the frontline guys in that heat, and with India's batting depth fully on show here with Jadeja/Axar, a real partnership to take on the chin. Not helped by some shoddy fielding, unlike the Aussies I would say.

I would suspect unless this partnership goes into like Jayant Yadav/Kohli against England in 2016 territory, that the Aussies will make India bat again, but they're verging on needing a couple of miracle innings to set anything challenging in the last dig

A terrific innings from Rohit. On par with that one against England for me where he looked like he was batting on a different wicket to everyone else. His ability to judge when to attack and when not to is impressive these days. Not trying to smash Boland off his length when he was bowling economically but without massive threat a great example.

Jadeja is a really interesting batter to watch. Early in his Test career there was obviously talent given the F-C record and early triple tons but it sometimes felt he was better at just not getting out rather than constructing an innings, if that makes sense! I often felt that he hung around very well with the top order and scoring runs was a by product rather than design. Whereas now he is so good at attacking bowlers at key times such as when they tire. He's an incredible cricketer and IMO the best all-rounder in Test cricket by a distance.

eirebilly_01 wrote:It just makes the exclusion of Travis head more bizarre alfie.

That's not just left-hander vs Ashwin related to be fair. Head is brilliant in certain conditions but he's on Ollie Pope vs spins levels of struggling with basic issues in his technique.

More conditions based selection like this are something I've wanted more of in Test cricket for years to be fair though, so I would argue that side!

I've long maintained that with the vast differences in conditions I think a 'first choice XI' is actually a really odd thing. Rather sides should aim for a squad of around 16 with good Test level exposure to best utilise those who suit particular conditions.

I suspect the pitch is far worse than it appears.....and it will be evident tomorrow......Ind has scored more than I expected and more than they should have been allowed and an innings defeat is the most likely scenario.

Not that pitch will deteriorate overnight...but the difference in bowling quality will stand out
Even if you are limited...one must look at the Eng example in Pak & learn from them:
They had only one good spinner in Leach ( "less good" than Lyon IMO)...and yet they came with a plan to have 3 part-timers  in Livingstone, Root and  the other batsman who bowled off spin even at county level.
and gave them 40 overs in a day.......so that their main 3 or 4 bowlers could remain fresh and have a go and attack.

India has several chinks in their armor...especially in batting where they had been carrying dead load in Rahane and Kohli....and an inconsistent Pujara and Rahul.

Rahane has been gotten rid off....but Ind still has a dead-wood Kohli and inconsistent Pujara and Rahul.
SKY is shaky...Bharat does not have skills of a regular batsman...and India do not have Pant.

Stronger/ better planned  sides would have made Ind struggle....like Eng did last time and BD recently almost pulled off a win ...and NZ when last in Indian eked a draw and a hard fought defeat.

Ind need to play an extra batter for one seamer and bring Ishan in for Bharat...soon...perhaps by T3

An excellent hand from the skipper, and yet another brilliant contribution from Jadeja who has been India's 2nd best test batter of the last 2 years after Rishabh Pant. Fine support from Axar Patel, and India, after threatening to throw away the advantage, establishing themselves in control. Pujara and Kohli continued to struggle, giving it away with really poor shots of absolutely terrible deliveries. And Srikar Bharat I am not sure, is the kind of understudy you'd be looking at for Rishabh. Ishan Kishan is a mediocre wicketkeeper, and despite him thrashing about in white ball stuff now and then, I am not too sure about his general test match abilities with the bat either. Think I'd agree with KPF though, if Bharat can't deliver in the next game, I wouldn't mind Kishan being given a go... Railways wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav has been the India A regular keeper of late, and his domestic numbers aren't bad. Sanju Samson keeps mostly in white ball games for Kerala and plays only as a batter in Ranji trophy, and he in any case is out injured.

As for KL, I don't mind him getting this chance though I wouldn't have picked him. It should be noted that all of Gill's recent runs haven't come in white ball games, he got a hundred against Bangladesh in the last series... Rahul was brilliant in his comeback series in England, has been inconsistent or injured since. And he didn't come back in with a lot of credit in the bank, was picked as a middle order back-up, and got to play in England only because both Gill and Mayank Agarwal, who is brilliant in spinning conditions lets not forget, were injured. Agarwal by the way, made a fabulous 249 in a one-man-act for Karnataka, in their ongoing Ranji semi final against Saurashtra...

msp83 wrote:As for KL, I don't mind him getting this chance though I wouldn't have picked him. It should be noted that all of Gill's recent runs haven't come in white ball games, he got a hundred against Bangladesh in the last series... Rahul was brilliant in his comeback series in England, has been inconsistent or injured since. And he didn't come back in with a lot of credit in the bank, was picked as a middle order back-up, and got to play in England only because both Gill and Mayank Agarwal, who is brilliant in spinning conditions lets not forget, were injured. Agarwal by the way, made a fabulous 249 in a one-man-act for Karnataka, in their ongoing Ranji semi final against Saurashtra...

Yes Mayank Agarwal should also be in the mix
The biggest liability is Kohli

alfie wrote:

KP_fan wrote:Aussies are not getting the ball to jump off a length at all
In fact both off spinners are on the contrary operating with low bounce....I think it's because of high release and no side spin

Maybe true - but could also be the pitch has changed a little from yesterday ? I'd have expected Lyon to get one or two to jump but not seen any yet. We might see a lot of low bounce as this progresses.

The way pitch was on D1, it can only deteriorate further.....IMO

as we will most likely see when India bowl tomm

This is turning into an absolute drubbing!

India have not just beaten Australia on the field but in their minds as well.

Big selection issues for Australia now.

Well Aus has been blown away in a session.
And that means neither India's mistakes nor sub-optimal selections cost anything.

Kohli  dropping catches in slips, one seamer too many, one batsman short, kohli not scoring runs, giving 2 chances to Smith and Warner ....nothing mattered.
In fact Ind would win even if Aus is hypothetically give a 3rd inning to bat.

The difference was in bowling skills, although it will be way to blame batters.
Aus should have been able to restrict India.to a 250-270 total.
Lyon needs to bowl fuller and with different lines ....he has skills but did not adapt
They need a 5th and 6th bowler
Both Smith and Manus should practice in nets and take a 20 over workload
Green back will give them additional bowling Head should be back
Renshaw looks like a long stiff wooden scarecrow.
For India Axar needs an extended spell to get his length right
He is a foot short of the right length for this pitch

Lyon was very disappointing, almost the same bowling figures as Murphy, other than the small matter of taking 6 fewer wickets. If Lyon had performed, with Murphy in support, Australia could have at least competed, which would have given more confidence for the next Test

Expected result, really. I bang on about it too much, but Australia came into this test with nil practice games...so what the hell do they think will happen? When England won here in 2012 they played two proper three-day games and one proper four-day game. About 900 overs of preparation and acclimatisation. Though England lost the first test they did make 400 in it and made India work a lot harder than Australia have here, before winning tests two and three.

At least Murphy had an impressive game for Aus. Could be a changing of the guard this series.

Second and final test starts tomorrow between Zimbabwe and the West Indies. It's more of a contest.

Next test is in Delhi.
India have not lost a Test match in Delhi in 36 years.
Last defeat was to David Gower led Eng....where India pulled a shock defeat from the jaws of a comfortable draw on last afternoon to the docile spin of Pat Pocock and Phil Edmunds leading to the sacking of Kapil & Patil
Azhar replaced Patil in the next test...cracked 3 centuries in first 3 tests and Patil could never make a come back to play a test for India again.

I know I've banged on about this before, but when are India going to bite the bullet and drop Kohli?

He's just not worth his place.

India's loyalty to Kohli is such that I think he'll need to retire to be dropped, a bit like Gayle from the West Indies T20 team. Kohli:

From the start of his test career to the end of 2019 - 84 tests; Test average 54.97; home average 68.42; away average 46.12; 27 centuries, strike rate 57.81. Batting at 4 in this time frame actually saw Kohli's average at 61.2.

From the start of the decade to the present day - 21 tests; Test average 25.8; home average 25.08; away average 25.95; 0 centuries; strike rate 42.28.

Kohli's career test average peaked at 55.1 in October 2019. Since then he's been on a steady decline and it now sits at 48.68, which is below Root and Williamson, and another bad test will take it below Babar.

Easy win for India today...really got way more runs than they should have been allowed but Australia's lack of a fifth bowler killed them : battled well until the last couple of hours yesterday when Jadeja and Axar took it away from them. Not at all surprised they folded today.

Still I'm blaming the batsmen primarily for getting out for just 177 on Thursday. It really wasn't a 177 all out pitch on day one : not easy for batsmen , but no minefield - needed some serious application and more preparedness to look for scoring opportunities , as only Carey really did. Head may have technical issues against spin but he made runs for fun at home and he surely can't do worse than some of those who played ! Might have bowled a few overs too.

Still think India have some issues with their own batting but it might not matter unless the Aussies can get their act together quickly. If Green isn't fit they have a serious balance problem. Crazy thing is they might have two excellent fast bowlers in Starc and Hazlewood ready to come back in ; but can only shoehorn one in , and at the expense of Boland - their second best bowler in this match.

Did you get a bet on 4-0 , Duty ? Price won't be so good now

Leaving Head out was just plain daft. There have been some crazy selection decisions of late.

Two that spring to mind are S Africa dropping Jansen and bringing in Harmer in England last summer and, arguably the stupidest selection of all, leaving Anderson AND Broad out at Brisbane on the last England tour.

Duty281 wrote:India's loyalty to Kohli is such that I think he'll need to retire to be dropped

That happens a lot with big names in all cricket cultures to be fair. Ponting's book, one of the few sporting autobiographies that aren't utter dross, is really interesting towards the end of his career where he discusses that he felt like he was done but didn't want to call it with the team at a low ebb, no one was going to drop punter!

I could see Virat holding on until the WTC final then walking away after that.

An utterly dominent performance from India. Ashwin well and truly came into his own in the 2nd innings, and Australia just gave up... Rather disappointed that they just didn't turn up... Jadeja was brilliant, Axar played his part, and the seamers delivered a nockout blow when called upon. Across the 2 innings, the only Australian to outscore Mohammed Shami's 37 was Marnus in the first innings with his 49. Don't think not much more needs to be said!

As for the next test, think they should bring Head back. He should not have been dropped in the first place, regardless of his spin troubles. At the very least, he could have offered a semi-decent parttime bowling option! Now it will be a touch unfair on Renshaw to get axed just after a game, but that's a mess they just made for themselves. Green's likely to be fit for the next game isn't he? And they should be hoping Starc too, will be available.
Warner, Khawaja, Marnus, Smith, Head, Green, Carey, Starc, Cummins, Lyon, Murphy.

With the kind of win, India are unlikely to change things around that much. Rahul will get another chance, hope he really will make it count. Kohli finally turned it around in white ball cricket in the 2nd half of the year. Its just hard to believe he can't do the same in test cricket as well. But the reflexes have really been slowing down, he's dropping far too many catches for comfort these days, and isn't the same player against spin of late. He'll surely get this series and even beyond if he wants, but a poor series here might force Kohli ask some tough questions to himself, and the voices outside, will be legitimately louder too.
They seem to rate Shubman's abilities against spin very highly and have been contemplating converting him into a middle order bat. But then injuries to KL or Rohit have meant he continued to stay at the top whenever he played. And when an opportunity presented itself with Shreyas getting injured, they went for SKY. Now that he's in, I really want Surya to get a proper run, particularly as Rishabh isn't available.
Bumrah won't be available for the next test for sure, and Axar has justified his selection over Kuldeep. So, not much to change in there either.
So they go in with the same 11 for the next game, if all fit and available.

I get that Kohli has been pretty much pants for about 3 years, but I also understand the persistence, as true Test class batsmen are very hard to produce. Think the one game/series too many has to apply here, especially as I don't think replacements are exactly queueing up. It's certainly no worse than what England have been doing with Zak Crawley, or Jason Roy in ODIs

msp83 wrote:As for the next test, think they should bring Head back. He should not have been dropped in the first place, regardless of his spin troubles. At the very least, he could have offered a semi-decent parttime bowling option!

Head averages 62 in F-C cricket. He's a worse option than Marnus and Smith, spins the ball the same way as Australia's best two actual spinners. Really not sure Head turning his arm over should factor in at all.

I was expecting Handscomb to get Head's place rather than Renshaw had Green been fit. I'd keep Handscomb in and hopefully Green can come in for Renshaw to balance things out.

Aus news papers are suggesting Head will open and Warner sit out

Zimbabwe were bowled out for 115 in the second test v the West Indies. The West Indies currently 214/5 in response early on day two.

However, all is not lost for Zimbabwe, as a real rain is set to come over the next few days, which, allied with the poor drainage at this ground, might just save them if they bat semi-competently second time around.

alfie wrote:Did you get a bet on 4-0 , Duty ?  Price won't be so good now

Aye, it's 15/8 now. But perhaps Australia will turn it around like India did...

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:Did you get a bet on 4-0 , Duty ?  Price won't be so good now

Aye, it's 15/8 now. But perhaps Australia will turn it around like India did...

Thought Sydney Thunder were batting again for a moment.

Galted wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:Did you get a bet on 4-0 , Duty ?  Price won't be so good now

Aye, it's 15/8 now. But perhaps Australia will turn it around like India did...

Thought Sydney Thunder were batting again for a moment.

Timeless, Galted, timeless.

Duty281 wrote:

Galted wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:Did you get a bet on 4-0 , Duty ?  Price won't be so good now

Aye, it's 15/8 now. But perhaps Australia will turn it around like India did...

Thought Sydney Thunder were batting again for a moment.

Timeless, Galted, timeless.

Suspect I can get a lot of mileage out of that one.

Duty281 wrote:Zimbabwe were bowled out for 115 in the second test v the West Indies. The West Indies currently 214/5 in response early on day two.

However, all is not lost for Zimbabwe, as a real rain is set to come over the next few days, which, allied with the poor drainage at this ground, might just save them if they bat semi-competently second time around.

No surprise really, Ballance not playing, and he was pretty much their batting in the first Test. 7 wickets for the Windies spinner, and they have the luxury of a spinner with a Test 8 for in the lineup as well!

Those 2019 flashbacks of Roston Chase are horrible!

Just 49.4 overs possible on the second day. West Indies ahead by 175 and eight wickets down. Lots more rain forecast, so wouldn't be surprised to see an overnight declaration.

And I see the third test between India and Australia has been moved to Indore.

Zimbabwe lose by an innings and 4 runs. They had no answer to Motie, who took 13 wickets in the test.

The West Indies will stick around the continent for a two-test series v South Africa in a couple of weeks time.

Today India's Rankings are as following:
No.1 in Tests
No.1 in ODIs
No.1 in T20Is

The rankings are what they are, they can hardly be disputed based on all results, but India need to start cashing in some of those bilateral limited overs series wins for some actual trophies. I do think they will win the ODI World Cup, but it only takes one bad day at the wrong time for that not to happen

VTR wrote:The rankings are what they are, they can hardly be disputed based on all results, but India need to start cashing in some of those bilateral limited overs series wins for some actual trophies. I do think they will win the ODI World Cup, but it only takes one bad day at the wrong time for that not to happen

From an Indian POV what really matters ( or should matter) are winning ICC trophies and overseas test match wins

Second test between India and Australia begins tomorrow. Will it be a closer contest, or more of the same? India look even stronger for this one as Iyer returns from injury. As KP Fan mentioned, India love this ground and haven't lost here since the 80s, plus Ashwin has been a prolific wicket taker here. 

Australia are in a complete muddle. According to Cricinfo, they may drop Starc, bring back Green, and use three specialist spinners (one of Kuhnemann/Agar). Or they may just retain the previous balance. It seems unlikely Head will be recalled. What Australia certainly require is Smith to rediscover his 2017 form in India, where he tonned up three times in eight innings.

Where has this Kuhnemann guy come from all of a sudden? Seemed rather ordinary when you look at his record. Had a brief look at him in SL with the white ball, didn't seem anything special. But pedestrian Australian spinners, rather than the rather good ones, have had decent success against India in India. Crejza, Hauritz, O Keefe, Clarke, v. Warne, Lyon...

Kuhnemann has only played a handful of FC games so I do think drafting him in would be something of a desperation search for a Joker... I don't really rate Agar but what was the point of picking him for the tour in the first place ?
Starc may not be totally fit to play ; Green certainly would be limited in batting and fielding and since Warner is apparently locked in for now Head appears to be still stranded on the bench. Selection looks as messy as ...England on the last Ashes tour ?

Whoever they pick , going to require a massive swing to compete with India here. Such swings do happen , of course...but you'd want long odds to consider betting on them this week.
Cummins could really do with winning yet another toss for a start.

Cummins wins the toss...batting first , unsurprisingly.

Team is weird : Head replaces Renshaw ; but Kuhnemann in for Boland so the attack is Cummins + six spinners (three full time and three part timers) . Guess Marnus might bowl some seam-up rubbish with the new ball ?

Need a Very Big first innings , I think...

Going much better for Australia - so far. Warner not impressive again though - was probably lucky to survive as long as he did ; 15 isn't going to get the vultures off his roof...

But Khawaja has done well for his 48 from 68 as we near lunch ; and Marnus has settled in quickly. Decent run rate too 91/1 in the 23rd.

Can it last ?

Well no , it couldn't

Sorry for the jinx , boys...Labuschagne trapped lbw on review and Smith edged behind second ball

94/3 at lunch - Ashwin has turned the session on its head.

Back to Delhi to see Shami has come back and cut off The Head ...caught at slip for 12. At least he didn't get out to a spinner

109/4. A lot on Khawaja because he's not getting much help...

Khawaja gone now for a fine 81. Ends a vital 59 run stand with Handscomb. 167/5 is a platform of sorts : but if he or Carey get out soon the rest might easily fold up...

Was a remarkable catch by Rahul ! And 250 wickets now for Jadeja

...and indeed Carey has gone for a duck. India right on top and Australia may struggle to cross 200 now...

That is indeed a bizarre team from Australia! Just one conventional quick bowler.

Cummins helped Handscomb rebuild the score from 168/6 to 227/6, but two wickets in one over from Jadeja (how crucial is he!) has put India firmly in control again, and ended any realistic hope of 300.