Obeservations that VVS made

In a TV interview today, there were two important observations that VVS Laxman made about the track, and the situation at Sydney.

First, he felt that the pitch will have lots of spin on fourth and fifth days and, so, India will have to ensure a big score in their first innings. Already in Australia's first innings, Kumble and Harbhajan got lot many balls to turn and even Hogg turned quite a few, he said.

Second, unlike the pitch at Melbourne, the bounce at Sydney was relatively even because of which he (Laxman) was able to play pull shot so freely. So it should not be too difficult for the Indian batsmen, including Tendulkar and Ganguly – the seasoned batsmen on the crease.

Meanwhile, Australia coach Tim Nielson believes that the match is evenly poised and as the new ball is due after 18 overs on Friday, the first session will be extremely critical for both the teams.

Of course, it will be worth getting up seven hours from now, (Five AM IST) to watch how the 1st session unfolds.

Even if they are unable to take the lead, India will need at least 200 runs more in the 1st innings to put Australia under pressure on a spinning track and hope for the repeat of Adelaide four years ago. In that match, Australia had collapsed in the second innings after taking a small first innings lead of 33, leaving India with a target of 230, which they achieved with four wickets to spare.

With 270 overs still to go, it is anybody’s game. Unless, of course, there is an inspirational spell by someone from the Australian side tomorrow morning, resulting in over 100 lead for the Aussie. That could be a decisive lead on this track for a team batting third.

Forget about an explosive start from india

When India start their innings , they will be in a defensive frame of mind, commented Gavaskar just after Australia crossed 400 runs.

That is understandable when you are chasing a total in excess of 400 runs because the first thought will be about saving the test.

Also, as going 0-2 down will curtail your ambition drastically to the thought of just saving the series.

That should be the only strategy available to India right now, and it will be a good one too unless they go ultra-defensive. Now in this test, if India are allowed a look in with nearly 50-70 overs left today, they will still have a possible 320-340 overs left for the last three innings. Australia, one fears, will not be required to face more than 50 in their second essay unless India put up a great total. That would mean negotiating 125 to 150 overs in each innings for India.

That should be a tough job, but it is not impossible by any standards as the wicket is playing very true. Shastri believes that it is easy. In fact, the avearge second innings score at Sydney is close to 400, and that should give heart to India.

But once again, India will need to score too and not just preserve their wickets. Australians did that beautifully under pressure by trading in singles and twos when boundaries were not coming. India may not be allowed too many boundaries if Ponting's approach, alternating between defense and offense, is any indication.

Meanwhile, I am awaiting morning papers to read what they have to say about the umpiring goof-ups, which allowed Australia to escape from the gallows. Did not Navjot Sidhu say in NDTV that if Sachin is allowed three innings in one innings, he (Sidhu) would bet on him scoring a century every time!

Australia have lost their eighth wicket just now. Hopefully, there will not be any big partnership anymore in this innings..

This Sickening Cricket Addiction!!!!!!

It forces one to get up much before time even on such a cold January day.

It compels one to type furiously in dark, and in double the time, just to ensure that the family does not get disturbed.

If forces one to lower the volume of the TV set even though one wishes to hear the ambiance it its full glory.

And all this just to see the first day, first show of a brand new test (!) even though one gets a sinking feeling about the team’s chances even before the Sydney test has begun.

And here I should be representing the collective sentiments of the die-hard fans and cricket writers, who sacrifice all the family values (do not disturb others' sleep before six), put aside their own sleep and cast aside all urgent work, just to see their team in action. An addiction they have been living with for decades.

Meanwhile, in less than half-an-hour from now we will know the composition of the team for sure. That will partly decide if we need to go back to sleep again, or our sleep-deprived eyes will allow us to watch the tone-setting first two hours.

Buch's free advice to struggling India

In this era of free advice though columns and blogs, here are a few tips from Former Australian Coach John Buchanan. Below are the suggestions (All in red with our notes in blue) in one of the News Websites on how India can arrest the Australian domination to ensure that the series remains at 1-0 or 1-1 after Sydney.

In an article on an Australian Website, he writes about the key points for India as:

Being able to score runs as well as occupy the crease (Dravid needs to do the first and the rest need to occupy it)

The Top four batting must dent the Australian attack (Not just weather it. Unless you take the bull by the horn in Australia, you will not succeed!)

Two or three big partnerships in top six, which means player or players registering 100-plus (Forties and fifties are not going to be enough and the likes of Sachin and Sourav must resist long enough)

Opening bowlers need support from another quick bowler (That would mean playing just one spinner even on supposedly spin friendly wickets. To get this Australian side out, you need three good quickies)

When an Australian batting pair begins to dominate, decide quickly on whether they employ wicket taking strategy or a strategy of defence to force an Australian error. (More huddles will be needed to change strategies from time to time as most Australian pair tend to flourish on home grounds)

Good points, But most things India by now must be aware of.

Do not create another Controversy Mr Rajput, India have enough on their plate!

It was indeed funny to read a report in the Times of India, quoting Assistant Coach Ralchand Rajput in Sydney Morning Herald, that Yuvraj’s air of indifference was likely to cost him in a place in the middle order.

A similar report appeared in the Hindustan Times, titled ‘’Team upset with Yuvraj’s attitude’’ and it quoted the Newspaper, The Age.

The HT report said Yuvraj’s attitude during Melbourne ‘’infuriated the members of the Indian team.’’Unfortunately, there was no quote from Yuvraj, not even a mention that the media tried to contact him. Now where does any of the reports mention what exactly was this attitude problem.

For example, did he tell the other players to look at their own batting first before commenting on his (Yuvraj’s)! Or was there anything else.Why malign a man (who will not reply due to disciplinary reasons), whose heroics at the World Cup helped India snatch it, and whose tremendous batting at Bangalore along with Ganguly saved India from a possible defeat.
If you do not want to play him at Sydney, do it little more gracefully.What is Yuvraj without attitude? And what is the problem with flaunting it! Only men with attitude can take on the Australians. The likes of Botham, Flintoff, Shastri and Harbhajan have shown it in the past.

And the point it, why should Rajput be talking to the Australian media about the attitude of the Indians, and play into their hand!

Rajput wants to have one-on-one with him at Sydney, but has no problem in talking to the media on the issue even before that chat! That is strange.

Sitaree (Stars) lose their glow!

Media watch on Sunday

If you are a loyal friend, blind admirer, or really (rather real) close relative of an Indian cricketer, reading newspapers today will be as tough and soul-sapping as watching the stars in ‘royal inaction’ yesterday. The papers were full of criticism and advice for the rest of the series.

The Times of India had an interesting one, ‘Sitare Zameen Par’’ where the paper wrote that the ‘’Indian papers, long dazzled by the glitz and glamour of international cricket, showed once more that they do not have the stomach for fight when odds are staked against them.''

Well, this blog had indicated this very fact during the Pakistan series itself when it criticized the Indian defensive mindset during the third test. Please read the links below

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-end-contest-with-48-overs-to-go.html

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/imran-criticises-late-declaration.html

So India being defensive is nothing new!

Skipper Kumble now says that it is a collective batting failure and the team needs to find the answers collectively. He wants them to be relaxed and positive.

Well, that should have been the advise before the tour started. One fears it is too late. Batsmen, barring Tendulkar and Ganguly, did look too tense and in negative frame of mind. There was simply too much pressure on Dravid, who did not want to fail as opener, and Yuvraj, perpetually on trial and this time more so as an opener had been sacrificed to accommodate him.

HT had ''Suffocated, India Self-destruct’’. It started with Anil Kumble’s quote as to ‘’I wish I knew what went wrong.’’ He only has to see another article in the same paper where HT analyses whey India failed to stretch Australia at Melbourne. Of course, arguments (the ten reasons) are nothing new and we have been hearing them on TV and Print ever since the tour started, but the writer has compiled and argued them really well. That one page needs to be read by the whole Indian team.

HT also has a quote from Kumble saying ‘’if Veru and Karthik were in great form, we would have thought differently.’’ Come on skipper, even Dravid was not in 'great form' during the Pakistan series and by excluding an opener, Laxman and Dravid were forced to play in unfamiliar positions against a lethal attack.

Laxman has not been at number three for very very long time and the strategy was as much counter-productive for him, as for Dravid.

The Indian Express had not much surprise by way of ‘’Early New Year’s Party for Australia as India Crumble.’’ It has a graphics which showed the India’s three worst ever defeats (in runs) had come in last three years, beginning the one at Nagpur in 2004 when Australia had humbled us by 342 runs followed by the one at Karachi in February last year, when Pakistan beat us by 341. And now 337.

Well, we seem to be losing by a mile of late, which shows how fallible we are in the fourth innings. That should be a big matter of concern.

The Hindu’s headline seemed to have been made by tea on the fourth day. Australia victory march continues was simple, a matter of fact statement without too many emotions attached to it.

Viewers who chose not to watch the match on the fourth day and rather went for a fun trip on Saturday, must have felt the same way before giving the telecast a royal ignore.
Related Link
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-look-doomed.html

India look doomed

Got up at Seven for two reasons. Not to spoil my wife’s birthday as early morning noises from Melbourne in Indian winter have the potential to disturb the whole neighbourhood, not to speak of my household. And second, did not wish to wake up at five and see the Indian bowlers carted to all parts of the ground and would rather dream of India bowling out Australia for less than 150 by lunch!

Dream did not happen (it happened four years ago at Adelaide thanks to Agarkar and I should be satisfied), and felt happy that did not miss much, though Indian situation at lunch looks much beyond redemption.With Australia leading by a good 282 runs with eight wickets in hand and eight sessions remaining, read an article where Tendulkar defended Dravid’s approach and said the match was far from over.

"We were in a good position yesterday. Today (After Dec 27 play) it's not the same for us. But it's part and parcel of the game. We'll continue to fight (in this Test)," said the batsman in that article and added, "It's possible to chase 400 runs on this wicket. The match isn't over yet. We would try to take 10 wickets as early as possible. We would look to break it down session to session.''

If it was not just for the consumption of the press, it will be a very good statement of intent. Though I have not seen an Indian team successfully chasing even a 300+ score ever since Sachin Tendulkar debuted. But then, India’s rare series win in England too had come 18 years after his debut, so we can hope that India will make it count.

Second, as of now it looks Australia will end up well above 400. May be around 475-500 by the end of play today, which will leave India with a massive task of surviving the last five-and-a-half to six sessions. If we are lucky, weather will intervene.

As of now, India look doomed. Who had said before the series started that if India have to win the series, they will need to win it 2-1 because Australia will try and win every match, and they will win at least one? I think it was Ian Chappell, but may be I am wrong.

Simply Wonderful

As we had hoped, after India got Australia's first three wickets in the space of 30 runs, the Indian bowlers came firing all cylinders and the visitors seem to have restricted Australia to under 350. (http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/kumbles-twin-strike-zaheer-chips-in.html)

The 337 for nine could well have remained 337 for two, three or four, but some on-target bowling by Kumble and Zaheer (the pacer took three) kept India in the match. (For more details, please see sites below profile in this blog)

Make no mistake. Australia still hold the upper hand in this match as India will have to bat fourth on this wicket. And they will have to muster a lead of 100 or 150 to put any kind of pressure on Australia.

The bowlers have done their job. Now everything will depend on how the Indian batsmen negotiate the first session tomorrow, with a makeshift opener in Rahul Dravid. That could well be the most critical session of the match.

Kumble's twin strike, Zaheer chips in with one!

(Very brief summary, details are on the right)

It needed Kumble's inspiration to get India back into the match and his googly to Jaques did that. Then he accounted for another Aussie Hussey (leg-before). In between Zaheer got rid of Ponting. From 135 for none, Australia suddenly looked extremely vulnerable at 165 for three.

Will India do to Australia what Australia did to India at Melbourne four years ago? Leading one-nil in the series four years ago, India had a tremendous start reaching 250 for the loss of just one wicket but then Australia took over, bowling them out for 366 and wrapping up the test eventually.

A broken bat, that could mend Indian hearts

But Ganguly will need to keep it safe. The Australians now do know what this bat means to Ganguly, and they just need to separate the two.

A very interesting PTI story in the Hindu.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/007200712251821.htm

Indian selection dilemma is over, Australia's persists

(Media Watch One for Dec 24, More to follow above this post)

With India finally deciding that Dravid will open (Dravid to ‘crack’ open puzzle in IE and in most news channels yesterday), it is clear that Sehwag will have to wait for his chance from the bench on a ground where he was so lethal with that 195 four years ago.

But one thing good about the decision is that it has been made three days before the test, rather than a day before or in the morning. It will help Dravid get into the opening ‘mindset’ sooner than later. Since now Yuvraj too knows he is in, there is going to be more intensity about his preparations. Sehwag can be called unlucky, but he will surely have his chance in January-Feb 2008.

However, the Australians may still not have decided on whether to include Chinaman Hogg, or go with all pace attack at the Melbourne Test. It will be wise for Australia to include a man about whom Muralitharan says that ‘’the World’s top batsmen can’t pick his wrong ones.’’ Indian batsmen are capable of clobbering a unidimensional pace attack at will on a benign pitch. Australia will certainly need some variety.

If one goes by what the curator has to say, it is not going to be a green top and even he has asked Australia to include a spinner. And if it is not a green top, then even India must go in with their best attack. That is, two spinners and two seamers.

Why India should aim for the top of the off-stump

Simply because Agarkar successfully did that in Adelaide four years ago and helped India get their first away test win over Australia in over two decades.

‘’It is simple. Just bowl on a good length and try and aim for the top of the off-stump,’’ says Agarkar about his approach in Australia in 2003-04 series.

His advise makes sense because it is easier to get carried away for a pace bowler in Australia. Listening to what he says in the Times of India will do a world of good to Zaheer and company.

Meanwhile, in his column (By Hawkeye/Chivach Sport) in the Hindu, Anil Kumble laments that ‘’Ideally, it would have been great if the weather had been kinder and we had had a good tour game but that was not to be''. He also say ideally India should have had two tour games before the first test to sort out their chinks.

Too late to say this skipper. The Team should have requested the BCCI to take note of this 'thoughtlessly done schedule' even as the itinerary was being planned.

But good preparation or not, India has some good supporters in Gilchrist and Hussey, two of Australia key players who are predicting a good, well-contested series.

Gilchrist believes that India is ‘’not underprepared’’ for the tour, and rather they are ‘’match-hardened’’ after three-four weeks of intense cricket against Pakistan. Hussey believes it is a ‘huge challenge’ for Australia as India right now have ‘good momentum’ and ‘good form’ going into the contest. Though in a separate story in the Indian Express, he also said that the Australian batsmen had plans ready for each Indian bowler.

Basically, the contest between the Australian bowlers and the Indian batsmen will decide the outcome of the series. Australian batsmen are always expected to score heavily on their pitches so do not expect much from the Indian attack. India batting can't afford to fail once or twice in their eight attempts. That will spell doom.

Challenge is enormous!

If you take Australia's record and compare it with India's, challenge is enormous. The story below in IBN Live says that Australia win three out of their every four matches and India win one of their every three matches.

So, in lighter vain, India should be happy with a 1-2 scoreline in favour of Australia just on the basis of their respective performances in year 2000.

http://ibnlive.com/news/aussies-test-record-awesome-india-way-behind/54487-5.html

Meanwhile, here are two links on Print media's assessment on India's chances and Blog's take on that.

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-will-india-be-banking-on-in.html

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/soaring-hopes-and-mission-not.html