Australia vs. India (in Australia)

spin - Sharma is more talented than Kohli but Kohli's aggression and temperament gives him the edge. In terms of pure ability, Sharma still wins for me.

Sledge - The thing is the commentators have to keep the viewer interested as well. If they just keep saying "wow, this is stunningly bad cricket, what a no contest, you might as well turn off the telly because we all know the result" then its not going to be particularly engrossing so yeah, they are just looking for some positives and when there are none to be found, they are just making them up lol.

Channel 9 is really bad though, everything is so cheesy with the meaningless trivia questions, endlessly repeated KFC classic catches, pointless tweets from random people and not to forget, viewer questions with absolutely no relevance like who is the most exciting batsman in world cricket, which obviously Warner will win seeing as it is an Australian poll. Plus, anytime Nicholas, Healy or Slats are in the box, I mostly have it on mute. I'll never complain about Sky's presentation/commentary again.

We don't get to see the tea breaks/cricket shows at lunch times etc. Mikey but that surprises me from Ganguly. What does he expect? Does he think the other pundits are going to be praising the Indians for a majestic tour and some star performances? They have just lost 7 consecutive away Tests and about to lose their 8th, not just losing but getting hammered. Anyone trying to deflect criticism needs to take a good hard look at the state of Indian cricket for where it really is, not where they would like it be or where it can potentially be.

Dharamsena has to be one of the worst umpires in the test arena at the moment. 3 bad decisions in this Australia innings, Clarke, Hussey and Marsh - quite pathetic, let's be honest. In fact, the umpiring in this whole match has been atrocious, Ashwin and Kohli both got poor decisions too (although I think Dar was the umpire - and without DRS he doesn't look anywhere near as confident).

India on the ropes as Tendulkar falls tamely to the spinner Lyon  100-4 and no way back from here , 4-0 it is.

Originally posted by Mikey Dharamsena has to be one of the worst umpires in the test arena at the moment. 3 bad decisions in this Australia innings, Clarke, Hussey and Marsh - quite pathetic, let's be honest. In fact, the umpiring in this whole match has been atrocious, Ashwin and Kohli both got poor decisions too (although I think Dar was the umpire - and without DRS he doesn't look anywhere near as confident).

Watch a year india have had.  Winning the WC then being trouble by even the West Indies.  VVS and Dravid clearly needs to go.  Dravid had such a great tour of England, I was thinking he'd be the same here but I was so wrong, and I found the England bowlers to be more challenging.

Originally posted by Mikey pathetic display by this 'great' batting line up and the complete lack of mental application and strength to play test cricket away from home.

This is the first season in last 10 years they have looked out of place when touring abroad.

 

Prophetic in some ways because India have been battered again. But it could have been a different story if the young brigade had been uninhibitedly introduced viz. Ajinke Rahane and Rohit Sharma (batting). Perhaps a later tour will accommodate the other Sharma (Rahul I think) with Anil Kumble-like properties of leg-break economy and precision. Our “mediocre” pacemen ( Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav) were at one point bowling at 150 kmps from both ends , an unprecedented sight, as Wasim Akram said! (He was probably absent from Perth a few seasons ago). There are others in the reserve pool and with more support on the field from fresher legs once the transition period sees the ageing seniors through, you can expect the Ganguly-era pluck to return.     

Raj, when will you accept that it was the right thing to play Kohli ahead of Rohit?  Haven't Kohli performed much better than Rohit in the international arena and showed great character to be ahead of Rohit?  Carl Hooper was one of the best batsman to watch, Chanderpaul far more uglier but one ended up way ahead of the next!

Originally posted by spin wizard Raj, when will you accept that it was the right thing to play Kohli ahead of Rohit?  Haven't Kohli performed much better than Rohit in the international arena and showed great character to be ahead of Rohit?  Carl Hooper was one of the best batsman to watch, Chanderpaul far more uglier but one ended up way ahead of the next!

He will NEVER!!

Problem with Indians is that they strive too much for individual accolades and records and forget that cricket is a TEAM sport. This mentality is also transferred to fan, who would rather their favourite player gets a 200 than the captain declaring and ensuring a win is possible.

Dhoni was pathetic this series, from his comments in the media, his ordinary keeping, his inadequate batting technique and his atrocious captaincy. I actually think Dhoni will not play a hell of a lot more test cricket and nor do I think he really wants to. Sehwag is NO real solution as captain, and only 4 overseas tons in his whole career, as well only 1 ton in the second innings of a test match really tells the true picture of Sehwag - a flat track bully with a very limited technique and no imagination as skipper. He's not a match winner, he's what I call a 'session winner'.

India have to make serious changes in test cricket - in ODIs their team looks a lot better and united and that is highly correlated to the true mix of youth and experience in the side.

Edited by Mikey - 29 January 2012 at 10:14am

The worst thing that happened to India is this schedule they have for the next two years - I can't actually believe they're not playing away at all. If they're clever, they'll use the next two years to blood young players slowly into the side while playing at home and give the oldies a home farewell.

Two comments that annoyed me most was Gambhir's excuse about the conditions and Sehwag talking about beating Australia in 2010, when they were really a 'dead' side back then, 2-0 at home - if that's a consolation for him then I really do pity him.

There doesn't appear to be a natural successor to Dhoni , if he goes. I can't see Sehwag in the role , he just  hasn't the cricket nous in my opinion.    It's crucial that the BCCI address the problems , dismantle this side and look to the future. But from what I've read their heads are in the sand and unless some of the old hands retire they'll not be any wholesale changes.  What will precipitate change is a series hammering in India - that might wake 'em up !
             
            

Back then they had Graham Thorpe mate