These Aussies never give up!

This is the first time an Indian team is touring Australia and are being labelled as favourites to win everything but especially the test series. It is true that this Indian team has a bit more potential but they are a million miles ahead than this Australian side as far as confidence is considered. If we look at the recent form, Australia haven't won anything since the series of events in Cape Town. They lost to England 5-0 in June and then they couldn't win a game in UAE. Australian batting looks more vulnerable than ever before. On the other hand, Indians are coming on the back of a very successful and dominant home summer. Though this year was supposed to become one of the most glorious years in Indian cricket, it wasn't to be so. Scorelines in South Africa and England don't really show the quality of cricket India played. 1-2 in South Africa could so easily have been 2-1 if the first innings of the 1st test had gone well and 1-4 in England could have been 3-2 or even 4-1 if they had snapped the crucial moments. These ifs and buts matter almost nothing once the match is done and dusted but they go a long way in teaching a team how to tackle tricky situations. Based on the current form, India start favourites in all three formats. If the Aussies have any chance, its in the T20 format.
      But these Aussies don't give it up, do they? From all these years, the one thing we have known all along is that you can not take any Australian side lightly. I know there is only one world class test batsman in the Australian top 6 and that's Usman Khawaja who is doubtful for the first test. Rest of the batting is incredibly fragile and vulnerable but at the same time Australia probably have the best bowling attack in the world right now. The trio of Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins along with their best spinner Nathan Lyon is an incredibly dangerous attack to deal with. If Australia bat first and put some good runs on the board and these bowlers get on a roll, Indians will have a difficult job on their hand. India depend massively on Virat Kohli in the test format as we have seen in the past 11 months. He is without doubt the best batsman in the world but he needs support from the rest of the batting and Australian pitches will be a good friend for the likes of KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant who are natural strokemakers and like to take the attack to the bowlers. If India negotiate the new ball well and put runs on the board, then India have the bowling to take 20 wickets now. So the batting counts for more than the bowling for India. Another thing is that I have never seen Australian media and pundits give so much respect to the touring team and praise any foreign player as much as they are praising Virat Kohli. With the bans on Warner and Smith not getting reduced, this is the best chance for India to win their first ever test series in Australia but even if both of them were there, I don't think anybody could have questioned India's potential to win this series!

4 - 1, A fitting scoreline..

What a fitting end to the One Day series with Rohit Sharma getting a big hundred helping India secure a 7 wicket victory! 4-1 is as deserving scoreline to India as much it is to Australia because of the kind of aggressive and ruthless cricket that has been dished out by Virat Kohli and co. Hardik Pandya was the biggest positive out of plenty to have emerged in this series including the pair of wrist spinners - Chahal and Kuldeep. Hardik Pandya is improving by leaps and bounds and it can be said that the search for all rounder is over.India were the better team throughout and may be they capitalized on the crunch moments and adapted to the situations way better than Australia did.
With that smashing victory, India also regained the no 1 position but there is still a T20 series to be played which indeed could be nasty as well for the Australians.....

Aussies get one back!

Elusive 4-0 lead was in Virat Kohli's sight till the rain break but after that it all went downhill as Australia cleaned up India's middle order to register their first victory on this tour. Australia batted really well to get to 334 courtesy of Warner's hundred and a late overs dash by Handscomb and Stoinis. India started briskly as Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane went about their business in a very attractive manner but I think Rohit Sharma's run out was the turning point and loss of Virat Kohli immediately after that dented India's hopes to greater extent. Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey played cameos which clearly weren't good enough. Dhoni coming in at 7 was a bit of surprise so as a result he had to swing his big sparten willow from the very first ball and this wasn't the kind of pitch where a new batsman coming in could hit the ball out of the ground straightaway. India fell short by 21 runs in the end but I think the match was half lost inside the first 30 overs of the match where India just couldn't get past Warner and Finch.

Is Hardik good enough?

Ben Stokes has established himself as a world class all rounder, Hardik Pandya too has announced himself on the big stage. Just a couple days back, we saw how Hardik Pandya just changed the complexion of the game. The game which was in Australia's grasp till the 20th over was suddenly in India' firm control in the matter of few overs courtesy of some calculated risks and hard hitting. He made his test debut last month against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and scored his maiden test hundred in his second match itself thanks to a not so great bowling attack. But the way he played out initial phase of his innings was truly commendable. He also played a handy role with the ball in hand.

    Will he be a good enough test match all rounder? We are about to find out over the next 18 months. May be, may be not but we should always remember that Hardik Pandya is a classic IPL product and therefore, we can not expect him to play the old school type of cricket. He will play the modern way, he will play the flamboyant way and in the process he might end up playing some silly shots but that's the culture he has brought up in. No doubt that he is going to be a big superstar in the limited overs cricket. He plays these quickfire cameos which turn the match on its head and also consistently gives his captain 6 or 7 overs with a couple of wickets. Interesting aspect to look at it will be whether Kohli can get a full quota of 10 overs out of him.If he can do that, India will be in much better space as they will not need to look at 7th bowling option considering the fact that 6 bowling options is a must now a days. 

     When considering Hardik Pandya as a test all rounder, I have no doubt that Hardik Pandya and Ben Stokes will be compared after a couple of years and they will be what Kapil Dev and Sir Ian Botham were to their respective teams. There are a couple of similarities between them. Obviously, both play the game in similar attacking way. Both are natural stroke makers and can use the long handle when needed,very handy and sharp with the ball and athletic in the field. But there is another identical thing there. Left leg of both of them collapses at the point of delivery. Ben Stokes' action is over the perpendicular so it is natural that he puts much greater pressure on left side of his body but Hardik Pandya's action is quite upright and still collapses a great deal. That might make them pick up an injury or two. But let us enjoy and witness the making of two of the greatest all rounders of their generation. 

SWEET ENDING TO THE SEASON

     A SERIES WIN THAT DIDN'T COME EASY

     It couldn't have been a better finish to the grand home season as India emerged victorious by a 2-1 margin.After being hammered in Pune and conceding a decent amount of lead in Banglore, it must have taken a lot of mental courage and determination to wrestle the momentum back from Australia and eventually win the match.At 1-1,India went to Ranchi and scored 600 against Australia's 450 thanks to a brilliant 202 from Pujara but the Handscomb-Marsh partnership in the 2nd innings eluded the victory.With all the momentum with them,India played nearly a perfect game at Dharamsala on a spicy pitch under stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane. The exhibition of fast bowling put on display by Umesh Yadav was heartening to see for Indian fans.

     As far as Australia is concerned,there were many positives.I think both the spinners exceeded the expectations.They have found two future stars in Matthew Renshaw and Peter Handscomb. But Steven Smith just looks a class apart,he seems to have come from another planet.Indians just ran out of plans and ideas to get him out.Things he is doing are unprecedented and he is definitely beyond just a contemporary great.     For India,fast bowlers bowling their hearts out was the most pleasing thing to see. Kohli not scoring runs meant that every other batsman had to contribute and they didn't disappoint,Pujara and Rahul had a great series and so did Wriddhiman Saha. Jadeja was supposed to assist Ashwin but the roles were reversed this time around as Jadeja ended up being the highest wicket taker in the series.It was a sweet ending to the grand home season     Very few gave Australia a chance before the series started.Everybody was predicting 4-0 whitewash but Steven Smith and his boys gave India a reality check as Indians were made to fight for every run and every wicket.Many believe that this series reminded them of the historic 2001 series and many have labelled this as the best series since the 2005 ashes.All one can say is the game of cricket was the winner at the end of it all.......

                                                                                                                               -Gandhar Sathe🙂

BEYOND HIS GENERATION

BEYOND HIS GENERATION

   There are always a couple of players in each generation who are several notches above others and there are a couple of years in those players' career which make them stand taller.

   'Warner-Kohli-Smith-Williamson-Root'-They call them 'Fab 5' of this generation.But I think Steven Smith stands head and shoulders well above the others.His record speaks for his success.But the fact that he has scored runs all over the world,on every kind of surface makes him stand out.As I said,there are 'Those' couple of years in every players' career.When you think of Sachin Tendulkar and the series of hundreds he scored in both ODI's and Tests all over the world in the late 1990's or when you think of Brian Lara and his 375 as well as the 9 hundreds he scored on the trot for Warwikshire in 1994,you can say that the things they were doing were unprecedented in the game of cricket.

    Well,the last 2 years have been brilliant for Steven Smith.I think his breakout year was 2014 when he scored 4 hundreds on trot and since he hasn't looked back.He scored a brilliant hundred in Centurian against South Africa earlier that year.In 2015 he scored double century at Lord's followed up with a lovely hundred at The Oval.Later he went to New Zealand and scored a hundred there as well and now he has come to India and is showcasing a masterclass of how to find a way to score runs on some of the most difficult pitches in the World.It's neither stylish nor attractive but effective.Now he has hundreds in each country except Bangladesh and I am sure it will come as soon as Australia tour Bangladesh.With a test average of 60,surely he is beyond ordinary.People talk about technique but here is a bloke with a crabby technique,unusual stance and enormous mental strength,scoring everywhere in the world on the big stage.So technique should not matter as long as runs are flowing.

    Since taking over the Captaincy form Michael Clarke,his batsmanship has rose to another level.He is just 27 and who knows,may be his best years are yet to come.He is definitely a contemporary great but I do think he is pushing himself to be a bit better than that.

     

Exciting matches ahead in 2 weeks.

SERIES WELL POISED AT 1-1

    Yes,you read it right.Hardly anyone expected the series to be equal after Banglore test.Everybody was expecting India to have one hand on Border-Gavaskar Trophy by the end of the 2nd test.But as good a start Australia got in the first test just blew away India and their confidence.And it seemed as if India just could not see that coming from Australia.Everybody was saying that 4-0 seems inevitable but Australia put all that to bed and came up with one of the finest performances by any touring team on Indian soil.The Margin and the manner of defeat was embarrassing as far as India was concerned.Steven Smith's fighting hundred,young Matthew Renshaw's grit,timely wickets by fast bowlers and off course the rebirth of Steve O'Keefe,it all fell into places for Australia,didn't it?

    But then India had to come back stronger and they did.The first day though couldn't have been any worse than it was for India.At the same time,India 189 all out and Warner and Renshaw solid at Stumps, it couldn't have been any better for Australia.Then it took some heartening bowling performance from fast bowlers on day 2 morning to wrestle the momentum from Australia and force India's comeback and from there on,there was no looking back.Though Asutralia got a crucial 87 run lead,India came up with a solid reply. Rahul was as solid as he was in the first innings during his gritty 90,getting India off to a good start but 4 wickets fell in quick succession only to hand Australia momentum once again. Now Pujara was joined by Ajinkya Rahane and the two of them were involved in a wonderful partnership which just took the game away from Australia.Another small collapse meant that India could only get a lead of 188 which at a time looked to be going past 225-230.But the history of the relaid pitch suggested that 188 was a mountain to climb for Australia and it proved to be no different.Australia were bundled out for 113 as Ashwin was back at his best taking 6 for.As Harsha Bhogle said,"The match was lost well before the end arrived",I too thought that the wicket of Shaun Marsh turned things around.Had that been reviewed Marsh would have survived as the ball tracking showed the ball missing the stumps by a good foot-foot an a half.Then off course Smith was involved in a 'not pretty' looking incident and Indians were all fired up firing in all cylinders.

    Now the teams go to Ranchi with two completely different mindsets.While India have all the momentum going into the third test.Australia would be trying to be as positive as possible despite the loss of two huge players in Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc.

   Looking back at couple of ODIs and a few IPL games played at this venue,it's fair to expect a slow and low turner for the first ever test at this venue.