[srishiva]

Not sure what Kohli is up to. He needs to take a break. He scores at run a ball even when he scores good.
Chasing huge scores is always a problem even against not so good bowlers. Once you give so many runs, there is not much you can do.

So the Australian cricketers really bat when playing for country !

[hemanth.anand]

The last match of the series and even before the first innings it looks like the series will be Autralia's with a score line 3-0

The problem that I saw is,like many others have already written, The playing XI selection. With no changes in the team for the second match and 4 changes today is just a reflection of that.

Batting: The Batting order was really surprising. KL has proved enough that is wonderful at the top of the order and useless at the middle. With No Rohit for the series, it was a no brainer to put him on top with Dhawan. But they put Mayank and Shubhman and they lost a good performance from all three of them.
Shreyas Iyer lost a wonderful opportunity in this series. His performance drop from the second half of the IPL has continued unfortunately.

Bowling: First match we can give the benefit of doubt with Chahal. Spin was so ineffective on the pitch at SCG and they still took him for the second match as well. He is a good bowler no doubt not suited for the condition

Batsman not able to roll arm over for some overs and bowlers not able to bat at all is known but still I felt we could've done better with the Playing XI and their usage.

I don't have much hopes on the T20I series too. Hope Kohli's paternity leave will give him some time to think.

What this series will do is bring back to life the topic that Indian won the series last time only because of the absence of Smith and Warner!

[padmrajravi]

I have never been a fan of Kohli's captaincy. He is a good individual contributor, but I don't think he has the skills to make decisions for the team and inspire people to perform. I am hoping this series will prompt the selectors to look beyond Kohli for captaincy. Rohit seems to be the next natural choice. It is better to try him now rather than letting him continue in Kohli's shadow till the verge of retirement and then offer that position.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by srishiva

So the Australian cricketers really bat when playing for country !

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

All Australians who did not perform in the IPL have been the star performers. Probably they were saving their energy and best for the country

Originally Posted by NPV

But BCCI is extremely greedy and prioritized the IPL over everything else and we're in this situation now.

Right from Ponting skipping the IPL to focus on an upcoming series for Australia, I think Australian cricketers have prioritized playing for country over more lucrative T20 tournaments. I think I read somewhere that their board also makes that a condition to be selected for international teams (I think they enforced that before the ODI World Cup.)

Not to say the IPL is to blame for our team's performance in this series, but is skipping the IPL even an option for Indian players? I saw an article by Kapil Dev that urged players to skip the tournament of they felt burned out, but I'm guessing there will be immense pressure from the BCCI and team owners, who are all very influential people, to ensure that their stars turn up for the IPL.

And frankly, how many of us would skip a far more lucrative, shorter, easier, more fun work assignment in favour of a harder, longer, less paying one? Especially if your effective working/earning life at the top level is 10-12 years at best.

[AtheK]

Iyer huge disappointment, should have probably tried Pandey this match. New gen of players like gill, iyer seem to have now adjusted game just for T20, they just don't look cut out to play long innings.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

What this series will do is bring back to life the topic that Indian won the series last time only because of the absence of Smith and Warner!

That's a fact and doesn't need a debate though the Indian team did well in that series which no one can take away. On a similar note, we've been weakened by Rohit's absence this series.

India's batting successes have largely depended on good performances from Rohit and Kohli and having a solid opening stand like Dhawan-Rohit. Rahul has contributed in few matches but when only one of these guys play well in a match, it's a futile effort usually. And the other reasons for the downfall is bowling not coming good and not having 1 or 2 bankable all rounders down the order.

Edit:just as I wrote this, Hardik and Jadeja are doing well today, hope it's enough though for a win

[msdivy]

Our current captain is not a fan of practice matches. He feels cricketer must be fit always and must be ready to take the field anytime. So, net-practice is good enough for game readiness. In case there a break, he prefers sight-seeing tours to practice matches to boost up morale. The current pandemic & bio-bubble is helping our captain's cause.

Aussie pitches have just a slight bounce. English/NZ pitches offer just a marginal swing. These are enough to trouble the batsmen or bowler to pitch the wrong length.

I think lack of practice matches is affecting both our batsmen & bowlers.

Maybe BCCI must have asked for T20s, then ODIs and Tests. That would have helped Indian players coming right out of IPL.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Our current captain is not a fan of practice matches. He feels cricketer must be fit always and must be ready to take the field anytime. So, net-practice is good enough for game readiness. In case there a break, he prefers sight-seeing tours to practice matches to boost up morale. The current pandemic & bio-bubble is helping our captain's cause.

Aussie pitches have just a slight bounce. English/NZ pitches offer just a marginal swing. These are enough to trouble the batsmen or bowler to pitch the wrong length.

I think lack of practice matches is affecting both our batsmen & bowlers.

Maybe BCCI must have asked for T20s, then ODIs and Tests. That would have helped Indian players coming right out of IPL.

The last line actually contradicts your previous arguments. The T20s and the practice games for the tests overlap and hence the scheduling.

ODIs and Tests were given preference so the likes of Jadeja, Kohli, Bumrah, Shami etc can play the warm up games and miss the least important international games.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by Eddy

The last line actually contradicts your previous arguments.

I meant if the tour was to start without practice matches, they could as well start with T20s.

[Eddy]

Practice games are more important before tests, so the T20s were sacrificed to a certain extent. That was the best compromise under the circumstances, I guess.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Practice games are more important before tests, so the T20s were sacrificed to a certain extent. That was the best compromise under the circumstances, I guess.

I think we are going in circles (or am I missing something). This is the current tour order:

• 3 ODIs
• 3 T20Is (1 practice match before 2nd T20)
• 4 Tests (1 practice match before 1st Test)

Instead, the order could be,

• 3 T20Is
• 3 ODIs
• 4 Tests

(and fit the 2 practice matches anywhere they want).

The reason for T20 before ODI is bowling 4 overs in T20 is easier than bowling 10 tight overs in an ODI.

[Eddy]

Thats the whole problem. There is no scope in the calendar to fit in the red ball practice matches. So T20s were compromised instead of ODIs, which I think is correct.

Instead, the order could be,
3 T20Is
3 ODIs
4 Tests
(and fit the 2 practice matches anywhere they want).

This would have been ideal, but the start and end date of the tour is fixed so...

[AtheK]

Good Victory, it was a well fought match. Guess the fight could have been better if we had got a chance to bat first before in last matches, but anyway the series is not going to be a whitewash now.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by NPV

Edit:just as I wrote this, Hardik and Jadeja are doing well today, hope it's enough though for a win

That 150* run partnership was just about enough to get us the win in the end. Maxwell almost got them home. But all in all a good match.
Again no Warner and no real performance by Smith and they've lost the match.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

The last match of the series and even before the first innings it looks like the series will be Autralia's with a score line 3-0

One more example of "it's not over until it's over"

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by am1m

Right from Ponting skipping the IPL to focus on an upcoming series for Australia, I think Australian cricketers have prioritized playing for country over more lucrative T20 tournaments.

I feel for the IPL team owners who see minimal contributions from Aussie players after spending big bucks. I can understand not playing in IPL to prioritise their national team but playing and giving a below par performance is not professional.

I am not an ardent follower of IPL but I think except Shane Watson no Aussie player has played well consistently spread over multiple seasons.