SCG holds on to third India-Australia Test

[Gollum]

Cricket Australia has confirmed that the third Test between Australia and India from January 7 2021 will be held in Sydney, despite a recent and fresh outbreak of COVID-19 cluster in New South Wales threatened to scupper those plans.

 

While CA always maintained their committment to host the third Test in Sydney, MCG had emerged as the back-up venue. On Tuesday however, the board confirmed that after several rounds of meetings it was decided to have the New Year's Test at the SCG as per original schedule.

 

"Despite the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, I am delighted to say Cricket Australia remains on track to deliver the men's international series as scheduled," Cricket Australia interim CEO Nick Hockley said.

 

"We have met regularly over the past week to assess the unfolding public health situation in Sydney and gauge its impact on border restrictions around the country. To date, we have been able to deliver a safe and successful summer thanks to our detailed biosecurity protocols and the amazing work of so many great people behind the scenes.

 

"To that end, we have made the decision to keep the New Year's Test at the SCG, which has a wonderful recent history of hosting the Pink Test and Jane McGrath Day on the third day of play.

 

More to follow...

 

LINK

[diga]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-29/cricket-third-test-australia-india-to-stay-in-sydney-covid-19/13018924

 

how hard was it to play the test in Melbourne or at Brisbane? 

 

Would not be surprised if Aussies want to abort the series in case of a loss at sydney :( ..

[neel roy]

Great for India. Slow pace. Mayank can settle in..Just PRAY and PRAY that we win the toss.. even if we score 350 to 400 India will win. 

[SrinjayDutta]

they sometimes put quite a lot of grass in for sydney. but that could trick the away captain as generally after 1st session the wicket holds together nicely. the 2018-19 wicket was right up our alley.. hope this time it behaves same too. In that case, can even bring rahul in place of umesh (too much risk i guess, going with 4 bowlers). I am in favour of rohit at top, if he can stay 20 30 over, he can do some quick damage. mayank is simply in a rut, I really wish he was doing better than this. today was a good chance to score 30 odd. I also feel vihari may get it easy in the middle overs in sydney and will bounce back strongly. looked in good nick in the 1st innings.

[Lone Wolf]

Play the same eleven or bring Rahul in.  Sydney will absolutely suit us.  How is the forecast btw?  Heard it may rain for first 2 days Either way a great chance for our team. 

[Nikhil_cric]

Bad news. We have to win the toss at SCG. Other than the rogue green pitch, it's the best batting surface for the 1st 10 sessions in australia. The MCG would already be used and would become even slower and that would have suited us. 

[G_B_]

sydney in theory should aid India as its spinner friendly.

 

But our record there has been not so good.

[Tyron]

Why not Perth. I think our pace attack would be deadly there. Could bowl them out cheaply again. Wish we played there. 

[Serpico]

29 minutes ago, Tyron said:

Why not Perth. I think our pace attack would be deadly there. Could bowl them out cheaply again. Wish we played there. 

We played with 4 pacers last time and lost by 120+ runs in Perth. Both teams have great pace attacks and really whoever drops less catches will win the matches. We dropped six catches in Adelaide and Australia dropped in MCG

[WC2011INDIA]

2 hours ago, G_B_ said:

sydney in theory should aid India as its spinner friendly.

 

But our record there has been not so good.

Rahane will not like this one bit. 

[Sandeep99]

Sydney is definitely one of the grounds where we should have historically done way better. 2019 was a lost opportunity, we drew thanks to rain. Hoping for an encore and some good positive batting from our line up.

[G_B_]

Usually its a win toss and bat first type of deck.

 

 

[Vk1]

1 hour ago, Sandeep99 said:

Sydney is definitely one of the grounds where we should have historically done way better. 2019 was a lost opportunity, we drew thanks to rain. Hoping for an encore and some good positive batting from our line up.

yeah and I dont remember winning anything there.. last may be when Ravi scored double or was it a draw

[Norman]

Bad news. We have to win the toss at SCG. Other than the rogue green pitch, it's the best batting surface for the 1st 10 sessions in australia. The MCG would already be used and would become even slower and that would have suited us. 

They would have used a different strip.

[Nikhil_cric]

3 hours ago, Tyron said:

Why not Perth. I think our pace attack would be deadly there. Could bowl them out cheaply again. Wish we played there. 

 

Once the cracks widen on that pitch, 36 all out might be in danger once again :(

[Cricketics]

Man, with a win on our back, and our batsmen are starting to get better, this is actually the perfect ground for Pujara to literally do some mental disintegration of the Aussie bowlers. He can bat all day on this, he literally can. 

[Nikhil_cric]

1 minute ago, Norman said:

4 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Bad news. We have to win the toss at SCG. Other than the rogue green pitch, it's the best batting surface for the 1st 10 sessions in australia. The MCG would already be used and would become even slower and that would have suited us. 

They would have used a different strip.

Still the square and outfield would be slow and run scoring would be hard. Sydney has fast outfields and is a terrific batting pitch which allows good stroke makers to score at 3.5 an over or more. That plays right into Australias hands.

[Nikhil_cric]

Also it's a myth that Sydney spins more. Adelaide offers more turn. 

[Ankit_sharma03]

Pant likes this ground

[ViruDilSeKhelo]

Perfect for Rohit to open on such a batting surface or get in Shaw - one should replace Agarwal. Shaw has some flaws (inswing and bit loose) but is hugely talented and already a flat track master. He will score big and fast. Agarwal is proving to just be someone who had a purple patch and mental midget.