Is India-Australia rivalry heading the India-Pakistan defensive way?

[The Outsider]

Throughout the 70s and 80s, India and Pakistan played out one test series after another with a lot of boring draws purely because the stakes were so high that losing was not considered an option. It would take something extraordinary like a great performance from Kapil or Imran or a minefield like Bangalore to get a result. The just concluded BG trophy reminded me a bit of those times. Sure there were the attacking moments, more from India than Australia, who were inexplicably defensive even in test 1. But overall, the series lacked the verve and incessant attacking cricket which characterized the contests between these two teams right from the 2001 series. Perhaps with the stakes and visibility of the series becoming so high over the last few years, has resulted in a change in mindset from the consistently attacking cricket which was played earlier specially in the 2001 and '03-'04 series.

[flamy]

I think it'll be more fun when we play in Australia. Also, I think we should get used to easy wins like this. A boring era for Indian Cricket coming up :winky:

[satishg]

the next tour down under will be a real challenge for this young team..if they manage to retain the B-G trophy the next time, that wud just be awesome..anyway on the OP i dont think it wud go that way..the pitches in India of late have generally been very flat..its not just in this series..even against Pakistan last year they were flat..so hopefully our curators get to produce more result oriented pitches however as i said in Oz the situation is completely different..Australians play to win..they dont even think about a draw, so the pitches there wud be more conducive for a result and thats why the challenge for the young team wud be huge..should be a great series

[Chandan]

Throughout the 70s and 80s, India and Pakistan played out one test series after another with a lot of boring draws purely because the stakes were so high that losing was not considered an option. It would take something extraordinary like a great performance from Kapil or Imran or a minefield like Bangalore to get a result. The just concluded BG trophy reminded me a bit of those times. Sure there were the attacking moments, more from India than Australia, who were inexplicably defensive even in test 1. But overall, the series lacked the verve and incessant attacking cricket which characterized the contests between these two teams right from the 2001 series. Perhaps with the stakes and visibility of the series becoming so high over the last few years, has resulted in a change in mindset from the consistently attacking cricket which was played earlier specially in the 2001 and '03-'04 series.

It depends upon the captain as well. Kumble has been really defensive captain who was almost one dimensional. I don't think MS Dhoni would be anything like that. I'm really very impressed by his shrewed strategies. Mohali was a dream test match for Indians but at Nagpur it wasn't India all the way. Many times Australia had their moments as well. It was truly remarkable how MS and his bowlers countered those moments. The only thing surprising in this series was the lack of spark from the Australians. I never thought that I'll ever see an Australian side which will let its opposition off the hook when they'll have a foot on their neck and they will go down without showing any amount of resistance as they did at Mohali. Ponting has shown himself as a really dumb captain when under the cosh. In the end I hope India keeps marching forward under MS Dhoni even if and when the stalwarts retire and India-Australia matches keep generating as much excitement!!

[bunny]

It has got to do with the pitches. All of them were good batting wickets. It's hard to achieve a result unless one team underperforms or collapses. More spinning or seaming wickets are required.

[King]

Defensive it may have been but hard fought they both did. 2-0 is not such a bad scoreline and there were several different tactics employed this time around too but India had an answer to it while Australia did not. In the past when Australia visited India they employed similar in out fields or leg side dominated fields and picked up the Indian middle order quite cheaply. This time around similar tactic did not work because Indians attacked not barring whatever tactics were employed. Last time around India sat back and let Aussies dictate the terms to them and often played defensively into the Aussies hands. This time around Aussies played into Indians hand by not attacking most of the time. In the end collectively skill matters in cricket. Indians were hugely skilled compared to the Aussies. Aussies last time had services of some of the greatest cricketers ever produced so obviously they were able to execute the plans quite well. This time around either because of lack of quality and experience they couldn't stick to their plans. They had plans all right but never could execute well enough. Indians did the opposite, they had plan A and a backup plan. They attacked but when that didn't work, they defended. More than anything Indians were superior in skills and had the ability to execute the plan better than the Aussies. After all cricket is played between ears and I thought Indians had better head than the Aussies most of the times.

[veer]

There are several factors which we never had it before... 1. Leadership of someone like Dhoni 2. Pacers duo like Sharma and Zak 3. Attacking opening parters like gambhir and veeru.. (honestly, you cant tell who is more dangerous out of these two.. ) all these 3 factos will always go for wins and not for draws..

[veer]

ohh btw.. but we played enough tests against Ozzies now.. its time to conquer Kiwiland now..

[DomainK]

Throughout the 70s and 80s, India and Pakistan played out one test series after another with a lot of boring draws purely because the stakes were so high that losing was not considered an option. It would take something extraordinary like a great performance from Kapil or Imran or a minefield like Bangalore to get a result. The just concluded BG trophy reminded me a bit of those times. Sure there were the attacking moments, more from India than Australia, who were inexplicably defensive even in test 1. But overall, the series lacked the verve and incessant attacking cricket which characterized the contests between these two teams right from the 2001 series. Perhaps with the stakes and visibility of the series becoming so high over the last few years, has resulted in a change in mindset from the consistently attacking cricket which was played earlier specially in the 2001 and '03-'04 series.

It depends upon the captain as well. Kumble has been really defensive captain who was almost one dimensional. I don't think MS Dhoni would be anything like that. I'm really very impressed by his shrewed strategies. Mohali was a dream test match for Indians but at Nagpur it wasn't India all the way. Many times Australia had their moments as well. It was truly remarkable how MS and his bowlers countered those moments. The only thing surprising in this series was the lack of spark from the Australians. I never thought that I'll ever see an Australian side which will let its opposition off the hook when they'll have a foot on their neck and they will go down without showing any amount of resistance as they did at Mohali. Ponting has shown himself as a really dumb captain when under the cosh. In the end I hope India keeps marching forward under MS Dhoni even if and when the stalwarts retire and India-Australia matches keep generating as much excitement!!

Defensive it may have been but hard fought they both did. 2-0 is not such a bad scoreline and there were several different tactics employed this time around too but India had an answer to it while Australia did not. In the past when Australia visited India they employed similar in out fields or leg side dominated fields and picked up the Indian middle order quite cheaply. This time around similar tactic did not work because Indians attacked not barring whatever tactics were employed. Last time around India sat back and let Aussies dictate the terms to them and often played defensively into the Aussies hands. This time around Aussies played into Indians hand by not attacking most of the time. In the end collectively skill matters in cricket. Indians were hugely skilled compared to the Aussies. Aussies last time had services of some of the greatest cricketers ever produced so obviously they were able to execute the plans quite well. This time around either because of lack of quality and experience they couldn't stick to their plans. They had plans all right but never could execute well enough. Indians did the opposite, they had plan A and a backup plan. They attacked but when that didn't work, they defended. More than anything Indians were superior in skills and had the ability to execute the plan better than the Aussies. After all cricket is played between ears and I thought Indians had better head than the Aussies most of the times.

Good posts.:two_thumbs_up:

[DomainK]

ohh btw.. but we played enough tests against Ozzies now.. its time to conquer Kiwiland now..

I dont think we are done though. We are yet to beat Australia in Australia.

[THX_1138]

well this series was an aberration. usually australia versus india provides for very attacking and engaging cricket. however, australia were handicapped this time around by a number of lost tosses and unprepared bowling attacks. the next time, whenever that is, will be quite different. on the other hand, the quality of cricket in india versus pakistan has diminished. as pakistan have descended down the stairs of mediocrity, their lack of challenge and india's complacent and just as mediocre approach the game are robbing the matches of their excitement. ergo, while we have dominated australia this past series, they still provide for a very entertaining opponent whereas pakistan regretfully do not anymore.

[bharat297]

^ i dont think this series was as bad as people make it out to be ... this last match was one of the most entertaining all year. the number of times the game shifted was extraordinary. the pitches were flat yes but the fact is ... India were able to bowl Australia out 6 of the 8 times they batted. The pitches had something to do with it yes ... but India's bowling in Australia's 1st innings was better than Australia's bowling in India's 2nd innings right throughout the series (except game 1). I dont believe the bowling attack was that underprepared. They had 1 extra warm up game than we did in Australia. These guys know the pitches. They werent any different to how they have been for the last 20 years. Guys like Lee, Clark and Johnson have been to India before so they know what the pitches are like. White was inexperienced yes ... but the pacemen didnt do their job.