Hints of spin difficulty for Australia

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Australia's batsmen have made light work of the bowlers they won't face in the first Test against India - and found the going rather more difficult against the one they probably will. More... Hints of spin difficulty for Australia Daniel Brettig September 26, 2010 .AAP Australia's batsmen have made light work of the bowlers they won't face in the first Test against India - and found the going rather more difficult against the one they probably will. Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh's first-choice slow bowling partner in recent times, kept things admirably tight in conceding a mere 23 runs in 21 overs on day one while the rest of the attack were taken for regular runs at the hands of the touring batsmen. On a pitch that offered little in the way of turn or bounce, Ojha's subtle changes of length and pace kept Simon Katich and Shane Watson in a state of wariness. Each had their share of edgy moments. Katich was grassed at short leg, while Watson faced a duo of lbw appeals, and neither could find a way to break up the rhythm of a thrifty adversary. Add a more helpful pitch and Test match tightness to the mix and there could quite easily have been trouble. "He bowled well and doesn't really give you much to hit at all, especially to me, I didn't really feel like he was going to bowl wicket-taking balls all the time, but I didn't really feel like I could score heavily off him," said Watson. "It's also brilliant practice for us to see him in a longer form of the game - I've only played him really in T20 cricket so it's an added bonus for us if he's going to play in the Test to get our head around what he's going to do." Watson and Katich both know how the Indian spinners can swarm around a becalmed batting line-up, particularly in a Test match where the atmosphere and occasion can add to a batsman's claustrophobia. They will work on ways to break-up Ojha's rhythm more effectively in future encounters. "It's definitely important to try to change the strike, which I was trying to do," said Watson. "But you also don't want to change how you're approaching every single ball either because then you're giving him a chance of getting you out when you try to manipulate the ball if it's not really there." Ojha will be vying for a spin berth with the legspinner Amit Mishra, who enjoyed a five-wicket debut against the Australians at Mohali in 2008 but has suffered a few poor days since then.

[vamos_rafa]

Its good that Ojha had a good work out in the warm up game. But I sometimes feel that, in the pursuit of bowling a containing line, he gets too much on the defensive and hence is not able to churn out the wickets. These containing tactics would work if he's playing second fiddle to an attacking spinner like Kumble or an in-form Bhaj but, if he has to don the leading role, then he really should look to bowl more in a more attacking manner. I know I am getting overly critical of his good bowling performance and he has done fairly well in whatever options that he has been given but still I feel this is one area where he really needs to improve.

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Watson eyeing to keep Ojha at bay Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has set his sights on Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha saying that he could be the key to India's bowling attack in the upcoming Test series. More... Watson eyeing to keep Ojha at bay September 27, 2010 Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has set his sights on Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha saying that he could be the key to India's bowling attack in the upcoming Test series. Watson believes that a more helpful pitch could have helped Ojha during the opening day of their tour game against Board President's XI. Ojha kept things admirably tight in conceding a mere 23 runs in 21 overs, while the rest of the attack were taken for regular runs. "He (Ojha) bowled well and doesn't really give you much to hit at all, especially to me, I didn't really feel like he was going to bowl wicket-taking balls all the time, but I didn't really feel like I could score heavily off him," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Watson, as saying. "It's also brilliant practice for us to see him in a longer form of the game .– I've only played him really in T20 cricket so it's an added bonus for us if he's going to play in the Test to get our head around what he's going to do," he added. Watson further said that the Australian team would work on ways to break-up Ojha's rhythm more effectively in future encounters. "It's definitely important to try to change the strike, which I was trying to do," he added. Australia's tour of India includes two Test matches, and three ODIs. The first Test will be played Mohali form October 1-5, while the second Test will be played in Bangalore from October 9-13.

[achilles]

They just keep shooting from their bum and fall in their own crap and still don't learn. Its embarrassingly regular for an Aussie's "prediction"(or is it a mindgame?) leading an epic pwnage every single time they play us. They are picking on 20year old kids now. Shows their confidence and champion-like "character". Some people just don't learn.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

They just keep shooting from their bum and fall in their own crap and still don't learn. Its embarrassingly regular for an Aussie's "prediction"(or is it a mindgame?) leading an epic pwnage every single time they play us. They are picking on 20year old kids now. Shows their confidence and champion-like "character". Some people just don't learn.

Good point.. But let them pick whomever they want (it will be epic pwnage for the aussies mind games against Ojha if Dhoni picks Ashwin ahead of Ojha)... the end result is going to be no different from their prev tours to India... I predict a draw at Mohali and an Indian win at Bangalore :two_thumbs_up: