Why were Aussies so defensive?

[kabira]

Where was their aggressive intent. They had India on Mat at lunch and hour after lunch. Ishant injured, 3 bowlers, no purchase for spinners, They hardly went after the spinners just kept showing dead bat. They dug the hole for themselves. But was there a reason for such a defensive last 3 hours from them. Hussey scored 17 odd off 80 odd balls...

[Fontaine]

Yes, Ojha bowled very well and so did Bhajji to a certain extent. Zaheer's ever over post lunch was hostile, on the money and when he got the ball to reverse the batsmen had no option but to defend. Some very good bowling with good field placings but ultimately we dropped too many catches. We should have been 200+ for at least 7 at this stage on a harmless wicket.

[cowboysfan]

i wouldnt call this a harmless wicket.the batsmen need to work for the runs,thankfully we have some good ones who are great at it(and viru).it would be interesting to see how much reverse swing they get.

[DomainK]

I think they are a little scared at the moment after the downhill performances recently and the discussion at lunch would have been about not making mistakes than about getting more aggressive.

[vamos_rafa]

I think they are a little scared at the moment after the downhill performances recently and the discussion at lunch would have been about not making mistakes than about getting more aggressive.

But there are always strings attached to that Kind of an approach. In the pursuit of being careful sometimes one tends to miss out on rank half volleys and etc. Remember when we lost that test match to Pakistan in b'lore in 2005. We could have easily saved that game but our approach was to stay there and block the balls,and even Sachin followed suit. Eventually we lost wickets. And another disadvantage of this is that once a batsman ,who did tuk tuk for hours gets out there's so much more pressure on the new batsman.

[The Dark Horse]

IMO, they're mostly defensive when they come here.

[Fontaine]

But it IS a harmless wicket. Nothing for seamers unless they know how to get the ball to reverse and slow spin. Only on day 4/5 will this pitch offer more and that only for spinners. All the more reason for us to post at least 450+ in our first innings.

[putrevus]

first they need to get 5 more wickets,This extra work load on ZAk is not good for future

[kabira]

Zak and Bhajji seem to be fired up against Aussies. Even with the bat these two will be thorns for Aussies.

[kabira]

First fifty 84 Second fifty 80 odd balls Third fifty 70 odd balls 4th fifty 190 odd balls.

[VRV Singh]

After lunch the spinners bowled tight and restricted scoring opportunities. But after Clarke's dismissal the game just drifted...Mr Cricket was going absolutely nowhere and Watson just wanted to keep wicket intact - this period was really the beginning of us seizing the initiative. Whilst they drifted there was always a chance we would capitalise.

[Sachinism]

After lunch the spinners bowled tight and restricted scoring opportunities. But after Clarke's dismissal the game just drifted...Mr Cricket was going absolutely nowhere and Watson just wanted to keep wicket intact - this period was really the beginning of us seizing the initiative. Whilst they drifted there was always a chance we would capitalise.

Going against natural instincts is usually a bad idea in cricket. From what I've heard, the pitch wasn't really dangerous, so don't understand why they weren't trying to score a bit more

[ch1234]

When Ponting was out, Watson, the set batsman, should have upped the tempo..The fault of low scoring goes to Watson who made no attempt to score freely and put the bowlers and fielders under pressure when he passed 50.. Watson's approach to be there and to hit a century (Watson has always been someone looking for personal milestones)made India have a false-feeling of supremacy and that back-fired Aussies and ended up with 60-70 runs short on the first day.

[vvvslaxman]

3rd series in a row they have been defensive against India in one test or the other. Only reason i think of is India is capable outbatting them totally more than other teams.

[sandeep]

They were trying to make sure they didn't lose wickets in bunches, which happens quite often for them. They know that the probabilities of getting useful runs with lower order partnerships is very high against India, if they avoid those middle-order collapses. I hope we can finish them off within 350, otherwise those drops could prove very expensive...

[vvvslaxman]

Last time when they toured Dhoni adopted a 8-1 field. On that day Australia scored 167 runs in 90 overs losing 6 wickets. Last time When India toured Australia they were extremely defensive at Adelaide not wanting to lose the lead. Even Hayden was very defensive.

[putrevus]

That breed of Hayden and Gilly even Symonds to some extent who counter attacked when chips were down is not any more in this side except Ponting, you could see when he was at the crease , he always looks to score freely and put bowling under pressure. That attacking instinct came to them from success and attacking bowlers like Warne and Mcgrath.

[ch1234]

That breed of Hayden and Gilly even Symonds to some extent who counter attacked when chips were down is not any more in this side except Ponting, you could see when he was at the crease , he always looks to score freely and put bowling under pressure. That attacking instinct came to them from success and attacking bowlers like Warne and Mcgrath.

I agree to your point.. Accomodating a player like Marcus North for the empteenth time reflects to the lack of batting talents in Australia..

[kabira]

Under Steve Waugh and When Aussie greats were around. They always targeted 300 to 350 runs a day. Their idea was to attack in last session. But way the rusn dried up it was totally pathetic, Watson should have taken some chances he was set batsman

[putrevus]

Under Steve Waugh and When Aussie greats were around. They always targeted 300 to 350 runs a day. Their idea was to attack in last session. But way the rusn dried up it was totally pathetic' date=' Watson should have taken some chances he was set batsman[/quote'] it is easy to say watson should have attacked my friend but to attack you need talent and guts not every one is Hayden, Gilly and Punter thats why they are all time greats.