No.1 trumps No.4

[thevortex]

[Disclaimer: Folks, I am as excited at India's victory as anybody else. And I loved the cricket put out by the teams over these two Test matches. ] A few months back the topic of Australia being in decline was mentioned. For the most part this was brushed off. Sometimes it was defended. At others it was said that this was just the natural order of things. No matter how much this series was drummed up by our commentators and broadcasters, the fact is that Australia's bowling line up did not have the capability to trouble our batting thespians too much. Never was the difference in skill more apparent than on the 4th and 5th days. The Indian seamers had swung the ball (both conventional and reverse) appreciably whenever they got it. In contrast the Australians could achieve next to nothing in similar conditions. Given that Australia bases its attack around pace, this is definitely worrying. Ponting's captaincy has been better. And that is perhaps putting it lightly. In general he has tended to either over-attack considering his bowling lineup or gone the other extreme and not attacked at all when the opposition occasionally hesitates. We have traditionally placed a lot of weight about performing well against Australia. I would like to contend that that concept may not hold good any more. On the flip side, it may be pointed out that Australia were playing outside home and that they were not expected to dominate. Well, that is the point. Past Australian squads have never been this meek in terms of surrendering the game. No matter whether they played at home or away.....

[Fontaine]

Well done to Australia though. They never gave up and really worked hard:

Ponting: "We have played reasonably good test cricket but we were outplayed. We needed to get a few early wickets today, we got one but Pujara and Vijay batted well. I thought Hilfenhaus and Johnson have been good. Watson has been good. The crowd here have been fantastic. We would like to thank the crowd for their love and support for Test cricket."

No doubt they came to play their best cricket and bring out the best in our team also.

[ZodiaC]

Well done to Australia though. They never gave up and really worked hard: No doubt they came to play their best cricket and bring out the best in our team also.

I totally agree with this. Credits to aussies, they made us earn this victory with such a team. Hats off to them! What a series this has been.

[Roshanrocks]

aussies are No. 5 now :giggle:

[b555]

aussies are No. 5 now :giggle:

well they were 4 when we beat them :two_thumbs_up:

[rkt.india]

Now its South Africa...we need to beat them comprehensively which we have not done in quite sometime now.........

[b555]

Now its South Africa...we need to beat them comprehensively which we have not done in quite sometime now.........

isnt it newzealand before sa?

[rkt.india]

isnt it newzealand before sa?

New Zealand 3-0 and then SA

[punjabi_khota]

So :dontknow: ..one hand you claim we are not really #1 at the moment (:rotfl:) and when we do win comprehensively like this series, you cling to the ranking and claim it is no big deal since we are 1 and they were 4 Take a break from this self-loathing-disguised-as-intelligent-analysis and go get some beer

[thevortex]

So :dontknow: ..one hand you claim we are not really #1 at the moment (:rotfl:) and when we do win comprehensively like this series, you cling to the ranking and claim it is no big deal since we are 1 and they were 4 Take a break from this self-loathing-disguised-as-intelligent-analysis and go get some beer

So first you did not understand the points I made in the corresponding threads about India's No.1 position. Now you do not understand what I am saying in this thread too!! The point I make is Australia is no more the big deal that we have been talking about. That is all.

[yoda]

So first you did not understand the points I made in the corresponding threads about India's No.1 position. Now you do not understand what I am saying in this thread too!! The point I make is Australia is no more the big deal that we have been talking about. That is all.

Ok, so are we no. 1 or not in your mind both before this series and now after this series?

[punjabi_khota]

So first you did not understand the points I made in the corresponding threads about India's No.1 position. Now you do not understand what I am saying in this thread too!! The point I make is Australia is no more the big deal that we have been talking about. That is all.

Sure dude, you were the blabbering about how India cannot take 20/40 etc wickets. You got pwned on that. Now that they have taken the wickets, you are claiming its not a big deal, since the Australian team is not that great anymore. Your lame ass "here-and-now" theory bombed because "here-and-now" we bowled them out 4 times with our bowlers on pitches mostly flat. The team ranked #2, Sri Lanka was raped in similar manner not too long ago in India too.

[gaurav92]

I agree that Aussies did not had the arsenal to bother our team on such Flat Decks, but at the same time, we did play some really good Cricket.See its never easy to bowl first on such flat tracks, and India (due to Dhoni's inability to win Tosses :() were forced to bowl first.India were left with a huge total to get and we did that spectacularly didn't we ? Almost all batsmen contributed well, and in both the Tests we managed to get close to their score, and in fact in the second, we Lead by 17.And in both the Tests again, we bowled magnificently and got their strong batting line up cheaply. I say strong and i mean it.they had Watson, Katich, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, North - This to me looked a better batting line up than India in the second test.The only difference was The Reverse Swing that Indian's managed to purchase from the older ball and the quality of spinners that we had.Apart from that, Aussies were as competitive as us.It was a tough fought series, and there is no point saying that we beat no.4 or no. 5 team, because all we read it as is India defeats Australia, and not the rankings, because we all know what these teams are capable of even with their secondary teams.

[kabira]

I am still confused with vortexbhai.. Are we number 1? Do we look like number? Do we have bowling attack to be number 1? See highly confused.

[thevortex]

Ok' date=' so are we no. 1 or not in your mind both before this series and now after this series?[/quote'] If you are not asking about what I feel in my mind, then what do you want me to say?! You want me to parrot out the ICC ranking?!

[punjabi_khota]

If you are not asking about what I feel in my mind' date=' then what do you want me to say?! [b']You want me to parrot out the ICC ranking?!

You did that in the title :giggle: B->

[thevortex]

Sure dude, you were the blabbering about how India cannot take 20/40 etc wickets. You got pwned on that. Now that they have taken the wickets, you are claiming its not a big deal, since the Australian team is not that great anymore. Your lame ass "here-and-now" theory bombed because "here-and-now" we bowled them out 4 times with our bowlers on pitches mostly flat. The team ranked #2, Sri Lanka was raped in similar manner not too long ago in India too.

You are not conversant with what I have been saying on this subject. I doubted that earlier. Now it is confirmed. I think I had a discussion with Bradman99 about Australia's decline as early as about 6 months back if not further back. About the rankings, what can you say when Sri Lanka is ranked No.2?!! Are they the world's second best team? You accept that whole heartedly? If yes, then please - these discussions about merit and other related things need not keep you down. We will just have to agree to disagree.

[thevortex]

You did that in the title :giggle: B->

Correct. And it is all about the context :)

[punjabi_khota]

You are not conversant with what I have been saying on this subject. I doubted that earlier. Now it is confirmed. I think I had a discussion with Bradman99 about Australia's decline as early as about 6 months back if not further back. About the rankings, what can you say when Sri Lanka is ranked No.2?!! Are they the world's second best team? You accept that whole heartedly? If yes, then please - these discussions about merit and other related things need not keep you down. We will just have to agree to disagree.

SA is ranked #2. They haven't been able to win last two home series they have played, so they deserve to be below India. And re: SL, I was talking about the time when SL toured India, they were ranked 2. You are not the first person to say Aus is on decline. Hell, they were raped even worse in Mohali in 2008, and they lost that four test series 2-0. They did surrender in Mohali too, nothing new here :dontknow:

[thevortex]

SA is ranked #2. They haven't been able to win last two home series they have played, so they deserve to be below India. And re: SL, I was talking about the time when SL toured India, they were ranked 2. You are not the first person to say Aus is on decline. Hell, they were raped even worse in Mohali in 2008, and they lost that four test series 2-0. They did surrender in Mohali too, nothing new here :dontknow:

So, to be ranked No.1, the team has to win all home series? Then India should have been the undisputed No.1 for a long, long time!!! And see, I did not tell you that I was the first one to point out that Australia is in decline. And I believe I have held that opinion a lot earlier - however I may not have registered on this forum back then.