Game plan to beat Australia

[bharat297]

India have their backs to the wall. 2-0 down with 4 games to play. The Aussies have been the best team in the world for some 15 years now, but these guys are human and they do have weaknesses like everyone else. What do you think is the plan to beat Australia? This is mine ... when BOWLING the plan to get their main batsman i feel is ... * Hayden - keep the ball at the good length and try to cramp him up. Often when he is cramped, he tries to cut a ball that is not to cut and ends up edging one either to the keeper or back on to the stumps. He may respond by walking down the pitch and hitting over the top, but changing the pace would keep him frustrated. * Gilchrist - not that strong off the front foot when the ball is kept straight. His high grip means he doesnt have complete control when driving. Already Sreesanth, Plunkett and other swing bowlers during the world cup exposed him through the gate. The main thing with Gilchrist is to keep the ball full. * Ponting - I believe he has similar weaknesses to Sachin in that he plays away from his body a bit, particularly early on. An extra slip and a shortish cover might be a good idea to Ponting. Ponting is strong off both front and back foot, so not much margin for error against him. * Clarke - Similar to Ponting, he plays away from his body a lot. He is quite a wristy player. Changes of pace have been found to trouble him a bit. Also, like Uthappa, he overbalances a bit, so a left armer that swings the odd ball back in might trouble him. * Symonds - his weaknesses have been discussed in another thread but I feel they are similar to Gilchrists. He is not that strong off the front foot when playing straight. * Hodge & Hopes - living in Australia I see them mainly in domestic cricket. There are not many decent swing bowlers in Australian domestic cricket, besides Bracken and Hilfenhauss . India are better in this department. Someone who can reverse swing the old ball should pose problems for them when BATTING the plan should be to bat in partnerships. Yuvraj should be batting higher than 5 i feel. He should be at 3 or 4. In ODI, our best batsman should be at the top of the innings so you can maximise them. Also, Yuvraj is very good against the pace bowlers so I feel he will be suited to batting at 3 or 4. We need to start to bat in pairs like Australia do and quickly get out of this mentality of trying to have an anchor and have everyone else play around him. when FIELDING, I feel india should have one man in close on both the off and leg sides and try to stop these singles. Force Australia to hit over the top. They are good at hitting boundaries when the runs are flowing, but how are they at being forced to hit boundaries because the singles and twos are dried up? This is something India should be working on with Robin Singh

[fineleg]

Good post. Not sure abt each specific point. But I like ur effort in the post. :thumbs_up:

[BERGKAMP]

its all very well having plans, but i think our bowlers lack the consistentsy, possibly skill and intelligence to carry them out. the only hope is to food poisen the kangaroos and have them running off to the bog every 2 minutes! but wed probably still lose.

[Brainfade]

As the erudite (sic) Mike Tyson once said "Everyone has a plan ... until they get hit." I honestly don't believe that we lack in planning. It's the execution and application that is missing.

[Ram]

Good post ! As far as i am concerned , India should have won only one game plan. Win toss , bat first and pile up 300+ score and bowl well , field decently , take all your catches , effect the odd run-out and we are home. We may have lost both the matches , but i am quite convinced we can come back. We need a bit of luck and one brilliant innings by an Indian batsman. We already had one from Yuvraj , but the other batsman did so little that it proved inconsequential. India can win, positively.

[THX_1138]

donot ball on the legs donot ball on the legs donot ball on the legs donot ball on the legs and now that we are done with sreesanth, next is zaheer: donot ball on the legs donot ball on the legs donot ball on the legs donot ball on the legs

[Rahul Khan]

India must attack as a unit The first three one-dayers of the seven-match series have reiterated the truism that cricket is a team game. Individual excellence, it's been demonstrated, can only take you so far. The Australians have supported each other with bat and ball while the Indians haven't; the result best expressed by the 2-0 score-line in Australia's favour. Ricky Ponting said that he would always prefer to bat first - unless they came upon an unusually green pitch - and India can expect the 300-plus targets to become a feature throughout. Unless the Indian batsmen come up with a plan to score at six an over, be it batting first or second, the series might slip away from their grasp. In all three games so far, India have lost early wickets and the middle order hasn't been able to string together sizable partnerships. The Australians have batted in pairs - one batsman has rotated strike while the other has accelerated - and wickets in hand has allowed them the luxury to consciously slow down when the situation arises. Recent history has shown that Australia are most vulnerable when attacked with a collective purpose. During the CB series in February, Ed Joyce, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell played leading roles in England's hat-trick of victories against Australia but they were solidly supported by the rest. The trio's big scores were important but the useful cameos strung together by the rest were equally valuable. A week later a relatively second-string Australian side were whitewashed in New Zealand; shockingly surrendering 330-plus cushions in two successive games. And it was only because of a succession of partnerships between Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Craig McMillan and Brendon McCullum. Australia were harassed in pairs and the expressions on their faces showed they weren't prepared for it.

Yuvraj Singh 115-ball 121 in Hyderabad was a spectacular century which, more often than not, could have been a match-winning knock but chasing 291 required more than one batsman to take on the attack. Yuvraj and Sachin Tendulkar added 95 for the fourth wicket but India were always behind the asking-rate after they had lost 3 for 13 early on. Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined Yuvraj in a 65-run stand but he was dismissed for 33 at a crucial stage, when India needed him to carry on for much longer. Dhoni admitted that he got out at the wrong time; had he stayed on for another five to seven overs, India could have got closer. India's recent Test series triumph in England, their first in 21 years, was achieved largely because of their ability to bat in pairs. Despite none of their front-line batsmen managing centuries India posted commanding totals. The one-day series, though, didn't see the trend continuing and it came as no surprise when it cost them the series. At Southampton, Edgbaston and Old Trafford, they had only one partnership over 50; at Lord's, in the deciding one-dayer, they had none. Not losing wickets at regular intervals, as the Australians have shown, is the simplest way of posting a large total or chasing one down. Yuvraj , Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly - should he play - and Dhoni are all capable of stellar one-day innings but a solitary blaze is unlikely to trouble Australia. The guns must blaze together. And soon.

© Cricinfo

[Holysmoke]

Australia should retire gracefully, while they are on top.

[Ram]

Australia should retire gracefully' date=' while they are on top.[/quote'] :hysterical::hysterical: Thats among the funniest things i have heard.. Imagine an entire cricket team retiring ! :haha:

[Rahul Khan]

Australia should retire gracefully' date=' while they are on top.[/quote'] lols, its funny! let Sharad Pawar go to ICC, he will ban australia...:haha:

[Chaos]

lols, its funny! let Sharad Pawar go to ICC, he will ban australia...:haha:

i hope india makes most of it when sharad is in power. We should get mumbai kind of wickets where 3 spinners can bowl :D