There is hope

[RockStar]

see i am not sure if a coach all of a sudden would make this team a solid outfit to perform well against Australia.. so a coach or no caoch doesn't really matter this time.. .

We badly need a coach for the aus series..i just dont know how are we gonna get the top 5 aus batsman out without any sort of planning...last time we had Wright who played a big role in the pre-game planning Here is the analysis done by Wright of some of the Aussie players during the last series.

Justin Langer Strengths: More of a nudger; sweeps spinners well; cuts/pulls; likes to play long innings; tons of patience; likes to grind the attack; likes to rotate the strike; good off the back foot, pulls well. Weaknesses: Short stride on the front foot; big lbw candidate to ball coming in to him; sometimes get a feeling he reads off the wicket; shaky starter; plays half c0ck most of the times; spinners should make him play on the offside (delivery through cover); should be bowled off-stump line; good length ball coming in. Matthew Hayden Strengths: Strong of the back foot; stands tall; sweeps spinners well; likes to play through onside; pulls well; good cutter-puller. Weaknesses: Ball leaving him against spinners; looks to sweep and slog-sweep. Steve Waugh Strengths: more of a mind player; plays point, cover, mid-off; sweeps through mid-wicket; looks to work it onside for one to get off strike. Weaknesses: short pitch; susceptible to inswingers; slow starter; not much of footwork against spinners; bowl fourth stump line and get him hitting through cover point; give him nothing on legs. Ricky Ponting Strengths: good driver; cutter; puller; very positive; allround shots. Weaknesses: big shuffle; early commitment on the frontfoot; instinctive puller; struggles for good outswingers. Give him nothing on the backfoot; middle-leg line for left-arm or leg spinners; fourth stump line. Damien Martyn Strengths: off-side; plays fast bowling better; likes to cut and sweep the spinners; plays inside-out. Weaknesses: doesn’t like middleleg ball coming in from fast bowlers; can get out trying to cut arm ball of spinners; probably start with spin. Adam Gilchrist Strength: big puller and cutter; picks the line early; is not afraid to hit lofted strokes. Weakness: tends to hit in the air while driving, mid-off and mid-on closer to bowler than squarish as he does not hit many straight shots. In addition, there are general bowling instructions. These are: 1. Bowl fourth stump line to all of them; coming forward. 2. Give them nothing to cut or pull. 3. If you bowl a bouncer it has to be good. PTI

[RockStar]

planning and preperation can be done in same way as done against England...

In england , the conditon were very helpful for the bowler and our bowler made very good use of it.I don't see that happening in AUS where it hardly swings. To do well on flat aussie pitches we will need planning to get each aussie batsman out.

[chamatkar]

marirs, I like to be called an optimist too, but comparing Jaffer-karthik to attapattu-S'kara is taking the comparisons too far. S'kara, IMHO, is one of the most compact wicketkeeper-batsmen around, I'd rate him higher than Gilly/Boucher/Dhoni for the sheer consistency and level-headedness he displays. Karthik/Jaffer, I don't think so. The key to the Aus series, is sheer stubbornness.. stubborn enough to not be tempted to play all out attacking cricket, stubborn enough for our bowlers to persist at line and length even though we might get hit, stubborn enough to string partnerships even though all around you might fall apart. We don't expect Laxman-esque innings to come along every series and that should be our lesson. Just like 20/20 is an individual game, where one person can make all the difference, Test cricket is just the opposite... it doesn't just need tendya and Yuvi to fire, like we did in the Pak ODI series.

[dial_100]

Yes. This will be the last tour for many Maharathis. Besides they all owe lot to Kumble. In his honor, they will play out of their skin. After playing for a decade and half they still need to prove lot. It was heard that senior lobby is very happy with Kumble's selection and they want to leave good impression of their tenure. In fact after England they want to conquer Aus for sure. I personally want them to win 1-0... GO INDIA...remember 1 think guys, if anything that Aussies fear is Team India. Remember how much of a dust we have seen in the air when they came here to play ODI. Not even 1/10th for SL tour down under. So it is clear that this is going to be closely fought series.

[fineleg]

It'll be interesting to see what their strategy is against us. Taking into account the fatigue factor of Indians and just one practice game to acclimatise' date=' I'm expecting a 2-0 result in favour of Australians. Anything less will be a success for us and failure for Aussies![/quote'] Chandan, You mean a 0-1 in favor of Aus, is a success for us. Sorry, dont agree. A 0-1 means we did not get mauled, but still we are defeated. A 0-0 or 1-1 would be success. I maybe, just maybe, tempted to consider 1-2 (2 for Aus) as a 'partial success'. Thats better than 0-1 (1 for Aus). Not really, but thats why said 'partial' since we atleast won one Test. Losing the series is not really success.

[dial_100]

Finey... absolutely because it shows we won a test. But I would still go for 1-0 rather than 2-1 because it shows that 2 games we were mauled as against just 1 test. Other two we managed to draw. 1-0 is far better than 2-1 for me... But I am hoping to either win this series or at least go 1-1

[Guest Hiten.]

Chandan, You mean a 0-1 in favor of Aus, is a success for us. Sorry, dont agree. A 0-1 means we did not get mauled, but still we are defeated. A 0-0 or 1-1 would be success. I maybe, just maybe, tempted to consider 1-2 (2 for Aus) as a 'partial success'. Thats better than 0-1 (1 for Aus)

That is an impossible equation to achieve for any team when they're facing Aus, that too in a 4 match test series. Result (lose/win) is the most likely case a team will face when they're facing Aus. But hey Team India are known to commit some blunders and thunders.... Lets see what we choose to do on this occasion :D

[coffee_rules]

Aus will win 5-0. I know it's a 4-test series. IMO, we should concede the Perth test. No way India can last that pitch in Aus.