Official Match thread: Indians v Cricket Australia XI at Glenelg's Gliderol Stadium Adelaide, 4th-5th Dec

[Malcolm Merlyn]

If Aaron doesnt get a chance now he should retire and do something fruitful.

[BlueBee]

If Aaron doesnt get a chance now he should retire and do something fruitful.

+1

[G_B_]

not seen the match but appears to be a good performance.

[rkt.india]

Aaron shines as focus shifts back to cricket Attention finally turned to cricket in Australia, as the touring Indians resumed their preparations for the Test by bowling out Cricket Australia XI for 243 on pleasant sunny day in their final two-day tour game at the Glenelg Oval in Adelaide. Varun Aaron was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, the first of them in his first over, but the usual Indian problem of too many no-balls - nine on this day - in practice games and uncertainty around the slip cordon stayed with the visitors. India's batsmen didn't have the best day either: Shikhar Dhawan bagged a golden duck, Virat Kohli should have too, M Vijay was dropped on 5, and Cheteshwar Pujara added only 10 after being dropped on 12. The CA XI agreed to bat first, most likely because three Indian batsmen - Kohli, Vijay and Rohit Sharma - who had gone to Phillip Hughes' funeral in Macksville were due to reach the venue only after lunch. Hughes was given more touching tributes as all the Indians put their bats out against the picket fence, and both the teams observed a minute's silence before the game got underway. All players and umpires wore black armbands. In Kohli's absence, Ishant Sharma led the Indians. The start was anything but quiet, though. In the first over itself, Ryan Carters edged Mohammed Shami through to second slip. In the next, Ashton Turner played Aaron on to his leg stump. This is not a first-class game, which means India could have used any number of bowlers, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar and R Ashwin did not bowl. India instead went with pace and aggression. Shami, Aaron and Umesh Yadav were the first three bowlers used by Ishant, and none of them held back with the bouncers. All of India's quicks used the bouncers liberally, almost as if they wanted to get any reservations about bowling the bouncers out of their system before they went into the Test, which begins on December 9 at the Adelaide Oval. Later during the day, Kohli applauded from the sidelines when Aaron hit Seb Gotch with a bouncer. Earlier, too, Alex Keath recieved treatment on a finger that received a blow from a short ball. However, it was a short-of-a-length delivery from Shami that brought the Indians their next wicket, with Matthew Short chasing and edging through to Wriddhiman Saha to make it 3 for 34. Jordan Silk, though, responded by attacking the bowling, and took CA XI to lunch without any further damage. There was attractive stroke-play involved. He was good on the cut against the quicks, and didn't let the legspinner Karn Sharma into a rhythm. The first two overs from Karn went for two fours and a six, through mid-on, over mid-off and back over his head. His 71-run stand with Keath came to an end when extra bounce from Aaron caught Silk's glove on its way through to the cordon, just after lunch. Keath and Jake Doran then played loose shots against Karn, followed by another played-on dismissal for Aaron. By now the three batsmen had made their way to the ground, and Indians kept rotating the fielders on the park so that all the batsmen could get a hit in the adjoining nets too. Saha swapped gloves with Naman Ojha when he went to the nets. Unless MS Dhoni has recovered miraculously from his finger injury, Saha is expected to keep at the Adelaide Oval, incidentally where he last played a Test. The slips kept rotating too. It began with Pujara, Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane. When Pujara needed to go under the lid, Ravindra Jadeja replaced him at first slip. Suresh Raina later replaced Rahane at third slip. Vijay had a stint too. Even Kohli fielded in the slips during the second session. Slip catching was one of India's problem areas in England, and they wouldn't want to see more missed chances and drop in confidence for the bowlers. Raina is not a likely starter as a Test batsman, but he showed his worth in the slips when he dived to his right at third slip, and took a one-handed catch to end CA XI's innings. Slips remained the focus in the Indians' innings too as Turner kept reprieving the Indians. The first wicket, though, had nothing to do with the slips. Dhawan was a tad unfortunate when he whipped a leg-stump half-volley, and found square leg with precision. Soon, though, Vijay pushed at a wide one, and Turner grassed a comfortable catch at first slip. Immediately after, Pujara was nearly caught and bowled by Josh Lalor. Lalor was a relieved man when Pujara poked at a wide delivery, giving Turner a catch to his right. The next ball should have brought Lalor a wicket with Kohli cutting loosely, but Turner didn't accept what was a much easier offering than the one he took a ball earlier. Vijay and Kohli saw the Indians through to the stumps, but didn't always look at their best. Vijay even flayed at the last ball of the day, but was lucky he did not edge it.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/content/story/807247.html Match report. Tough day for Indian bats.

[Lord]

good to see them bowling bouncers :nice:

[BlueBee]

No* wickets for Umesh and Ishant

[adi B]

Need to play four pacers and 6 proper batsmen. no need for any spinners ,they will be spanked anyway.might rest umesh for Adelaide to make sure he doesn't toil much.

[adi B]

Its even more important to play 4 pacers and spin on a patta to be able to take 20 wickets.Its gonna be hard and 3 will easily tire out. Since its expected to be a patta,our batsmen including Ashwin should be able to handle themselves.No need of extra batsman

I agree but I'd go with 6 batsmen and 4 pacers

[vishalvirsingh]

in today's match there cud be any number of bowlers bowling .. how come bhuvi was not asked to bowl ..does that mean they wont play BHUVI at all. r thery considering ishant shammi varun Umesh ahead of bhuvi already?

[Lord]

I agree but I'd go with 6 batsmen and 4 pacers

If 6th batsman was a reliable one I might have agreed.But Ashwin is pretty comparable to Rohit and Raina for overseas anyway.Plus he can more overs without getting smacked.

[Old guy]

If 6th batsman was a reliable one I might have agreed.But Ashwin is pretty comparable to Rohit and Raina for overseas anyway.Plus he can more overs without getting smacked.

+1

[BlueBee]

[maniac]

If 6th batsman was a reliable one I might have agreed.But Ashwin is pretty comparable to Rohit and Raina for overseas anyway.Plus he can more overs without getting smacked.

You cannot go by "gut feel" You are entitled to think Ashwin is a way better batsman than Rohit or Raina but the fact of the matter is They are picked as specialist batsmen,like it or not.......For all we know we might feel some tailender could have better technique than Dhawan,doesn't mean you will play him as an opener. How Ashwin will do when there is pressure on him to play for his spot solely as a batsman is different from playing as a bowler who is more than compotent lower-middleorder batsman. There was a reason Ashwin was dropped from the X1 last tour,even though he was our 3rd best bat behind Kohli and SRT,because he flopped at his prime role bowling.

[maniac]

Its even more important to play 4 pacers and spin on a patta to be able to take 20 wickets.Its gonna be hard and 3 will easily tire out. Since its expected to be a patta,our batsmen including Ashwin should be able to handle themselves.No need of extra batsman

Not true...no team plays 5 specialist bowlers....Matthews is a world class bat who happens to be a decent bowler,Hafeez is a decent bowler but is a batsman first hence gives him the edge over some other batsmen in the team....Nzl plays Anderson who is a batsman first,Neesham wasn't getting the job done with the ball and was dropped even though he had a decent start to his batting career. Watson and Kallis were both batsmen first.

[Lord]

You cannot go by "gut feel" You are entitled to think Ashwin is a way better batsman than Rohit or Raina but the fact of the matter is They are picked as specialist batsmen,like it or not.......For all we know we might feel some tailender could have better technique than Dhawan,doesn't mean you will play him as an opener. How Ashwin will do when there is pressure on him to play for his spot solely as a batsman is different from playing as a bowler who is more than compotent lower-middleorder batsman. There was a reason Ashwin was dropped from the X1 last tour,even though he was our 3rd best bat behind Kohli and SRT,because he flopped at his prime role bowling.

You don't play a specialist bat just for the sake of it.Right now Ashwin is better or more proven in terms of technique overseas than both Rohit and Raina. How Ashwin will do with pressure of being batsman?He MIGHT fail.But do we expect anything better from Rohit and Raina going on past records?No.Atleast there is a chance Ashwin might not feel the pressure and hence do better. Ashwin was played as a bowler in a 4 bowler attack,hence dropped on bowling.I'm talking of him playing as 5th bowler with primary responsibility of taking wickets with fast bowlers

[maniac]

You don't play a specialist bat just for the sake of it.Right now Ashwin is better or more proven in terms of technique overseas than both Rohit and Raina. How Ashwin will do with pressure of being batsman?He MIGHT fail.But do we expect anything better from Rohit and Raina going on past records?No.Atleast there is a chance Ashwin might not feel the pressure and hence do better. Ashwin was played as a bowler in a 4 bowler attack,hence dropped on bowling.I'm talking of him playing as 5th bowler with primary responsibility of taking wickets with fast bowlers

You do...Now are there better batsmen than the ones selected in domestics?well that is a debate for another day and another time....the fact is one may agree or disagree but they are selected because the selectors think they are the best India has to offer which means,they play as the 6th bat

[Lord]

Not true...no team plays 5 specialist bowlers....Matthews is a world class bat who happens to be a decent bowler,Hafeez is a decent bowler but is a batsman first hence gives him the edge over some other batsmen in the team....Nzl plays Anderson who is a batsman first,Neesham wasn't getting the job done with the ball and was dropped even though he had a decent start to his batting career. Watson and Kallis were both batsmen first.

Ashwin isnt a specialist bowler in these conditions.Hes an allrounder. Every team plays allrounder if they can as it allows them to play 5 bowling OPTIONS without weakening batting much.Ashwin has potential to provide that.

[Lord]

You do...Now are there better batsmen than the ones selected in domestics?well that is a debate for another day and another time....the fact is one may agree or disagree but they are selected because the selectors think they are the best India has to offer which means' date='they play as the 6th bat[/quote'] Selectors selected them to be good enough for squad,not XI. If my allrounder is performing better than specialist batsman in certain conditions,also giving bonus of bowling skill,why will I pick specialist?:dontknow:

[maniac]

Ashwin isnt a specialist bowler in these conditions.Hes an allrounder. Every team plays allrounder if they can as it allows them to play 5 bowling OPTIONS without weakening batting much.Ashwin has potential to provide that.

You never play a player for his "allround" abilities in tests...that's when you get bits and pieces players like Jadeja or even Ashwin who is soon turning into one. Kallis,Watson,Matthews or Hafeez are picked a specialist batsman first and their bowling is an added advantage.....They walk into their teams in one ability and so it happens that they are better than average in the the other.......Well may be in some cases they might edge out a competing player. SO what I am trying to say is Ashwin should compete with a fellow bowler and may be edge out due to his batting ability not the other way round

[Lord]

You never play a player for his "allround" abilities in tests...that's when you get bits and pieces players like Jadeja or even Ashwin who is soon turning into one. Kallis,Watson,Matthews or Hafeez are picked a specialist batsman first and their bowling is an added advantage.....They walk into their teams in one ability and so it happens that they are better than average in the the other.......Well may be in some cases they might edge out a competing player. SO what I am trying to say is Ashwin should compete with a fellow bowler and may be edge out due to his batting ability not the other way round

Ashwin edges out Raina and Rohit on batting too for those conditions,or is equal at worst and has added avantage of bowling. All these guys are 5th bowlers and do a decent job.Thats very important.Can't do with part timers. SA now play Parnell/McLaren for same reason even though they have better bowlers than both