Objective look at Australian side-can they pull off an upset?

[sandeep]

6 hours ago, Cricketics said:

He did not have a horrible run like you make it out. He was getting starts. Based on his current form, he hit a hundred in an LOI in the warm up game against England. So batting in a test match where he has all the time in the world, he should do better.

 

Rahane is not just one of the best of India, he is one of the best in the world. 

Don't waste your time preaching the obvious to the scorecard fans - they won't listen.  2 failures and they will want Nair, or Panth or the next guy.  A couple of bad innings from the new face, and on to the next "name".  That's just how it goes.

[BeautifulGame]

Handscomb is very average...Pakistanis have made him look like a million bucks....Renshaw has a bigger upside,shwon some great footwork but then again it was only against Yasir Ali and Azhar Ali's spin. 

 

Clarke was very good off the backfoot and front foot and very fast hands which made him good against SPin almost like  amore conventional version of Steve Smith.

 

I think Starc and Hazelwood are going to be the biggest threat on this tour. Even if one of Warner or Smith look off color we are in for a treat.

Don't go by what Aussie commentators say.

Clarke is a very overrated player of spin .His only option was trying to come out to every other delivery.His backdoor play against Spin or picking up length were never that good .He was only good against Spin if the wicket was flat.

[BeautifulGame]

Objective thread

Pros :

Australia has arguably the best test batsman currently in Steve Smith .And he loves to make big hundreds .One of the major requisites to succeed in India .Also can play spin well.

Have Starc .A genuine threat on any wicket regardless of the conditions .Had a fabulous tour of Sri Lanka and should be a threat with both new ball and old ball.

Warner could easily put the game out of our reach if he a really good session or two.England never had such player so could always pull back even after strong partnerships .Probably much harder with the pace at which Warner bats .

Steve O'Keefe .A decent left arm spinner.With all our top 7 being RHB ,he could give Smith some control with his line and frustrate our batsmen.

Also of their younger batsmen ,Handscombe looks good.Seems to have a compact technique and would probably do well.

Well for Cons :

Don't have a d event all rounder .England at times had 6-7 options .Australia will have just 4 bowlers and rubbish all rounder whoever they pick.With the workload Hazlewood and Starc has to share on our wickets , will be lucky if they don't break down midway through the series.With their bowling options England always had the luxury of rotating their bowlers.

Lyon record in Asia is pretty poor and Smith doesn't trust him either .Last time Clarke dropped Lyon after Dhoni took him apart in Chennai for next 2 tests .The amount of spinners Aussies have showed how much trust they have in Lyon.

Also Smith has no clue how to captain spinners generally.You can escape with that in Aussie pitches but will be brutally exposed here.

Weak lower order batting .England batted very deep at times till 9 and that enabled them to score 400+ scores regularly.Compare that with Australia.After no.5 , they will have a half cooked all-rounder and struggling WK and then tail.Hugely dependent on Smith and Warner scoring big hundreds. Australia has just scored 400+ just once in last five tests in Asia.They are hardly gone to put pressure on our batting with such subpar totals.

Their inability to play out for draws .Unlike England SA who could bat for time to draw a test , this Australian team is completely hopeless in that situation.Will nicely cover it up by saying Australian way when in reality because they don't have the defensive ability to do it.So once we get on a roll , they will capitulate easily .

Conclusion :

They may pick up a draw or two if we roll out absolute pattas , but will be a real shock even if they will a single test.Will be a real disappointment if we don't white wash 4-0 .The quality is too big to not achieve that with easy

[maniac]

 

[BCCI]

On 1/25/2017 at 9:24 AM, BCCI said:

Lyon is a very ordinary bowler.He is not underrated at all.

 

And the point about the mental strength is again futile one.Once the ball starts turning ,they all will fall like nine pins.Its the most non-resilient Aus side in history.

 

Personally looking forward to Handscomb vs our spinners.He to me looked very innocuous and mediocre but scored runs in every innings against Pakistan.Reminds me of Clarke,comes down the track to every ball from spinner.I think his bradmanesque average will take quite a beating. 

I was way off the mark here.Surprisingly,this Aus side has been both tenacious and resilient.Rejig post SA debacle has surely helped.But still Ind should beat them at Dharamshala.