Posted by   on (March 5, 2013, 13:48 GMT) - Featured comment

In the euphoria, let us not forget: 1) India still need a settled opening pair to bat on the surfaces of S.A, England,NZ, and OZ. 2) It is high time , to identify the replacements for Sachin & Veeru. What are we doing about it? 3) We still need a decent pair of really fast bowlers, with proper radars to accurately guide them in line and length.

Ishant's consistent inconsistency is getting on my nerves. Would English batsmen fed on swing, day in and day out, will be troubled by BK, though he is a real good find? If Mohali pitch is really fast, keep it that way, at least to test out BK's bowling and the batting of quite a few. IF India is going to lose that match in that process, let it be, for future's sake).

tony122 I feel the same way as you do.I particularly like your very pointed observations about his batting technique.Just a point. Pujara seems to be a very humble man coming as he does from a modest yet cricket loving background. Application to the game seems everything for him. Anyone poised for greatness must have the humility to analyse his game critically. That he does. He accepts that he needs to work on the hook and I am sure he will be perfect in this atroke before long if he gets the height of the ball right His judgement of the length of the ball is flawless and early from what I have seen. I recall how Rahul Dravid hooked a bouncer for six at Adelaide in 2003 to reach his 100 but at 233 he was caught of Gillespie going for a six when India was 9 wickets down and needed quick runs. He had judged the height wrong. It was the same with Pujara. he hit a six of Siddle to reach a 100 but got out trying the shot against a Pattinson bouncer outside leg stump. He should be a great.

Pujara looks a really good batsman to me and I feel he may go on to become a true great down the line. Of course no one can say for sure till a couple of tours on fast bowler friendly surfaces. But I feel he brings some unique style of play of his own that is very rare these days. If one notice he hold the bat very loose in his hads, that deprives him of super power but he can easily give a full follow through of bat in most strokes. He has great footwork and his right foot moves in line of the ball even when playing a cut shot(almost unheard of for a modern player). He jumps with the rising ball and gives a full swing of the ball. Perfect. He is silken with spinners and wonderful on the front foot as well. What he is only mediocre at is the pull/hook shot as shown by his dismissal at Hyderabad off Pattinson. He should work at leaving bouncers more unless absolutely confident of pitch and bowler. Apart from that 'weakness' he looks well on the way to super greatness.

Posted by   on (March 5, 2013, 10:31 GMT) - Featured comment

Congratulations to India. As an ardent Indian test cricket fan, this result makes me very happy. It was a convincing performance by team India. Commiserations to Clarke and his team. They tried their best. Having said that, the team needs a lot of tweaking. Clarke needs to bat up the order, Khawaja must play, Lyon should return, and Mitchell Johnson should play instead of Siddle. I can hardly wait for the 3rd test. It's a mouth watering prospect. Hearing both captains speak, I have absolutely no doubt that Clarke is a reliable captain and Australian fans can be proud of him. The same can be said about Captain Cool - MS. A wonderful captain with a young brigade at his disposal. Both teams are lead by the right men at the moment. So best of luck to both teams for the next test. As Indian fans, let's enjoy this moment because test wins don't come easy.

Congratulations Team India! But, despite of winning two tests in a row, there are still lot of areas to improve. Two changes should be made in the present XI for the next two tests. One should be Ajinkya Rahane in place of Virender Sehwag and the other be Pragyan Ojha in place of Harbhajan Singh. Because Australia will definitely come harder in the next two games so Indian team should be ready for that. For Australia, the two in-form batsman Michael Clark and Henriques should go up the order to build partnerships and give a platform to other batsmans to score runs and Shane Watson should open the innings with Cowan. the two ace spinners Nathan Lyon and Doherty should be in the side by any means with Mitchel Johnson in playing XI. My side for the next two tests for Australia is Watson, Cowan, Clarke, Henriques, Warner, Smith, Wade, Johnson, Pattinson, Lyon and Dohorthy. Good Luck Australia!

Well played India. The good thing India can take from this match is that it was more of a team effort than their last test win. The first test was won by two players, Dhoni and Ashwin. In this test, India had a number of heroes. Kumar bowled brilliantly to destroy Australia's top order on the first morning. Ashwin, H Singh and Jadaja all did something important with the ball. Pujara and Vijay batted tremendously, and were aided by cameos from Kohli and Dhoni. All in all a good team win for team India. As for Australia, this game was lost from the moment the selectors wrote down the team. Two young all rounders gave us no depth in batting, and no depth in bowling. A gutsy effort from Doherty, Sids and Patto, but Maxwell leaked runs and was out of his depth. Aside from Cowan and Clarke, the batting had the determination of a snail fighting a big shoe. Time for Aus to pick up the game.

Congratulations India and well played. After the run they've had, this must feel awfully sweet. It's not just the victory but the magnitude of the victory. Not everything is perfect for India but lots of players have contributed to the last two wins. With England not facing India again for a while and two back-to-back Ashes series coming up, I'm more than happy to see India winning easily over Australia. England finally managed to learn some lessons on playing in the subcontinent but Australia currently look to be going backwards. With Watson not available for the next game, will Khawaja take his place and the rest of the batting remain the same? While I can understand the logic of playing Maxwell and Doherty (Maxwell to help the batting and Doherty as a leftie for variation) it would be tough for Lyon to see the batting fail so miserably and no one pay the price while he was dropped after one poorish game. The spinners did OK here but still not convinced it was the right decision.

Posted by   on (March 5, 2013, 9:21 GMT) - Featured comment

You know a the substance of person's charactor when their backs are against the wall and I love what Michael Clarke said in defeat - no excuses, no shirking responsibilty. It was the same with England when they lost 3-0 to Pakistan. That is why they were able to finally beat India - they learned from their mistakes. Series wins come and go, but Clarke's attitude with a still relatively inexperienced team says to me that the Australian cricket team is in good hands into the future. I think for the rest of the tour the selectors need to ask themselves which player think will still be playing the next time they tour the sub continent and chuck them in there. Even if they fail, the school of hard knocks is the best school of them all!

Well the damage has been done. Post mortems will only be valuable to determine who comes into the team and who leaves. Lyon must play.Khawaja must also be given a serious opportunity,meaning at least 2 Tests.Hughes looks like he doesn't want to be there and for the good of his own future should be sent home and back into Shield cricket so that he can boost his confidence again prior to being considered for England down the track. It's time for selectors to seriously sift through those 1st class cricketers who have been doing the business for at least 3-4 seasons of 1st class cricket. Bailey,Klinger,maybe Quiney again and yes,even Chris Rogers. Burns seems to have the right temperament too,even if he's short on games. Voges has had a strong season in all forms and he Ponting(yes Ponting) and Klinger will be playing County Cricket and will be available for a call up subject to form of course.Maxwell isn't conditioned for Test cricket. Big mistake picking him. Time to re-assess now.

Clarke as our best batsman moving up to 4 is great.At number four he gets one more partner to bat with before the tail, maximising his chances of scoring big. In essence, there is every chance the rest of this team will fold meekly - in which case you want Clarke in for as long as practical if he is a solid chance to be the one who finishes not out, or at least the one left to bat with the tail.Plus coming in at 5, the momentum of the innings has already been built. It looks completely different if the best batsman comes in at 2/60 instead of 3/70. It takes away one of the "cheap" wickets at the top of the order for the Indians to feel confident about before the main event (bigger than a big show) arrives at the crease. Coming in that little bit earlier might build confidence in somebody else to hang in with him before he opposition gets right on top. Khawaja can bat at 5 as he has done so in shield and in time i can see him moving up to 3 as he is our best number 3.