The home advantage
In the Hindustan Times Pradeep Magazine criticises the Australian media which, according to him, resorts to all sorts of dubious write-ups whose aim is to completely destroy the players.
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
In the Hindustan Times Pradeep Magazine criticises the Australian media which, according to him, resorts to all sorts of dubious write-ups whose aim is to completely destroy the players.
The Indian fielding was poor, maybe even laughable, and no one is taking away the right of the Australian media to criticise it. But to write that the fielders were behaving as if waiting for servants to fetch the ball is an obnoxious piece of below-the-belt writing, which needs to be ignored rather than highlighted.
In the same paper, Kadambari Murali is impressed by the conviction and total self-belief of the Australians.
They’ve consistently also maintained that to keep winning, it’s vital to get over the fear of failure. The team works in percentages, backs itself to win most matches and is prepared to lose one here and there in the bargain. Only Australia could have lost the game to India in Adelaide in 2003-04 after scoring 400 on the first day. They still didn’t change their way of playing because of just one failure. They maintained the same scoring rate and played for a result.
The Hindu's S Ram Mahesh feels Australia are coping well without Glenn McGrath, replaced by Mitchell Johnson, who gives them the option to attack and to strangle.
The lefty angle slanting across the right-hander, particularly at high pace, is the most severe of challenges for front-foot play. To drive anything but the fullest of deliveries is to court the risk of exposing the blade’s susceptible outside half. And forcing strokes with the vertical bat off the back-foot are for none save the foolhardy.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo