India v Australia, Third Test, Chandigarh

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1st Test
Fri Feb 22 - Tue Feb 26
04:00 GMT | 09:30 local
12:00 WST | 14:30 CST | 15:00 EST
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

2nd Test
Sat Mar 2 - Wed Mar 6
04:00 GMT | 09:30 local
12:00 WST | 14:30 CST | 15:00 EST
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

3rd Test
Thu Mar 14 - Mon Mar 18
04:00 GMT | 09:30 local
12:00 WST | 14:30 CST | 15:00 EST
Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

4th Test
Fri Mar 22 - Tue Mar 26
04:00 GMT | 09:30 local
12:00 WST | 14:30 CST | 15:00 EST
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi


India:
Shikhar Dhawan, Murli Vijay, Virender Sehwag, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, M S Dhoni (c),
Rabindra Jadeja, Bhubhneshwar Kumar, Ravi Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ashoke Dinda

Australia:
Michael Clarke (c), Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell,
Moises Henriques, Nathan Lyon, Xavier Doherty, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Jackson Bird

Biltong wrote:

msp83 wrote:

Biltong wrote:How is the pitch?

Well, there is nothing much in it for the quicker bowlers, no bounce, no real carry, no seam movement.
As for the spinners, all the 3 Indian spinners got the ball to turn a bit, and Ashwin got some to bounce. Seems a decent spinning track, although the turn on the first day isn't quick, and the spinners aren't getting any pace off the wicket.

Cheers.

The Assies won't really be able to expliot the conditions for spin on day 4 and 5 then?

They don't have any prodigious spinners, do they?

Lyon, though not in the Graeme Swann league, is a decent spinner, but they don't have any real back up. Clarke with his back problems is unlikely to bowl much, and Warner has a thumb that is not fully healed.

Ashwin gets his 5th.

Biltong - hard to call this a pitch... more like your typical dirt-bike trail. It was already breaking up in the 1st over.

Australia in trouble at 153/5

Went away for a while, and Matthew Wade got out in between. LBW to Ashwin. Moises Henriques, on test debut, has joined his skipper. Australia 166-5.

Ashwin has gone off the field for some reason, and Harbhajan Singh is back on, and he continues to bowl utter garbage.

I had to switch over and watch the rugby. Every time I had a quick peep Australia seemed to lose a wicket or two.

I still maintain Cowan is next to useless - far from Test standard. Even Warne agrees with me.

Harbhajan has none for 65 in 16. No pressure whatsoever. Even the debutant is playing him with ease.
It is said he get under the skin of the Australia, but if he continues like this, he would get under the skin of the Indian supporters.
On his peak Harbhajan certainly was a force, a fighter for his side, and a fine bowler in home conditions. But all that is over, and its time to move on even though the spin department is not brimming with superb tallent at the moment. Ojha for that matter is there, and the selectors will have to look at other options such as Shahbaz Nadeem, Parwez Rasool, Ankeet Chavan or even Harmeet Singh.

He's had such a great record v Australia in India (and at Chennai in particular) though hasn't he, msp?

I can hear what you're saying but he looked fresh at the start - but I agree his confidence is way down on the Bhaji of old.

Australia 216-5. Michael Clarke had a huge let off just before tea, He was caught at shortleg of bat and pad and the umpire gave it not out. Ashwin again the unfortunate bowler.
Huge moment in the game, Clarke had looked good right from the outset, and now he had his chance, another 200 on the cards? Henriques is giving him excellent support.
Has Mr Srinivasan taken note? Unlikely, the ideots never understand!.

Clarke reaches his 50, and Henriques is growing in confidence and playing more shots. Pace from one end, and its Bhuvneshwar Kumar. I think MS should try a couple of overs from Ishant, just to see if there is any reverse available.

Australia pressing on, 240-5. This partnership has taken the sting out of the Indian attack. The seamers didn't have much from the track, and they failed to keep the runs down. the Hundred test man has been awful, and Jadeja could only do a containing job. Ashwin looked like the only bowler capable of taking a wicket, and he hasn't been helped by the fielders and didn't have the luck going his way when he was denied Clarke's wicket. And now the Australians are trying to target him, and they are back in charge at the moment.

Ashwin's bad habits that made him rather ineffective, are all coming back, he has lost his line, and the length is also getting shorter. The partnership is getting to him. This has been his undoing, lack of patience. Starts trying far too many things and lose the plot altogether.

You get the feeling Australia will be in really deep dwang if Clarke is not available for a test.

How on earth does Harbhajan get in the Test side?! Obviuusly just picked for his name, it would be like the Aussies wheeling out Warnie again.

Proper rebuilding work done here by Clarke and the debutant, just got to stick it out for another 7 overs.

Clarke and Henriques have almost doubled the Australian score in this partnership. India are just losing the plot. 293-5. Clarke in the 90s.

Bhuvi is trying some short stuff. But there is nothing for him in the pitch, and he doesn't have the pace to trouble Clarke or Henriques. But at least he's making an effort to try and do something different.

300 up.

Moises Henriques has his fair share of doubters, but he's really playing well, and has done the job for his team so far.

Massive wicket that in the last over of the day. Ashwin is playing Australia on his own.

Ashwin gets Henriques, out LBW. The partnership is ended. Ashwin has all 6. Mitchell Starc has joined his captain, and he's right away playing his shots. 307-6.

Now Starc bowled by Jadeja for 3.

Jadeja now into the action. 307-7.
India getting some additional overs in due to their good overrate, and that is benifiting them.

Yep hes done a job with the bat thats for sure. You still have to look at the balance of the Aus attack and think its wrong for India though. Do they need a 3rd seamer with Watson in the side?

Whereas the doubters of Harbajan are enjoying a nice cup of smug right now. Its almost the opposite with India, 3 frontline spinners and a lack of specialist batting.

Peter Siddle joins his captain now. He's a determined lower order batsman.

Clarke on to 98. He has just been absolutely fabulous over the last couple of years!.

I owe an apology to Henriques. Important contribution.

No apology owed to Harbhajan. The logic behind leaving out Ojha is baffling: can't be age (Ojha is younger), can't be stats (Ojha's are better), can't be form (Ojha was Ind's best v Eng; Bhajji no more than OK in domestic cricket), can't be variety (they already have an offie)...

The day has swung right back in India's favour now with those late wickets.

Agreed Shelsey ...at least with Tendulkar and Sehwag they could construct some kind of argument that they need proven experienced players and theres noone thats proven the case in tests that they are better.

Well done Michael Clarke.

That's it from Clarke, his 9th hundred as captain. 23rd overall, 6th against India. a superb knock.

Fair day's play for both sides. To be honest I thought it might have turned out a lot worse for us.

Well bowled Ashwin... and some backbone showed from Clarke and Henriques when it was needed.

Australia 316/7 Day 1

only caught the last half hour, but what on earth has Ohja done wrong to be left out, and what exactly has Harbajan done to deserve being recalled for him? Judging by today's efforts there doesn't seem to be a lot of justification for the decision

Good to see Ashwin bowling a more attacking line to the right handers and getting a bit of purchase off the pitch. Jadeja still strikes me as a holding bowler rather than a wicket-taking one, and with Harbajan not maintaining any control has had to bowl too many overs really.

For Australia, it's confirmed that a lot of their batting in this series will likely rest on Clarke, and Henriques justified his selection with a very composed debut innings to get them out of a bit of a whole. Day's honours fairly even I'd say at this stage though as usual it's hard to tell until both teams have batted on this pitch. India won't want Australia to get much above 350 if that, Australia will be hoping Clarke can push them closer to 400 (Siddle and Pattinson could offer decent support, and Lyons could hang around a bit)

Great knock from Clarke which together with an excellent debut innings from Henriques (humble pie there) has given Australia a chance, although India are on top. Very well bowled Ashwin, with decent back-up from Jadeja again.

Not sure India can have any complaints about umpiring given the 3 marginal LBW decisions they won.

No idea what Harbajhan is doing in the side ahead of Ohja, although he may score some runs I suppose.

Why was Starc sent in at 8, ahead of Siddle and Pattinson?

Australia still have some batting, if they can lift their score up to 380+ they'll be happy. On the other hand if they get roled over for 330 then India have control of the match.

msp,

I'm going to merge my Border-Gavaskar Trophy thread into this one.

We can edit the title for the next 3 Tests. Better if we keep the discussion all in one place.

Michael Clarke has passed the Don with his 103* today.

He now has 7092 Test runs and a further 18 more runs are required to overtake Greg Chappell.

This is Clarke's 90th Test, Chappell got his 7110 runs in 87 Tests, Bradman got his 6996 runs in only 52 Tests.

(So it has taken 65 years to push the great one out of the top 10 Australian run scorers)

Not sure India are on top : 300 up on a pitch which will probably wear is a decent first day , perhaps as much as Australia had a right to hope ? While Clarke is there they must have a chance of pushing up over 350 and given India's rather fragile batting recently...
Big moment the Clarke let off , but these things happen. He doesn't need too many chances
Great start for Henriques...didn't see a lot of it but what I did he looked to play very sensibly. Passed his first temperament test

Harbhajan over Ojha ? ...words fail me...

Someone mentioned Laxman Sivaramakrishnan saying something about Ojha modifying his action a bit, and him needing a bit of time to get used to the changes. Don't really know much about it, but that could be the only logic behind his absence. There was nothing much changed with Harbhajan, he just bowled the usual rubbish that he had been doling out for the last couple of years.
Ashwin had a relatively poor series against England and people were sitting on his head after that, but he had bowled India to home series wins against NZ and the WI earlier, and even in Australia, he managed to do just a little better than what Harbhajan had managed in the past. He can bat as well, and although he's not one from the traditional class that Indian spinners used to offer, he's way better than Harbhajan at the moment, and he proved it with his performance.
But said that, leaving aside the comparisons where he most certainly outclass Harbhajan, some of Ashwin's issues did come up today as well, particularly in his last spell with the old ball. He was getting too restless as the partnership between Clarke and Henriques was progressing and that resulted in him losing his focus and offering many loose balls.
Ravindra Jadeja again did an excellent job for a 5th bowler. He provided the much needed control for his captain, and then chipped in with Starc's wicket. Besides, he saved many runs on the field.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar tried different things, but he had nothing much from the pitch, and I haven't seen him reversing the old ball. Can't assess him from just a couple of spells on his first day of test cricket, but its only fair to say he has quite a bit of learning to do at this stage and hopefully he'll be up to it.
Ishant Sharma too didn't do anything impressive, never really managed to keep the runs down, and never looked like getting a wicket. India certainly are missing Umesh Yadav. Unlike Sharma or Kumar, he has pace, and time with Zaheer Khan did help him to learn the art of reverse swing as well. Unfortunate that he's still injured.
The Indian fielding was not that impressive despite Jadeja's efforts. Virender Sehwag put down a simple catch from David Warner, and the ground fielding, as usual, gave away too many easy runs.

As for Australia, they were refreshingly positive against the spinners, and all the batsmen, including the conventional opener Ed Cowan tried to attack the spinners. Warner got a decent score up front, and Henriques played a composed knock on debut, although he won't pleased with the crossbatted shot that attempted that resulted in him getting out.
Micheal Clarke has played a superb innings, and he has ensured he has a decent platform when taking to the field. It depends on Clarke as to how far can the innings be stretched. Australia would love to reach that 400 mark somehow. Clarke did have his share of luck, he was extremely luck to get away with that catch and it was a poor call from umpire Dharmasena. as far as the LBWs go, Watson's was a pretty close thing, but I doubt whether any of them would have been reversed on review.

No serious issues with Watson (looked out live) or Warner (plumb), it's Wade (going down leg) and Henriques (outside the line? Going down leg? Too much doubt for me) that for me were dodgy calls, but the kind teams often get at home, and I think that's a major part in the BCCI's stance over DRS.

Clarke was a poor decision though, and probably the most influential of the lot.

where's Pragyan Ojha?

Clarke continues from where he left off yesterday, and Siddle is really holding India up with a determined supporting act. He has already played 78 balls for his 17, and the 2 have now put on 40. Australia are closing in on 400, and from there it will be very dificult for India.

And another catch dropped, This time its Pujara, Clarke yet again gets away with it, and Ravindra Jadeja the unlucky bowler. Clarke doesn't need too many chances, He usually scores hundreds without those, now it might a double by the look of things.

Clarke couldn't add a lot more after that drop, Jadeja gets him to loft one straight down to the long-off fielder. He goes for 130, and the next over, a big surprise happened, Harbhajan Singh picked up a wicket in his hundreth test match!.
Australia now 372-9, Pattinson and Lyon trying to hurt India with a bit of a partnership for the last wicket. Pattinson has already moved on to 10.

Lyon meanwhile got away with a plumb LBW of Jadeja. Umpire Erasmus not giveng it.

The session has been extended as the last pair is out there for Australia. They have now put on 13, slowly draggin Australia to that 400 mark. 377-9 at the moment.

380-9. Dhoni is bowling Ishant Sharma from one end. The ball is turning. Of course Harbhajan is ineffective, but I think he should keep Ashwin and Jadeja on.

Another plumb lbw not given. This time of Ashwin, Lyon gets away with it yet again!. But Ashwin has finished it off 2 balls later, good catch from Virat Kohli, Australia are eventually all out for 380, and its now time for lunch.

Its a pretty decent score from Australia. The pitch has nothing for the seamers, but the Australian seamers are quicker through the air, and someone like Starc can swing the ball as well.
Sehwag and Vijay have to set up a good platform for India. India have to bat very well in the first innings, one advantage they have is that they bat down to 10. Both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harbhajan Singh have scored first class hundreds, Bhaji's in face came in tests. They have to stay positive, and look for available scoring opportunities.

We all have our positions on DRS, and I for one am not in agreement with the BCCI position on it. But the umpiring in this match has been pretty poor. It was not very good during the England series either. Remember in the first test, Samit Patel twice, Yuvraj Singh, Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, all found themselves involved in poor umpiring calls. How on earth did Kumar Dharmasena become the umpire of the year?

Good pace from Starc in his first over, late 130s, early 140s.......