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

As an England fan seeing Xavier Doherty and Nathan Lyon as the Aussies two main spinners makes me feel very confident about the summer

Michael Clarke is going to rip into his side after the day's play...the bowling from the spinners has been awful...

Been a long time since I've seen a worse over than the one Steve Smith just bowled...

...and that is in club cricket , let alone a Test Match !

250+ after 50 overs. Reasonable sort of ODI scoring rate...

To be fair to Doherty , he has just bowled two maidens in a row. Took quite a battering earlier but seems to have settled down a bit now.

But over all this is embarrassing for Australia. The batsmen seem to be just toying with them.

Credit to Henriques for a great bit of fielding at long leg then ...and not far away from lbw !

But it can't stop the flow of runs...another boundary and it is 275/0. If it was a boxing match the ref would have stopped it by now...

Doherty's next over goes for 13, though did manage to beat Dhawan with one delivery.

The ball is reversing just a little bit more, and Siddle's back. May not be a bad idea, Dhawan and Vijay might be playing for stumps and may be, just may be, Australia would be able to sneak one through.

2 more overs after this, think the 2 Indian openers would now just pull the shutters down for the day.
278-0.

283 without loss. An excellent, incredible effort from Shikhar Dhawan, and a brilliant support act from Murali Vijay, on the back of his excellent hundred and the 370 run partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara.

Australian players generous in their congratulatory handshakes at close of play...

What a debut !

185 off 168 balls, in a Test Match, on debut, against Australia? Take a bow son. Take a bow.

I have to say though we can batter Smith's bowling, but he batted superbly and matruely, and has grasped his chance well!

IMO young Joe Burns deserves a go at 3 in this test side over Phil Hguhes.

Wow...!!

What a debut

Doherty 10 overs for 57


Lyon wasnt at his best but he still managed to get some turn and looked more threatning

A spinners job is so important in test cricket. If you dont have one. You got no chance(esp in India)

India at home are a real test for anyone, but i highly doubt they would be this dominant away from home..

Nah no way..

But I think the 3rd best team overall.

Ishant's been very impressive this test and mainly with the older ball as welll....the indians clearly have a plan with Kumar, to only bowl him the new ball in india...would like to see him bowl with the old ball and try to get some reverse swing..

No side apart from South Africa has been dominant away from home. England Struggled in the UAE and Sri Lanka, Australia had to scrap hard against the West Indies and have been found out in India, India carry the burden of 8-0.
As for Ishant, yes he bowled well in this match and got the really old ball talking, but consistency and he aren't really friends. Yes he can do a job till Umesh Yadav returns from injury.
Kumar really does swing the new ball and extracts a little bit of seam movement as well, he usually bowls in good areas and could be a threat with the new ball on most pitches. But he hasn't quite mastered the art of reverse as yet, and revers is effective when there is good pace to add to it and Bhuvi isn't the quickest. I hope he'll work out other ways to remain effective with the older ball when the conditions do not offer him much, but that could only come with experience.

Well let's be honest away from home Ishant is still going to play isnt he...

Ishant
Bhunveshar
Yadav
Ashwin

that would be the attack away from home wouldnt it...

Yadav, Bhuvneshwar, Ashwin....... Then it could be Ishant, Sreesanth, PK....... Even Zak hasn't given up hopes of fighting his way back in, although that looks rather unlikely at the moment.
You are right to some extend, we have to live with Mr Potential, like it or not. I hope the likes of Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul and Ishwar Pandey will be able to make the step up sooner rather than later. The only thing that helps keep the hope about Ishant is that he's not yet 25. Perhaps he'll after all realize his potential some day. Even the likes of James Anderson took almost 6 years to really emerge into the class act he's at the moment.

I'd pick Ojha away from home.

Surely Sachin Tendulkar even in decline can make runs on this road of a pitch?!

Don't think Ojha is way ahead of Ashwin in the spin department. Spinners aren't going to pick bucket load of wickets on non-sub-continent wickets, so Ashwin's obviously better batting record in my view should get greater consideration. In fact when Ojha and Ashwin played together, the only series where he clearly outbowled Ashwin was the England series. in the other series against West Indies and New Zealand Ashwin was the better bowler. Even in this test, Ashwin did look the better bowler.
Neither of them are in the top league of Indian spinners, so I don't think either of them have a clear edge over the other to be the led spinner in away conditions. But again, when all things remaining more or less same, Ashwin's better batting skills should see him through. Playing away from the sub-continent, India could do well with the depth in the batting unit.

Ashwin has a better strike rate than that of Ojha, and his average too is 3 runs better. He has already taken 2 10 wicket hauls to Ojha's none and has 8 fifors to Ojha's 5. Despite his performance in Australia being average, he had bowled better than Harbhajan managed during his peak.

Ashwin should do a stint in county cricket IMO

Thing though is that in unhelpful conditions, spinners need to bowl with good control. I back Ojha to hold an end up better than Ashwin and allow the quicks to attack from the other end. If Jadeja keeps this form up though, I might have to consider playing him as the sole spinner in away Tests as he has got the best control though I don't rate his batting. I'd pick Sree ahead of Ishant SA too.

CF wrote:Ashwin should do a stint in county cricket IMO

Yep, that would help but busy ODI schedule next summer.

My attack for SA atm is :

Bhuvi
Sree
Umesh
Ojha/Jadeja/Ashwin

Though I'm still hopeful of a return to form for Bhajji. He could do with playing another county season again if he's not a part of the ODI plans.

Back up seamers should be Shami, Mr. Potential (sadly) and probably Awana. Pankaj won't be a bad option either.

And yes, Nohit at 6. I know I'm going to get slated for that, but oh Well!

CF wrote:Ashwin should do a stint in county cricket IMO

Such as Essex?

I'm a bit surprised at that team Shanky.

Assuming no Sachin (and, actually, he might well play now - retirement talk has cooled), I'd say:

1. Dhawan 2. Vijay/ Gambhir/ Rahane 3. Pujara 4. Rahane/ Gambhir 5. Kohli 6. Dhoni 7. Jadeja/ Rahane 8. Ashwin 9. B. Kumar 10. Ishant 11. Yadav

I'm not convinced of Vijay despite recent scores. I also think Rahane must play Tests at some point - his average is ridiculous (OK, Indian conditions) and he can bat anywhere in the top 6. And Gautam might just have got the kick he needs by being left out. Jadeja needs some runs before SA (his bowling would be a useful 5th option, but he can't get in as a bowler away from Asia). Ishant hasn't been too awful this winter and, without that much else, surely needs to play. Ashwin has an excellent record - don't really understand the negativity around him. Ojha a little unlucky. Harbhajan/ Zaheer/ Sreesanth/ Sehwag need to be forgotten about I'm afraid.

Oh Shanky, I am willing to debate and see the other side of the argument even when we disagree, on every other point other than Nohit!. The guy is an absolute no-hoper.

Anyways back to the game.
The pattern of the last 2 days have continued so far today. Australia get a say in things in the first session. They did today as well, Shikhar Dhawan's dream knock didn't go too far today, caught at bat-pad of Lyon for 187. Then Australia had a very lucky break, Cheteshwar Pujara was given out LBW to Siddle for 1 after he nicked the ball on to his pad. Since then though, Murali Vijay and Sachin Tendulkar restored control for India. Vijay has comfortably gone pass his 2nd consecutive hundred, his third in tests, all against Australia. He's now batting on 131, and Tendulkar on 31, and India 365-2.

Shelsey My views are a bit shaky for considering Jadeja outside sub continent and that too in SA against Steyn and Philander. Nah. Though he has bunch of runs in Ranji but his batting is not having the temperament that he has shown in Ranji, and in SA his bowling will also be doubtful. In india he keeps the bowl low because pitches are like that, but in SA pitches will not favor spinners so one spinner will be ok. India should go with one extra batsman instead of JadejA, mAY be Rahane.

Steven Smith gets a wicket, a big wicket at that, Sachin Tendulkar goes, first ball of the day from Smith, some turn and bounce and an easy catch at bat-pad. He goes for 37, and at lunch, India 384-3.

India experienced a middle order collapse after lunch, Vijay went after scoring 153, LBW to Starc of a inswing ball. Then MS Dhoni followed in the same over to another inswinger. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin followed soon after and India collapsed to 431-7. Since then Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been batting together, and they have so far put on 32. Kohli on 39, Kumar on 12. The lead is 55.

Worrying signs for Australia, Michael Clarke seems to struggle with some fitness concerns. He was off the field for some time but came back, but he hasn't looked all that comfortable out there.

50 for Virat Kohli. Absolute rubbish of an over from Steve Smith right before tea, the only one who looked in any danger was the shortleg fielder!.
India 479-7. Kohli on 50, Kumar on 17. The partnership is 48, India lead by 71.

India 90+ runs ahead. Will they press on and attempt to win - or just be happy enough to let match meander to draw and a guaranteed series win?

Henriques has broken through for Australia, ends a 61 run partnership, Bhuvneshwar Kumar gloving behind for 18. India 492-8. Ishant Sharma joins Kohli. Sharma can hang around but he's not much of a slogger. So scoring some more quick runs becomes Kohli's responsibility. He's on 61, he needs to add a few more and get that lead pass 100 at least. At the moment they lead by 84.

Corporal, I don't think the Indian innings will go on a lot longer, they have a decent lead, depends on the start to the Australian 2nd innings. If there are some early wickets, India will be striving for the win, and Australia will be under pressure.

Sharma goes, Siddle gets him, Kohli is fast running out of partners, But he'll be on strike for the next over, time he brings out his glorious ODI batting version on to the field. Pragyan Ojha in now. He's not much of a bat, doesn't slog big, doesn't hang in there too much either. So Kohli doesn't have much of an option.

Kohli should have a swing now...get a few more but not waste time. Main priority surely is to get a good chance to put Australia's fragile batting under pressure tonight.
Only one team can win here.

But well done Australia for coming back after yesterday...and in fact that is it , with five for Siddle ! Well done.5/91. A big heart.

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:India 90+ runs ahead.

Lead has now reached 90+ But straightaway Ojha out twice to the same ball! (bowled & LBW)

India 499 all out, Kohli remained not out on 67, Ojha knocked over first ball by Siddle. 5 for him excellent bounce back from Australia, but India have a 91 run lead. Should have been a bit more than that, but splendid comeback from the Australian batsmen. After the openers, only Kohli, and Tendulkar to some extend made some contribution. India have reasons to be disappointed, but if they manage to pick up 2 or 3 wickets in the remaining overs today then they won't mind too much.

Australia have 21 overs to survive today. They would hope the openers would again give them a fine start, worst case, they wouldn't want to lose more than a wicket. But here is that wicket, Bhuvi!!!!.

The dangerous David Warner gone for 2, caught Dhoni of Kumar the very next ball after he edged one to slip that didn't carry.
Possible changes of plan for MS Dhoni, he'll have to think who would open the bowling from the other end, Philip Hughes is here, and the spinners would be wanting the ball at the earliest.!

Its Cowan on strike, its not Ashwin or Ojha, Dhoni seems to stick to his plans, its Ishant Sharma.

Phil Hughes has started off in a mood to play his shots. Don't think seamers will be on from both ends for long. Hughes has already gone flying to 12 in just 5 minutes at the crease.