India VS Australia 2018-19

The only time India lifted the Border-Gavaskar trophy was in 2003-04 when the series was drawn 1-1. Many considers this is the best chance for India to lift the trophy with a win, as this Aussies side is the weakest one to have played against India. Let's see how the summer shower it's heat in Australia. The schedule are as follows

T-20 series:
Match 1 - 21 November - Brisbane
Match 2 - 23 November - Melbourne
Match 3 - 25 November - Sydney


Test Matches

1. Adelaide : 6-12-18 to 10-12-18
2. Perth : 14-12-2018 to 18-12-18
3. Melbourne : 26-12-18 to 30-12-18
4. Sydney : 03-01-19 to 07-01-19

ODI Series:

Match 1 - 12 Jan - Sydney
Match 2 - 15 Jan - Adelaide
Match 3 - 18 Jan - Melbourne

To be honest I am not happy with the scheduling. Indian team management thinks that T-20 or the ODIs are the best way to get acclimatised to the home conditions and they were proved wrong in the last two tours. Still they have only one practise game for preparations. Also if the nepotism wonder R. Sharma gets into the XI, I will support Australia to repeat 2011.

The first T-20 is over by now and India has lost it by 4 runs. India clearly missed the guidance of Dhoni, but Pant made his mark with some fire. Both teams did not fared well in the field. Australia need to show patience towards Indian spinners.

Just one 3 day warm up is poor, and shows whilst they talk about learning lessons that haven't.
That said Id still give them a decent chance of taking a rare series win, a lot may ride on the seamers for the two sides staying fit through the course of the series. Its a tough condensed schedule, 4 tests completed in a 32 day period. If the pitches are flat it could easily become a war of attrition.

This Indian team and the management is one of the most arrogant group in the world.

However I don't think pitches will be flat, however one or two test matches will see piles of run being scored from both the sides.

Aussie First Test (14 man squad)...no room for Renshaw ; Khawaja named ; Harris and Handscomb in to join Head Finch and 2 Marsh boys with the bat...all reasonable I guess as is Paine to keep and captain.
But five fast bowlers plus Lyon seems excessive

Tremain in thesquad for "experience" ? Lord knows why Siddle is there then...unless he is a steady hand with the drinks ; as the Big Three are certain to play.

Batting still looks a bit dodgy . Presume Handscomb or Head miss out if Khawaja is fit ...be interesting to see how the new boy Harris goes...

I thought Khawaja tore his ACL?!

Should be an interesting series - fancy both bowling units to be on top myself...

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I thought Khawaja tore his ACL?!

Should be an interesting series - fancy both bowling units to be on top myself...

Khawaja reckons he's fit ...back in the nets in time to tune up for the match. Aussies certainly want him aboard !

Think you're right about the bowling lineups...though it's not a night match so Adelaide might be pretty flat.

King Kohli smashes unbeaten 61* to ensure India tie the T20 series. Kohli looked a class apart...no surprise as he's the best in the business by that big margin

Ind played their top seamers Bhuvi and Bumrah in these meaningless , masala limited over games ...like they did on tour of UK and injured them for valuable tests

Let the real "Tests" begin

I quite fancy India to get the job done in the Test series. If they bowl like they did in England, Bumrah et al. will cause this Aussie batting line up plenty of problems. Like Olly says, it won't be easy facing the Aussie bowling attack either and I imagine both sides will be able to take 20 wickets, I just trust the Indian batting (Kohli!) more. They just need to get off to a good start and not fall behind early like they did in England.

India's team composition would be a challenge...how do they play 5 bowlers?

--Adelaide & perth are seaming / bouncy pitches and Ind can go in with 3 seamers + Ashwin

--Melbourne and Sydney...Ind should have 3 seamers + ashwin + Jadeja......and one of those seamers aught to be Bhuvi
so India will have 3 bowlers who can bat in Bhuvi, ashwin and Jadeja

If Melbourne is anything like last years pitch , KP-f , seven or eight bowlers won't be enough

Thankfully , I don't think it will be .  I'd like to think it will be more like the "old" MCG pitches which used to offer something to everyone...one can hope.

The practise match is going well with almost all the top Indian batsmen scoring 50. Hanuma Vihari impressed a lot, I hope he gets a place in the XI. Aussies conditions are way different from that of English, but this will not be an easy cake walk.

I would've thought India would prefer the dead version of Melbourne. In a war of attrition both sides have the same struggle in shoehorning 5 bowlers into the side, India have the edge in quality batting in the top 6 and two high quality spinners.

But on the faster bouncier pitches I'm not so sure India have the firepower to match a fit Australian attack. Ishant is tall and pacy but not in Starcs class by any stretch. Nor are the Indian batsmen likely to be so comfortable. Shami , Bumrah and Yadav are too short and not genuinely quick enough to really exploit the bouncy pitches fully, and Bhuvi more suited to English conditions than Australian.

Morale could play a big part too.
India turned up in England relatively well motivated and retained a better level of application through the tour than they did the previous one. Theres some "history" between these sides which could act as an added motivation for India sensing the chance of what would be a rare series victory. Also defending their number one test team status is now a thing with England somehow contriving to put them under pressure. So there is motivation at least.
The opening game seems to bode well for them too with all but Rahul making good runs. That said the opposition is the typical weak tour rubbish that boards put out, and CA has taken some flak for not giving their fringe test players an opportunity. The lack of preparation time has been noted, and facing the likes of Starc on lightening wickets could be a big shock for some of the Indian batsmen. Add to that many of the team will have more of an eye on the world cup preparations than they do their test game, and Indias general dislike of touring.
On the other side Australia's issues on and off the field are well documented. Usually the press is full of ex players taking shots at the touring side and riling up the fans against them. This time is largely aimed at their own team and culture, the latest being a spat between Clarke and Paine. if they dont get off to a good start Australia's confidence will be very low, and the press all over them.
On the more positive side for Australia they have manage to incorporate a number of new players who have shown great form in Shield cricket this season. Whilst they are proven at test players they should at least be full of confidence that they can deliver on home wickets. The stable of fast bowlers looks strong, even if they are still turning to an ancient Siddle.

Because of the bowling attacks and India's stronger batting I'd expect CA to do what they can to get fast wickets and turn this into a shoot out. How much they can get tailored pitches from famously dead grounds though I dont know.

It seems Shaw is ruled out of Adelaide Test because of ankle injury. A bad news for India.

Vijay and Rahul to open then for OZ

wisden wrote:Vijay and Rahul to open then for OZ

Can't say about Vijay. He made some good runs for Essex (56,100,85, 80, 2), and also scored a 50+ score in the game against NZ-A. However I totally agree with you on Rahul front. He has failed to prove his talent in some of the recent games. I think Rohit might get a place in the opening game at Adelaide.

Na it will 100% be Vijay and Rahul, Rohit has used all his lives

wisden wrote:Na it will 100% be Vijay and Rahul, Rohit has used all his lives

Nepotism brother. The Kohli-Shashtri are all into it. Else Rohit would not have been in the 15 itself.

subhranshu.kumar.5 wrote:

wisden wrote:Na it will 100% be Vijay and Rahul, Rohit has used all his lives

Nepotism brother. The Kohli-Shashtri are all into it. Else Rohit would not have been in the 15 itself.

Well Vijay got to open the batting in their second innings and has scored a big century. If he doesnt open in the test then something really rotten is 100% happening, but the fact he was given the chance suggests the teams first choice was him and hes taken the opportunity.

The bowlers though are a worry having struggled on what is clearly a pretty flat pitch.

Now that the practise game is over, India's probable XI would be

1. Vijay
2. Rahul
3. Pujara
4. Kohli(C)
5. Rahane
6. Hanuma Vihari
7. Panth
8. Ashwin
9. Bhuvi
10. Bumrah
11. Ishant

I think the squad will revolve around the same XI, however we could see Shaw coming in for Rahul in the 2nd test match. Rohit may get in, in place of Vihari. Pretty sure that Pujara and Rahane will get all 8 innings, however there is always a 'but' when you have a captain supporting nepotism. Parthiv may also get a game or two if Pant fails to prove. Regarding bowlers Shami and Bhuvi will rotate themselves. Bumrah will go for all the matches. Jaddu will continue to carry drinks for whole summer.

subhranshu.kumar.5 wrote:It seems Shaw is ruled out of Adelaide Test because of ankle injury. A bad news for India.

Its could be a blessing in disguise

A Divine intervention for sure to give Vijay the place he deserves ahead of Shaw....that was devoid by Kohli dumping him instead of FTB / Limited over Dhawan in Eng & not giving him a chance against easy WI

Vihari being given a knock in both innings and bowling more overs than Jadeja and together with Kohli bowling 20 overs , gives a clear picture of team composition & selection

Vijay
Rahul
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Vihari
Pant
Ashwin
Bhuvi
Shami
Bumrah

* Rahul & Vijay were hugely successful as openers in Aus last time
**Vihari will be the 5th bowler and Kohli the 6th
*** Bhuvi gets in ahead of Yadav and Ishant for his batting is handy and he is no less a wicket taker

Regarding Aussies XI,

Khwaja and Finch will continue to open. I think the way Khwaja batted in UAE, he is a more matured player now and is capable to taking into any bowling attacks around the world. I am not pretty sure about Finch.

This will be followed by Peter Handscomb and Marsh brother with the elder one getting higher order. Peter is quite good but I think both the Marsh brothers are quite unreliable.

Number 6 will be handled by the Captain and I think Travis Head and Marcus Harris will both get a chance. Harris may play at number 3.

The Team would go like

1. Finch
2. Khwaja
3. Harris/Handscomb
4. S Marsh
5. Travis Head
6. Paine(c)
7. M Marsh
8. Siddle
9. Starc
10. Lyon
11. Hazlewood

Harris may come in place of Finch with one more batsman adjusting into XI, however Aussies will stick to their T-20 captain to open atleast for the first test match.

KP_fan wrote:

subhranshu.kumar.5 wrote:It seems Shaw is ruled out of Adelaide Test because of ankle injury. A bad news for India.

Its could be a blessing in disguise

A Divine intervention for sure to give Vijay the place he deserves ahead of Shaw....that was devoid by Kohli dumping him instead of FTB / Limited over Dhawan in Eng & not giving him a chance against easy WI

Vihari being given a knock in both innings and bowling more overs than Jadeja and together with Kohli bowling 20 overs , gives a clear picture of team composition & selection

Vijay
Rahul
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Vihari
Pant
Ashwin
Bhuvi
Shami
Bumrah

* Rahul & Vijay were hugely successful as openers in Aus last time
**Vihari will be the 5th bowler and Kohli the 6th
*** Bhuvi gets in ahead of Yadav and Ishant for his batting is handy and he is no less a wicket taker

What role Vihari and Kohli going to play regarding bowling apart from easing the batmen. Though Vihari took 3 wickets in the only test he has played but that can be a pure luck and nothing else. He has 22 wickets in his 66 FC matches. Looking at his selections I think Kohli will drop one of Bhuvi or Shami for Ishant.

The 5th bowler role is a conundrum...dictated by quality available and I can try to share my thoughts

--India tried "allrounders" like Pandya , Binny......who were neither taking wicket, nor keeping batsmen quite like specialist bowlers can
Nor were they good enough to be batsmen

--So now they are back to 4 strike bowlers who can pick wickets and the Vihari/Kohli combo providing rest to the main -4 and practicing / Bowling to "keep it tight"

you are right Kohli could pick any 2 of Bhuvi, shami, Yadav, Ishant......only Ashwin & Bumrah are certain.....Bhuvi gives additional batting as he is more competent than then even Pandya I would say as a test match batsman

That there is 2 seamers + jadeja in reserves who could get in and do equally good job as the top-4 in the team...allows India to let the top4 go flat out & rest / rotate them every two tests

--On a flatter pitch there is still room for India to go with 5 bowlers if Ashwin, Jadeja and Bhuvi are 3 of them as all of them can bat

What about Kuldeep. I think he will be a mystery bowlers for the Aussies batsmen.

Will he make into the XI in any of the four tests?

subhranshu.kumar.5 wrote:What about Kuldeep. I think he will be a mystery bowlers for the Aussies batsmen.

Will he make into the XI in any of the four tests?

Good question..he can be a match winner.....he might play in Sydney in place of a seamer....or if ashhwin is injured / in bad form

subhranshu.kumar.5 wrote:Regarding Aussies XI,

Khwaja and Finch will continue to open. I think the way Khwaja batted in UAE, he is a more matured player now and is capable to taking into any bowling attacks around the world. I am not pretty sure about Finch.

This will be followed by Peter Handscomb and Marsh brother with the elder one getting higher order. Peter is quite good but I think both the Marsh brothers are quite unreliable.

Number 6 will be handled by the Captain and I think Travis Head and Marcus Harris will both get a chance. Harris may play at number 3.

The Team would go like

1. Finch
2. Khwaja
3. Harris/Handscomb
4. S Marsh
5. Travis Head
6. Paine(c)
7. M Marsh
8. Siddle
9. Starc
10. Lyon
11. Hazlewood

Harris may come in place of Finch with one more batsman adjusting into XI, however Aussies will stick to their T-20 captain to open atleast for the first test match.

I think Cummins will play so no spot for Siddle.

As for India , Shami must surely be one of the bowlers ?

On a flat Adelaide pitch (since not a d/ n) India might be short one bowler...

Based on the warm up Shami must bowl, he was the only one who was effective and is the classiest seamer India have.
Kuldeep doesnt look to be in the thinking of the selectors, he was given one over at the tail. Its hard for India to square a team with two spinners unless its with Jadeja and Ashiwn batting, although I do agree the legspin could be a temptation on flat wickets to make something happen especially given the warning signals from the current game. I just dont see how they avoid a ridiculous tail if they do pick him.

Id have Cummins ahead of Siddle too, raw pace is Australias trump card in this series on any pitch. Hes also closer to being a viable 8 in the batting order, Aus are going to have a long tail whatever but Cummins can at least give something there.

Cummins can be the Curan for Australia against Indian pace attack.

Hundred for Vijay and half century for Rahul, much needed for both!

Has khawaja recovered from his muscle tear / injury
at the time of the injury i UAE it was reported that he's out for 6 months

KP_fan wrote:Has khawaja recovered from his muscle tear / injury
at the time of the injury i UAE it was reported that he's out for 6 months

That is a million dollar question, however they have included him in the squad of 15 for the first two test matches.

Think Khawaja is fine - he got through a four day shield match all right even if he didn't make a monster score so he will definitely play. The other batting spots are a bit of a raffle but I would expect the lineup to be Finch, Harris , Khawaja , S Marsh , Handscomb , M Marsh , Paine , Cummins , Starc , Lyon , Hazlewood. Could easily be Head in place of either of the Victorian bats - and will be if they want Khawaja to open - but that is what I'd pick from the squad they've selected.

Indian bowlers might fancy their chances if they get some early success unless it is a complete road. Not many of those bats have particularly outstanding first class records.

The Australian bowling , however , should be fine. Think they're all fit ; Lyon gives them good balance and allows the pace men to be rotated ; and even Marsh can bowl a few overs without going for too many. Kohli will need a couple of his teammates to stand up if India are to post the sort of score generally needed here.

I think this will be an interesting series : one team far from its traditional strength , and the other in territory it has always found a little too alien...I think it could be quite competitive. And wouldn't like to bet on the result.

alfie wrote:

I think this will be an interesting series : one team far from its traditional strength , and the other in territory it has always found a little too alien...I think it could be quite competitive. And wouldn't like to bet on the result.

I agree that this will be a very close series....though Indian media & aussie experts are talking up India & Kohli...as if an indian win is a done deal and the question is whether 4-0 or 3-0
Indian media is jingoistic & Aussie experts are playing mind games by putting pressure on India

It could be a 2-1 either way is my call

A 4-0 win would put Australia top of the world rankings apparently. But its very hard to see that with their batting.

In terms of the media KP its really much more a genuine case of them having turned on the current team, or the staff and CA in particular. The ex players are genuinely angry that Smith/Warner were hung out to dry and the criticism that the way they played the game and their ethics have been questioned. They cant wait to lay into the team, its been going on since before this tour.
The focus on Kholi though probably is a bit of mind games to heap pressure on him as an individual, especially as captain. The questions at the pres conferences will now be personal to him and distracting. Even openly discussing how they will bowl at him and a perceived weakness seems to be nothing more than an attempt to pressure and distract him.

I agree it should be a close fought series. India have the batting, but Australia's bowling on home pitches can win them games.

There's no way OZ win 4-0 and retain no1 ranking...not a chance....i cant call series winner, honestly too tough to call at this stage..

I'm going 3-1 Australia, though with it being 1-1 after two tests. I can see the Aus bowling being good enough to take the twenty wickets whilst the batting scratches together just enough runs. Similar to the England vs India series

More disruption for the Australians ... Khawaja's brother has been arrested after trying to frame a rival as a terrorist! Whilst it might divert some of the media attention away from " why are you guys so rubbish" questions its not exactly ideal for a guy who was really starting to build some positive momentum and who's batting will be under extreme pressure.

Last time India put up a competition was way back in 2003-04. Well both the teams were strong back then. This time both the teams are weak and competition will be good.

VTR wrote:I'm going 3-1 Australia, though with it being 1-1 after two tests. I can see the Aus bowling being good enough to take the twenty wickets whilst the batting scratches together just enough runs. Similar to the England vs India series

I agree with your analysis on the Aussie bowling VTR - but I think I will go with a drawn series, 2-2. I fancy India to do well at Adelaide and Sydney, but think they'll struggle in Perth and Melbourne - especially as I fancy they'll have spiced the MCG pitch up a bit this year after last winters rather mundane wicket...

India's bowling is more than equal to Australia's. The Indian fast men where outstanding in South Africa and England. Gone are the days of India fielding little dibbly dobbers, Bumrah and Shami are genuinely quick. Australia's batting is woeful Finch, Head, S Marsh and M Marsh not a test quality batsman between them. Harris a debutant. All their hopes are on Khawaja, who's now got personal issues floating around his head.

India 3-1.

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:India's bowling is more than equal to Australia's. The Indian fast men where outstanding in South Africa and England. Gone are the days of India fielding little dibbly dobbers, Bumrah and Shami are genuinely quick. Australia's batting is woeful Finch, Head, S Marsh and M Marsh not a test quality batsman between them. Harris a debutant. All their hopes are on Khawaja, who's now got personal issues floating around his head.

India 3-1.

Bumrah and Shami are only "genuinely quick" in the same way the England "quicks" are ...ie not. they dont have the height to really get the best from what pace they have either on Australian tracks, its that height that was credited with making a fairly pedestrian Tremelett a success and to turning Finn from being scattergun quick into lethal.
Their success abroad came in conditions that offered a lot of movement to seam bowlers. Theres much less of that in Australia, and whilst they are both skilful I doubt they will be able to get the kind of movement they did in England and. Its also worth noting Shami averaged 39 on that tour and 73 on his previous trip to England, 36 when he went to Aus...the only seamers tour hes done well on was the trip to SA. Whilst Bumrah has good figures from both he wasnt one of the best performing bowlers in either series, the SA one in particular was ridiculously low scoring...and India lost both those series. i dont think anyone would deny that Shami and Bumrah are a step up from the stereotyped Indian seamers of previous years, but they are not express pace or skilled to the level of Anderson or Philander..
The Indian spinners are quality, but how much will they get in to the games? Its hard to fit two in the side without either risking burning out the seamers . You'd look to the leggie to make things happen on flat pitches, but its hard to get him in the side without compromising the batting.

You only have to look at the warm up game to see how much the Indians could struggle to take wickets, that was against a side made up almost entirely of under 23's with less than 10 first class games under their belts.

Australia have a fully fit attack. Starc and Cummins have genuine pace and we know how good they can be on home surfaces, even more so against the relatively short Indian batsmen. Hazelwood is a proven quality test bowler, and Lyon a decent spinner. Marsh isnt quite Ben Stokes but at least gives them some depth in a 4 man front line attack.

I'm not having the Indian pace attack being as good as the Aussies in Australia. They were good in the England series but certainly not outstanding. England won 4-1 with a pretty flaky batting lineup, if the pacers were that good India would have won the series

VTR wrote:I'm not having the Indian pace attack being as good as the Aussies in Australia. They were good in the England series but certainly not outstanding. England won 4-1 with a pretty flaky batting lineup, if the pacers were that good India would have won the series

India lost the series not because of an inferior bowling or inferior specialist batting

BUT because of England's by far better lower order batting and that Eng won all 5 tosses

The lower order batting of Eng + Ind having to bat last in 4 games( i.e toss factor) ..............proved just a bit more  than the reasonable superiority in bowling and marginal superiority in top order batting  that India exuded

The tosses helped, but if Indian's bowling was "outstanding" as Nathaniel puts it, there's no way they'd have let England off the hook so many times. I'd say the Indian pace bowling in the series was pretty inconsistent. Excellent at times, quite poor as others. I can't make a case for them being anywhere near as good as the Australian bowlers in Australian conditions based on anything I've seen so far

Indian quicks are pretty good ... and quick enough , to be honest. What they probably don't have is the height of the Australians (as goose points out) - and they are of course less familiar with the prevailing conditions , just as important for bowlers as for bats.
However rumours here that Adelaide could be a bit bowler-friendly (to the point that M Marsh may be discarded in favour of an extra batsman) so that would tend to help the Indian bowlers quite a bit... much of the Aussie batting is either untried or not very impressive so far.
Big question for me is whether the "other" Indian bats can help Kohli to score winning totals...

And I cannot agree with KP_fan that India's bowling had "reasonable superiority" during that England tour. VTR is correct to call it inconsistent...brilliant at best but overall shaded by greater consistency from the home team rather than just the tosses.

Both the teams have announced their XI. Both teams are going with a 7-4 combo. Well both teams consider their and opponents batting to be the weak point looking at the extra batsmen. M Marsh is dropped from the XI.

Looking at the Indian side, except Kohli all under performed in England. However here Vijay is back with some good innings for Essex and a 100 in the practise game. KL will play for Australia. I hope Pujara and Rahane to play their natural game bit longer than they did in previous two series. There is still a doubt that Kohli will go for nepotism or talent i.e. Rohit or Vihari. Aussies batsmen look bit Pale in front of Indian Batting line up however at home every one dreadful.

Regarding bowlers, they are not as good as the Aussies one's are. Though Bumrah, Shami and still to be mature Ishant bowled well in their previous tours but they were not the best. They are still not a 100% mach for the likes of starc and cummins.

If we compare the spinners, Lyon has an average of 34 and Ashwin of 55 in Australia. I don't think Ashwin will be handy except of giving pacers bit of rest. Indian should be wary of Lyon spell he delivered in Adelaide last season. However Ashwin can be bit handy with the bat. He has 2 fifties to back his claim.

Overall both the team are in equal position regarding their strength. It would be a competitive series and the scoreline A/c to me will be 2-1 in favour of Australia.

...and again whether or not the Indian seamers were brilliant in England isnt entirely relevant, this is Australia where pace and bounce rather than the ability to move the Dukes ball on damp green wickets is prime. Theres lots of bowlers who have done well in England who have come here and found it a graveyard ( ask any England fan).

Both teams going with just 4 front line bowlers suggests to me they are expecting a lively wicket, it would be a huge risk to place a massive load on the frontline seamers otherwise. It could be argued that India are lined up to play for a draw, but also I think maybe they looked at what a 5th bowling option would be and felt they wouldnt add much to the attack and significantly weaken the batting.
The dropping of Marsh certainly is a sign that Australia are worried about their top order batting, and also a sign that they are moving on from mediocrity. A similar argument to the Indian selection policy, although Marsh is a decent bat his bowling is a handy to rest the frontliners rather than offering a genuine challenge in itself.
If Indian do go for Sharma over Vihari then that leaves both sides without a significant change bowling option at all. Very different to Englands 6 + Root line ups! It shows just how valuable to all rounders have been to England to help them cover for the lack of top class batting and bowling.

They seem pretty sure the pitch in Adelaide will give the bowlers a fair bit of help - good news for viewers as it usually makes for a better game. Marsh is basically only a change bowler used to rest the main men if the opponent's innings lasts a long time - which they do not expect to be the case this time ; and he really isn't worth a spot as a batsman alone.
The key for Australia's attack is of course Lyon : he enables the strike bowlers to rotate around him without allowing the opposition to relax and score freely...not sure Ashwin will be able to do the same job as well for India in these conditions.
Still reckon this Australian batting lineup is potentially a bad half hour away from getting shot out for 100 on any pitch that gives the bowlers a serious level of assistance. India haven't had a lot of warm up work - although at least their bowlers had a longer than planned time in the field in the one match scheduled... If they hit their lengths tomorrow it could be very interesting ...