India VS Australia 2018-19

First topic message reminder :

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.

Didn’t realise I’d done this on the wrong thread! Screw it, I’ll stick with what I’ve got

KL Rahul, oh dear me!

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Didn’t realise I’d done this on the wrong thread! Screw it, I’ll stick with what I’ve got

Dolph - when you're top of the tree, you can do what you want!

Meanwhile, India move onto 51/1 following the early loss of Rahul. Thought Agarwal and Pujara were seeming well set until the last two overs which have seen lifters from Starc and Cummins trouble both batsmen. Feel Australia do need another wicket before lunch if it's not going to be a hard and long afternoon for them. Anyway, I'll find out in our morning - night all.

Handscomb back in the team, this stuff is hard to believe. Got the think 350 plus and India can control this match, just don't see where the runs are coming from for Australia

Watching the last session and Pujara (surely going to end up MoTS ? ) doing what he loves best and batting all day ; aided by a rather fluent Vihari and weathering this second new ball well: at 301/4 India have me already regretting my optimistic prediction on the competition thread of an Australian victory

Thought India made questionable selections ; but they're looking pretty good at end of day one. And the Australian selections don't thrill me : Labuschagne might have been worth a try but is he really a number three ? And his bowling was both underused and far from impressive... Handscomb seems like a punt.
303/4 at the close , Pujara still going

Apparently a better pitch for both bowler and stroke player than Melbourne so at least a bit more action. But since Australia don't have the batting firepower to score five hundred it's hard to see anything other than an eventual Indian win or a draw from here.

Cheteshwar Pujara's brilliance with fine support from Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari makes it India's day. Captain Kohli, after his expected bungling up of selection, thankfully won the toss, else it could have been!...
Seems a pitch with lots of runs. Both sides lite by a proper 5th bowling option. Labuschagne, (how do you pronounce his name? Seems the commentators themselves were not very sure) and Vihari are pretty parttime, and the former clearly showed that he really isn't a regular 5th bowler all-rounder. Pretty much a batsman who can bowl... Same holds for Vihari. The added problem for India is that Kuldip can be expensive in tests. He does have the Extra Factor about him and this inexperienced Australian lineup hopefully would struggle to pick him. And hopefully India will bat long enough to bring greater life for the spinner from this track.

Australia's best bowler of the day yet again has been Pat Cummins though he has nothing to show for his effort. Mayank's proactiveness meant Nathan Lyon was largely checkmated though the offie had the last laugh as far as Agarwal and his battle in this innings was concerned. Mayank would be disappointed he missed out on a hundred, he was largely untroubled in his stay and was moving along quite nicely...

Kohli did score a ton at Perth in testing conditions and grinded out 82 at MCG, but by his standards, he has had a quiet series so far, yet again not converting a start into something substantial.
Ajinkya Rahane continues to attract good balls, and his wait for a test ton has been rather extensive now, nearly a year and a half now. Didn't get a hundred last year, a first such year in his career. Though Rahane is miles better than him, Rohit's guaranteed return to the test squad might mean that Virat could now turn his attention to Rahane to make space for his buddy...

Toss going the other way might have brought a different story , I suppose... I do have reservations about the attack India have picked for this : think Bumrah and Shami might end up pretty tired !
But as it is , if India make 450 or so their spinners will have time and runs to play with. They might need both.

Aussies potentially in for another long day tomorrow - if Pujara/Vihari make it through the first hour, things could get ugly - especially with the pitch being a bit easier to score on, the likes of Pant/Jadeja will be very dangerous...

India should bat on until they're all out - they don't need to win this game, so make sure the loss is eliminated as a result if possible in the first dig

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Aussies potentially in for another long day tomorrow - if Pujara/Vihari make it through the first hour, things could get ugly - especially with the pitch being a bit easier to score on, the likes of Pant/Jadeja will be very dangerous...

India should bat on until they're all out - they don't need to win this game, so make sure the loss is eliminated as a result if possible in the first dig

Yes, they do - what about Joey's competition where I'm facing down the barrel?

More seriously, another excellent Test innings from Pujara looking every inch an excellent Test batsman (why did it go so belly up at Yorks, Tiger?). Three centuries in the series for him now plus a 71. Head and Khawaja share joint top series score for Australia with 72. Rather says a lot, I think and backs up Alfie's call about MotS (albeit a little early for my ideal liking ).

Pujara achieves his holy grail by having the stand out moment of his career. Prior to the tour of England he had a solitary century outside Asia. Now he's added one in England and three in Australia. He's only missing ones in New Zealand and West Indies now. Pujara could well end up with 30+ test centuries

--Last couple of tests have show the significance of Luck/ Chance / destiny's hand in making careers....

Shaw rolled over his ankle & what seemed like a week of lay-off turned out so bad that Mayank was called from half cold and he grabbed his chance with both hands in difficult conditions & now in a test and half he's become India's No.1 opener.
His style reminds me of Siddhu....standing on back foot / straight bat to pacers...with limited strokes.... and dances down the track with disdain to spinners.

--And by chance Rohit is out, Vihari back in middle order and after a fiery survival as opener in Melbourne he seems so much more comfortable here on a pitch which is almost like Melbourne so far....flat but with Australian bounce....and his back-foot square of the wicket on offside is yielding good returns.

He must turn this tomm into a 100.....40s and 50s are cast in sand and forgotten...test match 100s scored in foreign conditions cast in stone forever.....and nail the No, 6 spot

--India dodged the bullet after screwed up selections.....AGAIN
It could have been terrible had Kohli lost toss...and Ind bowling first and 1 of their 2 seamers had an expensive first 3 overs.....and you are forced to bowl a spinner within the first half hour...on a pitch slightly green and offering nothing to the spinner yet

Rahul was deemed so bad that dumped in Melbourne as opener ...has done nothing since and gets a recall.....
It should have been Vijay or Parthiv the reserve keeper cum opener instead

Rahul scored 9 runs in 5 balls......and got out poking....he is mentally so shot that he cannot leave balls and play out time

--However "purplest" patch of Pujara's life has put India 70-30 ahead...and if they play Par cricket and Aus does not have an extraordinary inning or two from their top-order.....Ind will go on to win

Ind needs to bat at-least 1 session whihc they most surely will to get to ~400... and two at most......given the conditions....beteen Vihari, Pujara, Jadeja, Pant and Kuldeep ( who is not quite a tailender)......Ind should be able to bat better part of 60 over and add another 150 runs

--and then unleash two spinners who should get some assistance by D3... and use 2 fast bowlers in short sharp spells

In summary we got away with screwed up selection owing to the won toss and super Pujara and solid Mayank

Have to say I was very surprised to see India go with just the two seamers.
Both sides have clearly bought int the idea that spin is going to play a big part, but it does seem India took a big gamble ( which has payed off so far) on winning the toss. The flip argument is you maybe should just pick your 4 best bowlers and Yadav and Bhuvi arent in that bracket (notes regarding) and play to your strengths.
But overall this looks like India would be quite content with grinding out a draw.
As it is theyve scored at a fair rate and despite losing wickets to the old ball have avoided a collapse to the new one. A score of 500 is quite possible and its hard to see this Aussie batting line up getting close to that even if Indias bowling selections are a bit dubious.

Pujara has absolutely been a point of difference in this series. Usually coming in very early hes played proper test innings. Noone in the Australian side has looked like scoring anywhere near as many runs as he has. Prior to this series he'd scored 1 century in 8 tests against Aus, and a highest score of 73 in Aus. Hes already got 3 centuries and a 71 this tour...quite a turn around.
The Australian focus was all on Kholi as the danger man but surely Pujara is set to be man of the series?

I largely agree with what the Indian fans are saying here. India are favourites to win this game from this position, but that may be down to the toss, Pujaras performance, and how bad Australias batting is rather than the selections. The successes shouldnt mask the problems with the side... they are still struggling for openers and all rounders.
And obviously this game is still open to all 3 results.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Aussies potentially in for another long day tomorrow

Have to agree. Every day is another long day for Australia it seems.

This has 3-1 written all over it already. Guess we'll have to wait and see how our new lineup fares with the bat (when they get there) but I fear a disaster of major proportions is looming for Australia. I usually go out for a day... but honestly... it's not worth getting sunstroke watching Australia struggle. Watching India bat... well yes, probably worth it. See how I go. Maybe Sunday if it's still going.

OZ selections are baffling, im happy with Labushcange being selected, but they need to give either he or Marsh a long run, no good for either being chopped and changed....Renshaw should be opening or at least in top 3, but at same time Finch has been discarded far too soon....Shaun Marsh shouldn't be anywhere near the side...he's 35 and simply never been good or consistent enough

India are in a good position at the end of day one, but that doesn't mean Australia are out of it. India aren't too far away from a collapse as they are 4 down, and Pujara and Vihari are the last specialist bats. Pant is Pant, and Jadeja, despite his obvious improvement with the bat has had his fair share of issues on bouncier tracks. Kuldip is a pretty decent option at 9 and has the ability to hang around, but these are different conditions than the roads that UP played most of their FC cricket prior to last 2 seasons. So if Cummins or Starc get their act together and produce a special spell, India can still be contained to below 400. Then it would require a special innings or 2 from the Australian lineup. Marsh and Khawaja are capable, but both have been inconsistent and the rest of the lineup is inexperienced and struggling a bit, other than Head, and Cummins.
Pujara and Vihari hopefully would survive the first hour and beyond, and facilitate the team batting the better part of tomorrow. That should take India to safe regions, around or beyond 450, will be hard to lose from there, despite Kohli's selection problems.

This looks to be all but over in terms of India not losing and therefore winning the series. India piling on the misery for Australia and should get to 500, and I'd be surprised if Australia have enough quality to even draw this one.

Australia may not have been out of the game last night ; but they are well and truly so now...India having piled on the misery to the tune of 481/6 by tea...

Pity because it is now just a case of (a) when India declare (b) how many Australia can get - hopefully over a long innings - and then whether there is time for Kohli and co to have another frisky second innings and still bowl the hosts out on day five. Could still be interesting but all the tension is gone with the series decided.
Pitch looks good for batting for now so if the Australian openers can get a start they just might make the Indian bowlers suffer a bit tomorrow ...I do hope they can summon the spirit to make them really work for their wickets this time.

Pant reaches his second Test hundred

But still no sign of a declaration ...Which induces Paine to give Khawaja a bowl...

Even Rahul might fancy facing this

It has certainly been a good innings from Pant : OK , scored against an opponent who was already groggy , on a placid pitch - but you still have to make them and he's made them very well. Paced it nicely for his team's game plan.
He is far from the best glove man I've seen ; but his batting offers enough ( belligerence - excellent ; defence a bit less so but seems to be developing) that I fancy he has the job for India for the foreseeable future

Extra points for chat

If India bat much longer , Labuschagne might yet record his first Test Century - with the ball.  0/76 from 16 : he has had a bit more work today but might not be glad of it...
He bowled reasonably well in UAE , I thought. But he's been fodder here.  And with the poisoned chalice of the number three batting spot to come this match may not be quite what he wanted with an eye to a future Test career.

Aha...he's off - Head next in the firing line...

These two not really playing as if a declaration is imminent : think Kohli must be shooting for 600. Fair enough I guess ; he doesn't need to win the match. But not exactly riveting viewing...

552/6 Pant 126 Jadeja 48. Head bowling friendly dobbers. I need a drink...

Third new ball welcomed (?) by Starc and Hazlewood

...and poor Hazlewood misses out on a close lbw shout ; though he'd still have missed if they'd had a referral left as it was umpires call.

579/6. Should be a mercy rule...

Well played young Pant, the only Indian keeper to score a test hundred in England becomes the only Indian keeper to score a hundred in Australia. To think he's only a baby at 21 years old, the future very bright.

Australia's batting woes aside, Starc is toilet. Literally the most overrated bowler in world cricket.

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Well played young Pant, the only Indian keeper to score a test hundred in England becomes the only Indian keeper to score a hundred in Australia. To think he's only a baby at 21 years old, the future very bright.

Australia's batting woes aside, Starc is toilet. Literally the most overrated bowler in world cricket.

Bit harsh , Nathaniel . He is very good on his day - but he's certainly been pretty ordinary this year , his figures kept reasonable only by cheap tail end wickets.
I agree he is a bit over rated. Trouble is his devastating spells mesmerize the observer and the dross served up on other occasions gets overlooked.
Still he has 199 Test wickets : he's no mug. Just how he ends up being remembered will depend on how well he comes back from this dry patch , and how he goes on from there...

I think Cummins will end up higher in the pantheon.

Of course , just as I praise Cummins , Jadeja takes him for sixteen in one over

602/6 and still it goes on...presumably Jadeja will be allowed time to get another twenty for his hundred ? He won't need much at this rate

I feel a tad sorry for Cummins tbh Alfie. He bowls his heart out with the old ball time after time when Starc wastes it. Cummins literally seems knackered after his marathon efforts in Melbourne.

Starc may well take 300 wickets but I feel that if Pattinson ever returned to full fitness that Cummins, Hazlewood and Pattinson would be the best three quick bowlers

Maybe , Nathaniel. Though I think they like the left arm option...

Doubt Pattinson will be back ; it has been a struggle for him lately.

Meanwhile , in shock news : a wicket falls ! And India declare at last

622. Ten overs for Australia to survive tonight . Nice session for Khawaja and Harris : wonder when Lyon pads up as night guard ?

True Cummins might have run out of petrol after Melbourne. I did think Siddle should have played here ; though I'd probably have chosen to rotate Hazlewood out - and he's turned out easily the best of them in this game so what do I know ?

In truth four matches in short time - on fairly flat pitches - was always likely to be a tough ordeal for pace bowlers. Will be interesting to see how Bumrah and Shami manage now - if Australia can offer serious resistance.

Openers survived six overs of pace (helped by Pant dropping a dolly off Khawaja before he scored)
Now Jadeja and Kuldeep get their chance...

Well done Harris and Khawaja !  Survived to the close...first step.

Can put the feet up and come back in the morning. Going to need a lot of concentration but Australia need a solid day's batting - something like a 300/4 maybe ?  If they fold tomorrow , this is over. But I think conditions will still favour the batsmen tomorrow so hope still springs...although a draw is the limit of that hope.

Edit : and , of course , something for Joey to watch on Sunday

This, now expected, series win is a fine achievement by India. OK, this is not a strong Aussie side but any win away from home is a triumph in these days of short tours with little time for the visitors to acclimatise.
If I was Kohli I would have batted into the third day and made over 700 just as England should have done at Cape Town three years ago when they came close to defeat after making more than 600.
So how strong, or weak, is this Aus side given there is an Ashes series coming up ? No doubt Smith and Warner will be back to boost what is a fairly poor batting line up. The bowlers have struggled in the first innings of the third and fourth Tests of this series but may like English conditions. Aus haven't won in England since 2001 and may not break this sequence this summer.

Fantastic performance from India. Fully deserved series win, they have trounced Australia really. Surprised as others are they didn't just bat on, but it won't matter in the end. Australia 300 all out first innings is my prediction

Difference to that England game is the series was only 1-0 at that stage, so chasing the win was the right idea. I have a feeling that Australia will win in England this time, in a closely fought series

1 in 8 overs bowled by part timers. This is the problem with not having a fifth bowler or at least a proper all rounder. Its another weakness that Australia have that cant just be fixed by coaching and confidence.
Its exactly the sort of situation where a leg spinner is supposed to be useful in making things happen, but Lambuschange really isnt anything more than an occasional fill in. Australia seem to have been massively over optimistic about what they can get from him as a bowler. And lets not even mention batting at 3! Hes not quite a Moeen yet anyway. (Something about Smiths early career )

An Indian win does look pretty inevitable. Whilst there may not be much in the pitch for bowlers, and India may have their own bowling line up issues, but its hard to see this Aussie batting line up saving the game.

In terms of the declaration I think it was pretty smart really. They were down to the very weak tail enders coming in so not much chance of adding many runs, more likely handing morale boosting wickets to Aus. theres always the danger of one of those bowlers getting hit on the finger too, losing a seamer would be a disaster for India. The openers now have to start twice a second time against a new ball. get a bowl at them after they'd been in the field for two days and their heads were down and tired. As it was a wicket didnt come, but it was an excellent opportunity to get at the top order. Most importantly though is splitting the load for their two seamers, they get to rest overnight and come back fresh. All they've done is bowl 3 overs each, so they should be well set to bowl at their best tomorrow.
Thinking they wouldve made 700 runs is a bit optimistic. the tail wasnt going to hang around, and Pant was already accelerating and taking risks. Bumrah is possibly the worst batsman in tests history .. he doesnt average in double figures for any format international or domestically and in tests just 1.5. Most likely they would've made 650ish batting through, and lost a number of advantages in doing so (bowling at Aus at the end of a long day, at the start of a new day, having the momentum in the game, resting their seamers overnight, protecting their bowlers and keeper)

If Aus do hold on for a draw then its not down to the declaration, it'll be down to them having some character and Indias bowling selections. I do fancy that the twin specialist spinners may prove to be effective though, certainly based on Lyons being the only threat from Aus. Jadeja can be his equal, and Kuldeep could be the threat Lambuschange isnt now they have little concern over economy and Australia forced on the defensive.

Have to feel a bit for Lyon being in a side this bad. Hes had an excellent series and been a bigger factor than we perhaps expected. The amount hes bowled has been ridiculous, no end of hard work put in; averaging over 30 overs per innings so far.

As for the Ashes...well Smith and Warner will make a huge difference to this side. Mitchell Marsh will doubtless travel again and fill that allrounders void in conditions better suited to a medium quick. If the senior seamers are fit then Aus can always be a threat.
But theres still huge wholes in the batting which are only getting worse with new players being jettisoned and the likes of SMarsh being on the edge of a pension. Paines increasingly past it as a keeper, batsman and arguably captain. If England continue to hold their confidence and can bring Burns through as a test class opener then it really is hard to see past them winning at home unless Aus can unearth some serious new talent very quickly. One or two players could suddenly transform them back into a force, but its really hard to see where they are going to come from.

--India was able to Grind Aus, then hammer them & then pummel them...

Pant delivered the type of inning that I anticipate he will every 4th test match...and is the reason why I had him in my Tipping Competition list
Jadeja is a much improved lower order batsman....as he showed in T5 in Eng  also.....when he cuts loose , he can smash 40 runs in 3 overs......he smacked Anderson for a couple of sixes down the ground clearing leg & making room as i recall that test

Vihari was unlucky inspite of the DRS.....and we wish Pujara could get the double....are small side wishes

--Warne was so positively talking on air about    
" How Aus can win from this situation".....was more reminiscent of the posiitve mentality of chips of the world conquering Steve Waugh-era block.....then the reality of the situation

--My read it's 90% chance of an Indian win and 10% draw

India will enforce follow-on here...that's why they batted to pile up 620.....we already saw Khawaja nicked one within 5 overs......and ball will spin & reverse and chances will be created.

The 10% draw is only if they score 425 to avoid a follow-on

--I remember the 1985-86 SCG test similar score & script Ind 600-4D...and Aus looked comfortably set for draw...ball started spinning square on D5....fell short on D5 avoiding the follow on by a 4  runs....and crashed to 7 down in a session and a half Greg Ritchie holding on Shastri and Shivlal Yadav to a draw

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/16834/scorecard/63420/australia-vs-india-3rd-test-india-tour-of-australia-1985-86

Warne is absolutely full of crap, he always thinks Australia can win, without looking at the reality of a team that has recalled Peter Handscomb into its top six amongst other issues

As an England fan, I really hope that Harris, Marsh and Handscomb all come of age and score hundreds tomorrow

4/5 still available on an Indian win. Late Christmas present. Yes, there's some rain around, but I don't think India should have too many problems bagging 20 wickets against a bunch of miserable, tired and demoralised Australians.

VTR wrote:Warne is absolutely full of crap, he always thinks Australia can win, without looking at the reality of a team that has recalled Peter Handscomb into its top six amongst other issues

Perhaps the biggest issue being hes got the second best average in the current Aussie side, by some margin.

India building towards a really top side. Top order probably set with Agarwal, Shaw, Pujara and Kohli. Five and six are probably up for grabs as Rahane has been poor for a long time and Vihari hasn't taken his opportunity. Rohit isn't a test batsman either. Secondly Kohli needs to make Jadeja the lead spinner. Ashwin isn't capable of performing outside Asia. Then the decision is whether they bed in Shubman Gill at 5 and Hardik Pandya at 6

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:India building towards a really top side. Top order probably set with Agarwal, Shaw, Pujara and Kohli. Five and six are probably up for grabs as Rahane has been poor for a long time and Vihari hasn't taken his opportunity. Rohit isn't a test batsman either. Secondly Kohli needs to make Jadeja the lead spinner. Ashwin isn't capable of performing outside Asia. Then the decision is whether they bed in Shubman Gill at 5 and Hardik Pandya at 6

--I agree..India looking much more settled by the end of the series
I think up for grabs is opening slot & Shaw will get a chance to make it his own if he can perform overseas.....Abhimanyu Eswaran Bengal opener is next in line
I think India will travel next winter to NZ and if there is a Govt change in India........a series with Pak in UAE or neutral Eng could be on cards too

--Rahane hasn't scored big 100...but made enough tough runs to continue to hold on to No. 5 and Hanuma will get a Run at 6...with Rohit challenging him.....with Shreyas Iyer and Shubhman Gill also in the running.....and Karun Nair not quite out of the race for the selectors at least

--Pandya must play a lot of FC & A tour & make himself worth of a slot as one of 3 seamers to be in reckoning...else his batting is not deemed good enough in test matches..
That he did not have management's confidence in his batting skills.... even with cushion as 5th bowler in place of out of form Rahul here on this flat pitch .....doesn't augur well for him.
Vijay Shankar averaging ~50 in Ranji with bat & a Mitch Marsh type 125-132 kph seamer in in the scheme of selectors....and a better bet than Pandya as a proper batsman...he did well on recent NZ-A tour

--Regarding spin deptt......Ashwin is definitely a better spinner than Jadeja when fully fit.......but his fitness level stands exposed
On less responsive foreign pitches when he has to put his body / shoulder to impart more revs.....he breaks down after a test or two of workloand
BUT enough quality in him to play him in the first test or two

Jadeja can play the remaining 2 or 3 tests.....and keeps the workload distributed between them.
Hats off to Lyon for bowling as many overs without breaking down:OK:

India should keep in reckoning Jayant Yadav the spin bowling allrounder who did so well when Eng toured India.....who has been eeked out
by Kulpdeep
Krishnappa Gowtham & Nadeem are the other two Offbreak and SLA on the fringe

--and while talking about the second line Indians....we must take note of excellent pace reserves...
1) Shardul Thakur....has the making of another Shami
2)3) and 4) Mohd Siraj, Rajnish Gurbani and Navdeep Saini all pretty brisk 135-145kph doing very well in A circuit and Ranji....and some of them should play test cricket....Siraj will get a breakthrough sooner than later I suspect in place of Umesh
5) Mohd Khalil fastracked thru ODIs as he is the only left arm pacer in reserves also 135-140+ speed bracket.....needs to play more Ranji IMO
6) thru 10) ankit Rajput, Avnesh Khan Kharjoolia and Basel Thampi, Chahar are on the outer fringes all capable of hitting 140kph...but will slow down in the grind of Ranji if they don't get an international breakthru soon....and given our pace riches....hard prospects for them

KPF, a new all-round hope emerging is Mumbai's Shivam Dube. Has had a pretty fine Ranji season though Mumbai has been pathetic this season. Has produced some impressive numbers with both bat and ball, and is a reason I would give a bit of attention to the IPL this year.
As for the batting department, Shubman Gill has had a great start to his first class career, just like he had at all age levels. He's close to scoring 1000 FC runs, just 10 short in just 8 games. He's only 19, and is surely one for the future. Though he sometimes play in the middle order for India A when both Shaw and Agarwal were playing, he has been a regular opener for Punjab. That's where he batted for India A too in recent times after Shaw made it to the senior side. But early in his career, he has shown good adaptability, and could be considered even for the middle order as they go along. Another prospect emerging from Punjab is Anmolpreet Singh who has also been doing well for India A. Both, along with Shaw, are more like Gen Next, though, and ideally would do well to gain some more experience before moving on to the next level.
Shivam Mavi, along with Khalil and Siraj, represent a good prospect in the seam bowling department, but he hasn't had the greatest of starts to his long format career.

And any idea what happened to Movi's U-19 bowling partner, the seriously quick Kamlesh Nagarkodi? After that injury prior to last IPL, there has been not much news on him...

msp83 wrote:KPF, a new all-round hope emerging is Mumbai's Shivam Dube.  

The allrounder MUST hold his place in as a specialist batsman or a specialist bowler........
Shivam clearly is not a specialist bowler....so he's gotta be good enough to be a specialist batsman

The one who missed the boat was Abhishek Nayar ...whose peak was about 8 or 9 years back....was quite a tecnically correct batsman and a Mohinder amarnath type bowler

Dube seems a big hitting batsman who's pretty decent with the ball. He has taken 5fors in Ranji, and cricinfo suggests he has a few variations, slower balls and cutters. Seems he really can tonk it, and he has had a couple of explosive Ranji knocks this season. At the same time, he also played a couple of lone hands to rescue his side from complete collapse, including a patient 55 in a low scoring game.
His numbers with bat and ball are decent at this stage, and now he's got an IPL opportunity. Hopefully he has some serious substance to make it to the test level...

Double pace attack didn't last long this morning...Jadeja on fifth over - and inches away from the immediate breakthrough !
Rahul very honest in indicating he took the "catch" on the half volley Umpire Gould appreciative .
Was a great attempt , too.

Batting not looking too challenging so far. India may regret that Pant drop of Khawaja last night , as I think this is going to be hard work for the bowlers today.

Aggressive approach from these two batsmen - 21 off the last two overs as both go after Jadeja. Warne approves...

Kuldeep on now too. 61/0 off 18

Aggressive approach brings Khawaja undone as he fails to get to the pitch of Kuldeep and clips to mid wicket ...
Bit of a waste : a bright 27 not what Australia needed from him as the premier batsman.

Test now for Labuschagne ; though he could hardly have a "softer" introduction as a number three than 23 rd over on this flat pitch...

Does well to dig out a Bumrah Yorker first ball - a seriously good delivery to cop first up !