With the conclusion of the recent 4 day warm up match between Australia and the Indian Board Presidents XI, it is now less than a week till the first test of the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar 4 match Test series in India.
Having drawn their 2 day warm-up game a few days after arriving in India, the Australians were from what I can see a little weaker in certain elements of their game.
The IBP XI batted first, and Yuvraj Singh led them well and has most likely secured a spot in the starting eleven for the first Test.
After they amassed 455 in their first innings with Rohit Sharma (105), 19-year old Virat Kohli (105), Parthiv Patel (62) and Irfan Pathan (56) leading the attack with high intensity.
In his innings of 105, Rohit Sharma smashed 12 fours and 4 sixes.
Mitchell Johnson showed some maturity with the ball with figures of 4/75 off 23.4 overs in the first innings. Stuart Clark managed 3/67 and Peter Siddle (of Victoria) 2/64. Brett Lee picked up one but led the bowling attack with economic consistency.
Australia struggled up front with the loss of Matthew Hayden (20), Simon Katich (15) and Michael Clarke (18). Ricky Ponting showed, in both innings’, his determination to shut the critics up about his in India batting record. Ponting scored 41 and then 58* not out.
Michael Hussey was the savior of the innings as he ended up being the last man standing with an unbeaten 126*. Brad Haddin offered a good contribution of 34 before being dismissed on the fourth ball of the third day. Wickets tumbled as Piyush Chawla (5/89) rattled the lower order. Stuart Clark then surprised many as him and Michael Hussey put together a 96 run partnership for the 10th wicket. Clark made 44 as Australia were dismissed for 314.
The IPB XI lost 2 early wickets before Wasim Jaffer (93) and Yuvraj Singh (113) continued to sink the Australian’s deeper from the victory surface.
Yuvraj hit 7 sixes and 7 fours in his Captains innings.
Rohit Sharma managed 29* before the declaration was called.
Stuart Clark was the pick of the bowlers with 3/33, no doubt proving he is ideal man for Test match level!
Australia, after once again losing Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich at the top of the order, were kept in the match by Ricky Ponting and Vice-Captain Michael Clarke 36*.
The result was a draw as Australia ended with 127/2.
An extra day would have seen an exciting combat endure!
The slower bowlers made very little impact on the Australian front, whereas the Indian slower bowlers managed better utilisation of the wicket. Jason Krejza made little impact this time around, as opposed to the 2 day game where himself and Peter Siddle made an impact. But there is time for them to make a mark.
Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich didn’t perform up front, with Phil Jaques being left out, but the most likely situation is that these two will find the firing button in time for the first test.
Katich was favored for the starting line-up over Jaques.
Other news is that Bryce McGain (the 36 year old Victorian spinner) has been sent back home due to a lingering shoulder injury.
Cameron White has been the replacement candidate. White recently played with Australia in the home series against Bangladesh and another ODI series in India for Australia A. He was picked in place of the likes of Beau Casson, Ashley Noffke and Nathan Bracken. Casson and Bracken, would have been equally fitting replacements as Australia’s bowling attack seems to need an extra ingredient.
Shane Watson is still the likely all-rounder for the first test, but missed the four day warm up after picking up a fever.
Keep your reading browsers alert for my forecast looking at the Border-Gavaskar 4 match Test series, which starts this Thursday October 9th.
Click here for the tour fixtures
Click here for the warm-up match scorecard between Australia and the Indian Board Presidents XI.
7 comments:
Good at see you updating again.
Alot has been made of this warm up game and there is no doubt Australians looked a bit vulnerable. Jason K looked a bit nervous through out the match and didn't seem like he was on par with the rest of the team. The pitch seemed completely dead and the batsmen were on a high. The BCCI took a smart step by going for a pitch that is completely dead and discouraging for the Australian bowlers. These are one of the ways to keep the guest teams on a low. Australians are quiet professional though and they always look a different team when the real matches start.
I doubt Jason will be chosen for the first test and White might get the nod. He seems to have a bit more experience and could be useful as an extra batter.
There are some good but biased articles written by Indian journalist regarding Ricky Ponting. He is definitely the target along with Jason K. I really can't wait for the Harbhajan/Ponting battle. Athough most of the time, some of this hype and these little battles within the battles turn out to be nothing special.
G'Day Ian,
Canary Yellow? That's Australian Gold my friend and don't you fu*king forget it ;)
Nice looking site here, just followed the link from Miss-Field and like what I see. Have subscribed so no doubt I'll pop in through the summer.
Looking forward to a great series and of course Baggy Green retention of the Bordaskar.
Hey guys. Jawad as always mate, like your opinions. Ricky is the obvious target for many reasons, and again, I have no doubt in his ability to step up. If Sreesanth and Roy were in the squads it would have made the contests even more explosive! Looking forward to it!
Moses (I guess i'll call you that), thanks mate and glad you enjoy what you see! Haha, yeah the canary yellow is a bit of a laugh out loud statement. Picked it up with the 12th man stuff and it's also taken from a picture caption in Jonty Rhodes' autobiography when Aussie won the 1999 World Cup semi. I was initially going to make it thebaggygreen, but I may launch some new sites which I'd use that for...in good time I guess.
Hope to hear from you more! Will have plenty writing up for you guys soon. Cheers!
Cheers Ian,
Will be sure to drop by many more times through the summer. Noticed you've followed me over the green and gold rugby as well ;)
Any chance of a link swap? Have stuck yours up over at http://beerandsport.blogspot.com
Yeah sure! No worries, will put your rugby site link in my links list! Networks with sport fans is what it's all about..and rugby is up there in my books!
Cheers Ian, I guest blog over at Green and Gold Rugby a fair bit so I'm sure Matt will like the link.
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
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