Yes, he's been around for a while, and the debut was for Jharkhand vs Kerala. These were some of the weakest sides and they were playing in the tier 2 of the Ranji Trophy. But nonetheless, like all spinners, he has been getting better with age and has put in a couple of solid seasons to warrant A team selection.
But there are quite a few above him in the pecking order, like the Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, left arm spinner Parvez Rasool, and leggie Shreyas Gopal. May be even Yuzvendra Chahal, the chess grand master turned leggie. Of course all of them behind Ashwin, Jadeja, Mishra and Jayant Yadav, the incumbents.
The curious case of selecting and not bowling K Gowtham, the off spinner, is the most interesting point of the match for me. He came into the FC scene last season after 3 years in wilderness and wreaked havoc with a lot of wickets. But I don't think he deserved the A team selection just for that. Shreyas Gopal should have been there ahead of him. May be the observation that the Aussies are more vulnerable to offies was the logic, and then he was held back and not bowled at all. He was known to mimic Harbhajan Singh's action before, then changed it later on working with the legendary EAS Prasanna to come back and take all those bagful of wickets last season.
May be, it was Dravid's way of giving the Aussies a false sense of security by not bowling the offie, so that they have no / less answers when Ashwin is unleashed upon them? But I do think Aussies are much better prepared this time, and since Kumble's time at the helm, we have moved away from preparing dust bowls (remember the last Aus series and the last SA series) and are preparing more sporting wickets - i.e., Kumble does not want to have a say in pitch preparations - something Ravi Shastri relied upon for getting good looking results. So, the Aussies must feel they have better chance this time, but India's batting bench strength is better than it probably ever was in the last 20-30 years, with triple centurions warming the benches.
I in fact half expected this and was not as terrified as most Aussie supporters are about this series from the Aussie point of view, purely because theey have learnt their lessons at SL last year. They would be fools to repeat the same mistakes.
And Indian batting was not tested with good spin bowling from the opposition right through this home season, including by Bangladesh who could have done much better. I don't think we have great players of spin bowling in that line up, may be Saha is extremely good from his domestic exploits, Kohli is very good, but others including Pujara are yet to prove themselves to be very good against quality spin.
Rahul has been either single digit or big scores all through his international career in all formats (but regular big scores to keep his spot through those single digit scores) and I thought he would trigger a collapse right at the top, but strangely he was the only one who batted with any purpose by the looks of it. But he did indeed trigger the collapse eventually :)
Australia's last 3 tours to the sub continent have been dire, 4-0 to India 2-0 to Pakistan and 3-0 to Sri Lanka. This coupled with indias form at home painted a bleak picture but I have been pleasantly surprised on how well the Aussies bowled. Starc and Hazelwood bowl really good short sharp spells with great pace and we're handled well by Captain Smith. Whilst O'Keefe and Lyon seem to have learnt some lessons from previous tours and bowled very well .....
Still a long way to go but 300 ahead with 6 wickets to go I think a lead of 400-450 will be game set match .....
India certainly wont collapse for 100 all out again. But I reckon Smith could declare and still win handsomely. Would still be foolish with so much time left to bowl India out. Set them 400 or 450 and go for the jugular. Aussies will have all the momentum going into the 2nd Test.
This is uncharted territory for Kohli. Lets see how he responds.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Kriterion_BD wrote:Haha you'd figure after the Aussies racked up nearly 300 on that surface the Indians would get close to it. Glad to be proven wrong haha.
Don't worry no one is more surprised than I about what has happened in Pune. Great for test cricket to have an exciting series on our hands now ....
Home sides are always going to lay out wickets to suit their tactical needs (flat pitches against underdogs who will just be batted out of the game like India had vs BD in Hyderabad - pity as India basically asked us to draw that game and we refused - spinning tracks for non-Asian sides, and greentops for Asian sides). Makes a road Test victory all the more valuable.
I'm thinking of what kind of format the Test Championship will take. My idea would be a timeless Test where the 6th day if it gets to that would be a rest day, played at a neutral venue with the ICC regulating the pitch so as not to favor either side.
This may turn out to be just like the 2012 series on rank turners where England romped to a 2-1 win.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
I don't mean to blame one player for the loss, but if Australia's Chigumbura gets selected again in tests, I may jump ship. Khawaja isn't selected because of failures against spin in Sri Lanka. Yet this knob has now played 21 tests & doesn't have the technique to cope with what's dished up. Hilton Cartwright must be shaking his head also.
jaybro wrote:Against all expectations this has turned out to be the best test series in recent memory .....
Hopefully we have another exciting drama filled final test .....
Indeed, intriguing and very high quality test match cricket. And not many people thought the Aussies could hold on to the draw on 5th day I'm sure, specially after Smith and Warner departed early. I see a bit of young Steve Waugh in Handscomb, hope he gets a lot of confidence from that knock.
And that Pujara knock was epic. I don't think there was any such innings from an Indian cricketer since Dravid retired. Absolutely unbelievable levels of concentration, stamina and ability to withstand pressure.
jaybro wrote:Against all expectations this has turned out to be the best test series in recent memory .....
Hopefully we have another exciting drama filled final test .....
Indeed, intriguing and very high quality test match cricket. And not many people thought the Aussies could hold on to the draw on 5th day I'm sure, specially after Smith and Warner departed early. I see a bit of young Steve Waugh in Handscomb, hope he gets a lot of confidence from that knock.
And that Pujara knock was epic. I don't think there was any such innings from an Indian cricketer since Dravid retired. Absolutely unbelievable levels of concentration, stamina and ability to withstand pressure.
Like many of Dravid's that Pujara knock may have cost India the match and eventually the series.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
That's a stupid comment, India had more than enough time to bowl Australia out. Pujara's knock also ensured India went from having to bat on the final day to save the match to bowling on the final day to win the match .....
jaybro wrote:That's a stupid comment, India had more than enough time to bowl Australia out. Pujara's knock also ensured India went from having to bat on the final day to save the match to bowling on the final day to win the match .....
Yes, that was so stupid and distasteful that it did not even deserve a response :)