Australia v India, 1st Test, Melbourne, 4th day

'India need to rework their batting strategy'

December 29, 2007

"When India came out here, it was the batting that was supposed to be their strength and to be bowled out twice, for less than 200 in each innings in subcontinental conditions is very disappointing." Ravi Shastri reviews the MCG Test

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Comments have now been closed for this article Sydney is India's best chance to win. The wicket will be slow and support spin (not that it helped in Melbourne). Batsmen draw matches-India need to bat very well. Then it will be up to bowlers to win it. And to take the attack to Aussies, none is better than Sehwag at #1. He may not be in the best of forms, but batsman of his caliber needs just one game to be back. And this can be the one. It will be gamble and India need to take that, otherwise Aus will strangle us. If India cannot win this game, 3-0 is inevitable. I suggest opening with Jaffer and Sehwag, Jaffer needs to get few more chances. Have Laxman come in #3. Though he didn't score much in 1st test, his approach was positive. And he has always been like that, but has the approach to keep the score moving. Then followed by Sachin, Dravid, Sourav and Dhoni. Yuvraj has to sit out if he is not opening. In bowling obviously Harbhajan is playing, he bowled well in 2nd innings. Pathan's swing can be effective. Posted by luvcricket on December 30 2007, 23:21 PM GMT India team should realise that this is their best opportunity for them to defeat Australia in their home ground. It doesn't matter which members play in the team; all of them are talented and capable enough to play well. It's question of having the belief and confidence on their own ability and face the australian bowlers with confidence and keep taking singles to put pressure on the opposition. A lot many Indian supporters like me believe that Indian team can still win the series. I wish the Indian team starts believing that too!!! Posted by samyag on December 30 2007, 21:55 PM GMT All Indian cricket lovers, I request all of you, please don't dream. When you can't beat Australians on Indian soil, how can you dream of India winning on Australian soil? Where are the openers and which opener (except Jaffer) is in form? All of us pray for miracles and it may happen but not always. Can some one answer a few of my simple questions? Where are the fast pitches and why is our wealthy BCCI not interested in it? No one is bothered to improve the standard of game. All, including the media, spend time counting the profits. Why can't the media target the BCCI for the team's failure? On paper we have the best batting line up, but where is the consistency against the fast attack on fast pitches? I hope we will win this series but if the BCCI wants to show Australia what India is, they should spend at least a little on preparing fast pitches at home. I have been hearing about the preparation of fast pitches in India since thirty years and it will be hearsay only. Posted by 1958 on December 30 2007, 20:44 PM GMT Look at the result of India's last tour of Austraia(2003/04). They challenged Australia to the limit forcing a entertaining draw. I personally believe that the return of Virender Sehwag will help boost the Indian attack as well as givin them an extra spinner which will be useful in Sydney. Rahul Dravid should therefore move back to his orginal position at 3. Therefore Jaffer should make way for young Karthik who can bat either as an opener or down the order at 6 or 7 but more importantly will boost the feilding which supports the superb Indian bowlers. Finially our beloved Sreesanth MUST be in the Indian XI in order to break the arrogant Aussies in half. We hope you enjoy this as we Indians must stick together in order to help support our sparkling nation. Posted by E11T5 on December 30 2007, 20:35 PM GMT Dhoni never scored on foreign wickets, Jaffer didnt look like he will ever socre against this australian attack. Yuvraj cannot play spinners. Sehwag can bowl better than Bhajji, I would drop all four and have Sehwag, Karthick, Pathan and Ishant Sharma in their place. So, my team would be: Karthick Sehwag laxman tendulkar ganguly dravid pathan kumble zaheer rp singh ishant sharma regards, cricket lover Posted by DC_Yorkers on December 30 2007, 19:25 PM GMT Amazing! It can only happen to the Indian Cricket Team. 1 Test down & still don't know what the team composition should be or the strategy to be deployed. All the pre-tour talk of playing attacking cricket turned out to be a damp squib. When the tour is over, 4-0, everyone member of the team will tell us how it should have been. Posted by Mohusen on December 30 2007, 19:19 PM GMT Got to drop Jaffer. Bring in Sehwag, a gamble but even if he fails with the bat his off-spin will be handy. Sreesanth would have been handy in Australia instead of RP Singh as he has good pace and can swing the ball. Agression too. Or even Irfan pathan, could be handy against Australia in those conditions and useful with the bat. What about Robin Uthappa? As an opener, he will take the attack to the aussies and the good thing is he won't let the aussies settle into a good line and length. He would come down the track to bolwers like Mitchell Johnson even if they are bowling around 145kph. Also would make the indian fielding better. Posted by jiten1 on December 30 2007, 18:13 PM GMT I like to make one positive comment about the India openers problem. India had good openers in Ganguly and Tendulkar for ODI's. Why not try one of them for the opening position along with Sehwag? There is no point in Dravid opening the innings especially after what we have seen in 2 innings in the First test. I would be inclined to give Yuvraj one more chance with the following team in batting order as follows: Ganguly, Sehwag, Laxman, Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Dravid, Dhoni, Pathan, Kumble, Harbhajan, Z.Khan. This is the strongest batting and bowling team for Sydney. India must attack and take singles every over. Good Luck India. Posted by Nampally on December 30 2007, 17:21 PM GMT It is very funny game of cricket from india's batsmen.In these days of fast mode of cricket even the characteristics of many batsmen has changed.The days of just stopping the leather ball from hitting the stumps are over.Team India should realize that attacking the bowling on any given circumstance is the way to victory.It is the best way to face such an inexperienced bowling attack(minus Mcgrath and Warne).Letting the bowler to probe your weakness is weakness in itself in modern day cricket.If one can't agree with this,just think about the last Australian series when Ganguly and Sehwag just whacked the Australian attack to submission. Posted by jollykurumannu on December 30 2007, 16:47 PM GMT Abyssmal! Thats the word for the performance. Having said that, it is a game and these things do happen. For starters, there has been lot said about the "Guinea Pig" aka Rahul Dravid. I fail to understand why Rahul is asked to open the innings whenever we need to "accomodate" a batsman in the middle order? What about the likes of Sachin, Saurav or the much celebrated Laxman? Do they not have the skills sets to open? Indian cricket is all about looking for a "fall guy". It was Dada couple of years back and now it is Rahul. If Karthik can be made to open, then why not Dhoni? An attacking option not to say the least........ Posted by HarryDon on December 30 2007, 15:44 PM GMT Read all 52 Comments  Top ^