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[ppccopener]

it will be a yardstick how good or bad we(England) were in India.

I expected us to lose, maybe thought it would be a bit closer(we nearly won the first test)

Australia have a better bowling attack than England I think, maybe we have abetter batting line up thou

[wasted_talent]

like u, I expected England to do better
I think aussies are even worse equipped to challenge india in these conditions
so subject to no weather disruptions, money is on 4-0

[six and out]

do you think that some of the selections are 'horses for courses' after the Aussies have seen us get thumped so they are trying to patch a side together for this series to compete.

by this i mean Maxwell has tons of experience playing in India and offers an extra spin option and if you play Mitch Marsh you can in theory play an extra spinner/seamer/batter in your line up - whether either player is good enough to play

it will be very interesting to see if Swepson plays as apparently Warne rates him highly

[ppccopener]

the question six and out is are there any Aussies spinners good enough to get wickets when their batters are superb players of spin....

that's one of the issues isn't it?  scoring runs is the other, you need scoreboard pressure, you just need 400 every game and hope it works.

I have to say, ive been watching cricket a long time and playing a very strong India away is close to as impossible a task as it gets.....

windies away in the 80's maybe would be on a par.......

[jblowe]

Sorry OZ, your chaps will come home with the same results as our lads.  India will prepare pitches which suit them, your good pace attack will be nullified as soon as the shine has gone off the ball and then Kohli and Co will repeat what the did to us.  Expect some long hot days watch India score runs.

[six and out]

the question six and out is are there any Aussies spinners good enough to get wickets when their batters are superb players of spin....

that's one of the issues isn't it?  scoring runs is the other, you need scoreboard pressure, you just need 400 every game and hope it works.

I have to say, ive been watching cricket a long time and playing a very strong India away is close to as impossible a task as it gets.....

windies away in the 80's maybe would be on a par.......

as you say i do think it is a near impossible task at the moment - when you look at the times India have been beaten at home it has been by spinners having amazing series (Monty and Swann) and at least 2 batters (Cook and KP) doing the same. Basically a perfect storm needs to happen including winning tosses.

Have Australia got the spinners -

Lyon - definitely not
Agar - definitely not
O'Keefe - probably not
Swepson - unknown quantity

Have they got the batters - Certainly a few of them are capable eg. Smith, Warner but after that no so sure - it will be a lot of theirs 1st tour of India as well i think - i actually think there are a lot of comparable's to our tour just gone in fact.

I think the only chance they have is that Starc has an amazing Series getting early wickets with the new ball and other wickets with the ball reversing. And the obvious that Smith and Warner score massive runs!

[CrickFreak]

I think winning in India will depend on how well the visitors bat. In past, teams have batted well couple of times in the series, especially first innings, but have been very inconsistent. The secret is to bat consistently and score 400+ regularly. This will put Indian batsmen under pressure and even the ordinary spinners will look like greatest spinners world has ever seen. Last time India were defeated was by England. And that was because their batsmen batted well. Many say Swann and Monty were the difference but I think it was batting by Cook and KP.
If the batters put only 250-300, indian batsmen will never be under pressure and your bowlers will always be under pressure to take 20.

[ppccopener]

I think winning in India will depend on how well the visitors bat. In past, teams have batted well couple of times in the series, especially first innings, but have been very inconsistent. The secret is to bat consistently and score 400+ regularly. This will put Indian batsmen under pressure and even the ordinary spinners will look like greatest spinners world has ever seen. Last time India were defeated was by England. And that was because their batsmen batted well. Many say Swann and Monty were the difference but I think it was batting by Cook and KP.
If the batters put only 250-300, indian batsmen will never be under pressure and your bowlers will always be under pressure to take 20.

youre dead right there, monty and swann(who could tie an end up when needed) bowled ready well, but up top we put big runs on the board.

Add in Kevin Pieterson's arguable best ever hundred on a raging turner to win us a test and we did have the perfect storm...


there's a huge amount of pressure on Smith and Warner I think.

[Biggie Smalls]

I think there are multiple 'horses for courses' selections in the Aussies squad ie/ S.Marsh , Maxwell are seen as being a good bat in subcontinental conditions.  Personally,  other than Smith and Warner , I think Handscomb could have a big series.  I think O'Keefe will have a good series and challenge Starc for leading oz wicket taker . As much as some selections are a tad odd / i dont agree with them etc , at least they have stopped calling M.Marsh a batting allrounder . I wonder if we will encounter similar wickets to what England played on ?

[Number4]

Has Monty been stung by a bee?

http://www.cricket.com.au/news/monty-panesar-sriram-sridharan-spin-bowling-consultant-cricket-australia-okeefe-renshaw-ncc-brisbane/2017-01-17

[Felix Tito]

Australia feasted on a rather dreadful India A side today during their only warm up game. Australia axed Khawaja(can't play spin) for Shaun Marsh. Mitchell Marsh was also selected. Anyway Smith and S Marsh both made 100s.

[Felix Tito]

So Lyon and O'Keefe where slapped silly by India A. Gonna be a little by old your when these two are getting flogged around...

[Manormanic]

Australia will have the same problem that we had - they will really struggle to take 20 wickets, and lack sufficient batsmen who are decent players of spin. 

On the former point, they might be slightly better placed than us - Starc has the extreme pace that we lacked to take a few early doors - on the latter its much of a muchness.  We had four (Cook, Root, Bairstow, Ali) plus a hitter (Stokes) and a youngster (Hameed/Jennings) and they have three (Warner, Shaun Marsh, Smith) plus a couple with potential (Renshaw, Handscomb).  Probably be a similar result. 

[ppccopener]

I saw Cummings bowling the other day not sure if he is in the squad now he is fit, although he is so injury prone it's crazy.

I think the Aussies will do a bit better than us, England could of won the first .....but we didn't and by the end we were were not capable of winning anything over 5 days

The problem Australia will have I think is Starc is the trump card, superb bowler he is, but but but if there is no spinner to keep things tied down he will be bowling too much.

He's a strike bowler but to do that it's got to be short sharp spells, and Indian pitches kill pace off the wicket.

India I don't think will let Lyon bowl maidens, and that's the problem I think.

Massive pressure on smith and Warner to get runs too.

I've been watching the Aussies for 30 years and I don't think I've seen a weaker batting line up.

[Manormanic]

I don't see Lyon as being that much of a threat, but I reckon O'Keefe could surprise a few people.  He doesn't turn it much but controls his pace well, like Ravi Jadeja and Rangana Herath, both of whom have been successful in those conditions recently.  It won't be enough, but it will be something.