A Deserving 2-1 Series Lead for India against Australia

On a green top Melbourne Boxing day wicket, Virat Kohli won the toss and batted first, with 2 new openers and not many gave a chance for Indians, especially after losing the test match at Perth. Hanuman Vihari provided a solid start and could not convert his effort into a personal milestone, but in the event of a win, his time at the crease was highly significant. Mayank Agarwal was not only brilliant with the bat, but also showed lot of promise as a bat-pad catcher. His 2 catches at forward short leg and 1 at silly mid-on was outstanding.

Pujara and Kohli played with a mission. They curtailed all their strokes and batted time to stitch in a match winning partnership. 215 runs at the end of 1st day and 228 runs on the 2nd day raised eyebrows as to the manner in which, Indians went about building the score. It turned out to be a great strategy, as the wicket started helping the bowlers, as the game progressed. Indian fast bowling trio, Bumrah-Ishant-Shami were unstoppable, especially Jasprit Bumrah bowled a match winning spell by picking 6 wickets and helped Indians bowl out Australia for a paltry score of 151 in their first innings.

A Lead of 292 runs was sufficient for Kohli and team, considering the bowler friendly Melbourne wicket and a weather forecast of heavy showers on Day 4 and Day 5. Much to everyone's surprise, Kohli decided to give his bowlers a rest and batted again. This decision did not hurt India too much, but the 2nd innings performance, both with the bat and the ball was no where close to a number one Test team's performance. Pat Cummins picked up a 6 for 27 in his 11 overs and wickets were gifted by Indian batsmen, as they played too many loose shots down the leg side.

Indians could add only 106 runs by losing 8 wickets and Kohli declared the innings to set Australia 399 to win the 3rd test. Shuan Marsh, Travis Head, Tim Paine and Usman Khawaja failed to convert their starts into a big one, pretty much the same story in this series so far. Pat Cummins fought with lot of grit and a lonely battle to score 63 and he could not stop Indians from going 2-1 up in the series, nor rains could save the aussies.

While Indians can cherish the victory, they could not hide some selection woes for them before the Sydney test. One can never get convinced that Rohit Sharma is a permanent fix for No.6 slot, as his shot selection is too loose for a Test call. In his first innings score of 63 not out, he did survive a drop catch by Peter Siddle, when he had scored only 15, Nathan Lyon being the unlucky one. Still, Kohli might not meddle with Rohit Sharma in Sydney. Ashwin would be fit for Sydney and Kohli should decide, whether he would play 2 spinners to increase his chances of winning the series 3-1. Kohli could think of bringing in Ashwin in place of Rohit Sharma.

Australians have lot of thinking to do now, as they are under tremendous pressure to square the series in Sydney. Tim Paine has to deliver more, both with his strategy and his contribution with the bat. Batsmen need to convert their starts into a big one and the same bowling combination would try to stop Indians from stitching partnerships. A wonderful series finisher coming up in Sydney and Indians have a great chance to create History.

Wonderful chance for India to conquer Melbourne

It was a strange sight for cricket lovers to see Melbourne wicket, low and slow, on day two of a test match. May be, the ground was under prepared as the Sheffield tournaments and Big bash league hosted several matches prior to the boxing day test. The runs did not come easy for Indian batsmen, as they had to spend quality time and play a quality innings to build a tall first innings score.

Mayank Agarwal played a dream test debut innings, as he was tested by Australian bowlers with high quality pace, movement and bounce. He left the bouncers with precision and played Nathan Lyon with lot of assurance, which was missing even from some experienced players in Indian batting line up. He left a strong message to the selection committee that he is one of the answer to top order worry. His knock of 76 was well appreciated by cricketing legends and everyone felt that a debut hundred would have been icing on the cake.

The openers toiled and the seniors stood up for the efforts of the 2 youngsters, when they backed it up with classy individual efforts of their own. Yet another classy hundred from Chetheswar Pujara, Kohli and Rohit Sharma's fifties and Rahane's crucial partnership with Rohit Sharma extended our first innings to a sizable score.

Australia batted for only 6 overs after Kohli declared the innings, when India reached 443 for 7. The six overs had its challenges for both the Aussie openers, as the wicket kept low, even with the new ball. Ravindra Jadeja will have a role to play and Kohli might even throw the ball to Hanuman Vihari, in absence of Ashwin, who would have made it tough for Australian batsmen to settle and play a long innings.

Day 3 would be crucial for India's chances to gain a lead in the series. The only benefit for Australian batsmen is the slowness of the wicket and if Australia could bat out time, they could push the Indians to play their second innings too, as they could target the follow-on score with couple of good partnerships. It is very tough to score runs at a faster pace in this wicket. Indians should get Australia all out before first session of Day 4, so that they could pull a win out of this boxing day test.

Kohli should use his bowlers wisely, as longer spells for the need of the wicket, would tire his fast bowlers quickly. Ravindra Jadeja and Vihari should help the Indian fast bowlers to stay fresh in their spells, which should ideally be result oriented in form of wickets. Test match is poised nicely and Indians have placed themselves strongly to effect a win from here.

Boxing Day Test - Australians would start as Favourites

Australia would start as favourites, when the third test begins at Melbourne on the Boxing day. 1981 was when India won a test match in Melbourne. Australians have ruled us here, with the exception of the 2014 test match, when M S Dhoni and Ashwin batted time out to effect a draw. Virat Kohli has fond memory, as he smashed a big hundred with Ajinkya Rahane in 2014 test match. These two would try to repeat their sweet performances. Other staunch reasons for australia being the favourite are,

Captain's Trust

Indian opening batsmen and few others in the team, are not getting the support from the captain as expected. To win in overseas condition, a team needs to have a settled opening pair, else it would be tough to regroup even with match winners like Kohli, Pujara and Ashwin. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja are the two players, who do not earn captain's trust in crucial encounters.

Settled Aussie Line-up

Australians would not change their playing eleven, irrespective of the nature of the wicket. Nathan Lyon and Hazelwood are the prime wicket takers and Pat Cummins & Mitchell Starc are wonderful support bowlers and all the 4 would continue to hunt in packs, which would be very tough for Indian team. Tim Paine stuck to the same playing eleven, even after losing the test match to India in Adelaide. It speaks volumes of the trust he had on his playing eleven.

Ashwin's Injury

Ashwin is often compared to the likes of Nathan Lyon in this series and to me, their individual performances have contributed to their respective teams winning a test match. His Injury has come at a wrong time, when Indian team has the best chance to beat Aussies at their own backyard. Kohli would miss his services, as australian playing eleven has lot of left handers and Ashwin has a good chance to get the better of them.

Weak Indian Middle Order and Tail enders
The middle order and the tail order needs to be packed with bowling all rounders, which is crucial for stitching partnerships, that would be defining the match results. Indians miss this trick, while Starc, Lyon and Pat Cummins are stitching crucial partnerships for Aussies, which is disrupting India's plans to effect a win.

Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane & Pujara are the three batsmen in form, while all the others fail to impress. This does not help India's cause, especially going into the boxing day test, with Australia winning the last match. Two new openers would add more pressure to these 3 batsmen.

Ravindra Jadeja is a good addition to the playing eleven. He would give his 100 per cent, as he always does. Yet, he would not be a regular feature, because he is a classic example of playing in case of an emergency and not the captain's obvious choice. One doubts Rohit Sharma's performance in test matches, as he would not put a heavy price on his own wicket, time and again. But, he is definitely one of the captain's favourite.

A promising opening pair might bring in some surprise for Indians, but Mayank Agarwal and Hanumant Vihari has to face the brunt of a settled Aussie attack. Australia would try to dominate from first session and win this test match to go 2-1 up, before Sydney. Indians are already on the back-foot and would try hard to stop aussies. A very good test match on the cards...

AUGUST BEGINNING TO A CHALLENGING TOUR - TEST MATCH AT EDGBASTON

To begin with, England's record in Edgbaston against all countries is very impressive and especially against Indians, out of 6 test matches, england have won 5 matches and one match was drawn. The top 5 bowling performances in this venue, includes performances from legends like Imran khan, shane warne and muthaiah muralidharan. Chethan Sharma from India has a ten wicket haul in the one and only drawn encounter for India. Bowler's efforts become crucial, if India has to deliver the knock out punch.

The bowling combination becomes key. Kuldeep Yadav would be a definite pick, either Ravindra Jadeja or Ashwin will feature in the playing eleven, depending on the number of left handers to be played in the England playing eleven. Cook, Stokes, Jennings, Malan, Broad, Anderson, Sam curran are all left handers and ideally Ashwin should play ahead of Jadeja. Fast bowlers should be Umesh yadav & Ishant and Hardik Pandya would fit in as a bowling all-rounder. This would ensure that Virat packs the side with much needed seniors, who are familiar with england bowling conditions. Bhuvaneshwar kumar would be missed for sure.

The batting combination is a tricky one. Knowing Virat's selection methodology, he will not mind taking a hard decision of dropping Shikhar Dhawan and Pujara, if need be. K L Rahul has done his part right by performing well in the warm up match against Essex. Dinesh Karthik should play in as a wicket keeper, unless Virat brings in a surprise there too by backing Rishab Pant to fetch him a test cap. Virat Kohli would put high price on his wicket and would want M Vijay and Rahane to build partnerships along with other batsmen. The tail-enders needs to stretch some partnerships and Bhuvaneshwar kumar would be missed here too.

One wishes Kuldeep Yadav and K L Rahul to be the sensations in this test series for Indian team.

England would rely on Alistair cook's experience with the bat and Broad-Anderson duo with the ball. Adil Rashid is a good choice after his performance in the ODIs, but his adaptability to test match is an interesting sight to watch. Joe Root played Indian spinners really well in the ODIs and Bairstow, Butler could be match winners with their contributions. Ben Stokes could be disruptive with his bat rather than with his ball. Moeen Ali's spin tricks could be irritating for Indian test team too. All in all, England is a complete side in their backyard, with hardly any loose ends.

The conditions would be dry and would favor the batting teams and there would not be enough swing. Although Indians could benefit out of the weather conditions, the important question is whether the summer would extend throughout the 5 match series, one needs to wait and watch. The  2nd and 3rd test match is scheduled to be played in Lords and Trent bridge, which are favorite hunting grounds for India and at the end of 3 test matches, if Indians could place themselves in a 2-0 or 2-1 lead, we have a fantastic test series on the cards for Indians creating history.

If Indians bat first, first innings total of 400 and beyond is crucial and we need to restrict england to less than 350 to take control, if we bowl first. Virat Kohli is in right frame of mind to create a record in england, both for himself as well as team India.

India in Safe Hands - Wicket keeper Batsmen after Mahendra Singh Dhoni

IPL performances is an additional entry channel for youngsters, who only utilize the opportunity to play fearless cricket. Consistency in their first class career should still be the pivotal option for selectors to decide on a talent.

Rishabh Pant, after his brilliant hundred is spoken as a replacement for MS Dhoni in ODIs and T20s. He has definitely improved his power hitting, while his running between the wickets and build up to an innings is still a work in progress. Going by the mere volume of scores, people are already speaking about his inclusion in the squad as a lead up to the world cup 2019. Unfortunately, he has few other boxes to click right. It was a delight to watch him smash 128 not out in DD's encounter against Sun risers Hyderabad on 10th May 2018, especially after 2 run outs for which Pant was to be blamed. The onus was on him to finish the innings not out and he took up the responsibility really well.

Let us look at some statistics - His first class average is 53, has 4 hundreds in 30 innings that he has played. He has to really improve his scores at that level and be more consistent to earn ODI cap permanently. He has age by his side. 2023 world cup should be his primary target from now on. Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan are all sensations of IPL, but yet to establish themselves in their first class careers. If we look at their careers, they also need to show more consistency and they have done nothing wrong in IPL for their respective franchises.

Before anyone talks about comparing these talents with the likes of MS Dhoni, they should track them in their first class careers and not only with IPL performances. 2019 world cup would be Dhoni's last world cup and we have plenty of talents for wicket keeper batsmen after MS Dhoni to choose from. This is a great sign indeed for Indian Cricket. Coming to the discussion on Dinesh Karthik, Indian selectors have done the right thing in keeping both MS Dhoni and Dinesh karthik for England tour in ODI and T20. I would love to see MSD bat at number 4, making it a permanent spot for him going forward. Sad that Rahane did not get picked but the competition is plenty, as K L Rahul is showing his class too. Dinesh karthik can play the role of a finisher along with Hardik Pandya, after his heroics in Nidahas Trophy final against Bangladesh.

MS Dhoni, who is always aware of the competition involved, has raised his level of game in Vivo IPL version 11. His Strike rate is the best in all the 11 years that he has played this T20 version. Dinesh Karthik is leading the KKR side and plays the role of finisher for his side, though not in a similar fashion as Dhoni does for CSK. Nonetheless, DK can do it for India and he has prior experience of playing in English conditions too. Keeping in mind, the world cup 2019 and beyond, Indian selectors have done the right thing to stick with MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik and not getting biased with IPL sensations knocking the door hard.

Indian wicket keeper batsmen is in safe hands after Mahendra Singh Dhoni.