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[broadbat]

There are still a few rounds to go before the Boxing Day Test and picking the XI that should be playing in that game. The fact that we have only a 3 day game to untangle any selection knots before the Test means that the side picked to play Victoria assumes more significance as it could be a literal ‘trial’ game to see who can make the final cut. My XI for the Victoria game I believe should be as follows
WJ
VS
RD
SRT
YS
KKD
MSD
AK
PS
RPS
IS
Both SG and VVS look sure starters to me and having already batted for long periods during the Test series are not short on match practice. They should spend time in the nets during the game to get used to the pitch conditions. IKP and HS I think should not be in the Test XI. ZK no doubt will be a certainty.

[achutank]

yes VS should open also HS should be there , we should have two pacers and two spinners for the first test

[Blwe_torch]

I think SG and VVS, if they are sure-starters, must play under any circumstances. They will not get any other oppurtunity to acclimatize themselves to the Australian weather and pitch conditions......match prectice is hundred times better than the nets.
Infact, India should play their first team( if the think tank has already decided on that). They can do some experimentation with the openers though............that is the only position(s) which is not obviously decided.

[keep-it-cool]

I think the way practice matches go these days, everyone will get a bat and everyone will get a bowl ... I doubt it will be a XI v/s XI match .. or, at least, I hope the BCCI has got that arranged.

[deepakb100]

I am not sure how much of play will be possible in this match. Weather forecast looks very bad for Melbourne for next 3 days.

Damn BCCI needs to be blamed for this cramped schedule. You are playing against a top nation in their own den without much of practice. I remember our sec Niranjan shah had told Dravid (then captain in April I think) to shut up when he had asked for more practice matches. His word at that time was you guys are already playing so many matches why do you need extra practice match blah blah...

People might forget out about our experience in SA last Nov /Dec when all out top batsmen were getting bounced out that too not against such a great bowling attack as AUS. I am sure bounce in AUS will be more than SA and against top notch attack. We can safely predict 4-0 drubbing. I will attribute this not to our Cricketers but our administrators who for money sake introduce meaningless 5 series, 7 series ODI. After this series KUMBLE captaincy sheet will look like this 1-4-2.

[Blwe_torch]

Test XI likely for Victoria warm-up

December 19, 2007 18:35 IST

A weak opponent and a familiar pitch is not an ideal preparation before the gruelling series against Australia, but India will have to contend with that when they take on Victoria in their lone pre-Test three day warm-up game in Melbourne on Thursday.

Kumble finds chink in Aussie armour
Anil Kumble's [Images] men are unlikely to meet strong rivals and the pitch at Junction Oval is expected to stay low as it was the case back home on turfs in Kolkata, if not Bangalore, against Pakistan.

It would mean poor preparation for the tourists, who have won just four of the 32 Tests in nearly six decades of visit to the Australian shores and are yet to claim a Test series win in Australia.

India is expected to field their likely Test XI, which means that Virender Sehwag [Images], Dinesh Kaarthick, Harbhajan Singh [Images], Pankaj Singh and Irfan Pathan [Images] will remain on the bench.

Tendulkar's last tour Down Under?
It would be interesting to see whether Rahul Dravid [Images] comes out to open tomorrow and how fit are a few members of the side after their recent injury travails.

All eyes will be on Sachin Tendulkar [Images] and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan [Images] who missed out the final Test against Pakistan in Bangalore because of knee and ankle strain.

Vice captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images], though allayed fears on his fitness ahead of the game tomorrow. He too skipped the Bangalore game because of ankle strain and split webbing in his left palm.

India need not worry though as Victoria is fielding a stingless attack and a modest batting but for stand-in captain David Hussey.

Hogg, Tait recalled to play against India
Regular skipper Brad Hodge has been ruled out with an inflamed disc in his lower back which erupted during Australia's Twenty20 match against New Zealand [Images] in Perth last Tuesday.

Four years ago in a similar pre-Test game against the Indians, Hodge had hit a grinding double century.

Hussey would lead the side in Hodge's absence and at 30 years he is the most experienced bat in the line-up; having scored 8674 runs from 114 first class games at 56.32 average with 32 hundreds.

The rest of the batters in Nick Jewell, Robert Quincy and Matthew Wade have only averaged in the 20s and 30s in the first class games for Victoria this season.

Pacemen Shane Harwood and Gerard Denton were not picked up because of groin and ankle injury.

Aaron Finch and all-rounder Justin Hastings then come into the side. Hastings is a tall fast bowler and a big hitter and would be eager to prove himself against an international side.

Teams (from):

Victoria: David Hussey (capt), Aiden Blizzard, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Nick Jewell, Michael Klinger, Andrew McDonald, Bryce McGain, Robert Quincy, Peter Siddle, Matthew Wade, Allan Wise.

Indians: Anil Kumble (capt), Wasim Jaffer [Images], Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh [Images], VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly [Images], Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Kaarthick, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pankaj Singh.
 

[gouravk]

Yeah going with the test X1 is the right strategy. Thats a shortcoming of modern day cricket where there is only one warmup game.

[ramshorns]

I am not sure how much of play will be possible in this match. Weather forecast looks very bad for Melbourne for next 3 days.

Damn BCCI needs to be blamed for this cramped schedule. You are playing against a top nation in their own den without much of practice. I remember our sec Niranjan shah had told Dravid (then captain in April I think) to shut up when he had asked for more practice matches. His word at that time was you guys are already playing so many matches why do you need extra practice match blah blah...

People might forget out about our experience in SA last Nov /Dec when all out top batsmen were getting bounced out that too not against such a great bowling attack as AUS. I am sure bounce in AUS will be more than SA and against top notch attack. We can safely predict 4-0 drubbing. I will attribute this not to our Cricketers but our administrators who for money sake introduce meaningless 5 series, 7 series ODI. After this series KUMBLE captaincy sheet will look like this 1-4-2.

Deepak you are right in more than one aspect.  It is not totally an inconceivable thought that we will take a 0-4 drubbing and if this practice match is for most part washed out part of the blame should go to the higher up's in the BCCI who signed off on the itenarary and their shortsightedness which is never a stretch for one to imagine.

[LosingNow]

I am not sure how much of play will be possible in this match. Weather forecast looks very bad for Melbourne for next 3 days.

Damn BCCI needs to be blamed for this cramped schedule. You are playing against a top nation in their own den without much of practice. I remember our sec Niranjan shah had told Dravid (then captain in April I think) to shut up when he had asked for more practice matches. His word at that time was you guys are already playing so many matches why do you need extra practice match blah blah...

People might forget out about our experience in SA last Nov /Dec when all out top batsmen were getting bounced out that too not against such a great bowling attack as AUS. I am sure bounce in AUS will be more than SA and against top notch attack. We can safely predict 4-0 drubbing. I will attribute this not to our Cricketers but our administrators who for money sake introduce meaningless 5 series, 7 series ODI. After this series KUMBLE captaincy sheet will look like this 1-4-2.

Deepak you are right in more than one aspect.  It is not totally an inconceivable thought that we will take a 0-4 drubbing and if this practice match is for most part washed out part of the blame should go to the higher up's in the BCCI who signed off on the itenarary and their shortsightedness which is never a stretch for one to imagine.

The scheduling issue was raised by RD back in April after the WC drubbing. To go into a test match with one practice game is stupid.. to go without any ..beyond stupid. They should have allocated 14-15 days before the first test for the team to acclimatize to the conditions. Our team will be 2 down by the time they get primed up.

Cricket without competition is Not good for viewers, not good for cricket, not good for anybody

[gouravk]

Of course. As i said in another thread RD is the few sane heads remaining in Indian cricket. The first thing we should do is completely abolish this ridiculous idea of playing Pakistan every year. There is nothing more monkeyish in the World.

[LosingNow]

Match starting in less than 2 hours.. is this being telecast?

[Vick]

Yeah going with the test X1 is the right strategy. Thats a shortcoming of modern day cricket where there is only one warmup game.

Whats the point of having more warm up games when Aussie are not gonna give real opposition or bouncy wickets? They did same thing we went there last time. We played against some club level side. Instead BCCI should arrange their own facilities to practice and rather send in A team to practice against.

[LosingNow]

Great news.. wet outfield...match delayed

[Zacked]

Great news.. wet outfield...match delayed

lol 

[LosingNow]

India win toss
1. JAffer and Dravid open
2. ZK not playing..injury??
3. Both IS and PS playing.. good thing

[ganavk]

Jaffer gone for a zero.
VVS is playing at #3.

[LosingNow]

The dreaded WJ pull shot!!! India 3/1.
--
1.5     Wise to Jaffer, OUT, short outside the off stump, Jaffer shapes to pull and all that he manages to get is a top edge to mid off, where Finch takes an easy catch
   W Jaffer c Finch b Wise 0 (12b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
--
VVS at #3!!!!

[dextrous]

see, it makes no differnce whether dravid opens or not...he'll most likely be walking in early anyway!

[LosingNow]

VVS falls on 1.. and SRT making a case for opening !!

--
7.5     Wise to Tendulkar, SIX, take that! short delivery on the stumps, not quickly enough and Tendulkar pulls it overs the midwicket fence - clean hit and that was going for the maximum the moment it left the bat
--

[LosingNow]

38/3...
SRT gone!! Notice the Strike Rate.
--
9.3     Wise to Tendulkar, OUT, gone! short of a good length delivery on the middle and off stump line, bit slower than the previous delivery - probably just rolled his fingers over, anyway Tendulkar tries to cut off the back-foot and ends up with an inside edge
   SR Tendulkar b Wise 19 (18b 1x4 1x6) SR: 105.55
--
SG IN

[keep-it-cool]

I am not too bothered about the wickets .. I like the approach being followed by the batsmen here.

[broadbat]

Just my feeling, VS should have been tried out.

[kingcool1432]

I am not too bothered about the wickets .. I like the approach being followed by the batsmen here.

I'm not sure I do. Attacking and all is fine, but should't the goal be getting in and getting used to the conditions?

[keep-it-cool]

Yeah .. but, these guys need to also put away the loose balls. If you look at all three dismissals, the intent was right ... the execution was not .. but, that is understandable given that this is their first hit out there.

Jaffer was pulling a short ball.
VVS got caught down the leg side.
SRT inside edged a cut shot that was too close to his body.

This would be more of indiscretion than anything else ... it is not as if they were just not able to play on the pitch or anything like that. Getting some discretion in when it matters most is not going to be too much of an issue in my view. I would have been more worried had any of these guys been cleaned up or stuck their bat outside off and got caught behind the wicket.

[broadbat]

But a few overs just to get used to the bounce etc would have been a better approach. Time spent at the wicket is also important.

[keep-it-cool]

But a few overs just to get used to the bounce etc would have been a better approach. Time spent at the wicket is also important.

I agree. It would have been better had they spent time at the crease. All I am saying is that the mode of dismissals so far does not worry me much.

[broadbat]

Btw SRT was dismissed of a big no ball not called by the umpire. 

[Libran]

Btw SRT was dismissed of a big no ball not called by the umpire. 

Earlier they used shot guns like Lee ...now they use rieffels to close out innings.....
That was the biggest no-ball...was not even close...clearly an inch over the crease... Even blind bat bucknor would have called it a no-ball

[keep-it-cool]

This bowler, McGain, is listed as legbreak googly ... now what does that mean??

[Libran]

SG giving McGain some treatment here

35.3 McGain to Ganguly, FOUR, on the leg stump, Ganguly advances down the ground and lifts to mid wicket for a boundary 

35.4 McGain to Ganguly, FOUR, short outside off, Ganguly goes back and cuts to cover for a boundary 

37.1 McGain to Ganguly, FOUR, fuller in length, Ganguly comes down the track and smashes him past mid off for a boundary 

37.3 McGain to Ganguly, FOUR, on the leg stump, Advances down the track and smashes to mid wicket for a boundary 

[cricinfo]

it is very good to see RD trying to get back to WALL mode and get into form...i am sure he will do good as opener

[Libran]

it is very good to see RD trying to get back to WALL mode and get into form...i am sure he will do good as opener

Was watching the match for some time...he was middling the ball well... a few shots in the slip region, but that is expected... atleast they were along the ground shots...

There was one bad judgement ... a long stretch forward to a moving ball that almost kissed the edge...but otherwise pretty decent

[Blwe_torch]

Ganguly fifty leads Indian recovery!..@ Cricinfo

Indians 110/3 (38.0 ov)


 *R Dravid (rhb) 33 112 2 0 29.46  striker    234 18839 57.43   
 SC Ganguly (lhb) 51 86 8 0 59.30  non-striker

[Libran]

Heavy rains ... no play since tea

[ganavk]

This bowler, McGain, is listed as legbreak googly ... now what does that mean??

He was the one Ponting sounded as possible second spinner in the Sydney game.

[LosingNow]

Heavy rains ... no play since tea

Match State : Stumps - Day 1
Because of formation of puddles on the ground Umpires have deemed it fit to call off the game for the day. Play would start half an hour early tomorrow, 11:30 PM GMT that is

[dextrous]

saurav should probably be considered for #3 ahead of laxman in test 1, given his current form

[keep-it-cool]

This bowler, McGain, is listed as legbreak googly ... now what does that mean??

He was the one Ponting sounded as possible second spinner in the Sydney game.

nice .. i didnt see anything that would trouble the indians

[Shukla]

wrong thread perhaps, but did anyone notice the catch Clark claimed in the 3rd ODI vs NZ. That was SO obviously not a catch. The ball was CLEARLY grassed with his fingers closing on top of the grassed ball. IC was on air but that great epitome of cricket ethics went on defending it when almost everyone else had shut up in embarrassment.

Oh man, how I wish we could just shut up the aussie media for once.

[Blwe_torch]

wrong thread perhaps, but did anyone notice the catch Clark claimed in the 3rd ODI vs NZ. That was SO obviously not a catch. The ball was CLEARLY grassed with his fingers closing on top of the grassed ball. IC was on air but that great epitome of cricket ethics went on defending it when almost everyone else had shut up in embarrassment.

Oh man, how I wish we could just shut up the aussie media for once.

These are hardened criminals/ thick-skinned thieves.............the going will be tough. Criminals metamorphosized over generations.