Talking points of the Ind vs Aus series

• Australian Pitches

First and foremost we should talk about the pitches that curators had to offer the visiting Indian team. Weren’t these Australian pitches rather unfamiliar?

Absolutely. The pitches lacked the spice that India experienced in the 2011 Ind vs Aus series. The wickets were really good for batting and offered little for the bowlers. Seam attack from both sides became ineffective after probably the 1 session on the first day. Runs were easy to come by, and run rates margining 4 were common. Also, this was the first instance where both the teams had scored more than 400 runs in the first innings of all the 4 matches played in the series. This speaks volumes about the kind of pitches.

• Slip Catching

Slip Catching is a factor that plays an important role in determining the fate of a test match. The slip catching in the series, from both the teams was poor, especially from India. India dropped catches of important players, which resulted in the Australian team putting up a big score. With the retirement of the Dravid’s and the Laxman’s who were considered specialist slip fielders, India has struggled to find the right players to replace them in the slip cordon. The team has experimented with Kohli, Ashwin, Dhawan but all have resulted in disasters.  As for the Australian team, often considered to be an excellent fielding unit, too were disappointing with their faulty slip catches. Both the teams will be looking to lift up their slip catching in the coming Odi series.

• Ashwin vs Lyon

Ashwin’s performance has been highly critiqued In the series by critics. The question that lies though is, if Lyon could bowl so well why couldn’t Ashwin? Navjot Singh Sidhu had been heard saying that the Delhi league has players similar to Nathon Lyon. Lyon has been the highest wicket taker in the series and has taken important wickets for his captain at important times, where Ashwin seemed to have failed. The difference lies in the fact that Lyon has always attacked and for Ashwin containing was the main purpose. Ashwin always played with a defensive mindset and didn’t give the ball enough flight, and bowled around the middle and leg stump. On the other hand Lyon bowled higher deliveries just outside off stump. Even though he lacked in economy, he got 23 wickets from 4 matches as compared to Ashwin’s 12 in the three matches that he played. Ashwin did show signs of improvement in the last match and some hopes seem to have been restored.

• Indian Seam Bowling

Yes, the pitches were flat, but the Indian bowlers didn’t bowl to their capacity either. The secret on these kinds of wickets is to bowl consistently outside off stump around the good length area and occasionally bowl the short balls to surprise the batsman. But the Indian seam bowlers lacked consistency. There were too many balls bowled outside the off stump or too full which the Australian batsman made full use off. This has been the consistent problem with Indian seam bowling attack over the years on overseas series. With yet another series slipping out of hands, team India seriously needs to reconsider their attack and regain their position before it’s too late.