Episode 2

Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 : Preview of Series and Test 1

This episode provides a preview of the series - the importance, who is missing, and how the two squads match up against each other.

The second part of this episode focuses on the first test to be played in Nagpur in particular the impact of injuries on the two teams

Transcript
Vijay:

Now let's come to the here and now.

Vijay:

Many things have happened since Australia were last here playing test

Vijay:

cricket among them, sandpaper gate.

Vijay:

So of all the brain fade gates possible, that should have been the biggest one.

Vijay:

People have lost their captaincy.

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And they've come back in some captaincy role.

Vijay:

And then people grew mustaches.

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But in all these things, the poor scapegoat guy Mr.

Vijay:

Bancroft is is no longer in the scene.

Vijay:

But the other two are very much here.

Vijay:

Apart from that let's take a look at who we will miss in this series.

Vijay:

and for the longest time, it looked like two of the hottest

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commodities in test cricket.

Vijay:

Cameron Green and Rishabh Pant will not be part of this series, but it so

Vijay:

happens green is recovering quite well.

Vijay:

Even if you won't play that full role of all rounder they

Vijay:

still have him as a Batman.

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So now I'm not entirely sure.

Vijay:

That means to the team.

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And he also had a very specialist fielding position.

Vijay:

If you can remember.

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He was in a wide gully position where he was using his height to full

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advantage in the grounds of Australia.

Vijay:

Whether that will.

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Still be coming into play in India remains to be seen.

Vijay:

So Cameron Green in India is still an unknown commodity.

Vijay:

And we'll have to give him time to see how he copes in the Indian

Vijay:

conditions, Indian pressure.

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But you can also give some selection headaches for his team.

Vijay:

I don't know how committed they are to that seven plus four

Vijay:

format with him not having a bowl.

Vijay:

Probably they might try to quote unquote rest him and include a second spinner.

Vijay:

The other casualty Pant sadly is still recovering.

Vijay:

And this definitely gives a selection headache for his team.

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And that middle order now becomes like a three tiered all

Vijay:

rounder pack of spinning batsman.

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And you have the, you have choices between sir alt Sir,

Ram:

which is

VK:

er and then

Vijay:

Ash . So there, there's no Saha of course.

Vijay:

So we have to see who raises to the , there is enough

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chance that Rahul will keep.

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And if you look at these guys forming the middle to lower middle

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order you can either say that you have a long batting lineup or

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you can say you have a long tail.

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It really depends on who you ask.

Vijay:

, Then let's look at who we will not miss in this series.

Vijay:

So Maxwell is always considered like that spinning all rounder for them, and it's

Vijay:

could be a good thing that they just went away from him and it's not in the squad.

Vijay:

Having him in the test setup was not really a good idea.

Vijay:

He didn't do any justice to any of the roles.

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And nothing much has changed in his approach to the game as far

Vijay:

as his cricket is concerned.

Vijay:

for India.

Vijay:

This might be a little controversial.

Vijay:

I know this guy has had a few brave knocks, but the dropping

Vijay:

of Vihari from the scheme of things is probably a good thing.

Vijay:

Like he, he's going quietly.

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and just the same way he came into the team as well, very quietly and in between.

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He was very quiet.

Vijay:

Probably he was at his best when he was injured.

Ram:

What can you, yeah.

Ram:

More memorable twenties than has

Ram:

. VK: Exactly.

Ram:

. Vijay: I mean the most memorable

Ram:

cricket is when he has been injured.

Ram:

So Hanuma is definitely out.

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I yer was great in Bangladesh and probably this is the series where he

Ram:

would make the middle order slots his own.

Ram:

Yeah.

Ram:

Over to you Ram?

Ram:

I'll give you one more name, who I think we won't miss that Isk.

Ram:

I mean, he, what we know so far is that he isn't in the first two tests.

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He may not make the other two as well, but my case is primarily

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built on the fact that we have three extremely good fast bowlers.

Ram:

. Possibly Siraj or even Unadkat for that matter.

Ram:

I mean, I mean, we, we have no history on how Unadkat will play at home.

Ram:

But the fact that we have these four pace bowlers of which we will max

Ram:

play only two in any game kind of puts us in a situation where I feel

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like we won't necessarily miss Bumrah, I mean e even otherwise, Bumrah.

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Play much at home.

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He's played very, very few tests.

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So that would be my additional name to add in the, in the will not miss list.

Ram:

Completely agree with everything you said on, on the, who will we miss?

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I mean, we will desperately, desperately, miss Pant not having him there is

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going to be a, a problem particularly because, you know, we have both Puja

Ram:

co sort of in this transition board.

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We have no idea how you know how they're gonna turn up.

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Kohli I mean, Kohli has been blowing heart, blowing cold.

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He showed up in the one days, but then again, the two tests in Bangladesh

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did not go all that well for him.

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He seems to have picked up some sort of susceptible form against spinners.

Ram:

So I think there are a couple of things there.

Ram:

You know, I, was looking up the numbers again.

Ram:

Pujara in the last three years has played 23 tests averages 30 Kohli

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has played 20 tests averages 26.

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And then of course the oldie the oldest of them all.

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Rohit Sharma our captain.

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Though he has averaged a very healthy 45.

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He just hasn't played enough tests you know, 13 tests in the last three years.

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So these three people are all sort of suspect you know,

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from a batting perspective.

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And I'm tying that element back to Pant's availability, or for that

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matter, even a Iyer's availability.

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Because in the few tests that they all played together, they

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were very good at bailing the team out in the lower middle order.

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After these bunch failed at the top.

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And I feel kind of A little skeptical about how that'll go.

Ram:

You mentioned Vihari, Vihari got dumped averaging about , the same

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as what Virat has been averaging?

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For that matter.

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Even Al got dumped averaging about the same as what Virat has been averaging.

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So yeah, tho those are a couple of you know, questionable ones we aren't

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probably going to be able to accommodate.

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Gill once Iyer is back, or we'll see how that goes.

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I think that's going to be a question mark as well.

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To me, the big pivot really is along those lines and of course you know,

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if we do win we are then looking at a a place in the WTC final of course,

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which is high stakes to play for.

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And at the same time, we are also possibly.

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Toppling Australia from the number one slot in the test ranking as well.

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And, and if that happens then, you know, Rahul Dravid will

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have something to celebrate.

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You know, the coach that delivered the three number one rankings, we

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are already number one in both T 20.

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And one day, if you remember the test matches are still

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holding out, so that's at stake.

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So that's my few thoughts on the series preview.

Ram:

Vasant.

VK:

Now in terms of missing people and I agree with you, Bumrah need not play.

VK:

Bumrah can just go straight to the I p L and maybe given a choice, even Cameron

VK:

Green can go straight to the I P L

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. But that's a different story.

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We are not trying to bring in a player who's in red hot form in domestics into

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the squad, because if you're bringing him in, then you have to take out that one guy

VK:

who's not been playing well for the last two years, that may not fly very well.

VK:

So, yeah, that's why we don't bring in these red hot players, right?

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Jokes apart.

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Yes, getting to the WTC final is the primary goal of the series,

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and we are playing two tests before the South Africans get onto

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the field, against West Indies.

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And I think all three or four of the tests before New Zealand and Sri

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Lanka line up against each other.

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We, have a battle in our hands because we are playing against arguably

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the strongest team around indeed.

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But we are playing at home , we don't lose at home, period.

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We've seen that.

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We had this discussion about the bowlers that we have.

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And many of them are turning up for the series.

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Mean, . Ash, JJA this, . I think that as a team, we are very, very

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strong, very difficult to beat at home.

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The Australians are gonna have a very tough time in spite of whatever

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prep they come to get over us.

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That's, my take on this Now let's quickly go into the actual

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preview of the first test.

VK:

There's been a lot of chatter about the squad in the last few weeks,

VK:

especially about who didn't make it to the squad as in Sarfaraz Khan , but

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let's face it, irrespective of Sarfaraz Khan being in the squad are

VK:

not the playing eleven was generally.

VK:

After Jan second . The day, we found out that Rishabh Pant is gonna be out

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of action for a while, the playing XI.

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was pretty much set.

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A few things happened, though.

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One is Shubhman Gill's form has been stupendous, just unbelievable.

VK:

And as the coach says, he's finally living up to his potential.

VK:

And that actually introduces some doubt on whether Rahul

VK:

has a place in the team or not.

VK:

Okay.

VK:

And.

VK:

It would've been more serious, but for the fact that Iyer had a lower back pain.

VK:

Correct.

VK:

So he is out of action.

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So there's a good chance that both Gill and Rahul will play and not SKY.

VK:

The other thing that happened was Kuldeep, Kuldeep has been bowling

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beautifully and questions have been popping up as to whether they

VK:

should play him ahead of Axar.

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because Axar and Jadeja are sort of similar.

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You can go either way.

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I do think if Pant had been in the playing leaven, Kuldeep would've

VK:

had the nod simply because we wouldn't miss that much batting here.

VK:

To me, my preferred playing 11 for the first game would be Rohit opening probably

VK:

with KL, with Pujara at three, Kohli at four Gill at, five, Jadeja at six

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Bharat at, seven Axar at eight, Ashwin at nine, which will make him a little upset.

VK:

Yeah.

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And then Umesh followed by Siraj.

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and Ash will be more of a floater if we lose him early wickets.

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He might even go up ahead of Barth just to plug the gap because of his ability to

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play more defensive cricket if required.

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So that, that's my take here.

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Australia is in a bit of strife for the first.

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Test two first choice bowlers out.

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Yeah.

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And their talismanic future greatest of the game.

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Saint Orban himself.

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Yeah.

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Saint Toban himself being now a single dimensional player.

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And I doubt whether he'll play the first game, if his, the finger injury is not.

VK:

Okay.

VK:

So, the choices are between him are playing Matt Renshaw.

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Yeah, it's a pretty decent bat.

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Or Ashton Agar who can bowl some, bat some.

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But my take is that with Smith and Labuschagne, bowling leggies

VK:

and Head bowling in offies, they don't need an extra Ashton Agar.

VK:

into the mix.

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Lyon and Swepson, turn the ball in different ways, right?

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One is an offie and one is a leggie.

VK:

So I would think that they would go in with Khwaja Warner,

VK:

Labuschagne, Smith, Head in the middle Renshaw, followed by Carey.

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And then we have Cummins Lyon.

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Swepson and Boland making up the rest of the setup.

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And what my expectation is that either of the team will bat

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first after winning the toss.

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To me the four key factors , especially with Pant not there, will Rohit be

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able to dominate the spinners because if that happens, we win.

VK:

Correct.

VK:

Anybody who saw that second test against England at Chen 161.

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I mean, Rohit finished the game by the time two sessions are over in

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the first day the game was over.

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There was a brilliant in innings and, and then yeah, there was a brilliant

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in index and ashwin com just nailed them , with a second inning hundred,

VK:

so they were not even in the picture.

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The other is Pujara.

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Now what they will do with Pujara, we know they're gonna put two guys in front

VK:

of him and make him stretch forward and play the ball, and both the inside

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and outside edges are going to be at risk, and they'll just make those two

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closing fielders far more dangerous.

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Ashwin is getting a buffet five lefthanders in the top seven.

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And he can really give them a lot of grief.

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At the end of the day, I do think that Labuschagne and Smith are.

VK:

and I personally feel it's all about how they handle Axar in the first

VK:

innings and Jadeja in the second.

VK:

Is we gonna be fast and furious and straight and skiddy

VK:

Vijay, your thoughts?

Vijay:

Yeah.

Vijay:

I mean, before getting into the squad a little mythology reference here.

Vijay:

So in the Mahabharat, right, the big, the big big war, which I'm equating to the

Vijay:

WTC here before the , there was actually.

Vijay:

Prelude.

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There was another war.

Vijay:

The cover us wanted to bring the pandas out of hiding, so they staged

Vijay:

a mock battle, and sure enough, the pandas came out to help whoever it was.

Vijay:

And that, that's like a prelude to the . Then they, I remember . I

Vijay:

mean, that was the battle of Virat

Vijay:

. VK: Oh, I see.

Vijay:

Correct.

Vijay:

. Absolutely.

Vijay:

Yeah.

Vijay:

Yeah.

Vijay:

That absolutely brilliant.

Vijay:

, Ram: they're supposed to pull them out

Vijay:

One year

VK:

of incognito and then King Virata.

VK:

Okay.

Ram:

Correct.

Ram:

That was the King Virat

Vijay:

indeed.

Vijay:

So for me Going into any further details, I think this series

Vijay:

is going to be Kohli's series.

Vijay:

I, don't think he needs to look anywhere for inspiration.

Vijay:

I think he's sufficiently rested and all that.

Vijay:

He has a few good knocks.

Vijay:

He, kind of knows what to expect in the home test arena.

Vijay:

At least.

Vijay:

The only thing for him is I think they should find a good

Vijay:

fielding position for him.

Vijay:

So his confidence stays high.

Vijay:

Apart from that, the Indian 11.

Vijay:

Right.

Vijay:

So sufficient changes from what you said.

Vijay:

Then here's where my thought process is.

Vijay:

Whatever I observed so far David seems to think like the CSK think

Vijay:

tank in that he wants to put the most seasoned players when the stakes are

Vijay:

high, so he is not going to kind of.

Vijay:

blood new people or try new combinations.

Vijay:

He's like fully backing up the senior guys and have them do the job.

Vijay:

So far that's what we have seen, right?

Vijay:

So, so for me, the top four reads Rohit KL, Pujara, and Kohli . . And

Vijay:

then IIyer like I said, he's, he's kind of done enough to be at

Vijay:

number five, no questions asked.

Vijay:

And I think they're going to back Jadeja, as in number six.

Vijay:

We know that he is, been out for a while but kind of shines better than he's

Vijay:

given sort of the subtle responsibility, not the whole responsibility of

Vijay:

captain, that that can backfire.

Vijay:

If you give the subtle responsibility that hey, you're the one who has to

Vijay:

stitch the top order in the middle order, he has typically performed well

Vijay:

and Nagpur Delhi those are all surfaces that suits his style of batting as well.

Vijay:

And, more so when I share the Aussie 11 that I have in mind, his

Vijay:

role becomes even more important.

Vijay:

Then I believe Bharat will be the keeper.

Vijay:

But there might be an outside chance that they'll try to bring in somebody else.

Vijay:

But let's see.

Vijay:

Meaning kk l might, but that's just chatter at this point.

Vijay:

And I do want Axar in the team as well.

Vijay:

It's like for like with Jadeja, but that's a good thing to me.

Vijay:

So the more tight control Kuldeep can be loose at times.

Vijay:

He can keep away runs.

Vijay:

Exactly.

Vijay:

But if Jadeja and Correct just hold one end tight gives

Vijay:

Ashwin room to do his stuff.

Vijay:

So we are looking at Ashwin bowling, 15 overs on the trot.

Vijay:

Another 15, 20 overs on the other side which are super

Vijay:

tight with no room for scoring.

Vijay:

Means more freedom for Ashwin to display.

Vijay:

Where the other thing I kind of picked up in one of his podcasts I

Vijay:

dunno if you guys saw this, he had a session with two of his school friends.

Vijay:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Vijay:

Settled in the uk.

Vijay:

Yep.

Vijay:

And when they were putting together their 11 he was annoyed with them

Vijay:

when neither of them chose Axar.

Vijay:

I'm not saying that , Ashwin has a say in the selection or anything like

Vijay:

that, but the thought process is that you need Axar even if you have . So

Ram:

his figures in India are just unbeatable.

Ram:

He just can't argue with the, all that stuff he did against in England.

Ram:

Right.

Ram:

But just one little point to your squad.

Ram:

I think it's almost certain that Iyer isn't playing the first test

Ram:

because that back injury isn't healed.

Ram:

So we do have a number five open topic in that sense, correct?

Ram:

Correct.

Vijay:

I should have prefaced it.

Vijay:

My disclaimer is that this is a squad assuming that everybody's

Vijay:

fit cause there'll be changes.

Vijay:

So this is my first choice squad from, from the 15 or whatever, that's a squad.

Vijay:

The Pacers would be Shami and Siraj in my opinion.

Vijay:

Siraj has been great, especially what we saw in Bangladesh with the new

Vijay:

ball in the third, fourth innings.

Vijay:

That guy is really good.

Vijay:

He can, make the pitch speak for Australia I think they will change that.

Vijay:

Seven plus four, I think Vasant, you still had that seven plus

Vijay:

four kind of combination.

Vijay:

Correct.

Vijay:

Renshaw and Hanscomb they were there in the 2017 series as well.

Vijay:

Didn't do much.

Vijay:

Yes, Hanscomb probably did a little better than Renshaw did.

Vijay:

But I don't know what they did in between, like, what prompted them to bring these

Vijay:

guys back for this super important tour.

Ram:

It's not played because they played in India before.

Ram:

I think that is the reason and importantly, Renshaw

Ram:

opened the last time he.

Ram:

That's right.

Ram:

He

VK:

did.

VK:

Yeah, he did.

VK:

Everybody remembers when he retired.

Ram:

Yes.

Ram:

Yeah.

Ram:

. Yeah.

Ram:

He retired.

Ram:

That's right.

Ram:

Not hurt.

Ram:

. VK: Yep.

Ram:

Upset.

Ram:

Upset.

Vijay:

Okay.

Vijay:

So yeah, Smith Head Carey.

Vijay:

Right?

Vijay:

So the, the top six for me and look solid on paper.

Vijay:

And Khwaja has been probably the only guy who's been on form in the subcontinent.

Vijay:

Others have been hit in the, in the test series.

Vijay:

Again, going by the formula that everybody's fit and ready.

Vijay:

They might rely on both Cummins and Starc to kind of do the reversing

Vijay:

thing that that is their other option.

Vijay:

And I, I, I think they'll tried to do a o'Keefe with Swepson.

Vijay:

As well.

Vijay:

So to offset Lyon the off spinner with Swepson the leg spinner.

Vijay:

So going the other way, has troubled the Indian batsman in the past, so

Vijay:

I, I'm suspecting they'll try this.

Vijay:

And 11th slot Hazelwood or Boland.

Vijay:

Boland again, I don't think it's played outside Australia at all.

Vijay:

No, not, not once.

Vijay:

this time.

Vijay:

Yeah.

Vijay:

And that leaves them with a bit of a gamble as to how we will

Vijay:

cope up , he might have played in the Australian summer, but the.

Vijay:

Indian spring is different.

Vijay:

Something totally different so they might be looking at that.

Vijay:

Maybe you'll get a chance in . But, definitely don't think

Vijay:

you'll be their first choice.

Vijay:

So that, that's my level.

Vijay:

So it's, it's kind of a very conservative approach to my choosing the team.

Vijay:

No, no surprises but a heavy lens on.

Vijay:

Bowling lead attacks more than that,

VK:

it's going get interesting in the second test because once green is fit,

VK:

and if Hazelwood and Starc come back now it's very difficult for them to

VK:

leave out Hazelwood and Stark even though Cummins is also there because

VK:

these guys are really great bowlers.

VK:

Yeah.

VK:

Suddenly they can only play one spinner because they want

VK:

to play Cameron and Green at.

VK:

or six so it's, it's going to be a little tight for them.

VK:

I mean there's a good chance that they might just decide

VK:

to rotate Starc and Hazelwood.

VK:

, they can only rotate these two guys.

VK:

They can't rotate the captain, right?

VK:

Yeah, because,

Ram:

so stark is fit for the second test, but Hazelwood is not.

Ram:

So, at least for the second test, their problem may be solved, but they're

Ram:

gonna have this problem for their third test because they let to pick one of.

Ram:

One of two.

Ram:

Yeah, one of two.

Ram:

That's one.

Ram:

The fact that, for the first test, they won't have green, they won't have

Ram:

stark, they won't have Hazel wood.

Ram:

Basically their first choice pace attack , isn't playing.

Ram:

I mean, like, which is basically the GABA formula that India applied.

Ram:

So I think they're waking up very quickly.

Ram:

Yeah.

Ram:

In the first test itself and like, okay, play my B team and we'll win.

Ram:

That's a side, I think.

Ram:

I mean, it's interesting.

Ram:

So Vasant you're going with a six batter theory, Vijay is going with the five

Ram:

batter theory and five bowler theory.

Ram:

My own choice is green doesn't deserve a slot in this 11.

Ram:

If he is gonna play as a pure batter I mean, he's come a long way you know, from

Ram:

the, the, all the hype he got at the.

Ram:

BGT when, India went to play there.

Ram:

But he's come a long way.

Ram:

Mm-hmm.

Ram:

. But I still, I'm not convinced that he should, I mean, whether

Ram:

he will is a different thing, but he should play as a number six.

Ram:

So my choice is definitely gonna be Renshaw again because he Versus Handscom.

Ram:

But I think the Australians themselves are talking about Renshaw

Ram:

more than they're talking about.

Ram:

Handscomb.

Ram:

So that's one.

Ram:

Other than that, yeah, I mean, Warner Khwaja Smith Head.

Ram:

Renshaw.

Ram:

Like I said, I think that that pretty much, they all select themselves.

Ram:

Carey Cummins.

Ram:

I've got Ashton Agar and not Swepson unlike the both of

Ram:

you as my second spinner.

Ram:

And the reason is I'm extremely influenced by the, the last game,

Ram:

that Ranji Trophy game where Gujarat and Vidarbha played and like.

Ram:

Third and the fourth innings were really swept by left arm bowlers, each taking

Ram:

five and six tickets respectively.

Ram:

So I'm kinda influenced by that input over there.

Ram:

And I feel like agar will likely get a chance to bowl.

Ram:

And of course, the last time Australia played two spinners back at home.

Ram:

The Sydney test, they played Ash Agar alongside Lyon.

Ram:

So I'm, assuming they will just simply kind of go down that path.

Ram:

And, and he has

Vijay:

played in India.

Vijay:

He has played and

Ram:

he has played in India in the past.

Ram:

Yes.

Ram:

He has been, he

VK:

has played in India in the past.

VK:

Yes, that's true as well.

VK:

And, and there's one, also one more point.

VK:

We generally, Indian batters treat leggies very harshly in India.

VK:

I mean, they generally don't do very well.

VK:

Yeah.

VK:

On the other hand left Armers and off spinners do better.

VK:

They have control in lineups.

VK:

I mean, we also, how the Bangladeshi left Armers really pushed our team back.

VK:

Even then, also

Ram:

So that's as far as the Australian team is concerned

Ram:

and the Indian team of course.

Ram:

I mean the golden question is who gets to open with Rohit Sharma?

Ram:

Of course the vice captain will probably have the shot at opening, even

Ram:

though Gill may be in red hot form.

Ram:

And of course, you know, since we know Gill can be accommodated in the 11.

Ram:

Possibly at a number five or at even a number six, you know, I'm kinda

Ram:

wondering if they will take the chance of having Jadeja bat at five.

Ram:

Basically do the, the left hand batter job that Pant was doing, playing up at five.

Ram:

And if Iyer comes back to the squad, I'm pretty confident will go to five and

Ram:

had success at six, will stay at six.

Ram:

I'm unclear as to whether they'll do that with Gil as well and have

Ram:

him bad at six that'll find out.

Ram:

Or they may just, you know, go with sky and say, dude, you bad at six.

Ram:

There's a slim chance that may happen as well.

VK:

See my take on Gil though is the kid is in great.

VK:

. I mean, very rare.

VK:

Form number two, the guy has played big games, and he, seems to be

VK:

in a position wherein he's going to grab every single opportunity.

VK:

He's in that frame of mind.

VK:

I mean, some of the shots that he hit in the last few Unbeliev minutes

VK:

of the 20, the three 20, okay.

VK:

At both the 200 and the 1 26.

VK:

that straight drive that he hit in the LA 18.5 ssa and some of the

VK:

shots, they were not brute for stuff.

VK:

It was absolutely clean hitting.

VK:

And he actually looked like the gill from the 2018 World Cup back in under

VK:

19, under the under 19 World Cup.

VK:

So he looked in fabulous touch.

VK:

That shuffle that got into trouble.

VK:

Nothing was there.

VK:

, This is not as lethal in attack as what he's gonna face up to now.

VK:

, but all said and done.

VK:

I have a feeling a lot of it was in his head and it's changed.

VK:

It's just changed and that's gonna make a difference.

VK:

And maybe one day, very soon, his captain from the under 19 team will also

VK:

get rid of those cobwebs in his head.

VK:

Come back.

VK:

And then come back to where he's supposed to be.

Vijay:

But but wasn't, you are kind of contradicting yourself then.

Vijay:

If Gil is in a red hot form, he has no place in the team.

Ram:

Those are, I mean, the reason you can't consider him is be all these

Ram:

inconvenient reasons around, you know, Carrying a few other people, right?

Ram:

. VK: Yeah.

Ram:

See, but then if you're supposed to keep red hot from people, then the

Ram:

weaker people have to be removed.

Ram:

Those in an average twenties.

Ram:

, that's a problem.

Ram:

. Ram: Hey,

Vijay:

we have Maha coming up.

Vijay:

Please.

Ram:

It's a very brave call.

Ram:

So my call by the way, I mean I think you know, he had a horrible,

Ram:

horrible series in Bangladesh.

Ram:

No doubt.

Ram:

But he was very impressive in the last time he played against these guys.

Ram:

And I also realized that the last time he's played a test

Ram:

at home was back in 2018.

Ram:

He since hasn't played.

Ram:

So all the success that he's had opening has been in on SENA

Ram:

pitches, you know, South Africa, Africa, England, and so forth.

Ram:

And, here is his opportunity to come back to a familiar pitch you know, familiar

Ram:

home ground and make the best of it.

Ram:

Exactly what you kind of said about Virat as well, Vijay

Ram:

. So I'm hoping, you know, this

Ram:

Can I get himself like a proper jumbo series four tests score, 400 runs,

Ram:

four 50 runs, something to that effect.

Ram:

No, but,

Vijay:

but, but our our Indian media, their scientific appraisal

Vijay:

of our cricket players who are newly married typically don't

Ram:

play well.

Ram:

Oh yeah, that's right.

Ram:

That's right.

Ram:

. That's right.

VK:

There's one gentleman who got married between two.

VK:

On his debut series, he finished the series with a hundred as well

VK:

as winning the man of the series.

Vijay:

No, but that, that should have been an arranged tambra marriage.

Vijay:

Right.

Vijay:

, which is an exception.

Vijay:

And at Tambram marriage is typically a five day affair.

Vijay:

So he is anything, he was actually

Vijay:

, VK: he was getting prepared

Vijay:

No, but jokes apart.

Vijay:

I would not be surprised if Rahul has been pretty much told You're playing all tests.

Vijay:

Yeah.

Vijay:

Unless you're, . And you're the vice captain.

Vijay:

You're playing Alte and you get your runs.

Vijay:

So it's a little different from the pressure he was when he was playing the

Vijay:

white ball stuff or when he was captain.

Vijay:

And by the way, after the third test anyway, there will be one

Vijay:

slot opening up at the top.

Vijay:

Right?

Vijay:

So Gill can.

Vijay:

. Oh, because our, some muscle will get pulled, right?

Vijay:

Yeah.

Vijay:

Some muscle will get pulled.

Ram:

So he will definitely, I mean, when he last played 4 tests on the trot,

VK:

probably never.

VK:

That's . No, he did.

VK:

In England.

VK:

In England.

Ram:

Well, he did actually.

Ram:

Yeah.

Ram:

And he did play very well, like he did

VK:

in England.

VK:

And he played brilliantly very, very well.

VK:

So

Ram:

he played very, very well.

Ram:

Oval.

Ram:

Second endings hundred was just mind blowingly good.

VK:

When he gets going, he is quite a, sight.

VK:

No, all of these guys, when these guys get going, yeah.

VK:

I mean I look coupled with this bowling attack, there's no way the

VK:

Australians don't have a chance

VK:

. Ram: So the test starts on Wednesday

VK:

coast, or if you're in India, you'll have to wait till Thursday morning.

VK:

And exactly and yeah.

VK:

And then we have hopefully the test will go into the third and the

VK:

fourth day so that we have Saturday and Sunday to watch the game.

Vijay:

The Battle of Virat

VK:

I guess that's a wrap on the first episode of the B G T.

VK:

And looking forward to a terrific series.

VK:

Absolutely.

VK:

With between two very, very good teams and hopefully all four go five days.

VK:

I think both these teams deserve a tight competition, a good match.

VK:

Just like what happened in several of the games in 2017, in 2001, in 2013.

VK:

I mean, yeah, you keep on going year after year.

VK:

Some of these contests have been absolutely phenomen.

VK:

And with that, it's a wrap for this first.

VK:

Thanks everyone.

VK:

Thank you.

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Cricket with the West Coast Infidels
Thoughts and musings on cricket from the US West Coast

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