Posts Tagged ‘Dhoni’
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | England | India | ODI | postaweek2011 | Sachin tendulkar | Sports | Teams | Test | test cricket | Test match
- Leave a Comment
England captain Strauss will be a happy man now. His team has achieved what they had set out to do at the start of the series, which is to become the best team in the world. They have done it with clinical precision and throughout the first 3 games there was only one team which had the hunger to succeed. For India and Dhoni though this series is a rude awakening, nothing worked for them and losing the number 1 ranking probably was be the right kind of shock the team needed.
The only thing to look forward in the Oval test would be to see if England can complete the whitewash. India will have nothing to play for but the pride.
Please click here to read the full article.
- In: Champions League | Cricket | Cricket and Sports | England | India | IPL | ODI | ODI | postaweek2011 | Sachin tendulkar | Teams | Test | test cricket | Test match | Twenty20 | World Cup 2011
- 2 Comments
Watching the Indian team during the 90’s was extremely frustrating. The team which functioned like a well-oiled machine at home played like a bunch of novices when they toured abroad. The batting struggled and the bowling lacked any sort of bite. The current series in England brings back the bad memories. It is sad because since the turn of the century, it seemed as though India had left the ghost of the 90’s behind.
Please click here for the full article
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | India | postaweek2011 | Sachin tendulkar | Teams | Test | test cricket | Test match
- Leave a Comment
Already 2-0 up in the series, England has no worries ahead of the third test at Edgbaston. For the visitors though the series turned nightmarish when Yuvraj and Harbajan also were ruled out with injuries earlier last week and later Zaheer was deemed unfit to take further part in this series. India will again be missing the services of their premier bowler in Edgbaston and it is hard to see the Indian bowling attack taking 20 wickets in the absence of Zaheer.
England though have no such worries, their bowling is functioning like a well-oiled machine. Even though they missed Chris Tremlett at Trent Bridge, Broad and Bresnen combined well to dismiss the Indian batsmen.
Click here to read the full post
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | General | India | ODI | postaweek2011 | Sports | Teams | Test | test cricket | Test match
- Leave a Comment
The West Indies tour continued to suffer as more first choice players from the Indian team continue to pull out ahead of the test series. This time it is the turn of Zaheer and Sreesanth. The Indian team will now be without their first choice seamers for the test series. Abhinav Mithun and Praveen Kumar have been named as the replacements. Sometimes it is hard to understand the thinking behind some selections and Praveen’s is a curious one.
Mithun though I understand as he did not do that badly in the test series against the Sri Lankans last year but Praveen’s selection comes as a surprise. If Praveen gets a game this will be his debut for India in the longer format. Munaf and Ishant are already part of the squad, so I am assuming they will be in the starting X1 for the first game at least. Mishra and Bajji will most probably play in most of the games considering how poorly West Indies batsmen have handled spin on this tour. If the need arises to play a third seamer it will be interesting to see who India will play in the X1. So the Indian team who are already light on experience in batting will be suffering the same in the bowling department too.
The Indian team needs to win 3-0 in the test series in order to not lose any points in the test championship race. With the pull outs it will be miraculous if they achieve the same. The batting now will completely rely on Dravid and Laxman and the bowling on Bajji and Mishra. I hope that the youngsters can perform well and continue the good work they have been doing in the series already. The team under Suresh Raina has already won the ODI series and now Dhoni’s challenge would be to captain a young team to victory in tests. The pull outs though have made the series more competitive and give the West Indies a chance to upset the Indian team.
Test squad: MS Dhoni (capt), VVS Laxman (vc), M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Mithun, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel.
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | India | IPL | ODI | postaweek2011 | Sachin tendulkar | Sports | Teams | Test | test cricket | Test match | Twenty20 | World Cup 2011
- Leave a Comment
The Indian selectors were forced to sort of send an A team to West Indies under Suresh Raina as most of the senior players decided to either rest or missed out due to injury. The biggest offenders were Sehwag and Ghambir as they were already aware of their injuries but still decided to participate in the IPL. Sachin and Yuvraj also requested the selectors to be omitted from the squad to the West Indies. The funniest part is that these same players decided to play through the IPL even though they were exhausted after an emotional World Cup triumph. An international series treated with such scant respect is something hard to imagine.
Even though the seniors miss out from the series, this for sure gives us an opportunity to test out our bench strength. Suresh Raina who will be captaining the side will be aware that this isn’t going to be an easy series. No matter which team turns up for this series, India are expected to win both the test and ODI series comfortably against a weak West Indies side. This will be Duncan Fletcher’s first series as Indian coach and he will get the firsthand account of India’s bench strength. For the youngsters though this will be a great opportunity to showcase their talent at the international arena.
Players like Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, and Shikar Dhawan would for sure get an extended run in the 5 match series and they would hope to cement their places in the ODI squad. The ODI team tough would probably suffer the least as we still have Raina, Rohit, Parthiv Patel and Kohli in the team who has played quite a few ODI’s for India. The bowling also has lots of experience in the presence of Bajji, Munaf, Praveen and Ishant along with Ashwin and Mishra. So the ODI team in all probability should do reasonably well but the major issues will be with the test squad which is missing three major players in the top of the order.
The test team will mark the debut of Abhinav Mukund, the dashing opener from Tamil Nadu who has a brilliant domestic record. He will join Murali Vijay at the top of the order. Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and captain Dhoni will have to probably guide the middle order which might consist of Kohli/Badri/Raina in the mix. The bowling though will be at its full strength in the presence of Zaheer, Sreesanth, Ishant, Munaf and Bajji. The selectors have done a decent job with the team selection considering that they were left with no option.
The ODI series begins tomorrow and it gives a depleted WI team a great opportunity to challenge an under strength Indian team. The series for sure will be competitive and Raina will surely want a better series as captain than the one he had in Zimbabwe last year. The series will be important for few youngsters who would want to impress with some good performances. This series also gives us fans a peek into the future, a future without Sachin/Dravid and Laxman in the squad. This will also give us a chance to look at the options we have when the greats eventually hand up their boots. The series starts tomorrow with the one-off T20 game, which will be followed by 5 ODI games. The test series begins on the 20th of June for which Dravid, Dhoni, Zaheer and Laxman will join the team. An interesting series in the offing and in spite of the big names missing from the squad, team India should win both the series comfortably. Good luck to Raina and hopefully he can complete the ODI series with a win under his belt.
Emerging Talent makes IPL special
Posted on: May 31, 2011
- In: Champions League | Chennai | Cricket | Cricket and Sports | Cricket League | India | Indian Cities | IPL | postaweek2011 | Sports | Teams | Twenty20
- Leave a Comment
I call myself as a cricket fanatic. Give me any cricket game and I will watch it. It may be a International game or a domestic game or even a club level game, if it’s on TV then I will give it a go. It’s just the love for the game which drives me and not the level at which it is played. So IPL is something which I cannot let pass. Who wouldn’t want to see legends of the game all under the same roof? Even though I don’t agree with the elaborate and boring format of the tournament overall but watching young Indian players locking horns with International stars is something which makes IPL special.
Franchise based sport is new in India and it will take a little time to catch on. The American style will not work in India as the country has a national team which is playing throughout the year. So the Indian fans will be mostly loyal to the Indian team rather than Chennai or Mumbai or Kolkata. The fact that the teams are shuffled every three years also makes it hard for the fans to relate to their teams. You suddenly have Rohit Sharma playing for Mumbai Indians while he was playing for Deccan Chargers in the previous editions.
For me watching IPL is an avenue to have a look at future Indian prospects. It’s an opportunity for the youngsters to get noticed. This year has thrown some interesting names too. There were some known names that reaffirmed their status and there were some new names too. The biggest impact this year was made by two cricketers, one was Paul Valthathy and the other was Rahul Sharma.
Paul Valthathy did an excellent as an opener for Kings X1 Punjab this season. He was explosive and impressed one and all with his stroke play. He even held the orange cap for the while during the course of the tournament. Now we have to wait and see if he is a one tournament wonder (Asnodkar, anyone?) or if he would back up these performances in the domestic arena. The other standout performer was Pune Warriors Rahul Sharma. The young leggie who fought a career threatening injury to stage an inspiring comeback to competitive cricket was absolute joy to watch this season. A bowler of Anil Kumble mould was brilliant and one of the most economical bowlers of the season. He was the only shining light in an otherwise disappointing season for Pune Warriors. The other bowler to impress was Varun Aaron of Delhi Daredevils. Varun bowled with extreme pace and troubled the batsmen with bounce. It was unfortunate that we did not get to see more him in this IPL. I just hope that he keeps working on his bowling and hopefully will get selected for team India sooner than later if he maintains his consistency.
Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary were others who impressed with the bat. Both these youngsters are rated highly by the experts and we got to see why during the course of the IPL. The others such as Iqbal Abdulla of KKR, S Aravind of RCB and Abu Nechim of Mumbai Indians impressed in the IPL 4.
There were few comeback stories too. RP Singh and Ishant Sharma made a great comeback after being out of radar for the Indian team selection. Ishant was brilliant with his bowling and it seems like he has regained his pace and control which he had lost about a year back. He has been rewarded with an Indian call up for the upcoming West Indies tour. RP Singh too was brilliant for Kochi Tuskers. He bowled with pace and troubled the batsmen with movement of the pitch. I hope that he continues on this trail and makes a comeback to the national side in the near future. The others who were consistent among bowlers were Ashwin, Mishra, Bajji and Munaf, all of whom will be travelling to West Indies earlier next month.
In the batting front, Subramaniam Badrinath was rewarded for having a brilliant domestic season and for performing brilliantly for CSK in the current IPL. His selection for the West Indies tour was a great reward for his consistency. Rohit Sharma also continued his great form in IPL and we have to wait and see if he can translate that form to International cricket. The biggest disappointment of the season was Irfan Pathan, who albeit returning from an injury was way off color with both bat and ball. He did bowl some good spells but lacked consistency with the ball. Ambati Rayudu was brilliant once again for Mumbai but Saurabh Tiwari was unable to replicate his success from last year for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
All in all IPL 4 was great as it threw some new names into the mix of youngsters. Even though these names add lots of spice for the future we have to keep in mind that IPL performances cannot be considered as a yardstick for national team selection. I guess this just gives the selectors a list of names whose progress needs to be followed in domestic cricket. All these players are extremely talented but performance in domestic cricket and “A” tours need to be given more importance for the Indian team selection. IPL 4 has been great for the new talent but I am still disappointed with the franchises reluctance to try out young players. A tournament which began as platform for young talent has just become a money making exercise. The teams are mostly interested in playing established International stars. Players like Varun Aaron did not get enough opportunities due to the same reason. Even though long, IPL 4 has been good viewing this year and if the organizers can cut the tournament little shorter we might actually have more people interested in the same.
- In: Chennai | Cricket | Cricket and Sports | India | Indian Cities | IPL | ODI | ODI | postaweek2011 | Sachin tendulkar | Sports | Teams | Test | test cricket | Test match | World Cup 2011
- Leave a Comment
With the IPL nearing the play offs, the Indian selectors will convene in Chennai tomorrow to select the Indian team to tour West Indies next month. It is going to be an interesting selection as it seems like almost an A team would visit the Caribbean at least for the ODI-T20 leg of the tour. The IPL has thrown up some interesting names for the selection and it will all depend on how many seniors want to actually play in the ODI’s. The West Indies team is currently struggling but as seen in the series against Pakistan they cannot be written off completely. The Indian team will also not be as lucky as Pakistan since once the IPL is done, Gayle, Bravo, Taylor and Pollard will be back to bolster the WI line up. So I am guessing that the Indian team will have a good mix of youth and experience.
So let’s look at the possible candidates for the WI tour. After great performances for Mumbai Indians in IPL, it seems like finally Ambati Rayudu might fulfill the promise which was seen in him about 10 years back. He is also a wicket-keeper, so his success will mean that we will have a capable understudy to Dhoni on tours. The other player who might get a look in is Subramaniam Badrinath, who has looked in incredible touch for CSK in this IPL and has also had an impressive domestic season prior to that. Rohit Sharma might also get a call back as he has been in impressive form in the IPL. Apart from these three there are other contenders in batting such as Rahane, Pujara (Provided he is fit) and Murali Vijay.
If Dhoni decides to skip the ODI’s, Ghambir might captain the team to WI for the ODI leg. With very good chance of senior players giving the ODI a skip, this tour will provide excellent chance for young Indian batsmen to prove themselves at international level. The bowling line up though will provide much interesting selection. With Ashish Nehra missing out due to Injury, we will see Praveen Kumar making a comeback to the national side. Ishant Sharma who bowled brilliantly for his IPL side Deccan Chargers will also be in the reckoning. It was heartening to see Ishant getting his pace and accuracy back. Munaf Patel who has been consistent and accurate for the past few months will for sure make the side.
Varun Aaron, the new pace sensation might be the wild card but I don’t think the selectors will pick him ahead of Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav. Zaheer I am sure will be rested for the ODI and T20. The spinning combination will be an interesting one. With lots of them doing extremely well in the IPL, it will be a tough pick for the selectors. Ravichandran Ashwin will for sure make the squad and if the selectors decide to rest Bajji for the ODI’s we might see Pragyan Ojha making the cut too. Rahul Sharma who has had a dream IPL with his consistent leg-breaks will also be in the radar for the selectors. Amit Mishra and Iqbal Abdulla who have been very economical in the IPL will also be in the discussion. I am thinking that Amit Mishra might anyways make it to the test team but they might want to try Rahul Sharma in the ODI’s to see how he does at the international level. Piyush Chawla though would be missing out as he had a bad World Cup followed by an equally awful IPL.
The seniors are for sure are expected to be back for the test series and there might not be many surprises in the test squad. With Sehwag missing Vijay might join Ghambir at the top of the order followed by Dravid, Sachin and Laxman. The number 6 spot again will be in the discussion and I hope that they give another chance to the young Pujara. Raina might probably make the squad too unless the selectors want to include another youngster in his spot. The bowling for sure will feature Zaheer, Sreesanth and probably Ishant as the three speedsters and Bajji might be joined by Mishra in the spin department. All in all this is going to be an interesting selection and I hope that some youngsters get a look in at least in the shorter format.
The WI tour will be a potential banana skin tour for the Indians as they are expected to win it comfortably. With the return of the stars WI is not going to be pushovers in either format and the Indians need to play extremely well to win the series convincingly. The number 1 test team needs to win all the three games to avoid losing any points and the ODI team needs to win the series pretty convincingly to not drop down the ODI rankings. So this will surely be in the mind of the selectors when picking the players for the tour. Duncan Fletcher is expected to join the selection meeting tomorrow in Chennai and I don’t think he will have too much of an input as this is expected to be just an introduction exercise for the new Indian coach.
Captain Marvelous!!
Posted on: April 7, 2011
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | India | ODI | ODI | postaweek2011 | Sachin tendulkar | Sports | Teams | Test | test cricket | Test match | Twenty20 | World Cup 2011
- 1 Comment
On 2nd April 2011, MS Dhoni did which no other captain after Kapil in 1983 was able to achieve. He won the World Cup for India. A wait of 28 years finally ended and the nation rejoiced. The memory of Dhoni smashing Kulasekara over the long on fence will be forever etched in the minds of the Indian cricket fans. Such is the power of this victory and Dhoni becomes a legend in the Indian cricketing history. The ice cool captain of India stood up to be counted when it absolutely mattered and with the help of Ghambir sealed the most memorable victory for the team India.
When I watched my first game in 1991, I had no clue about the Indian cricket. After watching just few games, I was glued on to the sport forever. I began by knowing about the game better, the history of the sport, the legends of Indian cricket everything I needed to know about the game. I even watched a video called “The History of Indian cricket- 1933-1985”, which taught me a lot about Indian cricket. I learnt that India had won the 1983 world cup. I saw the clippings like thousands of times. I saw the 1983 stars speak about that moment so many times on television. The picture of Kapil lifting the coveted trophy in 1983 is something every cricket fan cherishes even today. That as everyone knows kicked off the cricketing legacy of team India. That win inspired a young Sachin Tendulkar to grow in to a legend that he is today.
As a cricket fan, I always dreamt about watching an Indian team win a world cup again. A dream which I am sure is shared by every cricket fan in India. The dream was turned into a reality when Mahindra Singh Dhoni lifted the trophy on the 2nd of April in Mumbai. It was surely a proud moment for me. I felt extremely blessed to have watched the winning moment, a moment which I always wanted to be a part of. As a cricket fan I had two major wishes, one was to watch my icon Sachin Tendulkar score a hundred live (Which I did on the 4th day of India Vs Pak in Chennai, I was there on the ground) and the second was to watch India win a world cup. I am extremely happy that both those wishes have been granted.
MSD probably is the most unassuming leader of the Indian cricket team ever, the icy cool nature of the man is being appreciated by cricketing pundits across the globe. Dhoni led the team in a brilliant fashion in this cup and marshaled his resources with extreme finesse. He now leads the best team in the world in Test cricket, has won T20 world cup as captain and now adds the World Cup to his already impressive resume. As Imran Khan said in a recent interview, he is now the best captain in world cricket and he deserves all the accolades he is receiving right now. In spite of such a great win, we still see him humble and down to earth which shows the humility of the man. To be grounded after achieving such stupendous success speaks volumes about his nature.
In all this celebration, as the captain himself pointed out, we should not forget the contributions of Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. A various stages these there legends were responsible in setting up the team to what it is at the moment. Ganguly took over the reins of the team when the entire cricketing world was in turmoil with the match fixing saga. His contribution along with John Wright cannot be forgotten by any Indian cricket fan. He instilled the fighting spirit, self belief in this team which was lacking in the teams of the 90’s. Dhoni though if he continues in the vein might become the best Indian captain of all time. I congratulate the team on a brilliant win and I hope that they don’t stop at this and achieve much more in the coming years. With Captain Marvelous leading us from the front, I think there is more to celebrate in the coming years.
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | General | General Lunch Time talk | India | Indian Cities | ODI | ODI | postaweek2011 | Sports | Teams | World Cup 2011
- 1 Comment
Finally the fans have gotten what they wished for, an India-Pakistan game. Just two days to go for the mother of all games and the hype surrounding the same is unbelievable. An India-Pakistan encounter is a very rare occurrence these days, so every game carries huge expectations among the fans of both the countries. The politicians, the movie stars, the business tycoons all will be in attendance at Mohali on 30th of March for this mouthwatering contest.
The teams though would not want to fall into this hype. They would want to keep this game simple and concentrate on their performance on the field. They would want to stay away from all the commotion which surrounds this semi-final game. I pity New Zealand and Srilanka as they have hardly got any attention ahead of their semi-final game tomorrow. So let’s take a look as to how the two teams stack up for the game on Wednesday. Both India and Pakistan have had their ups and downs during this world cup. Pakistan though contrary to the pre-tournament predictions has had a wonderful world cup. Except for the one slip up against New Zealand, they have done exceedingly well. Their bowling has clicked almost in every game and their batting has contributed enough to take them through.
Their win against West Indies in the quarters shows how well they have gelled as a team this tournament after all the off field issues they had prior to the same. Gul and Afridi have been brilliant and the addition of Misbah and Younis in the middle order has given the solidity the team was lacking over the last few months. So the Pakistani team would be quietly confident regarding their chances in the Wednesday’s semi-final game. The batting will be under the scanner and they would know that their bowlers cannot have an off day.
The Indian team on the other hand has had a mixed tournament. Their bowling and fielding has struggled and the batting has been inconsistent during the course of the tournament. The bowlers have failed to defend 300 twice in this tournament and the batsmen have collapsed from great position twice. The Indian bowling has heavily relied on Zaheer Khan who has been brilliant in this world cup. He has been the second highest wicket taker in the world cup and along with Harbajan Singh has been India’s consistent performer. Ravichandran Ashwin’s inclusion though has given India a definite edge over the past couple of games.
The Indian top order has been in great form and Raina’s inclusion ahead of Yusuf has given the team the necessary depth in batting. India would take a lot of heart from their performance against the Australians where their bowling and fielding was top notch. The Indian fielders put on an incredible performance to restrict Australia to an achievable total. The bowling was also pretty consistent and it was probably their best performance on the field in the entire tournament. That shows that probably the Indian team is peaking at the right moment for an important tournament like this. The Indian batting too showed that they have the necessary depth and quality to chase down a difficult total on a tough wicket.
Sachin, Ghambir, Yuvi and Kohli all looked in excellent touch. Sehwag coming back from an injury did not look that comfortable against the Aussies but knowing him, he will be very much ready for a contest as big as this. Raina who was included at the last minute showed amazing maturity to play a great short innings under pressure to guide India to victory in the quarterfinals. The win against the Aussies for sure would have been a great confidence booster for Dhoni’s men. On paper though you would say that the Indian team should win 9 times out of 10 but strength or form counts for nothing in India-Pakistan encounters. It’s the performance on the day which matters.
Indian management’s decision to not allow the players to interact with the media is a masterstroke as this will keep them focused on the game. It’s unfortunate that the Indian government is trying to make this a political game by inviting the Pakistani prime minister. This puts a lot of pressure on the players in the middle. I don’t know when the politicians will realize that this is just a game of cricket and politics has no place in sports. The pressure on the players is enormous as it is and they would appreciate a little respite.
Just couple of days to go for the D-day and fans from both the countries would want their team to win this game. I don’t even think anybody is worried about the finals as of yet as this game is as good as the final for the people of both these countries. I just hope that this game lives up to its billing and produces a wonderful contest. C’mon India!!!
- In: Australia | Chennai | Cricket | Cricket and Sports | India | Indian Cities | ODI | ODI | postaweek2011 | Sachin tendulkar | Sports | Teams | World Cup 2011
- 1 Comment
After a comfortable win against West Indies in Chennai, India now travel to Motera to face their biggest challenge yet. India takes on Australia in the second quarterfinals to be played in Ahmadabad this Thursday. It’s a mouth watering contest considering the recent rivalry between the two teams. The biggest worry for India would be their recent record against the Aussies in the ODI’s. India has lost 9 out of the last 15 games the two teams have played in India. The Australians also haven’t lost to India in a world cup game since their narrow 1 run victory in 1992 world cup.
So if India manages to win this game they will be breaking a plethora of records. The pressure for sure will be on the men in blue. The Indian performance against the WI followed the familiar pattern, good top order batting, middle and lower order collapse and ordinary effort in the field until Zaheer came back for the second spell. The Indian captain will be still worried about the bowling combination. The one thing that went right for India was the inclusion of Ashwin, as the off-spinner from Chennai gave a good account of himself. Yuvraj’s form also would be heartening for the Indian think tank as he has been a star performer for the men in blue with both bat and ball.
The onus again will be on the batsmen for the Indians. Sehwag will for sure return for the crucial game to join Sachin at the top. Gambhir will drop to number 3 followed by Yuvraj, Kohli and Dhoni in the middle. The batsmen will have to be mindful of the late order collapses and will have to utilize the batting power play better. The Indian bowling though again will rely on Zaheer and Bajji. Ashwin is a welcome addition to the squad and his ability to bowl will the new ball is a great advantage for the team. Munaf might retain his spot as the second seamer.
The Australians though will be really disappointed with their performance against Pakistan. Their batting was seriously exposed against the spinners and India would make sure that they play lot of them. Watson, Haddin and Hussey will be extremely important to Australia’s success with the bat. The Australians will also be hoping that their captain Ricky Ponting rediscovers his form to lend solidity to their fragile middle order. Their bowling will rely on pace as I don’t see Krezja troubling Indian batsmen too much. Lee will be extremely crucial for Australia, if they have to keep the Indian top order in check. Johnson and Tait are extremely inconsistent and you never know how which side of them will turn up on a particular day.
The pitch will be the extremely crucial and since both the games played on this venue involved Zimbabwe, the true nature cannot be gauged. It seems little hard to bat on judging by Australia’s struggle to reach 262 against Zimbabwe in their first game. India haven’t had a great time at Motera in the past as they have won 5 and lost 7 in the 12 games they have played. Toss seems extremely crucial as teams winning the toss and batting first have won 8 times out of 12, bowling first have won it 5 times out of 8. Teams winning the toss have distinct advantage at Motera. So toss will be extremely crucial for the Thursday’s game.
All in all this will be a brilliant game for the cricket fans across the world. It will be battle between India’s spin Vs Australia’s pace. Whoever wins that battle will win the contest. Let’s hope we have a great game of cricket.