India could not take 20 wickets and yet Australia lost!
By fannekhan
@fannekhan (783)
India
March 5, 2013 2:40am CST
I am talking of Clarke's master stroke when he declared at 237/9 in the first innings of the Hyderabad test, ostensibly to take out the two Indian openers. Unfortunately one of the openers, Vijay, was so good that he made considerably more than the combined effort of the Australians when they batted again in the second innings.Boy! Did Clarke look ridiculous, in hindsight though.
India has the most hated opponent on the mat and should not allow the cocky Australians to get back up again. The Indians should rub it in further by trouncing them again in the remaining two tests. Dhoni should mount his assault with the objective of dethroning the Kirsten coached South Africa from the No.1 spot.
The gains: return of Vijay to the test team. Hope that either Rahane or Manoj Tiwari open for India against the South Africans. For that to happen we have to try them out in the remaining tests vs the Aussies. What say you cricket aficianodos at myLot?
2 people like this
5 responses
@ram_cv (16513)
• India
5 Mar 13
That is the genius of Michael Clarke. He can now claim that India did not bowl us out in all the innings in India. They failed to take one wicket in one innings when I declared. Of course, we lost the match by an innings and 136 runs with close to 2 days pending, but still I declared on 237/9. :)
Cheers!
Ram
@ram_cv (16513)
• India
6 Mar 13
What was even funnier for me was that in both Chennai and in Hyderabad the last wicket pair held on longer than their lower middle order. In Chennai they helped avert the follow-on and in Hyderabad they played close to 8 overs before being dismissed. Something the lower middle order could not!! So who knows on day one they could have batted through the day and probably frustrated the Indian bowlers a bit on the 2nd morning and things could probably have been different.
Cheers!
Ram
@fannekhan (783)
• India
7 Mar 13
It feels nice to bash these cocky Aussies...LOL! Did you notice that joker Merv Hughes sitting in the crowd of spectators, expecting to see his bullies beat the cr*p out of Indians. Merv Hughes,of the 'who used to run faster than he bowled' fame.
1 person likes this
@fannekhan (783)
• India
5 Mar 13
LOL! Sometimes the cute ideas can backfire and this was one such instance. Dhoni must've been amused by this grand tactic employed by Clarke.
1 person likes this
@sweety_81 (2124)
• India
5 Mar 13
Its a bit surprising as to why Michale Clarke declared? I thought someone was retired hurt. At least Aussies should have crossed 400 score if they wanted to declare. Also, when they know that unlike the English side last year end- November and December, they did not had that good spin options. May be a case of overconfidence? or something else. Let us see what plans does Clarke have in the next test match??
@fannekhan (783)
• India
5 Mar 13
Clarke was trying to be proactive. He wanted to send a message to the Indians - 'Look, your openers are not doing too well against my fast bowlers and see how I damage your morale by getting them out in the remaining three overs'.
If only Sehwag had performed the next day and shared an opening stand of 370 with Vijay, it would have been like a slap and a lot of rotten egg on the face of the Pup, the yuppity skipper of team Australia. I only hope Dhoni and his boys humiliate them further by giving them a 4-0 drubbing. The Kangaroos should leave our shores with their tails tucked between their legs, well and truly thrashed by the Indians. I mean this will scare the Springboks into choking when we deal with them in South Africa.
'Mental Disintegration-Indian style'.
@anilhclites (844)
• India
6 Mar 13
But Indian should not make merry of the situation. If you win at home, remain silent; but if you win abroad than make great sound. India should look at opposition and ask for rank turners. Australian top order is looking very fragile and I don't think that they can handle Ashwin in coming matches. Aswin is bowling like 65 % Swann. If Swann was bowling to Aussies left handers on these dusty wickets, his averaged would be nearly upto 7. He has great success with left handers and his average is 9.
@rahul_2689 (634)
• Hyderabad, India
5 Mar 13
Haha. I read it on Twitter earlier the day that Clarke is the only captain in the history of test cricket to declare in the first innings and then go on to lose the match in the form of an innings defeat. Oh dear, what a sad record to carry on your shoulders. Your aggressive approach which you're asking the players to take seems a little cocky in itself although I can't disagree with it. The last thing we want to do is give the Aussies a way back in.
@fannekhan (783)
• India
7 Mar 13
The Jharkhand Jat has got Clarke's number and he will not allow him to get off the mat. With his openly aggressive playerlike Virat, Australia will be be subjected to more humiliation.
@vbpujara (646)
• Rajkot, India
5 Mar 13
Strange and useless declaration on 237 by Aus. it's a too low score in Tests,If they did not declare some more runs could have been added to reach respectable mark and some of overs to spend on ground. Sometimes last order adds extra 50 to 80 runs more if they succeed to make this they could fight little well. and the main thing Aus. wanted to only show they lost respectably by not losing all 20 wkts and it was out of control for India to take all 20 because of declared innings.
@fannekhan (783)
• India
5 Mar 13
I am looking at the funny angle pujara. Now he must be feeling embarrassed to have done that. Australia has had great captains. Kim Hughes, Yallop, Border, Mark Taylor, Steve waugh, Ponting and Pup. Ponting was not so great as a captain basically because he was arrogant but Clarke comes across as a wannabe who makes grandiose gestures bereft of any grandeur. OK, he has played some long innings but he is not in the same league as Lara, Ponting, VVS, Dravid or Inzy as yet
@asokavaradhana (257)
• India
7 Mar 13
Well,its a good idea to try a new opener for coming tests.Long term Sehwag or Gambhir as opener might not be working out given that they have been struggling for long time.Apart from other plans, India has to re-establish itself as a strong test team which has hit rock bottom.But then grooming new players and bringing them to main fold is good.Vijay and Pujara seems to be doing well with bat.Kumar is doing goood with ball.We just a few players who in top form most of the time to help regain things.With respect of Clarke, well he wanted quick wickets.He knew his tailenders will not last mroe than 20 runs and 260-270 runs would not be enough on board.So he wanted to fancy his chances of getting 1-2 wickets.It was last chance at the dice more than a ridiculous call.Plus its best to hit opponents when they are tired than when they are ready for the fight.Sudden wickets could make things into some sort of situation where they could capitalize. Unfortunately their bowlers does not have that calibre as compared to the previous generation.Dhoni will face tough test in South Africa for sure.But then to make it an even contest, its better to try out new members and get the things going.Thanks!
