What a performance by the Indian cricket team!

Bowled out for 36 in losing the first in a four test series in Australia, without their captain Virat Kohli from then on and with all of their first choice bowlers unavailable, they came back to win the second test, snatch an improbable draw in the third one and today chased down a huge 328 in Brisbane (where Australia barely ever lose) to win the fourth test and take the series - the funny thing is India are usually pretty weak when they play away from home, but not in Australia where they have a superb recent record.

Great stuff.

Always good to see the convicts lose.

Especially as some of them have been acting like tw@ts again.

Will Kohli get his place back?

There is a great documentary called The Test on Amazon Prime that is a very good watch and includes a Test Series against India.

Basically covers the period from the cheating scandal through to the World Cup and Ashes after it. Recommend it.

Incredible series, take that Aussie😁

Eng v India soon.

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Originally Posted by blue lewj

There is a great documentary called The Test on Amazon Prime that is a very good watch and includes a Test Series against India.

Basically covers the period from the cheating scandal through to the World Cup and Ashes after it. Recommend it.

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Will give it a go.

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Originally Posted by blue lewj

There is a great documentary called The Test on Amazon Prime that is a very good watch and includes a Test Series against India.

Basically covers the period from the cheating scandal through to the World Cup and Ashes after it. Recommend it.

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I finished watching it last week. Well worth watching.

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Originally Posted by Seabird

Will Kohli get his place back?

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I think he might, but I’d give some thought to keeping Rahane on as captain.

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Originally Posted by The Bloop

I finished watching it last week. Well worth watching.

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After I watched it I found myself thinking life after cricket may become problematic for the obsessed Steve Smith.

Great bit of sport. Pujara rope-a-doped the Aussie fast bowlers by letting them wear themselves out hitting him with short pitched stuff for hours then Pant rocked up to deliver the knockout blow. As TOBW says, it was an incredible achievement to win that series after all they've been up against. Hard to decide on the best adjective to describe it but I'll go with funny.

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Originally Posted by Loramski

Great bit of sport. Pujara rope-a-doped the Aussie fast bowlers by letting them wear themselves out hitting him with short pitched stuff for hours then Pant rocked up to deliver the knockout blow. As TOBW says, it was an incredible achievement to win that series after all they've been up against. Hard to decide on the best adjective to describe it but I'll go with funny.

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The great thing about watching the programme before the end of this match and series, is that you can picture the Aussie dressing room after the defeat.
Funny is a very apt description.

Fantastic end to a fantastic series. The way India picked themselves up, with a patched up 2nd string almost, from being skittled at the start of the series, to batting (or hobbling) out a draw at the penultimate test, and then chasing down a hefty total at the Gabba to win the series has been nothing short of incredible. A joy to follow.

Pujara will have woken up a little sore today I’m sure and probably never happier.

Football will always be my first love, sports wise, but at its very best I don’t think you can beat the long form of cricket.

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Originally Posted by Kind of Blue

Fantastic end to a fantastic series. The way India picked themselves up, with a patched up 2nd string almost, from being skittled at the start of the series, to batting (or hobbling) out a draw at the penultimate test, and then chasing down a hefty total at the Gabba to win the series has been nothing short of incredible. A joy to follow.

Pujara will have woken up a little sore today I’m sure and probably never happier.

Football will always be my first love, sports wise, but at its very best I don’t think you can beat the long form of cricket.

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My thoughts exactly as far as your last paragraph goes.

Arrogance doesn’t begin to describe the Australian mens cricket team. Absolute bliss watching that this morning.

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Originally Posted by Delbert

Arrogance doesn’t begin to describe the Australian mens cricket team. Absolute bliss watching that this morning.

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Last week, Tim Paine told Ashwin he couldn't wait to see him play at the Gabba. Aged well... :hehe:

India with probably the best series win in the modern era. Beats 2005 Ashes. No Kohli, no front line bowlers, incredible stuff. Rishabh Pant is a star, too. Fearless cricketer.

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Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa

Last week, Tim Paine told Ashwin he couldn't wait to see him play at the Gabba. Aged well... :hehe:

India with probably the best series win in the modern era. Beats 2005 Ashes. No Kohli, no front line bowlers, incredible stuff. Rishabh Pant is a star, too. Fearless cricketer.

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Even with all the flamboyant batting in their lineup, I do love the gritty stubbornness of Pujara.

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Originally Posted by The Bloop

Even with all the flamboyant batting in their lineup, I do love the gritty stubbornness of Pujara.

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He's batted for 3 full days of the last two tests :hehe:. Had a strike rate of 5 before lunch!

Watched the highlights this afternoon.
Fantastic entertainment and test match cricket at its very best.

There are quite a few DVDs knocking about regarding Great Test series but this one has to rank alongside any of them.

To hit 300 plus on the final day with still plenty to do not to lose it in the last session, the Indians deserve great credit.
It doesn't seem that long ago that achieving over 300 in a test match was considered highly unlikely and the batting side would be very often trying to bat all day for the draw.
Nobody would have blamed them had they abandoned the chase half way through the day after losing a few, many past England captains would have.

Great to see cricket fans witness it too.

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Originally Posted by MacAdder

Watched the highlights this afternoon.
Fantastic entertainment and test match cricket at its very best.

There are quite a few DVDs knocking about regarding Great Test series but this one has to rank alongside any of them.

To hit 300 plus on the final day with still plenty to do not to lose it in the last session, the Indians deserve great credit.
It doesn't seem that long ago that achieving over 300 in a test match was considered highly unlikely and the batting side would be very often trying to bat all day for the draw.
Nobody would have blamed them had they abandoned the chase half way through the day after losing a few, many past England captains would have.

Great to see cricket fans witness it too.

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I think that if Pant had got out early on, then you may have seen India shut up shop. You're right about fourth innings totals - historically, 200 was considered a big score to chase, but the records show that in the last twenty years or so, bigger totals have been reached quite often. This can partly be explained by the fact that there are much more test matches being played today, but I'd say a bigger cause of the change is that pitches have changed - they always used to deteriorate as the days went by, but now it's not unusual to see pitches at their worst for batting on the first day and then gradually flatten out into something that gets easier and easier for the batsman.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I think that if Pant had got out early on, then you may have seen India shut up shop. You're right about fourth innings totals - historically, 200 was considered a big score to chase, but the records show that in the last twenty years or so, bigger totals have been reached quite often. This can partly be explained by the fact that there are much more test matches being played today, but I'd say a bigger cause of the change is that pitches have changed - they always used to deteriorate as the days went by, but now it's not unusual to see pitches at their worst for batting on the first day and then gradually flatten out into something that gets easier and easier for the batsman.

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That can be evened out now though with lbw coming more into play with VAR. Batsmen are now have to be far more wary of lbw against the spinners.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I think that if Pant had got out early on, then you may have seen India shut up shop. You're right about fourth innings totals - historically, 200 was considered a big score to chase, but the records show that in the last twenty years or so, bigger totals have been reached quite often. This can partly be explained by the fact that there are much more test matches being played today, but I'd say a bigger cause of the change is that pitches have changed - they always used to deteriorate as the days went by, but now it's not unusual to see pitches at their worst for batting on the first day and then gradually flatten out into something that gets easier and easier for the batsman.

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I would agree that pitches are cared for much better these days (I wonder if the groundsman is under fire after yesterday).

The skill of the modern day batsmen must be a big factor though.

I've been critical of batsmen getting out to "one day shots" in test matches as tests going the full five days seemed to be getting less and less.
Some of the shots played by India, the like of which I don't think I'd seen in test cricket in the 70's and 80's, probably 90's too, were superb tho had India lost that game, I'm sure we would be calling into question their wisdom.
The Twenty 20 form, which I wasn't a huge fan of initially but has grown on me, must have had an influence.

Whether it was the flat pitch, poor bowling or perfect batting conditions, the huge run total still had to be got and what a way to get them.

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Originally Posted by MacAdder

I would agree that pitches are cared for much better these days (I wonder if the groundsman is under fire after yesterday).

The skill of the modern day batsmen must be a big factor though.

I've been critical of batsmen getting out to "one day shots" in test matches as tests going the full five days seemed to be getting less and less.
Some of the shots played by India, the like of which I don't think I'd seen in test cricket in the 70's and 80's, probably 90's too, were superb tho had India lost that game, I'm sure we would be calling into question their wisdom.
The Twenty 20 form, which I wasn't a huge fan of initially but has grown on me, must have had an influence.

Whether it was the flat pitch, poor bowling or perfect batting conditions, the huge run total still had to be got and what a way to get them.

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I'm still not a fan of 20/20 cricket, but I am watching a lot more of the Big Bash in Australia this year and you have to appreciate the new shots which would never have appeared if it wasn't for the 20/20 game. When you look back at all of the flak Mike Gatting received for getting out playing a reverse sweep in the 1987 World Cup Final and compare it to now, the difference is astonishing - the reverse sweep is now a legitimate shot in test cricket, in fact, someone like Keaton Jennings would probably have never played test cricket without it.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I'm still not a fan of 20/20 cricket, but I am watching a lot more of the Big Bash in Australia this year and you have to appreciate the new shots which would never have appeared if it wasn't for the 20/20 game. When you look back at all of the flak Mike Gatting received for getting out playing a reverse sweep in the 1987 World Cup Final and compare it to now, the difference is astonishing - the reverse sweep is now a legitimate shot in test cricket, in fact, someone like Keaton Jennings would probably have never played test cricket without it.

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I remember when Matthew Maynard broke into the England test side and taking a lot of criticism for playing flamboyant shots not considered to be proper test match shots and consequently his caps were minimal.
He was born 20 years too early!

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Originally Posted by blue lewj

There is a great documentary called The Test on Amazon Prime that is a very good watch and includes a Test Series against India.

Basically covers the period from the cheating scandal through to the World Cup and Ashes after it. Recommend it.

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Just finished watching this after your recommendation :thumbup:

Slightly worried that I ended up quite liking most of the Aussie side though. They came across fairly well after the ball tampering was swept under the carpet!

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I'm still not a fan of 20/20 cricket, but I am watching a lot more of the Big Bash in Australia this year and you have to appreciate the new shots which would never have appeared if it wasn't for the 20/20 game. When you look back at all of the flak Mike Gatting received for getting out playing a reverse sweep in the 1987 World Cup Final and compare it to now, the difference is astonishing - the reverse sweep is now a legitimate shot in test cricket, in fact, someone like Keaton Jennings would probably have never played test cricket without it.

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I was against the concept of 20/20 at first but was badly wrong. It has changed the game for the better in terms or technical skills, fitness and tactics which has translated into the longer game.
Additionally it has brought big crowds back to the game with the likes of Middx, Surrey, Lancs and Yorkshire selling out as ticket prices are cheap and the counties making an effort to be family friendly.
That said I want nothing to do with the Hundred which is just pointless when we have now established 20/20.

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Originally Posted by Majorblue

I was against the concept of 20/20 at first but was badly wrong. It has changed the game for the better in terms or technical skills, fitness and tactics which has translated into the longer game.
Additionally it has brought big crowds back to the game with the likes of Middx, Surrey, Lancs and Yorkshire selling out as ticket prices are cheap and the counties making an effort to be family friendly.
That said I want nothing to do with the Hundred which is just pointless when we have now established 20/20.

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Despite my misgivings, I've always thought the 20/20 version of the game was invented by cricket men and women - the 100, on the other hand, looks like the brainchild of a bunch of marketing men and women and consultants.