Australia in India

[Ljp86]

September 2008

Sat 27th - Sun 28th September: Tour Game - RCA Centre of Excellence v Australians at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur


October 2008

Thu 2nd - Sun 5th October: Tour Game - Indian Board President's XI v Australians at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad (9:30am local time, 4am GMT, 2pm AEST).

Thu 9th - Mon 13th October: 1st Test - India v Australia at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore (9:30am local time, 4am GMT, 2pm AEST).

Fri 17th - Tue 21st October: 2nd Test - India v Australia at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh (9:30am local time, 4am GMT, 2pm AEST).

Wed 29th October - Sun 2nd November: 3rd Test - India v Australia at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi (9:30am local time, 4am GMT, 2pm AEST).


November 2008

Thu 6th - Mon 10th November: 4th Test - India v Australia at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur (9:30am local time, 4am GMT, 2pm AEST).




Squads

India

Note: Indian squad is for tests one and two (no change to squad for test three and four)

Anil Kumble (captain)
Age: 37
Tests: 130

S Badrinath
Age: 28
Tests: 0

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (vice-captain)
Age: 27
Tests: 29

Rahul Dravid
Age: 35
Tests: 125

Gautam Gambhir
Age: 26
Tests: 17

Sourav Ganguly
Age: 36
Tests: 109

Zaheer Khan
Age: 29
Tests: 56

VVS Laxman
Age: 33
Tests: 96

Amit Mishra
Age: 25
Tests: 0

Munaf Patel
Age: 25
Tests: 9

Virender Sehwag
Age: 29
Tests: 60

Ishant Sharma
Age: 20
Tests: 9

Harbhajan Singh
Age: 28
Tests: 69

RP Singh
Age: 22
Tests: 13

Sachin Tendulkar
Age: 35
Tests: 150



Australia

Ricky Ponting (captain)
Age: 33
Tests: 119

Doug Bollinger
Age: 27
Tests: 0

Stuart Clark
Age: 32
Tests: 18

Michael Clarke (vice-captain)
Age: 27
Tests: 35

Brad Haddin
Age: 30
Tests: 3

Matthew Hayden
Age: 36
Tests: 94

Michael Hussey
Age: 33
Tests: 25

Phil Jaques (withdrawn player)
Age: 29
Tests: 11

Mitchell Johnson
Age: 26
Tests: 9

Simon Katich
Age: 33
Tests: 26

Jason Krejza
Age: 25
Tests: 0

Brett Lee
Age: 31
Tests: 68

Bryce McGain (withdrawn player)
Age: 36
Tests: 0

Peter Siddle
Age: 23
Tests: 0

Shane Watson
Age: 27
Tests: 3

Cameron White (replacing Bryce McGain)
Age: 25
Tests: 0

Shaun Marsh (replacing Phil Jaques)
Age: 25
Tests: 0



Betting

Series Win

OzBet - India $2.25, Australia $2.50, Draw $4
Centrebet - India $2.20, Australia $2.50, Draw $4.20

[Biggie]

I hope this is a good fought out series.

Will be watching on Fox with much interest.

[Jolldo87]

Originally Posted by Big Man

I hope this is a good fought out series.

I think it definitely will be.

My tip is 2-1 in India's favour.

[D.K]

Originally Posted by Jolldo87

I think it definitely will be.

My tip is 2-1 in India's favour.

Really? Ageing Indian side with injuries and players out of form vs a Australian side that has nothing to prove and is out to test their young guns. I reckon the Aussie will get up based on the fact they have nothing to lose, the Indians heaps of national respect if they go down.

[AB]

Originally Posted by D.K

Really? Ageing Indian side with injuries and players out of form vs a Australian side that has nothing to prove and is out to test their young guns. I reckon the Aussie will get up based on the fact they have nothing to lose, the Indians heaps of national respect if they go down.

You're wrong there, the public has a very short memory. They'll be heroes again after they beat the English

[Ljp86]

Australian leg-spinner Bryce McGain has been ruled out of the first test with a shoulder injury sustained on the Australia "A" tri-series tour which was held last month.

Originally, McGain shrugged off the injury as nothing serious but the Victorian spinner has barely bowled for the last week and pulled up sore after a training session yesterday.

McGain's injury almost guarantees off-spinner Jason Krejza a spot in the starting eleven to take on India in the first test which starts in just over a week's time.

McGain out of first test

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some bad luck for Bryce there, he would have played the first test too. It looks like Krejza will debut as Australia has no other specialist spinner with them on tour. There's also a chance that McGain may be sent home as it appears he won't be available for the second test either.

Michael Clarke may be asked to bowl quite a few more overs than orginally expected now.

[Jolldo87]

Originally Posted by D.K

Really? Ageing Indian side with injuries and players out of form vs a Australian side that has nothing to prove and is out to test their young guns. I reckon the Aussie will get up based on the fact they have nothing to lose, the Indians heaps of national respect if they go down.

I'm worried about our bowling attack.

McGain missing the first test is a blow and Watson isn't going to trouble the Indians. It will be all up to Lee, Clark and Johnson to get the wickets which i don't think they will do cheaply.

[Biggie]

Wow our spin bowling stocks are, well shyte.

[Biggie]

Australia in India 2008-09

Johnson faces challenge from Bollinger

Mitchell Johnson is hoping reverse-swing can be his key weapon in India as he aims to hold his place in Australia's Test team and fight off a challenge from Doug Bollinger. Johnson's position is the least secure of Australia's three starting fast men and he is not expecting any real help from the new ball during the four Tests.

"I've sort of, not given up on the swing thing, but I think in these conditions I'm probably not going to get too many opportunities to swing the new ball anyway, so that's when the reverse will come into it for me,'' Johnson told AAP. "I had been working on basically trying to get it through to the keeper and bowl the way I have in the past."

Johnson had an excellent one-day tour of India this time last year but his Test appearances have been no more than solid. He struggled in the West Indies this year, where he sprayed deliveries both sides of the wicket, and he was stripped of the new-ball duties.

"Looking at the West Indies tour I probably didn't have the best tour there," Johnson said. "But towards the end of it I started to get a bit more rhythm and where I was bowling there was coming in behind Brett [Lee] or Stuart [Clark] and just trying to bowl straight and hit the deck."

The persistent wicket-taking of Johnson's fellow left-armer Bollinger will place Johnson under pressure during the upcoming series. Bollinger, an unused backup on the Caribbean trip, has impressed in his few games in India, both with Australia A and in the weekend's practice match in Jaipur.

"I like to bowl as straight as I can and I like to swing the ball as much as I can, whether it be natural or Irish," Bollinger said. "That can be a very beneficial thing over here because the wickets don't change as much and they're a lot flatter than Australia."

© Cricinfo

Cricinfo - Johnson faces challenge from Bollinger

[aussies]

it should be a good series, i dont have fox so i cant watch it
i reckon australia will just get over the line though, probably 2-1. It will be a good series though