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3rd Test: Australia wins Sydney Test (scorecard), South Africa won Test Series 2-1.. T20 & ODI series follows.
Current Cricket Series : South Africa vs Australia, West Indies vs New Zealand. Coming Up : India in NZ 2009.

Aren't the same aussies if you've runs on board

Filed under Exclusives

Sehwag-Played-Well.jpg "They weren't the same aussies once we put huge scores on the board" said Akash Chopra, the opening batsman with Virendra Sehwag on India's tour of Australia back in 2003. India drew the series 1-1 once they compiled scores of 409, 523, 366 and 705 in 4 test match series.

The Trick, for both India and Srilanka who play test series this season in Australia (or any team playing tests downunder) - is to sharpen up their batting and score some mammoth totals. preferably batting first.

Batsman from sub-continent needs to know that pitches there in Australia aren't bowler friendly but conversly, batsman with array of shots & heart to play'em can get unbeatable for best of bowling attacks. VVS Laxman has proved it twice. The ball, of course, rises little more than it does on Asian pitches, but there's hardly any swing or unpredictable bounce.

What you need, is a mixture of careful batsman like Akash Chopra or Rahul Dravid (good judge of singles & rotates strike) and a srokemaker like Virendra Sehwag or Sachin Tendulkar or Laxman. You're best advised to maintain a run-rate of around 4 whenever you can, as runs ultimately are the thing that'll win you the cricket matches. Even the tests..

Most of the test matches that Australia win, is through their first innings batting. All the while Aussies have dominated the cricket arena, they've rarely made any records chasing a total in 4th innings. What Australia did have, was a reliable bowling attack who took loads of wickets if any team dared to bat first against them.

Things have changed. No McGrath, no Warne & a brand new opening pair after Justin Langer has called it quits. Cricket Australia is as much apprehensive about how next one year of test cricket will bring to them, as are we opposition team fans.

Cricket is played by two teams of 11 cricketers? Why do we select 6 batsman and only 5 bowlers, if not four? The reason is simple - batsman have to do the trick and then ask the bowlers to get 20 wickets for team to win a test match. not the other way around.

Trick Note : grounds in Australia are biggest anywhere in the world. even bigger for test match cricket. Thus, the batsman have to be very fit and run lots of two's and three's for a successful innings.

Few batsman I see scoring well in 2008 season in Australia.
Australian cricket is very smart in finding the flaws in any batsman's armour. Thus, a batter needs to be smart and not fall in aussie trap. following are my pick for this years 6 '3 mobile phone' test matches in Australia. 2 for Srilanka and 4 for India.

Yuvraj Singh Given that Yuvraj generates the hunger, Aussie quick bowling is absolute no threat to this left hander. Yuvi have played nearly all the bowlers before, except Shaun Tait, who's not known to be lethal against left handers.

Sachin Tendulkar
Man is old, and fitness is below par. BUT EXPERIENCE - immense. Sachin looks more and more determined whenever I watch him play these days and given that little champion doesn't back off from his off drives (like he decided not to play on the up in 2003).. expect some more double centuries in the tally.

Robin Uthappa
This South Indian batsman is not scared of pace. Being an opening batsman, Robin also knows how to negotiate the new ball and build an innings. Fitness is optimum & bag full of numerous shots. Australian pitches will be just perfect for this right hander.




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