Australia v. India. 4th. Test - Gabba.

[Donny]

Starts on Friday.

Some concern over Pucovski's shoulder. If he's ok, I can't see any changes for the home team.

India will probably have to replace Jadeja.

[K]

So much for Pant being injured...

He was threatening to win the game for India.

And Saha, a much better keeper, subbed for him in the third innings.



Two problems:

Oz bowlers bowled a lot of overs (131) last in a fruitless effort on a very flat pitch. How much will it take out of them?

Paine has won all 3 tosses, but Oz is still only level. Will the toss in Brissy matter much?

[K]

Bumrah ruled out injured.

No excuses now for Oz. (But there weren't any excuses in Melbourne either.)

India will be missing (more than) an entire Test bowling attack:

4 fast bowlers and a spinner injured.

[90 nice]

I think this tour and this series has been a shambles and a PR disaster on both sides.
Its rank and and a real put off for keen followers of the game like myself.
Can not wait for the tour to end been terrible and a whole lot of a mess too.
Never again.

[Donny]

Pucovski out. Harris in.

[piedys]

[K]

Paine completes a series whitewash of the coin toss. Good. Oz needs all the luck they can get.

"He has no hesitation in batting first."

That's another reason pitches that start off too good for batting are bad for cricket. It gives too much advantage to the side that wins the toss (unless it stays a road for 5 days, which would be bad for other reasons). Ideally you'd want the captains to want to lose the toss because they don't want to make a hard decision.

Oz's last great batsman, Ricky Ponting, says the pitch is drier than normal. He says it's more like a Day 2 pitch. Hopefully that means if Oz is bowling on the fifth day it's like a Day 6 pitch and all crumbled.


This is literally a 2nd XI Indian bowling attack, so on this pitch there are no excuses. Perfect setup for FTBs.



Update: Err... Maybe not a 2nd XI attack but a 3rd XI attack. I can't see Ashwin on the team list. Is he injured too? Yes, he is.


India's bowlers missing through injury:

Bumrah
Ishant Sharma
Shami
Yadav
Ashwin
Jadeja
B. Kumar

[K]

The Flat-Track Bully Steve Smith is out for 36 to what "looked like a nice little half-volley" (Gavaskar) from debutant Washington Sundar. Smith flicked it to the man placed exactly for that shot.

Oz 3/87.
Washington 1/0.

Admit it. You've never heard of Washington before, have you? He's an off-spinner. Before this match, he'd played only 1 ODI, but 26 T20Is.

But Oz's best batsman, Marnus, is still at the crease. Maybe Green can build on his second innings last Test too.

[K]

Now Marnus edges Saini and is dropped by Rahane in the gully.
That was not a difficult chance.

He's on 37. How many runs will that cost India? Can Marnus score a century?


It would have been embarrassing to be 4/93 against a 3rd XI attack in perfect batting conditions.

......................................


And Saini has now left the field injured. He could not complete his over.

Add his name to the seven bowlers I listed above.

I'd say any Oz batsman who does not score a century from here has failed.

......................................

Hayden asked why there are all the middling scores and no centuries.

Ponting says they are just making "simple mistakes and a lot of them". He gives the Harris and Smith wickets as examples.

Yeah, they were both soft dismissals. Harris may not get another chance, so that was potentially very costly.

[Donny]

3/110.

Labu 46*, Wade 11*.

[Donny]

Tea.

3/154.

Labu 73*, Wade 27*.

[Donny]

Century partnership.

Labu 97*, Wade 43*.

[Donny]

Creams one through wide cover.

101*

[Donny]

Good to see the Gabba wicket behaving, as per history.

Good for the quicks, early. Then great for batting.

[Donny]

Wade out 45.

4/200.