See Cricinfo - SCG pitch gets people talking

Teams

Australia 1 Phil Jaques, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Stuart Clark.

India (likely) 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 RP Singh.

Cricinfo - India search for more SCG heroics

After reading and re-reading Kumble's comments, i think i have worked out what he is trying to say.

What he is saying is: Australia is physically superior to us. They run faster and longer, they bowl faster and longer, they hit faster and longer, they absolutely run friggin' rings around us.

And we are bone lazy. What we want is some piece of crud wicket like the one we played on last time we beat them
Cricinfo - 4th Test: India v Australia at Mumbai, Nov 3-5, 2004

One that supplies a lightning quick outfield so we don't have to run too much between wickets or chase down balls. One that is terrible for batting so we can trot out over after over of spin as to not exert ourselves too much.

Well i hope they don't get that in Sydney as they certainly won't get such wickets at the WACA or in Adelaide. What i want to see is the Indians forced to earn their money. I want to see their laziness exposed again, as it was in Melbourne, and see them ground into the dust again. I want to watch Ganguly and co, and giggle at their comical efforts in the field and running between wickets.

Why i say this is the sheer ineptness and laziness shown by these bunch of old men over the years has got to end. They are overpaid, underworked, and seemingly don't want to have to work hard to justify their earnings. So i hope to see three or four of them have their careers terminated at the hands of the Aussies, and for them to be replaced by those that are more worthy of wearing the Indian cap.

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Well, couldnt have put that better myself, superb summary there, and 100% true. These guys are overpaid, lazy professionals often not bothered about wearing the Indian shirt with pride.

As an Indian, although they arent my favourite side i like to track their progress, and some of these guys need a shake up, the running between the wickets is awful at best, fielding bar 1 or 2 atrocious and they have no fight in them. They need a wake up call to be alert for every minute of the 5 days ahead, otherwise its series over for them.

Not long before the opener i remember an Indian player saying how these 2 sides were far above the rest of the world in class/quality etc....time they prove how good they can be on a wicket that is not flat and turning sharply from day 1.

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Hoggy Hoggy Hoggy...OI OI OI!!!

Australians have won the toss and batting first. Zaheer Khan is out for India, which is a major blow because he was the one bowler who could have made some early impact. India have also retained the opening combination of Dravid & Jaffer.

The Indian bowlers are getting a fair amount of movement early on. These are good signs. If they can bowl a full ball swinging in to Hayden, they have a good chance of getting him LBW... provided they can get it on line. We can see if Haydos has sorted out the problems he has with his fat front foot early on in his innings.

Jaques out for a duck (off Sharma), his first failure for the summer. Brings his average for the season down to a low 71.

Australia 1 down for not many, and the new bowler (Sharma I think) has shown more enthusiasm in the field than any other Indian fielder this tour. I like this guy already.

According to the BBC the bowler was R P Singh - BBC SPORT | Cricket Scorecard
Not the start Aussie was hoping for - but early days yet.

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Ern

You're right, it was Singh, my mistake. Singh's got 2 now, removing both openers.

Ganguly should have had Ponting as well, but the umpire missed the faint edge. Yuvraj got a life from the umpire in the last match and wasted it by nicking one the next over, let's see if Ponting will make the most of his second life.

Singh beat Ponting in flight, drew him out of his crease, but Dhoni missed the stumping. This may prove costly for India. Mister Ponting is now on his 3rd life. Merry Chrsitmas to him I suppose.

I hope the Indian bowlers continue the good work that they started at the MCG.