Muambi not fit for Test Cricket.

[Beny]

I tend to agree with Ponting here.

No doubt that India have the right to a home advantage but within reason. I dont mind spinning tracks but when it's almost Impossible for teams to bat out a day's play then things are getting silly. All out in 2 days play?

[Rachael]

The groundsmen reckoned the pitch was fine and that the batsmen simply failed to apply themselvess.. and he has a point. Even cricinfo dismissed INdia's first inning batting as "abysmal".

Tendulkar was out fishing outside off stump. Laxman was undone by a predictable lack of foot movement, Kaif shouldered arms "cluelessly" to one that nipped back and Karthik "had no idea about a reverse-swung yorker from Kasprowicz that uprooted middle stump". Later, "India dropped four clangers in the middle of a slipshod fielding display" and "Anil Kumble picked up another five-for without bowling particularly well".

This is the tally of the Aussie 1st innings self-destruction:

Langer: reprieved off successive balls before out to an "unconvincing swish at Zaheer"

Hayden: "got carried away".. belted one over wide mid-on for six.. then was out off bat and pad "from a half-hearted saunter down the track".

Martyn "nudged the ball into the gaps expertly" but not before having "prodded tentatively at a beautiful delivery from Murali Kartik" and got away with it.

Michael Clarke went on the attack but "moments after a dozing Sehwag had given Clarke a life at square leg, the adrenaline rush got the better of him. He gave Kumble the charge, played inside the line, and Karthik did the rest (121 for 5)".

None of that is the sort of batting one expects at Test level.. though it is, perhaps, the sort of batting one can get away with these days on the belters of pitches that Aussie batsmen grow up on and get used to. Suggests that a lot of these modern "stars" would have been sunk back in the days of uncovered pitches.. when this level of application would really NOT have been tolerable.

[Mike]

Justin Langer's article on the BBC Cricket site suggested that the pitch was too bowler-friendly and, even before the match started, it was apparent the match would not last more than three days. I wonder how many wickets Shane Warne would have taken on this Mumbai turner?

[Rachael]

The only reason this is getting any attention is that the Aussies ALSO lost lots of wickets: if the Indians had simply collapsed twice then no one would have batted an eyelid: politics, morale being shredded by recent results, too much ODI cricket and a fear of the Aussies.. and most especially in the fact that only Dravid (unbeaten in the 1st innings) has a true test temperament for a fight.. meant their 1st innings fiasco was almost predictable.

Thing is.. this current bunch of Aussies are famous for being strokeplayers, brought up (and generally convinced they are entitled to) very, very true pitches (witness the whinging every time they get anything else)... and absolutely notorious for failing to apply themselves (period) and most especially for failing to apply themselves in dead rubber matches (their record in such games is truly abysmal).

Add in that bizarre phenomenon of poor cricket from one side setting a tone for a match (happens FAR too often)... plus the "ninepins" phenomenon that helped Harmison rip through the WI this spring (farcical match situation and incredulous dressingroom atmsosphere affecting each batsman going to the crease) and the famous Aussie "problem" with chasing low 4th innings totals (match is all but owon.... failure is near impossible.. maybe too much pressure.. who knows) and the tumbling of wickets wasn't THAT odd.

Truth is.. several players DID do ok... like Dravid, Martyn, Katich and (2nd innings) Tendulkar. The rest just went AWOL. It might have been fear that they couldn't cope with the pitch that LED to them going AWOL.. but the truth remains that this was a true test of technique (can't get away with poor footwork against uneven bounce) and grit (made for Kirsten or Hussain).. and a stack of strokeplayers flunked it.

[Mike]

India was robbed of the 2nd Test match in Chennai by the weather when only needing 229 with plenty of time to get the runs batting normally. Assuming they had won that match the series would have hinged on the Mumbai result. Imagine the noises coming out of the Aussie camp if India narrowly tied the series. I agree that the Aussie team usually play poorly in dead rubbers - that's no secret. I wish the Chennai Test was won by India. Then the Mumbai Test may have been played more seriously and could have provided great cricket. The Aussies, desparate to win, wouldn't have thrown in the towel so easily if more was at stake.

[Rachael]

There are so many "what ifs" here. Sure, it would have been better if the result had mattered.. but it would have been better if the Indian batting order had batted less abjectly in the first innings: the Aussies clearly felt the Test was all but won before they even started.

Might also have been a very different Test if the Aussies had batted first...

As it was.. Ithink it was principally evidence that if the rest of the world presents the Aussies with uneven bounce then they are very, very beatable.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Rachael

As it was.. Ithink it was principally evidence that if the rest of the world presents the Aussies with uneven bounce then they are very, very beatable.

I agree that making pitches uneven would restrict the strokeplay of the Aussies for which they are renowned but that would also revert the style of Test cricket to a bygone era which sponsors and broadcasters dislike. Would Michael Clarke have been so entertaining on such wickets? Could one-day players easily adjust from flat wickets to dusty turners? No, I don't think so. Ponting is correct that modern Test cricket be played on good wickets. Even Murali Kartik said he prefers bowling on good wickets because it gives him an extra challenge. For him, three wickets on a good pitch is worth five on a turner.

[Beny]

Thing is.. this current bunch of Aussies are famous for being strokeplayers, brought up (and generally convinced they are entitled to) very, very true pitches (witness the whinging every time they get anything else)... and absolutely notorious for failing to apply themselves (period) and most especially for failing to apply themselves in dead rubber matches (their record in such games is truly abysmal).

Rachael Australia have, in the last year won in both Sri-Lanka and now India. We did that by changing the style of play to one that was more defensive. This comment about Australia being a bunch of arrogant stroke playing wimps could not be furthur from the Truth. What you say about the dead rubber syndrome may be correct though.

But regardless.

Imagine if India, with their batsmen and spinners came to Australia to play a 5 test series at the WACA. I think the last time India played there (In a ODI) Brett Lee (who was in abysmal form) ripped through the Indians.
I'm not sugesting that the Indians should turn their wickets into Australian wickets when we come over but surely there could be at least a little bounce or grass and the ability to bat out more than a day.

One last thing.
It was V.V.S who top scored. I would consider him a strokeplayer.