India vs Australia 2018/2019 Preview

Much awaited India vs Australia Test series is starting on Dec 6th, before that 3 match T20 series has already completed.

My brief analysis on the just completed T20 series.
Series ended 1-1 with 2nd match abandoned due to rain in the second innings.
My reading was India were lucky to end the series 1-1 despite pathetic fielding performance. Field was one of the worst performance from India in the last few years, even with safe fielders like Kohli, Rohit dropping catches and mis-fielding.

Overall positive for India from the series was bowling of Kuldeep Yadav and batting of Shikar Dhawan, and Dinesh Karthick.

Bhuvi and Bumrah were below par which resulted Aus scoring runs in the end overs and making competitive total.

KL Rahul continue with his poor form and seems like not showing any indication to improve.

Rishab Pant seems like not learning from mistakes and his keeping continues to be poor.

On the overall India should have won this series easily instead of 1-1 against an Average Aus team who consisted primarily of hitters.

Test Series
Early indications of form suggest it will be difficult for India to go with KL Rahul as opener for India. India should fall back with M Vijay. Regarding wicket keeper - Rishabh Pant continues to be below average, and I would like India to go with Parhiv Patel who also has previous experience of Aus tour.

At this stage it seems like 3 seamers will be Shami, I Sharma and Bumrah.
Spinners - Kuldeep Yadav should play instead of Ashwin

Practice match is starting from tomorrow (Wed 28th) - and need to watch out for any the possible lineup from this match.

India vs West Indies 2018 ODI Series - Review

• So after a promising start to the series, and at mid point it looked like Windies were going to create upset and probably win the series. But then they fizzled out.

In 4th ODI, in Mumbai although they got the run machine Kohli out early, they had Rohit to content along with Raydu. This match confirmed definitely Raydu as the number 4 slot for World cup. This match also brought out the best of Khaleel Ahmed, and potentially as 4th Seamer for the WC squad.

In the 5th ODI, It was even more disastorous performance from Windies, and there is noting much to write about this.

Overall from Windies point of view, they have very good young talent in Hope and Hetmyer who should be nurtured along with experienced Holder and Nurse. With some more experienced player joining the WC squad, I feel this Windies team can compete in England and can cause some upsets on a given day against top team like they did here in this series.

Coming to India performance, what do we know, what still remain concerns.

Top Three

• Rohit continues to one of the most dominant opener in ODI currently in the world
• Dhawan is bit lazy, and repeating the same mistakes again. So probably India needs to have a good back-up option for opener if Dhawan continues to be in this form
• Virat Kohli - continues to show why he is the Number one ODI player 

Middle Order

• Ambati Rayudu pretty much cemented his number 4 position in this series with couple of good innings
• Dhoni continued his struggle, and there are people now openly talking about replacing Dhoni with Pant
• Pant did not get enough chances, and in the brief period he was there at the wicket, he demonstrated how he probably can provide that thrust required in late innings while setting-up the target or chasing. Probably T20 series will give us more pointers on his ability and how he can perform in the international level in the shorter format
• Jadhav did not get to bowl, but showed in the one innings he fits well as a finisher role and part-time backup spinner

Spinners

• The 3 spinner slots are booked between Kuldeep, Chahal and Jadeja and probably it will be a toss-up between Chahal and Jadeja in the XI depending on the opposition and pitch

Seamers

• At this stage it looks like Khaleel and Shami are the back option for Bumrah and Bhuvi. Although Bhuvi himself has not been in a great form in ODI over last one year. But hopefully in the next few ODI leading-up to WC, he should get into the groove

Backup Batsmen, Openers

• At this stage it seems like it is going to be KL Rahul and Manish Pandey

So let us wait for Aus ODI series to see how well India can perform with this squad on more flatter surfaces which we are likely to face during WC in England