THIRD TEST: JHARKHAND STATE CRICKET ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL STADIUM COMPLEX (JSCAISC, FOR SHORTISH)

Crooky optimistically headlines today's Test preview "Back to cricket after all the controversy". Fat chance, chummy. The wild dawgs of controversy are gnawing on the leash, desperate to announce "There's only one team playing cricket out there. Woof!"

It would be brilliant if the BCCI Pitch Selection Panel's pitch selection backfired and played into Australia's hands, but once again it could all be about the toss. Can't see us good guys winning the Test if India wins the toss.

Comments

[Big Ramifications]

The Australians were shocked when they first caught sight of the first Test pitch in Pune, which was described by Shane Warne as resembling an "eighth-day wicket".... -via 'The Australian'

That's the first thing Warnie has said in ages that hasn't made me groan out loud. I cracked a smile, no less.

[Tony Tea]

SGW Warner.

[Philsgone]

A run a minute. What the hell is going on?

[Carrot]

Time for a Star Wars reference: I've got a bad feeling about this.

[Carrot]

Come on, Maxwell- prove me right!

[Carrot]

Well batted, Glenn Maxwell (so far - and mozzes don't count if they're separated by a session break, so nur). It's been sensible stuff from him and Smith. From what I saw of him he's looked much more assured than Marsh ever has.

PS - where is everyone today??

[Carrot]

By the way - how long can Kohli be off the field and still bat in his normal position? Or does that only apply to bowling?

[m0nty]

Last time I looked, you have to wait for as long as you were off the field.

[m0nty]

Flasheart riding his luck today, that French cut was very fortunate as well as that mis-hit to mid off. His fidgeting annoys me. But we'd be fvcked without him.

[Carrot]

Smiff! What a player.

Let's see if we can get through to stumps without losing another wicket.

[m0nty]

Rahane showing shit judgement in DRS is not just a symptom of e-Kohli.

[Carrot]

"You not just gunna lob onto the front dolly..... that's a really good sniff": Brett Lee. Or maybe Navjot Sidhu, who knows.

[m0nty]

Bloody good partnership. Glad that Maxwell lasted, hopefully he gets fully hydrated.

[Tony Tea]

Well, we had a good day 1 last Test. Lid on.

[Philsgone]

The longest Big Show has ever batted in an innings of international cricket. Well done son. Make the most of it tomorrow.

[Tony Tea]

It's always slow here when we are batting steadily.

[m0nty]

I think Croq are straight up lobbying for e-Kohli to bat at his normal position by ruling that a shoulder injury is "external". Last time I looked, the shoulder joint was under the skin not on top of it.

[Carrot]

Crooky tells me that Maxwell's 82* is the highest score by an Australian number 6 since Smith scored a ton from there in February 2014 - three years ago. Which, needless to say, is a balls-out freakin' disgrace. I hated Marsh at 6 from the start and I have never liked CA's policy of trying to create players, but would never have realised that it was THAT bad. I mean, seriously? How can that have been allowed to go on for that long?

[Carrot]

The definition of external injury applies when there's some sort of foreign body involved (in this case the ground), as opposed to a pulled muscle or illness. So Kohli should be ok, I think.

[m0nty]

What about if it is a pulled muscle caused by falling over?

[m0nty]

Croq are calling it a "strain", which sounds like a pulled muscle to me, yet they report that India have been told Kohli can bat whenever he likes. Rules are different for the captain of India, it seems.

[m0nty]

That is a big, big, big show.

[m0nty]

But not a big hundred.

[m0nty]

That was an amazing shot to get his hundred, deliberately cut between first and third slips. Only Big Show would do that.

[Philsgone]

My mother knows Pat Cummins grandmother. Met her at the shops today. I said we need his runs as well as his wickets. Hopefully he takes more wickets.

[Patard]

Good show Big Show! You're welcome at NSW anytime where we understand true talent.

First Brexit, then Trump, then Sok and now Maxwell the era of the undervalued, underrated, underestimated turning everything topsy-turvy continues to disturb and perplex the statists daily.

What a great time to be alive.

Let's hope O'Keefe has the luck of the Irish today!

[Patard]

Nice one, Philsgone. Unfortunately it wasn't his lucky day with the bat, though it still could be with the ball, fingers crossed.

[Patard]

Need the last 3 to put on another 50 minimum from what little I've seen of the pitch.

Reminder: Sean Marsh 2 runs.

Not mentioned much, or at all, Warner is doing sweet f*ck all this tour and badly needs to step up. He's in "the leadership group", isn't he? Time to lead, Davey Boy, preferably with your bat.

[Tony Tea]

Speaking of statists - Clarke Time. The more things stay the same, the more things stay the same.

[Carrot]

Mornin' all. Good for Maxwell that he got his ton. Was looking forward to seeing him bat with the tail, but guess we'll have to see that another day. I'm sure Smith will put the foot down at some point anyway. Apparently the pitch is beginning to misbehave, is that true?

[Patard]

Carrot, according to cricinfo "The England series showed 400 is not enough, but this pitch is beginning to act up now." Could be just trying to put the Jonah on us. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to watch the game.

[Tony Tea]

England batting first against India last October made 537, 400 and 477 and lost the series 0-4.

[Carrot]

Not seeing much evidence of it at the moment to be honest - it's looking flatter and flatter by the over. The recent series between India and England is looming pretty large for me now. It won't help that Kohli's injured, but India have shown lately that they can win games from these positions. We're not exactly up against it, but we absolutely cannot afford to be complacent.

[Carrot]

SOK gone. Does Smith put the foot down now?

[Carrot]

And now Lyon. We don't have enough.

(Sorry Tones, didn't see your comment before mine about the India-England series)

[Carrot]

Steve Smith, what have you done??

.... Apart from score a fantastic 178 not out and hold the innings together, of course.

[m0nty]

Jarrod Kimber pointed out that Maxwell's innings was one that Warner rarely plays overseas. Warner has four OS tons: three in one series in South Africa, and another in Dubai.

[m0nty]

Cummins deserved that.

[Patard]

OT, the NRL is a corrupt game.

Back to the cricket, so, the match is even at stumps day 3. Just waiting to see if India takes the lead and by how much, and how badly the pitch will break up for day 4 for us.

[Patard]

PS. So much for the luck of the Irish.

[Patard]

PSS. Watching NRL sober is a sobering experience. I'm pretty sure I don't like it.

[Tony Tea]

It's only day two. Get a beer in ya.

[m0nty]

DRS going against us today. Umps are wild dogs up there.

[Tony Tea]

The umps have gone all Morgan Freeman on us. Woof!

[Carrot]

So is Maxwell not going to bowl after all?

[Philsgone]

last 2 innings Lyon 0/80. Get the leg spinner into the last test, they have sussed him out. The great thing about being an Australian all rounder is you only bowl 5 overs a test.

[Patard]

"so, the match is even at stumps day 3" was my sober and somber way of predicting that India will be close to our score at stumps day 3.

I'm with Klutzy, I'd give that session by a smidgen to Oz.

Also with AB that the spinners need to step up and take the reliance off Cummins. SoK has been ordinary towards the end there.

What I'd like to see is Smith bowl himself.

What I'd also like to hear less of is Clarke. He loves sticking it to Oz and taking up the Indians.

[Patard]

The great thing about being an Australian all rounder is you only bowl 5 overs a test.

Lol Gold!

[Patard]

I reckon he's hit that.

[Patard]

Ah, good, he missed it.

[Carrot]

We're going nowhere, here. Someone wake me when they give the ball to Cummins again?

[Patard]

Hayyyyyzzzo!

Top stuff, great bowling, top spell all guts and now glory.

[Carrot]

Does that count as a Mozz???

[Patard]

Top mozz, Carrot.

[Patard]

The Indian logo in the top left corner really bugs me. It needs to move well out into the corner to offset the Fox logo. It just hangs there like a ufo or a fly or one of those floater things that get's stuck in the peripheral of your eyes from time to time.

[Carrot]

.... And suddenly they've stopped scoring. Ten runs from the last ten overs.

Cummins has been dynamite on this flat pitch. You can tell that even when the batsmen are well set that they really don't like facing him. I can't wait to see him charging in on a pitch with some pace.

[Patard]

Whoah, almost caught and bowled. Agree, Carrot, Cummins has been amazing. He's a Mountain Man too, played for our arch enemies Glenbrook-Blaxland.

[Patard]

Which reminds me, SoK is also from just down the road the other side of the mountain at Windsor.

[Patard]

Brilliant! Brilliant review too.

One more wicket and the session is ours.

[nick]

Most 'impartial' you will ever see Cricin(dia)fo:

Cummins to Ashwin, OUT, they are appealing for a glove, and they review it after it has not been given. Brute of a bouncer. Right at his head, Ashwin looks to sway out of its line and throws his hands in front of his face. And it takes the glove as it passes the hand. What amazing bowling this is. This has to be reversed. A nasty bouncer. Ashwin is not happy, but if he watches the replays in the dressing room, he will see the evidence

[Patard]

I've been very surprised by the even handedness of Cricinfo this series, Nick.

[Carrot]

That's an interesting one. It really looked like Ashwin believed he wasn't out. I've played enough cricket to know that you know whether you've been gloved or not. Could it have been a spike from somewhere else? Still, it maybe evens out some bad luck we had with DRS earlier- provided that he DIDN'T hit it, of course.

Props to Ravi Shastri for backing the technology and saying that the evidence was clear. He was always a pretty fierce defender of the BCCI's anti-DRS policy.

[Patard]

Maybe Ashwin was trying to bluff the DRS?

[Patard]

Great day to Oz, Pujara not withstanding, I thought India would draw well level with us at this point.

At this run rate of 2.10 India bat another 47 overs to tie 1st innings, which would pretty much close them out of a chance to win. Early wickets to us puts us in the box seat.

[Patard]

At this run rate of 2.10 India bat another 47 overs to tie 1st innings, which would pretty much close them out of a chance to win.

Hmmm, rethinking that.

Really depends how badly the pitch breaks up. The replays of Jadeja bowling into the rough in 1st innings looked worrying.

[Philsgone]

5/240 in a days play is a bloody good result for us. And my mothers friends grandson bowled bloody well. Lets hope he can get out of bed this morning

[Tony Tea]

6 for 397. Getting ugly. India v England redux.

[Patard]

At this rate were India to bat till stumps they'd have a lead of 100.

[Tony Tea]

Then spin us out for 99 tomorrow.

[Patard]

"India trail by only 34 now, and Australia have begun to leak runs"

Cricinfo back to crookinfo. Lyon got hit for 6 = leaking runs otherwise still 2.1 with 0.4 variation at times.

[m0nty]

We are so fvcked.

[Patard]

Saha dropped.

[Patard]

Fox cru are panicked. Border says Oz officially in trouble.

All three lay into Smith's captaincy.

Border says only India can win.

[m0nty]

Starting to look like England series. At least we pinched one before India started rolling.

[Carrot]

Eurgh, glad I didn't get up early for this. The only silver lining is that we're not being absolutely put to the sword, like previous Indian reverses.

[Tony Tea]

India batting so slow they won't know when to declare.

[Carrot]

You'd really want to hope that we could hold on for at least awhile on this deck. Wickets have been stupidly hard to come by for nearly four days now. There's no reason why it should turn into a minefield over night.

[Carrot]

Would it actually be in our interests to not take these last two wickets and let them stay out there as long as they like? Time is a factor here, surely.

[nick]

If this had been Australia in India's shoes, commentators would have wanted us to declare behind to 'make a game of it'. Instead, India have been masterful - on and off the field. Firstly, their pitches have been unashamedly Indian - and fair enough. Secondly, they have united behind their captain, who has hammered Australia's achilles heel - the media classes propensity to pile on, on their own team. 'Smith abused the DRS', 'Smith cheats', 'Maxwell made fun of Kohli's injury'. Thirdly, Laxman beautifully slipped in a dig at Phil Hughes, comparing Maxwell's alleged mockery of Kohli's shoulder 'injury' with mocking Hughes' death, while our media fifth column claimed he was 'misunderstood'. Fourthly, Sutherland has had to fight to avoid 'wild dogs II', which hasn't allowed Kohli to be censured for his allegations. Masterful.

[nick]

PS: What the hell is it with the ABC waxing lyrical about the time Spanky was commentating on the phone? Will we be eulogising Randell's umpiring next?

[Carrot]

I could be completely wrong, but I'm not sure that media attention like this really plays much of a role in what goes on in the field, particularly during a match. Captains might have a dig at each other in press conferences, and journalists might ask leading questions, but I get the feeling that teams exist in a bit of a bubble during matches. That's not to say that players aren't reading things in hotel rooms, but most players I've heard speak about this stuff say that they actively avoid media about cricket, much like an actor might avoid reading reviews. It was interesting to hear Jarrod Kimber make time yesterday in his otherwise usually fun and light "Polite Enquiries" segment to lambast the quality of reporting that has gone on during the series though, and to say that the game deserves better.

I didn't hear anything directly Laxman said, but Jesus, if he made a remark about Phil Hughes on account of Maxwell grabbing his shoulder, he's a prize turkey. Frankly, anyone saying that Maxwell was "mocking" anyone is a prize turkey. Someone dives and hurts themselves, someone dives later on, gets up and has a bit of a laugh: "don't worry boys, I'm ok". This is something I have always hated about the Indian team and culture surrounding it - they desperately want to take offence from everything, and actively look for opportunites to do so. Wankers.

That's above and beyond whether it's calculated or not Nick, and it could well be. Either way, it's obnoxious dickheadery. Just play/watch/write about the game as it is, you bunch of idiots. Stop trying to find things that aren't there.

[Carrot]

We're in much the same position that England were in before Christmas. It'll be interesting to see whether we're good enough to get out of it. Are we a better side than them? I'd like to think we are. I can't see us trying to stonewall our way to a draw, anyway - that's just not the Australian Way. We'll probably try to keep picking up runs, and runs are going to be just as important as time batted, I think.

[nick]

My money is on an Australian defeat just after lunch. It'll be pretty galling to have lost by an innings after the first innings heroics here and the last Test, and it'll be 3-1 after the last Test, as a rampant India flogs a weary Aus attack. Still better than the 4-0 smashing that was predicted, and hopefully the template for a series win in India in the future - play at an Indian pace, prepare well, don't get frazzled when things inevitably get really tough. Probably why the Saffas do well there.

[Philsgone]

At least we have 2 fresh spinners that can be selected for the last test. Fast bowlers have no such respite. Warner cant buy a run, might as well give him a rest as well.

[Tony Tea]

No one goes from outrageous over-the-top obnoxious behaviour to playing-the-victim as fast as the Indian cricketers.

[Patard]

Two excellent comments up there, Nick. 100% agree.

e-Kohli's soccer style shushing celebrations are ridiculous, as was his shoulder clutching.

Geeze I hope we can hold out today just to rub it into the Indians, *and* those Ozzies who shitbag Oz constantly.

Re. Warner, since the selectors have a horses-for-courses policy as exampled by Smarsh's selection over Uzzie then it's time for Warner to only get selected in Oz.

Re. The allrounder: If Smith isn't going to bowl the allrounder then don't select one.

[nick]

and...they're into the tail with SMarsh

[Patard]

Well, whichever way it goes this will be the defining innings of Smarsh's career.

[bob]

Hopefully it's the last innings of Smarsh's career.

[Carrot]

Again, I don't really understand all the Smarsh hate. He's really not a bad player!

The constant yelling from behind the wicket - every freakin' ball! - is really giving me the shits. Quaggy plays forward to Jadeja, gets it right in the middle, safe as houses, and they YELL. I mean Jesus, is it really necessary?

[Nick]

Bowled, Jadazza...in an alternate universe.

[Patard]

Holy Fuck, Carrot, what the hell was that comment!?

Unless that was a reverse mozz you should know better than that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEC4nZ-yga8

[Carrot]

Fantastic stuff in that session. Really well played. Shaun Marsh, what a batsman! What would we do without him?

Lyon has out-bowled Ashwin so far in this match, would you believe, who has actually looked pretty ordinary today. Jadeja's been good and we've managed to blunt him - but Ashwin? Meh.

[Patard]

You're pushing it, Carrot.

Phew, need to blow off some steam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E5-4GdzXWw

Now shut the fuck up about Smarsh.

[Philsgone]

2 hours to go tho for some reason AB on Foxtel was talking about an hour or so. I reckon if no more wickets fall by 5:45 they will walk off, but not before then

[Carrot]

Great track, Pat - although for some reason it sent me down an AC/DC spiral, dunno why.

How does this work? We lose two overs if they bowl us out, and once the last hour starts there's a maximum of fifteen, is that right? Or is it a minimum?

[Carrot]

Oh Handscombe, you can't leave that, what are you doing?

[Philsgone]

Yes my bad. Clearly if we take the lead then they have to get the runs and if no wickets fall and the lead is say 50 then they probably call it off 5:30

[Carrot]

OK, that's weird - crooky saying that there are fourteen overs left. No mention of the last hour. Maybe that's changed.

I'd give it 4-5 more overs and call it if I was Kohli. There's not a lot to be gained by being out there, now.

[Nick]

20/1 on india win...