[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Talha: *
hey - i ain't crying.. do i look like to you that i am crying? sorry to gave you that impression
however...
Go Aussies and make history. :D
[/QUOTE]
Doesnt sound good coming from a team who was last beaten 3-0 with a emphatic total of 120 run in both innings of a test match.
when did Aussies lose like that? 
i must have missed that…
I was talking about your great team Pakistan.
..and you think Pakistan is the team i follow/root most? :D
i have a news for you........
You are sadly mistaken. :)
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Talha: *
..and you think Pakistan is the team i follow/root most? :D
i have a news for you........
You are sadly mistaken. :)
[/QUOTE]
This was in response to your statement "India ** can** only win on those wickets"..There is a news for you too... We did very well in Australia too. And in last 35 yrs whenever they came here we kicked their Ass and sent them packing.
yes - India did very well against Aussies in Australia - where do i object? Aussies will go for history - everyone will be watching...... - WRITE IT DOWN...boy!
Aussies boast embarrassment of riches
It has been said by many a champion that preparation is the key to success.
With that in mind, this eagerly-awaited series against India should be a successful one for an evolving Australian team.
Besides the unfortunate loss of our captain Ricky Ponting during the ICC Champions Trophy, our build-up for this four-Test series has been outstanding.
**In 10 years with Australia, I can’t remember seeing a more focused team. **
The young guys in the squad have added a renewed energy and determined edge.
This attitude is very uplifting to the senior players who have welcomed a number of these impressive young men with open arms.
It is always energising to have a mix of youth and experience and I sense the combination here in India is just right.
With numerous rain interruptions over the last five weeks in Holland, England, and if you could ever believe Bombay, the squad is bursting to play.
However, our only pre-Test practice game only served to make the job of the selectors more difficult.
Ricky’s absence automatically paves the way for one of our young batsmen to make his Test debut and wear the cherished baggy green cap for the first time.
Both Brad Hodge and Michael Clarke adapted well to the foreign conditions but we will have to wait until the morning of the game to see who gets the final nod.
There is no denying the pitches here help spin more than anywhere in the world, but due to the dry and dusty surfaces, it can also be difficult to score off fast bowlers.
**Besides Shane Warne, who is bowling sensationally at the moment, we have four magnificent pace bowlers at our disposal. ** 
Three of them are old warhorses who can take wickets on any surface and one - Brett Lee - is a speed star who loves bowling as quickly and as aggressively as he possibly can.
As with the batting depth, fitting five bowlers into four places is a difficult but agreeable problem to have.
And with all five of the guys fit, fresh and ready to fire we hope the unflappable Indian batsmen will be in for the fight of their batting lives.
The pitch here in Bangalore is an odd-looking thing, a little like a 1000-piece jigsaw.
Under foot it is like cement but the surface looks like it could crumble over the duration of a five-day match.
If the practice pitches at the ground are anything to go by it will be quite skiddy and potentially very low in terms of bounce.
Again this could aid our fast bowlers as the game goes on.
As with any game of cricket there is so much speculation over what may occur but all I know is that we are ready to go.
We have practiced enough, we have planned enough, we have theorised enough and now it is time to do what we do best and that is play good, hard Test cricket.
**From Bangalore,
JL **
I think the Toss will be a critical moment ...... the one who wins the Toss is likely to bat 1st. & try to get a target of 400+ or even more and then use the conditions ...... guess the pitch will start exploding on late day 4 and thus the bounce will indifferent ...... so batting on day 4 & 5 will be quite hard i geuss
Inntresting Read..
**
A history of Australia in India over the years
**
After nearly fifty years of riveting rivalry, India and Australia don't have too much to choose between them. Australia dominated the initial exchanges, while India have had more joy recently. But a series between the two teams invariably produces the unexpected. We look back at a tied Test, an offspinner conjuring up a miracle, and much more …
**
1956-57**
Australia arrived for the first-ever Test series in 1956 on a demoralised note -after being Lakered' in the Ashes andFazalled' in the one-off Test at Karachi. However, Ian Johnson's Australia dominated the three Tests. Richie Benaud set the tone in the first innings of the first Test at Madras, as his 7 for 72 spun India out for 161. Benaud snapped up 23 wickets in the three Tests and the Australian batsmen, especially Neil Harvey, didn't have too many problems against the spin trio of Subhash Gupte, Vinoo Mankad and Ghulam Ahmed. SK Gurunathan summed it up in the Indian Cricket Almanack where he wrote, "The Australians showed themselves to be a superior side even when their batting failed."
**
1959-60**
Arriving as captain this time, Benaud carried on from where he had left off in 1956 and his 8 for 76 in the first Test at Delhi (including a 3 for 0 in the first-innings) engineered the crushing victory. His ally in the mission, which Australia won 2-1, was the left-arm fast bowler Alan Davidson, who finished with 29 wickets in the five Tests. However, Davidson's most successful haul (12 for 124) came in a losing cause in Kanpur as India managed to pull off their first win over Australia. Jasu Patel, an unheralded offspinner with a jerky action, conjured up this completely unexpected win with 14 for 124 in the match, including 9 for 69 in the first innings. Jasu, though, turned out to be a one-Test hero and the final match of the series, at Calcutta, was his last.
**
1964-65**
Bobby Simpson's men had just retained the Ashes and were odds-on favourites to win the three-Test rubber. But under Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, India were slowly acquiring some steel, which came to the fore in the first Test at Madras. After conceding 211 on the first day, Graham McKenzie had reduced India to 76 for 5. That was when Pataudi (128) and Chandu Borde shared a crucial 142-runs partnership, which meant that India took the first-innings lead for the first time in a Test against Australia. Despite losing at Madras, India clinched a thriller in the second Test at Bombay when Borde held his nerve with only the tailenders for support. The third Test was drawn and as Mihir Bose wrote in A History of Indian Cricket, "There was a real belief that, under Pataudi, India had begun to turn the corner."
**
1969-70**
The wheel had turned a full circle for Pataudi, by the time Bill Lawry's Australia arrived for the five-Test series. India were undone by the wiles of Ashley Mallett, the offspinner, while Ian Chappell enjoyed a great series with the bat. India were crushed in the first Test at Bombay – only their second-ever defeat there – and the series was sealed with Australian wins in the last two matches. India's only consolation was the win at Delhi. On a dustbowl where 31 wickets fell on the first three days, India comfortably chased down 181 on the fourth day with Ajit Wadekar leading the way with an unbeaten 91.
**
1979-80**
Depleted owing to the absence of the World Series players, Australia didn't pose too much of a challenge in a series dominated by the Indian batsmen. Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath piled up two centuries each while Kapil Dev's 28 wickets produced the crucial breakthroughs at the top. India also found two match-winning spinners in that series with Dilip Doshi, the left-arm spinner, and Shivlal Yadav, the offspinner, picking up 51 wickets between them. Kim Hughes and Alan Border enjoyed good runs with the bat but, most importantly, as Border was to write later: "This trip to India to had been the first true test of my character as a cricketer."
**
1986-87**
Border came back in 1986 with a young team that displayed a lot of character, as exemplified by Dean Jones's epic innings in an energy-sapping cauldron at Madras. A dehydrated Jones had to fight acute bouts of vomiting, leg and stomach cramps on his way to 210 as Australia piled on 574. Leading by 347 at the end of the fourth day, Border decided to declare overnight and set India a challenging target, which Gavaskar duly went after. At 331 for 6, India were almost there but Ray Bright snapped up three quick wickets before Greg Mathews controversially trapped the last man, Maninder Singh, lbw when the scores were level to achieve only the second tie in Test cricket. The next two Tests were drawn but Australia had greatly benefited from the experience, as was evidenced soon after in their World Cup triumph.
**
1996-97**
The one-off Test at Delhi marked the institution of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Nayan Mongia notched up his only Test hundred, a fine 152 on a turner, as a Warne-less Australia struggled. Their batsmen also realised why India were such a hard team to beat at home as Anil Kumble, as he did so often in the 90s, got to work.
**
1997-98**
If 1996 had given the Australian batsmen a sneak preview of Kumble's destructive ability, 1998 was a gory trilogy. With 23 wickets in three Tests, Kumble ensured that India maintained their fantastic record at home and was an unstoppable force when bowling with a huge total to back him up. Australia had their moments, though. They led in the first-innings of the first Test, until a stunning 155 not out from Sachin Tendulkar snuffed out all hope. And Michael Kasprowicz fashioned an emphatic win at Bangalore, but by then the series was long gone. In the same Test, an 18-year old named Harbhajan Singh made his debut.
**
2000-01**
Harbhajan spun India to arguably the most incredible series victory of all time. Australia wrapped up the first Test in three days, with Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist smashing counter-attacking hundreds, and India slumped further in the second Test at Kolkata when they were made to follow-on. That was when VVS Laxman, as if in a trance, scripted a fantastical 281 and along with Rahul Dravid (180) put India in an impregnable position. Harbhajan Singh, who had taken a hat-trick in the first innings, took 6 for 73 in the second and India had conjured up a win from strands of straw. Harbhajan took 15 wickets in the third Test, when Hayden reached his zenith of the tour with a double-hundred, and India scraped home to a nail-biting two-wicket win.
Considering that the pitch for the first test will be heavily loaded in favor of spin....I am wondering if our third spinner..Murali Karthik will stand up to the task...He has proved to be very inconsistent.
I remember that in the last test (at Sydney) when India needed to dismiss the Australian side to win the series, Murali Karthik was a disappointment on a pitch that was spin friendly.
Wouldn't it be better if we tried out somebody new in his place...? Is there any potential out there ?
Gavaskar answers India SOS](BBC SPORT | Cricket | Gavaskar answers India SOS)
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar will assist India’s out-of-form batsmen in the Test series against against Australia.
Gavaskar, the first batsman to score 10,000 runs, agreed to a specific request by captain Sourav Ganguly in the series which starts on Wednesday.
“I will be with the team for the entire series,” said the 54-year-old.
“I want to talk to the boys at the nets on Tuesday and see what they want. I will take it from there.”
Indian batsmen have suffered from poor form this season, losing four successive limited-overs tournaments since August.
Moreover, star batsman Sachin Tendulkar is sidelined for part of the series with a tennis elbow injury.
Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh was only too quick to point out India’s batting weaknesses, saying Ganguly is suspect against the short ball.
Waugh made the comment in his column in Melbourne newspaper the Herald Sun on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old said Ganguly was India’s best player of spin but not so fond of the quick stuff.
“(He) gets caught up with the short ball at his body and is unsure when to play the hook shot,” he said.
Australia are aiming to win their first Test series on Indian soil since 1969.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Some1: *
Considering that the pitch for the first test will be heavily loaded in favor of spin....I am wondering if our third spinner..Murali Karthik will stand up to the task...He has proved to be very inconsistent.
I remember that in the last test (at Sydney) when India needed to dismiss the Australian side to win the series, Murali Karthik was a disappointment on a pitch that was spin friendly.
Wouldn't it be better if we tried out somebody new in his place...? Is there any potential out there ?
[/QUOTE]
I dont think India will go with 3 spinner. Doesnt make sense to go with 3 spinner and one seamer even if pitch is spinner firndly. They will probably go with 2 Pace Bowler(Pathan & Zaheer) and s pinner9 Bhajju & Kumble).