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Australia; Keys to success against India (ODI Series, 2017)

Australia; Keys to success against India (ODI SERIES, 2017) The ODI series between two familiar foes is set to commence in less than 24 hours. With that being the case, let’s have a look at what boxes Australia will have to tick over the course of this series, in order to achieve the uphill task that lies ahead of them. Firstly, let me remind you that this Australian team is a depleted one with the likes of Starc and Hazlewood being rested. That, however, isn’t the case with India. The selectors have, in fact, gone with a full strength side, especially with the pace battery. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav would be rearing to have a go in this series, in a bid to prove their fitness levels. Firstly, let’s get to the ideal playing XI for Australia, considering the format and conditions; 1)David Warner 2) Aaron Finch 3) Steven Smith © 4) Peter Handscomb 5) Travis Head 6) Glenn Maxwell 7) Matthew Wade (wk) 8) James Faulkner 9) Pat Cummins 10) Nathan Coul
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Why is India underachieving at ICC events?

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It’s a typically cold day in Manchester. The World Cup semi-final hangs in the balance, with India needing 25 runs off the last 10 deliveries. All eyes are glued onto one man; MS Dhoni. Ferguson  sends down a quick bouncer to which Dhoni responds with a sluggish pull shot. Hesitantly, he takes off for a second run against the arm of  Martin Guptill . A rocket-throw towards the stumps results in a direct hit and Dhoni is sent packing, taking along with him a billion shattered Indian hearts. With that, it was yet another ‘what if’ moment for India at a major ICC event. The team that was once again fancied a title win couldn’t get itself over the line (quite literally). Since 2013, India’s ICC trophy cabinet has not seen any addition. That does come across as a surprise, considering that it’s the same period (post 2013) which has overlapped with the coming of age of India's top three batsmen;  Rohit Sharma ,   Shikhar Dhawan   and   Virat Kohli , along with a world-class fast b
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India vs. Australia; runs, runs and more runs! The Indo-Aussie cricketing rivalry has always been one of my favourites. Be it Rohit 's disdainfully graceful double hundred at Bangalore,  Ishant's  heroics at the Commonwealth Bank series triumph in 2008 and more recently, Australia's comeback from 2-0 to a 3-2 series victory, the contests have always been captivating, passionate and powerful. There’s been a fair share of drama off the field, but let’s not get into that. Lately, the resurgence of India’s fast bowling wolf-pack has evened out the contest, and how! That’s one department in which Australia was head and shoulders above India and more often than not, it evidently made the difference. Not. Any. More. The thrill of watching India’s quicks tear through Australia at Perth in 2018 remains my fondest memory of this team. Rewind the clock 10 years and who would’ve thought that India would terrorize the mighty Aussies through sheer pace? Well, you aren’t dreaming!
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Preview; ICC Champions Trophy, 2017 & Analysis of Team India

Preview; ICC Champions Trophy 2017, England and Wales As the Indian Premier League has come to a conclusion after 1 and a half months of non-stop cricket, there is light at the end of the tunnel for cricket fans, as the ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled to commence in just about a week. Yet another International tournament embarks upon us, it is only fair to do some justice to it by having some pre-tournament coverage. Here is a look at the both the groups; Group A : Australia, Bangladesh, England and New Zealand. Group B : India, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. One does not really have to look too much into detail to know which group is more competitive. Australia, New Zealand, England and underdogs Bangladesh clearly form the more intense group. In Group B, with all due respect to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, at a glance it seems as if these will be the two teams that won’t make it too far. After all, Sri Lanka have lost a warm up game to Scotland. Whereas, tha
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The Wrap; Australia's tour of India, 2017

The Wrap; Australia’s Tour of India, 2017 (Australian analysis) Overs: 23.4 Steven O’Keefe to Lokesh Rahul; 23.5: “Rahul beautifully pushes a short of a length delivery off the backfoot towards midwicket and gets the double, which gives India the win! Rahul is absolutely pumped, jumps in ecstasy.” With that, Australia’s slightly inconsistent but extremely promising tour of India came to an end. This series was one that promised a lot for Australia, but it just wasn’t meant to be. After the first Test, they seemed to have lost the momentum. It was only Steven Smith, who on a consistent basis showed that they aren’t going down without a fight. Throughout the series, Australia seemed to have gained control of the day’s play, but India seemed to get out of the trouble by some absolutely brilliant individual performances. That is exactly what Kohli has been emphasizing on for so long. When the chips are down, there has always been somebody who has stepped up, and that is prob
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My ODI XI (2017)

My ODI XI With the Champions trophy and IPL just around the corner, there’s a lot of limited overs cricket to be played in the coming months. So it is only fair that I do some sort of justice to the respective formats. Don’t get me wrong though, Test Cricket is still my favorite format. Having already done a Test XI, now it’s time for an ODI XI, followed by a T20 XI, which I will be doing in my next article. Without further ado, let’s have a look at my ideal ODI XI; 1  1)       David Warner (Australia) (Captain) David Warner would feature in most people’s ideal XI’s, be it any format. If there was one format David Warner was left to conquer, it was ODI’S. Till early 2016, Warner was a decent ODI batsman, who would give you the quick start. As the year progressed, he seemed to be going from strength to strength. Having scored 7 ODI centuries in 2016, Warner definitely made a very strong case for himself. To add to that, he had scored those centuries at a conversion ra
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Key battles to watch out for; Australia's tour of India, 2017

KEY BATTLES TO WATCH OUT FOR; AUSTRALIA’S TOUR OF INDIA, 2017   On the eve of the start of an extremely exciting series between two equally good sides, I've decided to add the segment 'Key Battles to watch out for'. With the kind of red hot form that most of the Indian players are in, it is going to be a grueling contest. The Aussies might be missing experience in their current side, but the typical fighting spirit that is always associated with Australia still exists. It is going to be a ‘drool worthy’ series, so here are a few individual battles to look out for; 1) Shaun Marsh vs. Ashwin Being out of the spotlight for quite a while might just work in favor of the left hander. Shaun Marsh might be struggling when it comes to injuries, but he is as good as any other Aussie batsman on his day. The Indians would have done their homework on Marsh and would know exactly how good he is against the spinners. The century against India A must have done a lot of good to hi
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