Oz tour of India, Feb 9 - March 22

[bigfluffylemon]

Good job Australia went early and prepared thoroughly for this series

[alfie]

Comprehensive victory for India , eh ?

Pretty devastating for Australia who had apparently gone into this with high hopes. Flawed selection , I think ; though in fairness injuries had made that aspect a bit tricky. At least Murphy showed that spin may have life after Lyon - though remembering Jason Krejza I suppose we need to see more of him before canonization. I do think he looks to be a real prospect , even if a couple of his wickets were a bit fortunate to say the least. Problem might be how often he and Lyon will be able to play together , apart from in India.

More immediately , what to do about the batting ? Not many options I'm afraid. Probably stuck with the fading Warner , and Khawaja ,who didn't bring his Aussie home form to this one , at the top (Renshaw is really an opener , but after his two dismissals in this one , would you trust him to do better ? ) And even if Head walks back in , with a hopefully recovered Green , to the middle order , it still looks to me like Smith , Labuschagne and a string of hopeful extras.

A fit Starc presumably replaces Boland. Ironic as he was one player who actually did his job - kept control , if not really threatening wicket taking , to allow the spinners to work at the other end. If they are to have any hope of competing in the remaining matches they will need much better from Lyon. And a better start from the skipper - who would also hope to recover the batting ability he seems to have lost. A lot of wishes...

The home team are not without selection issues (Kohli ? Second opener ? WK and middle order bat?) but can probably postpone decisions for now and just go with the same XI as in these conditions they look a lot better than their opponent. If we are to have a truly interesting series contest Australia are going to have to find some magic quickly !

[Durhamfootman]

Australia keep losing wickets in pairs, which is not helping their cause. 235-8 feels underwhelming. The Head call hasn't saved them, but Peter Handscomb is tying his best

[mikesiva]

Australia 263 all out

Khawaja 81
Handscomb 72*

Shami 4-60
Ashwin 3-57
Jadeja 3-68

[Durhamfootman]

263 ao

not as shambolic as the first test, but not confidence inspiring either

Aus have gone for a 1 seam/3spin attack with Head as a 4th spin option, so perhaps we'll start seeing 100+ overs in a day?

or maybe not

[GarlicJam]

when was the last time Aus went into a test with just the one pace bowler?

[GarlicJam]

when was the last time Aus went into a test with just the one pace bowler?

Chittagong, 2017 - Cummins, along with Lyon, O'Keefe and Agar. Though they did have medium pacer Hilton Cartwright.

[Durhamfootman]

India went 2 and 3 and there were wickets for the seamers, so perhaps Australia are continuing to overthink these tests

[Durhamfootman]

Australia not doing too badly on day 2. 135-5 with Lyon helping himself. Their task of salvaging something from the series has just been made a little easier by the enforced absence of wee Davey who has been replaced by the concussion sub after wearing one on the helmet and the discovery of a hairline fracture to the elbow, after he wore another one earlier in his innings, which has put any further participation in this series at risk

That he carried on batting and only failed the concussion test after his innings came to an end is both worrying and frankly, par for the course. No-one has really got to grips with this yet

Australia moving along quickly now after the wickets of Kohli and Bharat leaves India 139-7

maybe Australia didn't overthink things after all

[mikesiva]

India 262 all out

Axar 74
Kohli 44

Lyon 5-67

Good comeback by Axar and Ashwin. A one innings match.

[Durhamfootman]

India get themselves off the hook again. That man Axar again

[Durhamfootman]

Head getting stuck in straight away

[meninblue]

Aussies are favorites imo to win this.

[Durhamfootman]

a one innings shoot out

[mikesiva]

Australia all out

Head 43

Jadeja 7-42
Ashwin 3-59

Target 115