> India Australia series buildup reports

Safin

The matches are yet to begin but the war of words has started(and hopefully there is some substance from both sides in them)

Before leaving, Kumble exhorted the Indian team and especially the seniors to conquer the final frontier, Australia

The Hindu : Sport : Conquer Aussie frontier, says Kumble to seniors

A Test series win over Australia in its own backyard will be one of the most cherished achievements for India’s top cricketers, many of whom are on their last tour Down Under, captain Anil Kumble said on Tuesday.

The ace-leg-spinner, in an apparent reference to players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman, urged his senior mates to make a final push to glory.

“Most of the senior cricketers are here on their last tour of Australia, so it’s very important we go back victorious,” Kumble told reporters after arriving here with the Indian squad to play a four-Test series, beginning at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26.

And setting the ball rolling, Kumble started the mind games by saying that spin will be the Achilles heel for the Australians.
LIVENEWS.com.au > Cricket > Spin is Australia's achilles heel: Kumble

India captain Anil Kumble has highlighted spin as Australia's weakness in the coming Test series and believes Brad Hogg would pose few worries for the visiting batsmen if selected for Boxing Day.

Kumble said India's batsmen could confidently handle any spin offering Australia deployed post-Shane Warne and without injured Stuart MacGill, predicting Test cricket would provide Hogg a tough challenge despite his one-day success.

Harbhajan further added fuel to the fire by taking on his counterpart, Brad Hogg, whom he said as a nothing spinner and one whom the Indians would love to take on.
The Hindu News Update Service

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Monday claimed Australia is short on spin bowling options and Indian batsmen would feast on Brad Hogg's bowling should the left-arm bowler be selected for the first Test in Melbourne.

The Punjab bowler declared Hogg was not close to the illustrious tweakers that have represented Australia at Test level in recent times.

"Without (Shane) Warne and (Stuart) MacGill, there are no quality spinners in Australia," Harbhajan told the 'Herald' newspaper.

"From our point of view, we would be happy to see how Hogg would go against the best players of spin in the world. It would be a big test for him, and we all know how he bowls," Harbhajan said.

Ponting meanwhile has come back with a retort

Target Hogg at your peril: Ponting | The Australian
AFP: Indian spin won't wash, says Ponting

Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting said the Indian team could say what they liked about his bowling line-up but they would still have difficulty against it.

India arrived in Australia on Tuesday for the four-Test series with captain Anil Kumble confidently targeting his opponent's bowling as their weakness following the retirement of leg-spinner Shane Warne.

But Ponting said left-arm spinner Brad Hogg, who was Tuesday named in the squad to replace an injured Stuart MacGill, deserved his place in the side despite only having played four Tests.

"A lot of international players have struggled reading Hoggy in one-day cricket especially," Ponting told reporters.

"He's brought a lot of guys undone with his variations in that form of the game and I can't see why it would be any different in Test cricket.

"If they (the Indians) want to go after him then good because that's probably the best way for us to take wickets as well."

"Hoggy is bowling very well, he's very confident, he's been talking up how well he's been bowling right through the summer... he'll do a good job."

And so has the Australian press and the bookies who are giving no chance to the Indians. While the bookies have already written off the Indian's, the Australian press has been writing a series of articles about how this "old" team from India might not be able to deliver the entertainment the Australians deserve.
Heat on Indian attack, says Lawson | Herald Sun
India too old, too tired, too rushed | Herald Sun

And meanwhile Shoaib Akhtar has come out in total support of Tait(who gave this guy a role in Indian films?

)
Tait will frighten life out of India | The Australian

Once clocked as the world's fastest bowler, the maverick Pakistani paceman caused India's batsmen some discomfort on their flat pitches during the just-completed three-Test series.

"The Australians must pick Shaun Tait," Shoaib said. "I'm telling you, the Indians will be scared of him. They will not be comfortable with his pace at all. If the Australians make nice, quick pitches the Indians will be jumping all over the place."

The war of words has started. Hopefully we will see some hard competition from 26th on the ground and lets hope that the most await cricket series this year lives upto top billing

(Compiled report from various news sources for funenclave)

Safin

Indian Match Practice Report From Australia
India spent the day practicing at the MCG with crowds already coming to see the visitors, confirming once again that this is The series as far as this summer goes in Australia

Here is what the individual players did

Dhoni spent the day giving some interviews, and saying things which were a bit immature to say the least.
When asked if he thought that a decline in the bounce and speed of Australian wickets might aid the Indians during their tour, Dhoni laughed and said, however low and slow they got, they would still raise the hairs on a batsman's neck when compared to even the fastest Indian tracks. "We faced a lot of swing music when we went to England," he said recently."
"Every country specialises in something and Australia is famous for bouncy tracks, like England is for swing and India for spin bowling." "So when you go to any country, the challenges that you face are different. You have to play well over a period of time and adapt quickly.""Australia, anywhere in the world, is the biggest challenge." "Whether it's Test match cricket, one-day cricket or Twenty20, they are the leaders right now and they play good, consistent cricket for a long period and that's why they're the best team in the world."
He then strapped on and hit some balls out of the park

Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh showed they were still suffering from the effects of a long flight the day before by heading out to the centre wicket. Ground staff sent them in the right direction.

The net session was a sight to behold. The batsmen pogoed about like punks in a St Kilda pub circa 1978.

When they weren't jumping, they were flailing or failing to make convincing contact.

Every now and then there was the dull sound of leather connecting with flesh closely followed by a muffled groan.

Flies are so bad in Melbourne this year it won't be long before Chanel is doing a repellent to keep local trendsetters comfortable and perfumed.

Until then, Sourav Ganguly did his bit by swatting repeatedly outside off stump with the enormous piece of willow that passes for his cricket bat.

Let's hope he was killing flies, because god knows he wasn't making much contact with many cricket balls.

RP Singh, a local net bowler, and long-tall teenage quick Ishant Sharma had the former captain swishing and swatting but rarely connecting.

Ganguly went into the net session with a new bat and went out with one, although he did get a couple of leading edges to Anil Kumble's leg-spinners.

Tendulkar batted with more success in the next net, but on the far side poor old Yuvraj Singh copped a couple of nasty blows that saw him limp away in pain.

All the batters were finding things too hot to handle with only the bowlers moving with any conviction.

The first practice match begins tomorrow against Victoria.

Nikhil

what was so immature abt what Dhoni said ? It sounded very sensible...

heathcliff

Talk the talk guys,, but they have to walk the walk on the boxing day match! as Kumble said.

Safin

Originally Posted by Nikhil

what was so immature abt what Dhoni said ? It sounded very sensible...

You shouldn't be talking to the media about that

He is actually looking as if the bounce is all that we have in our mind. The Aussies want nothing better. They want the Indians to see the bounce and be afraid.

KingKrool

Australia have started their psychological warfare already!!!
Look:
Australia to tax Team India during Down Under tour-Rest of World-World-The Times of India
The Indian team will be depressed about it and lose all their matches. Also, that way they will get less money and be taxed less!

Safin

Originally Posted by KingKrool

Australia have started their psychological warfare already!!!
Look:
Australia to tax Team India during Down Under tour-Rest of World-World-The Times of India
The Indian team will be depressed about it and lose all their matches. Also, that way they will get less money and be taxed less!

One more reason to play badly

Although i have a feeling they won't really mind donating these pennies to the Aussies in return for the gold that awaits them if they win

Agnel

Originally Posted by Safin

One more reason to play badly

Although i have a feeling they won't really mind donating these pennies to the Aussies in return for the gold that awaits them if they win

I hope so... good one safina. I was planning to start a new thread... will update this thread with more news.