Arnab Bhattacharya's Roar Profile

The second Test was not a bunsen burner. It was flat for the first three days before spinning on day four. Australia failed to get 450 which cost them the game in the first inns.
Starc has to play over Boland solely for his reverse swing capabilities, and he’s the best exponent of reverse swing after Umesh Yadav and Bumrah.

Will Australia have the Galle to play just one fast bowler in Sri Lanka - Starc or Boland for solitary role?

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WTC final should be Ch7 and that was announced by 7 as far as I know. Windies home int games usually broadcasted on their YouTube channel. Now I don’t know whether Fox will try to low-ball and then lose to 7 given it’s an Aussie tour coming up or if Fox actually gets the rights

Free-to-air rights secured for Australia's tour of Sri Lanka

All ICC tournaments on Amazon Prime not Kayo

If a bloke who averages sub 40s both at FC and Test level with the ball is chosen over Swepson, I’m rioting outside CA headquarters

'Doesn't look great': Test spinner’s Sri Lanka tour in doubt after gruesome injury in Heat's BBL loss

Because Hazlewood, Carey, Smith and Marsh have a key role to play in Pakistani/UAE conditions. Stoinis wouldn’t have been in the squad if Green was fit. The squad will be revamped come 2027 WC squad, like it was for Australia after the 2013 CT

Ageing ODI side worse than Aussie Test team when it comes to futureproofing - Konstas should be put on fast track

Swepson performs well for QLD in 50 over cricket? His List A bowling average is 47 at an economy over 5.75.

Australia have gone with this squad with one spin bowling option less due to the fact that the whole tournament is likely to be moved to the UAE given some stadiums for CT aren’t ready yet which means we’d be playing all games where dew is a heavy factor.

Konstas being fast tracked for one u19 WC hundred where he struggled for the rest of the tournament??? He’s a better red ball player than white ball if people have actually seen the guy bat at Shield level.

Provided everyone is fit for 2027 WC in SA, Namibia and Zimbabwe, it’ll be a new look squad compared to the 2023 WC and 2025 CT. There’s all these talks of conservatism, yet why would you blood in so many inexperienced kids at an ICC tournament?

Post CT 2025, Australia will have 21 ODI matches to experiment before 2027 WC and give new guys a go. That also depends on those new guys fitness levels as we’ve seen our seamers depth be tested during the tour of England due to injuries, and plenty of them.

One player I’m surprised not to have played Shield, List A and T20 cricket by now is Harry Dixon. Extremely similar batting style to Shaun Marsh. I rate him better than Konstas. Has a bigger ceiling than Chandrasinghe in red ball cricket. Far higher white ball ceiling than Brown, JFM and Harris. Yet he can’t seem to get a game at all. If Konstas is good enough for Test cricket, Dixon at the very least is good enough for first class cricket. He’s a future Australian player but is still stuck at Victoria Premier Cricket level for some reason

Is Boland in the best team now … and who misses out? Six burning questions Australia must answer before the Ashes

This two division talk is to distract the Indian media from criticizing India’s rubbish performance this WTC cycle where they ended up winning the same number of away matches as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka despite playing 3 more Tests than them away from home this cycle.

The two division thing is unlikely to happen as there’s no guarantee that the big three will avoid relegation which will make them back off like the last time the idea was proposed.

As much as India has a part to play in saving Test cricket, so does the ECB. Let’s not forget they’re the ones who came up with T20 cricket. India just marketed their league better. So what did the Poms do? Kolpak deals so that players literally had to retire from int cricket for extra cash but no one batted an eyelid then. Brexit may have stopped that, but look how counties have treated associate players contracted to them. Poor Netherlands went to the 2023 WC qualifiers with a weakened side as their county players were threatened to have their contracts torn up if they went to play in the qualifiers. Not a single word then.

We saw Michael Vaughan criticise the SA board for sending a second string squad to NZ earlier this year because of the SAT20. Did the flog forget that the ECB scheduled the 2023 Ashes to finish by July (when it usually finishes in August or September) so that every Pom was fully available for The Hundred – a format that doesn’t even exist internationally? Again no talk then at all.

Overall, this two division thing is unlikely to happen. And a big middle finger to the BCCI and ECB, especially the ECB more.

Malcolm Conn: Ashes under threat - Two divisions won't save Test cricket but India can, if they care

Ponting lost 3 Ashes series including a home one. Lost an absolute unloseable series to Proteas at home in 08/09. We’ve only lost one series since November 2021. That’s an outstanding record.

Every player rated from the fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test: Boland, Beau brilliance shows the Shield still matters

So so proud of the playing group. Yes they’re not perfect, but it’s clearly our best team since the Waugh era. Put out a Sheffield Shield pitch and the two best Shield players of the last few years won it for us. And for the Indian fans who had to resort to swearing at me and my two cousins who have a combined age below 20, shove your ego where the sun doesn’t shine. Loved it when they gave it all to me but then left once the total went past 110. Insufferable fanbase who had absolutely zero originality with their sledges towards Konstas in Bay 9 outside of Kohli Kohli chants

Again, Boland is not going to find much movement in Sri Lanka. Starc first choice seamer alongside Webster while having three spinners. If not Starc then Richardson. Boland should stay in the squad but he’s not the first choice seamer for me in SL.

Pant’s T20 fireworks display gives India the edge as Australia’s Trophy hopes fade despite Boland machine's excellence

Nope. Starc has to play in Sri Lanka. He’s not gonna bowl many overs, but reverse swing is king there and he’s the best exponent of reverse after Bumrah and Umesh Yadav. Boland is not gonna do as well given there won’t be much lateral movement

We’ve had issues at scoring quickly post Warner and we get a kid who’s still learning the red ball game change it up and we’re still complaining. It’s nowhere near perfect, but let’s not forget that Konstas has less than 15 games of FC experience. Consistency will come in due time. And if you look at his shield career, he can bat time. His gameplan was to be aggressive and put Bumrah off his line. Even today despite looking out of sorts, he got more than Uzzie and Marnus combined and got more than Jaiswal, Rahul and Kohli.

And if we’re talking about Langer’s tough love, that yielded us having an opening partnership of Finch and Harris in Test cricket. The less spoken of that, the better.

Aussies need a strong coach to rein in Konstas' cavalier approach - Langer's tough love should be on McDonald's menu

According to Bharat Sundaresan, Rohit wasn’t training in the slips cordon. Make what you will of that……

Looks like the second retirement in the Indian camp will be Rohit over Kohli or Jadeja then

Flem’s Verdict: Webster to bring 'Funky' energy, Marsh will find it tough to get back and Gill's got to come in for Rohit

Congrats to Webster. Might have to start practicing his off spin a bit more on a drier surface in Sydney and two absolute turners in Galle coming up.

Aussies make major change for fifth Test with debutant called up to replace veteran star

I’d take whatever is written about cricket in that joke of an article by Rohit Sharma’s PR with a grain of salt. The Indian public have blasted Pandey on social media since he does anything but criticise Rohit in these “exclusives”. India’s dressing room leaks over the past few years has also coincided with Rohit’s return to the Test side. I don’t find that a coincidence at all. What’s even more sad is that someone as big as Bharat Sundaresan has become a sellout by defending Pandey and he’s also been rightfully called out for being a sellout too on his post.

https://x.com/pdevendra/status/660881773736259584?t=h3lKtIYETiQE1JHkWK29Lg&s=19

A sinister pattern? New research reveals Indians are being targeted by disgracefully correct decisions

https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/gautam-gambhir-india-dressing-room-chaos-cracks-whip-bgt-ind-aus-9753802/

Talking of disgrace, here’s an article with a so called exclusive with someone leaking info to journalists. The writer of this article? Devendra Pandey. Why does it matter? Well Pandey is best mates with Rohit and every time Rohit is under any sort of pressure, Indian Express will run a defamation campaign against a particular player to defend Rohit and keep his good boy image. Tried it against Kohli openly a few times and did it against Pandya after he took over the captaincy at Mumbai Indians. If we look at the Indians performance since the Perth win, it’s obvious who’s the one that’s caused then to not be so energetic on the field. .

Btw great article Ben. Loved the satire about it

WokeDawg showed he’s got the biggest aura in Australian cricket after unapologetically talking about his views on politics and then winning a World Cup in a stadium that has a bowling end named after Adani. Pro Murdoch folk unfortunately didn’t know what to do from thereon.

How 'woke Pat' overcame 'Aussie exceptionalism' to keep calm and carry on winning as one of our greatest leaders

Given this team aren’t snobbish but still play hard and fair, absolutely. A lot to like about this woke team

India fuming over controversial Jaiswal dismissal as Cummins gets sweet vindication in Australia’s epic MCG win

I think a real highlight for me has been how quiet Rishabh Pant has been kept by Australia. In 2018/19 + 2020/21, Paine was clueless on how to stop Pant, especially after he would spend more than 40 mins at the crease. Cummins has continued to play on his ego and that’s resulted in Pant without scoring 40+ at all this series.

Given the new square at the SCG, I’ll be surprised if we don’t get a result on that wicket, especially given how quickly it’ll break up. Overall, professional from Australia who continue to show in the Cummins + Ronnie era that we can win it late on day five if needed. Something that was mostly MIA under Paine and JL outside of Manchester 2019

Flem’s Verdict: There’s a bit of Deano magic in Konstas, Cummins nails crucial calls and MCG atmosphere an all-timer

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ind-vs-ban-test-series-wtc-rohit-sharma-s-legacy-rewiring-his-generation-encouraging-the-next-1453575

The fact that ESPN Cricinfo was duped into becoming Rohit Sharma’s PR for a home Test win against Bangladesh is hilarious. Since then, India have lost 5 out of 6 Tests under Rohit with the Gabba weather saving him from 6 losses in a row

Every player rated from the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test: Skipper's latest nightmare, Pant's ultimate brain fade

We’ve won day five in Pakistan, Edgbaston, Perth (Windies did threaten to draw for a moment that Test in 2022), and now Melbourne. I said it a few times. Test cricket is more about your mental application than your skills. India were not mentally there yesterday with those drops and then Pant’s brainfade brought us back into it. Ideally would’ve liked the Ashes win away, but this does feel like our most successful Test team post Waugh era (I don’t rate captains who lose 3 Ashes series + fail to defend 400 in a Test match at home)

Ideally would’ve liked to have been 4 or 5 down but 6/308 still a good score on a wicket that just has a bit of inconsistent bounce here and there. Smith has found his groove and as long as he’s there, 400 is on the cards. Boland will be licking his lips on how some balls just shot out of nowhere.

Kon job: Dazzling debutant lights up Boxing Day, but India fightback keeps Aussies in check

As much as I’m planning sledging Virat in Sydney, he’s nowhere near in the wrong for this. Ch7 have no right to play victim in any space after their staunch defence on Lehrmann.

'Big tough man, Virat': Kohli blasted for airport run-in with journo as Indian media match boycott adds to growing tension

I wouldn’t be saying it on The Roar if i didn’t have solid sources on it. One of the few perks of having Indian mates who know their stuff well.

Konstas must play: Aussies deserve to lose if they roll out another makeshift opener on Boxing Day

Dec

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