Pitch in focus, as Batsmen awaits for Spin Challenge

                   It was not the same old story for India at Rajkot right from the toss to dropping catches to spinners under performance too a draw under virat at home, but it tested them quite a lot for good a head and for England it was not the start on the cards but the surface made things all easy after an historic loss under tough circumstances, which eventually bought their best game. Now moving from Rajkot to visakhapatnam  is virtually like moving on to another planet where the actual test awaits for visitors from Thursday.

                  While England can take lot positives from Rajkot from opening with young Haseeb to broad who batted at no.11 showed their batting depth, and four centuries in the side tells England used most of the conditions on offer with some luck in favor too. But the most promising aspect for them is the way their spinners responded with little assistance on offer and edged the Indian experienced attack.

                 Although England know, it is not too often that visiting teams put India under pressure since their last visit in 2012, but the new England too have few players who can show the old resilience in the form of stokes and Ali who are the pillars of this side with the balance and temperament they had.

               On the other hand for India the story would have been in a different manner if they held on the catches in the early hour of the match or if the spinners taken the attack especially in the second half. Although their batters showed much needed temperament in the first half but not the same in the second half, which might the reason of going with five specialist bowlers.

                But it needed with the depth in the opposition line up and with the way virat responded it seems of a challenge to handle in pressure situations, and now with change in venue they do get a home advantage more unlike in Rajkot but it also test their batsmen against promising England spinners.

                    Meanwhile the pitch at Vizag will be a different challenge to handle with more turn on offer and it resembles a quite a bit of turner and with the debut test at the venue it may offer bit more for batsmen early on, adding to extra turn the visitors should also adapt to humid weather.

              So with the conditions in focus and the performance England likely to stick with the same squad which offers them 3 spinning options and 3 pacers to work with and it is unlikely Anderson to return to the playing XI unless there is an fitness issue.

               On the other side India have few selection headache to make with Rahul returning into the squad after an 60 & 100 in return of injury in the ongoing ranji season, so Gambhir is likely to make his way out after an unimpressive knocks in both the innings. Apart form that India may also surprise going with 4 bowers given a turner on offer.

             At the end it is all about starting fresh in each session and test with previous confidence on offer for the both teams and the contest gonna lie between batting units of either sides facing spin challenge.

Aussie in a Spot of bother to Stop Resilient Proteas

                     An unusual scenario opened few more cracks in the Aussie side as they lost their first test of the home season after a while now, much to their downfall Proteas roaring spirits made all the way to get their beat ever in recent times. Although much to the criticism that has been beating high in the low time, is an major issues to turn down with quick turnaround for Aussie at Hobart from Saturday.

               It spelled that Cricket is not a game where only one individual can turn things around as Warner did his part but the remaining failed to capitalise on that, where as Proteas showed much a team game and every Player contribution became less pressure to handle for them.

            While Aussie not only need to address the on-field calls but the off field decisions too effecting them a lot, as a reflection from Siddle injury and Starc's lump spells to Marah’s injury. On the other hand De Villiers injury given Duplessis a much needed  character to show that within him as a captain and the responsibility taken by others bowlers after Steyn injury will be story to tell for more years to come.

          Bit this is what all happened at Waca and returning to Hobart is altogether a big deal for Aussie and Proteas to deal, as the surface produced huge totals and reverse swing won't be a great weapon to possess with for long span but it will be expecting to swing early on and spin later on the days.

            A run-out is all it needed to see the things hard and big and sane fielding costed Aussie some coalesced damage.

            Meanwhile Aussie batsmen have big runs in their charts but the momentum they faced in Sri Lanka and South Africa doesn't helping them, although they need to change the squad with some injury concerns.

Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Peter Nevill (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Joe Mennie, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon

              At the other end Proteas are without both DeVilliers and Steyn since 2004 and showed glimpse of potential even without their services which they look to take responsibility on.

South Africa (possible) 1 Stephen Cook, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Faf du Plessis (capt), 6 Temba Bavuma, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Keshav Maharaj

                  At the end it is an all new challenge to watch for Proteas as they play their first match at Hobart and for the Aussie it's turning up the table in a  big way, with putting the critics out of the minds in the middle. As the contest already had all its boiling points to intensify, the result fluctuates between performance of both bowling units.

Spin Challenge awaits for England, as India eye on another Series

                   it's time for returning to whites as the second series of long home season kick starts on Wednesday as India take on England in a 5 match series and it  also time for Rajkot to make it's debut in the longer format. With India roaring high at No.1 spot England with their concerns in the way playing and bowling spin has to be answered with relatively an inexperienced side.

                While the recent past history suggests that England have the upper hand But now it will be different story to rewrite for them to repeat the same against confident and improvising Indian team which is successful in and out under Virat captaincy.

                  Coming into the long tour to India England had their best preparations they could have playing in Bangladesh on rank Turner's, the Series 1-1 looks quite good but for a  team England against inexperienced Bangladesh players is an issue of their potential.

         On the hand India clean sweep Kiwis on the surfaces which doesn't produced rankers Turner's and the major aspect of the series have been  Kiwis unable sustain to the quality of Indian spin attack.

              Although England has always been a tough rivals to play against but their in ability to bowl spin has been shown in the Bangla tour, which has been their key asset during their series win 2-1 in 2012 where Swan and Panesar out played Indian spinners in terms of wickets.

           Meanwhile the pitch at Rajkot hadn't had much to say with his debutant match but it will offer spin more as the game progress.

          But Dhawan and Rahul yet progress their way due to injuries and Gambhir with his half century in the final test held his position and it is the opponent where it seemed all ended for him. So he will be keen to see them off and injury to Rohit made a decision dilemma to pick between Pandya or Nair.

           And England likely to stick with 3 men pace attack with lite's of Stokes, Woakes and Broad, but with the bat they has decide between young Haseeb and Ballance.

             At the end the contest boils to pick up 20 wickets in a test match and more importantly how spinners gonna attack the batsmen, as the contest between the England batsmen and Indian spinners will determine the result.

Duminy and Elgar keeps Aussie bowlers at bay till Tea

                     A perfect day of classical test match batsmanship helped Proteas to take the lead from 102 to 388 at the end of Day 3 with blizarant 141 from Duminy and resilient Elgar”s 127, as Proteas seen through some disciplined bowling performance from Aussies. So with 3 wickets still to get Aussie may have to do what Proteas have done in 2008 against them.

             Having seen the day out on day 2 with keeping wickets well in hand Duminy and Elgar determined to play characteristic knocks as Duminy played his classical shots without any effort relying more on timing and Elgar at the other end made the bowlers to bowl at him leaving anything that is outside off.

              With playing their natural game both batsmen crossed their respective fifties in the first hour and it went hard foil for bowlers as they unable to find ways to trouble the batsmen. This pair continued to play the way but Aussie bowlers couldn't find much reverse swing in the morning Session, while the crack that deteriorating produced some trouble with extra bounce although the deviation hadn't helped going well past the outside edges. In this time the pair added 80 runs in the morning session.

            The second session too hadn't had much surprises although Hazelwood, Siddle and Marsh bowled their heart out but haven't get any results except few inside edges through reversing the ball, While in the 77th over from Lyon Starc misjudged a mistimed lofted shot from Elgar and Duminy hit a six of the next delivery adding more pain to the wound.

              So with less risk Cricket both the players marched to their 5th ton in their careers and Duminy played much more fluently after that but Elgar stuck to his game with his circumspect style. And the pair brought up their 200 run partnership along the way, with adding another 50 runs to the partnership Duminy dismissed at the Stroke of Tea on seeing a wide and short delivery he went after it but could only edge it to Nevill.

           So with the wicket at the Stroke of tea Aussie bowlers came in with hope and bowled the disciplined lines as they did all the day, but later the dismissal of Elgar not came due to great bowling but a lapse in concentration done with Elgar after a well made 127. While with two set batsmen out in the pavilion Aussie attacked more and Duplessis made quite runs with bad balls on offer, but at the other end Bevuma who seemed in good touch couldn't kept the pull down the ground as he found Khawaja at deep square leg who anticipated early.

                While Marsh was rewarded finally with that wicket of Bevuma and he was economical in the bowling chart the end of the day, Later Dekock joined their skipper and he hadn't looked comfortable with close in fielders early on. In this time he mistimed a short ball from Starc and the ball which lobbed in the air for a while misjudged by Voges, after that he looked to time at the crease. But at the other end Starc struck with angling the ball away from Duplessis which in turn got the Protea skipper, while Philander and Dekock played some positive shots to keep the bowlers at their knees. At the end of Day 3 Philander 23 and Dekock 16 are at the crease, as Proteas lead by 388 runs and indeed opened a much anticipated play for later two days.

Aussie lose Control with Dramatic Collpase

                  It has been all about comeback in the test match so far when things started to drift away there are players stood to show character as Dekock did in day 1 and on day 2 an brilliant bowling performance from Proteas brought a dramatic collapse of Aussie as they lost 10 wickets in spare of 86 runs. While with that performance with the ball earlier in the day, continued ending day 2 on a solid note with a lead of 104 runs for the loss of 2 wickets.

           Although Warner who has been destructive on day 1 continued to play aggressive shots and Marsh at other end looked comfortable unlike the earlier day. The partnership seemed to get the lead with ease but only then Warner departed with 3 runs shy of a century, he was caught by  Amla while playing a drive of Dale Steyn and the Proteas got much needed break through to stop the acceleration of scoring.

             And it was well reflected in  the bowling unit but they got to lose out  Steyn soon after with an twist in his injured shoulder and the Aussie might thought to have a breather but Proteas bowlers taken more responsibility on their shoulders. As a result wickets started to rumble,  Rabada cleaned up Khawaja with reverse swing and Maharaj who has been impressive with his fligthened delivers got rid of Smith, with in a couple of overs time  Philander too joined the party to dismiss well set Shaun Marsh by trapping him before the wickets.

            So with quick wickets at the end of first session Aussie were 181/4 and trail by 61 runs, as the next  session  started Philander once again came into action caughting Marsh on the crease, later Voges and Nevill seemed to lay a partnership with some tough shots. But Proteas bowlers stuck to the line of uncertainty with reversing the ball and Rabada got rid of Voges with an Caught and bowled and Strac departed to Maharaj as Duplessis held a low diving catch.

             Later a little resistance shown by Nevil and Siddle, were Siddle taken on the spinner but it hadn't lasted long as Nevill went to Maharaj in an unlucky fashion, with that wicket it was all over as Philander summed up the innings with four wickets alongside Maharaj's 3 and Rabada’s 2. As Aussie can only pinch a 2 runs lead in the innings after losing 10 wickets for 86 runs.

             While with the end of the Innings tea has been taken early and returning to bowl Starc hadn't had a great start and he was looked tired later in the innings. But Siddle and Hazelwood struck to their lengths as they did in the first Innings and Cook who stayed at the crease for 55 balls departed for 12runs in playing an pull towards mid wicket. Later it was Hazlewood who got Amla cheaply for the second time in the test, this time tough cleaned the stump with the bottom edge on the back foot.

             With Amla back in the pavilion early Proteas seemed nervy but Duminy who joined with Elgar played sensible Cricket putting the bad balls to the fence, the pair taken much needed time to settle in as Aussie bowlers were disciplined. Although the bowlers couldn't produce reverse swing which in turn the pair laid a 50 run stand and at the end of Day 2 Elgar 46 and Duminy 34 ceased the day with 102 run lead.

Starc opens and Warmer ends Day 1 with Dominance

                   Aussie started the proceedings of the home season with a dominance performance on day 1 of the first test at Waca, as Starc led the attack with four wickets alongside Hazelwood’s three with restricting the Proteas to 242 on a pitch which produced good bounce as it ever does. While the dominance too continued with the bat as Warner ended the day on 73 with Aussie at 105 alongside Marsh on 29.

              Earlier it all started with South Africa winning the toss and opted to bat first and they went with a front line spinner instead of an extra pacer, while for Aussie Marine left out with picking Siddle.

             But the proceedings haven't started well for the visitors as Starc Squared up Cook in the first over and Marsh as held on to a flying catch to his left in the gully region. With the early breakthrough, Aussie bowlers looked for wickets all the time as Hazelwood struck with the line in the corridor Amla could only edge it to Smith in the second slip while playing a tentative defense.

               After the dismissal of the big fish, Elgar and Duminy were circumspect but their stay hasn't lasted long as Hazelwood and Siddle struck to their length eventually both batsmen edged to Nevil, so with the end of the half hour of play Proteas were 4 down for just 32 runs on the board. At this time they needed a partnership to stop the flow of wickets and the stand in Captain Duplessis and Bevuma came into the act with seeing off the overs in the first session and they put on a 49 run stand at the end of the first session with 81/4 on the board.

           But after Lunch Starc changed the angle to get rid of Duplessis, who looked to cut a ball angling in and South Africa were in more trouble as they lost their half the side. Although Dekock who joined with Bevuma attacked Aussies with his gift of timing the ball, with the partnership between them seemed to take the Aussie attack for a treatment as Bevuma and Dekock raised to their fifties.

         While the partnership of their Innings ended by a brilliant effort by Shaun Marsh at short leg, as Bevuma departed for well made 51  and later Philander held his nerve for a while but he was dismissed at the Stroke of tea leaving Proteas 7/175. After tea Maharaj and Dekock put on a 50 run stand with Dekock unleashing his natural game with more tail to come. At the end, Proteas finished the innings for 242, as Dekock scored a brisk knock of 84 off 101 balls.

            So  242 was a good comeback from Proteas after their earlier losses in the first hour of play, but it looked the other way around as Warner found his feet in the middle with attacking Protea bowlers through the off side. Although Proteas bowlers were also not consistent with their lengths as they bowled too short and Warner capitalized on those with finishing off the day unbeaten on 73 off 62 balls, and eventually dominated the day with putting 105 runs on the board alongside Shaun Marsh who is on 29.

Both sides have their attest 's as Old memories loom another Season

                       Intense and fearsomeness are two adjectives may not be enough to describe the battle between two teams who give out of their best when they play against each other and it will not be any different this time as the off field banter already burning up the Waca is in already to host the first test of the Aussie season, and also the First of 3 match series against Proteas on Thursday.

                Fortunes have turned in a big way for the both sides since their last encounter on Aussie soil, Where Proteas dominated the test rankings with their win in Australia with dramatic draws followed by a big win. While in the recent past Proteas found it difficult all over the world in the longer format declining from No.1 to No.5 although it won't say the retirements of Smith and kallis alongside consistent injures to their premier fast bowler Dale Steyn.

           But now he is back in the wings for Proteas and coming with some good outings against Kiwis early in the season, although concern still remain in absence of De Villiers who is yet to recovery from Injury. While the new additions Bevuma and Rabada are found during tough times and with Dekock making up in test rankings made the batting more depth to work with, but the lite's of Duplese and Duminy yet to Stabilize their position if AB returns.

             On the other hand the hosts haven't had a good outing in the island and that followed with clean sweep against Proteas in ODIs which doesn't resemble their standards. But for now they are back at home where they known to make rules and recent history isn't far away to show the dominance,. And with Starc back in the side who has been phenomenal over couple years for the Aussie will add more price in this conditions compared with in Sri Lanka, where he rattled with 20+ wickets in 3 match series.

           Meanwhile they also add more price on lites of Warner, Smith and Voges with the bat, even though the squad which isn't the same that dominated Proteas back at their home will seek much needed inspiration from that.

             While the pitch at Waca has been in the spotlight with it's uncharacteristic results in the last couple of seasons and it will be even more this time around, although those criticism over the years made to have some grass on the pitch this time. But it will be in focus on how it will behave as the match progresses.

            But both sides need to find their playing XI on conditions on offer where Aussies stated the squad with leaving Mennie out of the 12 men squad

Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Peter Nevill (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.

While the Proteas might tempted to go with extra pacer instead of front line spinner as Duminy and Elgar known to spin their arms.

South Africa (possible XI)
1 Stephen Cook, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt), 5 Temba Bavuma, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Morne Morkel.

           At the end it is an contest to watch out for some steamy fast bowling if the pitch regains to its true nature and the contest lies between the batting units of either sides to come on top.