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Spot on Mike, we would have been pantsed 4-0 if India were at full strength for the whole Series.
I was doing some calculations of the series so far and of the 14 days of Test cricket played to date India would have won or been on top in 10 of those days and Aust only 4, there in lies the story!

On another note I have heard Brett Lee on Fox Cricket in his "special comments" role talk about how the Australian fast bowlers bowled great on Day 5 in Sydney?!?!
We must have been watching different games as they were far too short virtually all day long and thus India were able to play with ease or just duck under no trouble.
Lee really is clueless hopefully he never has a coaching role at AUS or WA for that matter but hopefully NSW give him a job there!
Though his comments are not surprising to me having watched the rubbish he dished up on the last day at Headingly in 2001 when ENG were able to chase down 320 as Lee bowled half track garbage all day that even Mark Butcher was able to cart him all over the park on his way to 180 in the big last day chase!

BH-Was listening to the Q on ABC radio.Quinton Hull everything Queensland sport.He said the Gabba is the traditional first test.And the wicket is a lot faster in October ,November +December..Than Jan,Feb+March.It looks like a good battle between bat + ball.
Shield games played before new year end in 3 days.And go intothe 4th day after new year,The Tropics\Sub Tropics in rainy season.

There must have been half a dozen knicks go straight to where 3rd slip should be (most off Starc) but Paine just refuses to put one in ffs!
Tactically as a Captain he is poor!

really should have been batting by now and it's a poor day in the field again looking at this - there won't be much of an advantage so it comes down to just how much they want it
Given the Injury & unavailable list of the visitors it is a series victory so far

Beasley Hutton wrote: There must have been half a dozen knicks go straight to where 3rd slip should be (most off Starc) but Paine just refuses to put one in ffs!
Tactically as a Captain he is poor!

In all honesty it may be a blessing if Aust loses BH, time to move Paine on, as you say his captaincy tactically is very poor..cost Aust winning in the UK and this series here....doing exactly the same as they did on the 5th day in Sydney....hardly any balls hitting the stumps...Starc looks cooked to me, yet he gets 20 odd overs, with both new balls, going at 4 runs an over, whilst Green gets 8 with an old ball... no way in hell Starc deserves to go to SA in March....but hey he will...well done to the two Indian debutants, taking wickets and making runs....hopefully Harris and Warner are watching these guys bat....

If bowling short pitched shit is a team plan Freeze than all concerned with devising it should be sacked at the end of the series as it has failed miserably.
The only time our quicks have looked like taking a wicket in the last 2 Tests are when they have bowled to hit the top of off but instead continue on with short pitched rubbish that the Indians must laugh at as they easily duck under whilst the quicks wear themselves out!

And yes the sooner Paine goes the better, he has now become a complete liability as both Captain (how many fark ups with DRS has he made) and as the wicketkeeper (6 dropped catches in this series, twice as many as Pant)!

I think that the Australians relaxed once they got Pant out at 6 - 186, thinking the job was done. The same thing happened on the last day in Sydney when Hazlewood got Pujara with 2 and a half hours left and only a few injured batsmen and the tail left. Once again they underestimated the resolve of the Indian players and by the time they had switched on again, Sundar and Thakar had taken the initiative away from them.
Starc at least got his speed up today although as BH said it amazed me that he didn't use his yorker more. Lyon has not had much impact on the series and that has had a negative effect on the bowling group as a whole.
I thought it would have been worth trying Green with the new ball as other than Hazlewood, the attack didnt look all that threatening.
If they manage to get the full day in tomorrow I would envisage Australia batting for 2 and a bit sessions to try and get their lead up to 250 plus. They may have to risk losing to give themselves a chance of winning so a declaration around that 250 lead mark would give India a bit of a sniff which they might go for.
This may be all academic if the forecast rain on day 5 eventuates

Remember prior to the Cricket summer this season.Channel 7 where luke warm about being the CA Cricket broadcaster.Just had a look at the tv ratings.The test matches are rating well above ch7's expectations, Probably helps with two eavenly matched sides.
Since boxing day,The tests havnt rated under 750,000 viewers.Thats amazing for a 6 hour daily telecast.Some very happy sponsors.Only beaten by ch7+9 nightly news service.
Even BBLX (big bash) which ch7 did not want this year.Because covid-19 would reduce the amount of international players available. In a a long season is rating over 350,000 per match.Beating over 80% of shows on tv for ratings.

Lead 250 now..how much is enough and how long does Australia want to get India out....100 overs max....300-320 should be a decent total to defend on an obviously wearing pitch...don't think it's like that 5th day SCG pitch, which seemed to get flatter by the over....

Freezin wrote: Lead 250 now..how much is enough and how long does Australia want to get India out....100 overs max....300-320 should be a decent total to defend on an obviously wearing pitch...don't think it's like that 5th day SCG pitch, which seemed to get flatter by the over....

Only got flatter in the middle of the pitch where we were inexplicably bowling at Freeze!
Looked to be doing a bit further up when they started pitching it up in the last 10 minutes but was all too little too late!

Just hand India the Border/Gavaskar trophy now and be done with it.
They have completely outplayed our supposed 'best side' in every aspect despite having 7 first choice players unavailable for this Test.
Hopefully this is the last Test we have to put up with Paine, Wade & Harris, get some new blood in there a-la Green & Pucovski and give them some experience before the all important next Ashes series against the ol enemy which is the real series we all want to win!