Do you agree with Sir Clarke, after trailing 0-2. We would've won 3-2 if 5 Tests were being played !!!!?

Mindless statement I would say. My cousin (age 10) says these type of things. When he loses, he says lets play one more match, if he loses again he says one final match more, then again- grand finale match, then again- best of three series, and so on.

(1)

"If we win at Mohali, we can hope to make it 2-2"

Even you can hope for 2-2 today (before Mohali match). Hoping is not banned.

"might have won 3-2 if it was a 5 Tests series"

And you definitely have lost if it was 3 test series, or even with a whitewash if it was just 2 test match series. Isn't?

(2) Totally irrational, funny, illogical, irresponsible statement.

In order to win the series, he should try to raise the performance level of his team, instead of raising the number of matches to be played, imaginably.

(3) No !

Because we played till last ball in 2011 despite of the results. No Mercy, No escaping should be allowed !

(4) Its attempt to replace the tiredness with new energy. There is long interval. He already looks younger than his age. He was not supposed to go Taj Mahal (symbol of love) with his team-mates instead of Wife (love). So that was appreciable strategy (at-least better strategy than declaration we can say :)

(5) Pitch-rotation policy is correct otherwise improvement of our team will stop if they play on similar pitches just to outperform opposition everytime with the help of pitch alone.

(6) Nothing changed, its not extreme optimism. Its extreme imagining that what could have happened which couldn't happened.

I hope India wins although it would be a high scoring match with high chances of draw. Its great feeling to beat Aussies always, no matter where or which pitch. Its not sudden burst of confidence, Clarke just has lost his consciousness after visiting the seventh wonder of the world Taj Mahal, which could have happened to anyone. He will get well soon after fifth day of Mohali match, I hope so.

BQ: Dhawan will play. Rahane is not comfortable at opening position in tests. Ojha should get chance. Lyon will make come-back I think.

Good to see you around, TJ.

An extremely good & logical answer MBIOF.

I never expected this of Clarke tbh. May be he is just trying to play mind games. You never know with India. They may be overconfident sometimes and come crashing down.

Anyways I think Australia will win at Mohali because of their superior pace attack. Sad for Rahane but I think Dhawan will get the cut. And no use of playing Ojha. India must go with B. Kumar, Dinda, Harbhajan, Ashwin & Sir Jadeja. India will need two real pacers in Mohali. A dummy like Ishant won't work.

Regards.

One would expect such statement from His Holiness Sir Jadeja, but Clarke is moving under his skin :P

He couldn't hide his frustration..LOL

Mohali will offer a complete different pitch than what we have seen in last two tests. Bhajji has to make way for Ojha. Dhawan will most probably open the inning with Vijay.

Australia will try all sorts of random changes but it's too late for them :)

I read another article about it in cricbuzz,TOI,NDTV,etc but there is no mention about him saying that he would had won it 3-2 if it was a 5 match series.He just said that he will try to level the series 2-2 & nothing wrong with that.As joeblow said I won't believe this thing unless there is an video evidence.So all the opinions that 'I never expected this from him,etc' everything is out of context.This is just a rumour & can be ruled out.

Aussies have been promised a competitive surface at Mohali.So yet another cracking test match expected,remember Mohali 2010,..I hope we have something like that with India winning & getting one more step closer to whitewash.

BQ

Mostly Dhawan & vijay will open the batting,rahane is picked more as a middle order batsman.Harbhajan should play at his home,dont change the winning combination too much,although an option of extra seamer can be considered.

His statement which had all the spice to be a potential headlines is not even mentioned in these more popular sites:

Ndtv:

http://sports.ndtv.com/india-vs-australia-2013/new...

Cricbuzz:

http://m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/54665/it-is-not...

TOI:

http://m.timesofindia.com/sports/cricket/series-to...

Mind game and hypothetical. Let him prove by leveling the series and then say that the Aussies would have won if it were 5 test matches series. Till then what he had uttered has no meaning. Just pep talk to his tame team.

Clarke is saying so bcoz he is losing matches.

When you win you enjoy everything - The culture, food, pitches, weather everything and when you lose the same come back to bites you. lol

Clarke is a better bloke than Ponting, less arrogant. Ricky was more like a without character @sshole always awaiting for confrontations.

Didn't expect such stupidity from Clarke.Especially when Australia are getting hammered.

Can you provide a link please, I would love to read Sir Clarke's comments.

EDIT: Thanks. Let's see Clarke put his money where his mouth is.

Do they have video evidence proving he said those words? It does not sound like something that Michael Clarke would say.