Toss: IND chose to bowl. AUS: 405/7 (T Head - 152(160), S Smith - 101(190), J Bumrah - 5/72). IND: Yet to Bat
Oh my, that was hard to watch, wasn’t it? What had seemed like an excellent toss to win has very quickly turned into a nightmare second day for the Indian team. The team looked distraught, clueless, and honestly - uninspired. After a washout on the first day, Aussies have managed to make 405/7 in 101 overs. That is a run rate of 4, which is almost the pace Travis Head and Steve Smith went at the entire day.
Head’s love affair with India continued as he put up another daddy ton; scoring 152 runs in 160 deliveries. That’s unheard of in test cricket, and frightening to say the least. Steve Smith brought up his 33rd test century (his first test 100 since June 2023), surpassing Steve Waugh for second most test tons for Australia. With three days of play remaining, India now face an uphill battle to salvage something out of this match.
It’s all Bumrah
Seriously, where would this Indian side be without Jasprit Bumrah? After he struggled to get into rhythm on day 1, he struck in his second over of the day, getting Usman Khawaja caught behind. That seemed to open the floodgates for a fine minute there. Bumrah then got McSweeney in his next over, cramped him up for room and that caught his edge. And oh did Indian fans dream for a while there.
This was seemingly going India’s way. A sunny Brisbane morning had brought India good fortune, and despite average bowling by the unit, their main man had struck twice, bringing the very tentative Steve Smith out with his pal Labuschagne yelling out “No run!” every now and then. All seemed to go well for India, and despite a decent partnership, Australia still looked scratchy. They hadn’t quite figured out the Gabba wicket yet, and Labuschagne soon fell to Nitish Kumar Reddy.
There seemed to be an eerie silence around the Gabba, at least on TV. Australia was 75/3 all of a sudden, and that Perth collapse wasn’t that long ago. Travis Head’s last three innings at the Gabba were all golden ducks, but count on him to turn it around when he’s facing India.
That’s where it began, a laborious two session slog fest. Once Head and Smith settled in, it was very evidently curtains for India. It was a stupendously uninspiring performance. Shoulders kept dropping across the field that had very defensive field placements. The Indians looked like they were afraid of Travis Head. Cluelessly waiting for him to score more runs, allowing him to do whatever he wanted to.
Smith and Head put together 130 runs off 27 overs in the second session. They kept putting the ball in gaps and the fielders kept running after it. That’s what the entire session felt like. There were no hyperactive fields, no change in tactics. The batters were making the bowlers bowl to them and India seemed content with it. Amidst another awful day as captain for Rohit, the game kept slowly slipping away from India. But heck, if you thought the second session was bad, the third session was brutal.
Slog Fest
With 70 overs being bowled by Tea, the Aussies had 10 overs before the new ball, which meant they were going to go hammer and tongs throughout. Rohit Sharma and the Indian team didn’t seem to get that memo. Australia scored 63 runs in the next 10 overs, and what did the Indian team do to stop the flow of runs? Set spread out fields, there was a lone slip for the majority of the period, no attacking fielders inside the circle, and fielders on the boundary.
Now I might be wrong, but this isn’t an ODI, there isn’t a target that’s going to be impossible to scale. Australia is looking to score, which will induce false shots. Give the bowlers the fielders that can take advantage of false shots then. This is what I mean when I say Rohit’s captaincy has been uninspiring, stale, and clueless. He hasn’t transitioned from the white-ball game yet. Yes the Indian bowlers were ordinary, but if you aren’t giving them the fields that can scalp out a wicket out of what already is a 200-run partnership then nothing is going to happen.
India let Head and Smith dictate the game for a good 35-40 overs. Rohit seemed content with waiting out till the new ball was available, in the meantime, if Australia scored runs, he would just set spread out fields to stop the flow of runs, read that again, not to try and take wickets, but to stop the flow of runs, in a test match, on day 2.
The new ball did do the trick for Bumrah afterall, getting Smith just after he got to his 100, but that is what Rohit’s game plan had been. When Bumrah’s on, it was all on him to scoop out a wicket, but in the non-Bumrah overs, the batters could do whatever they wanted. Even after taking the new ball, Rohit had two slips, no leg slip, no gully, no mid off, no point, just a spread out field. It was frustrating to say the least. An interesting statistic that tells the tale of Rohit’s red ball captaincy tenure - India allowed two 200+ partnerships between 2015-22, since 2022, they have already allowed four.
Running away with the game
Australia ran away with the game, and despite Bumrah's heroics where he got Smith, Head, and Mitchell Marsh all within 5 overs, all it did was save India 100 or so runs. The game was already gone. Rohit Sharma and India had let it slip away. There needs to be a serious conversation about Rohit the test captain. His tenure has been made look fancy with India’s home triumphs, where Ashwin and Jadeja saved the day time and again, of course that was until the recent New Zealand series. But his tactics have always been defensive, boring, and passive.
Now he has admitted he’s been poor as captain in the past, good, that’s the first step but there never seems to be an improvement anywhere. It’d be wrong to put the recent home whitewash defeat entirely on Rohit, as it indeed was a collective failure, but there were too many ordinary days on the field where he just couldn’t think outside the box. Rohit’s gameplan in Australia has been Bumrah, without him this series would be 2-0, impending on a series defeat before we even get to Boxing day.
Regardless of how the rest of the series goes, this should be Rohit’s last one as skipper. He has been uninspiring and ordinary for far too long, and selflessness and milestone-less approaches don’t take you far in the longest format.
2-1?
Right then, Australia is 7 down, and I assume there won’t be a declaration anytime soon. They would like to bat out the entire morning session, but Bumrah in the morning won’t be an easy task. Either way, India has a mountain to climb. A win is almost out of the picture for them. Like it or not, it was their batting that let them down in Adelaide. This is a different pitch, it’s not doing much, and even with the new ball, the movement is negotiable. Can the Indian batters turn up for once?
All eyes will be on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The two Indian stalwarts have been underwhelming for far too long now. Kohli, a little longer than Rohit. But Rohit too has been going through one of the leanest patches of his career. He’s scored 142 runs in his last 6 tests with one 50+ score and an average of 11.83. That is some stat. India desperately needs him and Kohli to step up. Even for this to go to a draw, India will need to bat really well. That hasn’t been the pattern so far this series, but it will need to be if they want to keep their World Test Championship hopes alive.
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