India’s on-field performance deserves scrutiny, but they were dictated by the decisions they made off the field
Alagappan Muthu05-Jan-20252:12
Was India’s batting approach justified?
There was a team whose two key batters were not producing the runs that they were used to. They came under fire from the outside. They had a fast bowler go down with injury. They were the ones celebrating with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Sunday afternoon.At about 4.30pm in Sydney, Scott Boland, with a well-earned drink – it looked like coffee even if he has been the toast of the town – walked over to the SCG square, which was now cordoned off. His wife and their two daughters were with him. They grabbed on to the rope and started jiggling it. Australia were deserving winners in this series against India after victory in Sydney, but it is remarkable how much their problems mirrored India’s after the first Test in Perth and how they now seem so far away.They had a batter averaging 16.85 in his last eight innings make two single-digit scores in his first appearance of the series. Marnus Labuschagne recovered. Rohit Sharma couldn’t. They had a world-beater go through a lean period. Steven Smith recovered. Virat Kohli couldn’t. It helps being part of a winning unit when you are out of form. Pat Cummins spoke about how the loss in Perth didn’t really prompt Australia into any kind of soul searching.Related
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“Thought we had a bad week, but thought our game plans, methods, [and] selection, all that was pretty much where we wanted it to be,” he said. “But maybe our execution was a little bit off. I think you can very easily panic in those situations, [and] change a lot. I think it’s more important to realise we’re still number one in the world. We’re a very good team. Stay strong.”India’s on-field performance deserves scrutiny, but they were dictated by the decisions they made off the field. They came to Australia with their souls wrenched out of place. Their first ever whitewash at home in a series of three or more Tests – against New Zealand – had raised doubts about their batters’ ability to cope with conditions where run-scoring is difficult.It forced them to look at their bowlers differently. They went into the first two Tests against Australia with only two specialist quicks. The other two – Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana – were picked for the runs they could provide down the order.The irony is that when those runs actually came – in the first innings in Melbourne – India were unable to make the most of it. The cushion they have afforded non-performing batters on this tour directly affected their chances of victory, and might also have put their biggest asset on ice for a while. Jasprit Bumrah’s back injury is still being assessed by the medical staff. India coach Gautam Gambhir was not willing to let the seniors off the hook for how it all turned out.All eight of Virat Kohli’s dismissals were to balls outside the off stump•Getty Images”Not a lot of people are playing for the first time in Australia. There are quite a lot of others [who are]; probably two of them in the top eight,” he said after India’s loss in Sydney. “[Other than] Nitish and Yashasvi [Jaiswal], all the other guys have had the experience of Australia. So I’m not going to say that it is only because some of the young guys [that we lost], but I think there are a lot of experienced players as well.”It may also be useful to remember that four of the five Tests were played in conditions that Smith said required luck, and that it is a win as a top-order player if you can face 50 balls. He doesn’t have the 10,000th run yet, but he’s a decent enough authority to speak about these things.”A bit [of the batters’ struggle] could be because of the wickets,” Gambhir admitted. “Then, again, it’s not only the case in Australia. We’ve had the same issues at home as well. So I think everything boils down to the temperament. Everything boils down to how much you want to sometimes play those tough moments.”How much you want to grind in Test cricket. Because Test cricket is all about playing the session. Sometimes see off the spell as well. And that is why it’s the beauty of sport. So I feel that that is one issue where we need to probably look after. That how can we convert those 20s, 30s or 40s into big 100s. Not only 100s, but big 100s, and set the game up for our bowlers. Because your bowling department will always be under pressure if you can’t put those first-innings runs on the board.”Jasprit Bumrah was shouldering a very heavy workload, and in the end, it resulted in an injury•Getty ImagesThere is one other bit that no losing team will ever admit. The opposition was better equipped. Boland’s success is testament to what happens when specialists are trusted to do their jobs; how it has a knock-on effect. Australia didn’t need a lot of runs from their out-of-form batters because their in-form bowlers were knocking India out over and over again.”Yeah, it’s been tough,” Gambhir said reflecting on his time as coach, a time which includes six losses in ten Tests. “Absolutely, no doubt about it. It’s been really tough. And obviously, these weren’t the results what we were expecting in the last eight test matches.”But that is what sport is all about. All I can expect from that dressing room is to keep fighting. And all we all can do – not only as players, but as a support staff – [is] to be honest, and keep fighting and keep doing the right things what is good for Indian cricket. As simple as it can get. But more importantly, it’s a result-orientated sport. And we all play for results. And it hasn’t gone our way. As simple as it can be.”India contributed heavily to this Border-Gavaskar Trophy series being incredibly entertaining, sometimes to the point of going overboard. They played it all with their hackles raised. Right from the send-off to Travis Head in Adelaide, they have felt like they have been behind enemy lines, some portion of their effort siphoned away towards things like a hostile crowd, or a 19-year-old wind-up artist. It has added to the theatre, but could it also have been a sign that they lost a little bit of their composure? Jaiswal had the audacity to block Mitchell Starc and tell him “You’re coming on too slow.” Starc said nothing. He just took him out in the next few innings.India could have seized this series on the fourth day in Melbourne when they had Australia at 91 for 6•AFP/Getty ImagesGambhir said it wasn’t like India didn’t have their moments, and he’s right. Rohit accepted his poor form and withdrew himself from selection. That was good. Rohit, in a previous, desperate search for form, bumped their best-performing batter, KL Rahul, off a position he seemed to have earned after initially letting him have it. That was less good. Bumrah was close to becoming the highest wicket-taker in a series in Australia. That was good. He was getting up there because he was shouldering a very heavy workload, and in the end, it resulted in an injury. That was less good.Reddy scored one of the most memorable MCG hundreds. That was good. He bowled only 44 of India’s 620.2 overs in the series. That was less good. Kohli spent hours and hours in the nets trying to work out a viable way of dealing with balls outside the off stump. That was good. All eight of his dismissals were to balls outside the off stump. That was less good.India could have seized this series on a riveting fourth day in Melbourne when they had Australia at 91 for 6. That was good. They let them off the hook, allowing two 50-run partnerships for the last four wickets. That was less good.Everything good they did kept being overshadowed by something less good. So in the end, it is almost tempting to wonder: did the team that played the best cricket win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, or did the one that made the most mistakes lose?