Over the
last year, the Indian team has had a rather dominating home season, trouncing
opponents such as New Zealand, Bangladesh, and even the mighty English. I say
‘dominating’, because the margins of victory have been large, and the victories
themselves quite comfortable. The visiting nations have been clueless against
India’s spin bowling which includes Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja, the
top and second ranked bowlers on the ICC list! Anil Kumble, the head coach, and
Virat Kohli, the captain, have been gelling well, with the latter scoring as
many as 4 double centuries in the past year. It had been a breeze for the
Indians until they met the Aussies in February.
The fearsome
spin combination meant Australia had to really practise hard, and that’s what
they did. When they batted, there was none of the passivity prevalent in the
2013 home series (they were trounced 4-0). Renshaw, Steve Smith, and Shaun Marsh
batted with intent, and used their feet productively to score runs.
The shocker
came in the second innings, when India were bundled out for a paltry 105, with
O’Keefe scalping 6 clueless batsmen. Needless to say, it was an embarrassing
loss, and the first one of the home season. What made it embarrassing was that
India are renowned players of spin and were expected to handle spin in their
own backyard. However, it was the fast bowling that they seemed comfortable
with, and were passive against spinners. Despite the loss, I felt it would be a
good challenge, as Kumble and co were faced with a situation they hadn’t
encountered before. Australia had come here to play and were not going to be
submissive, and India needed to realise that. As the commentators said, we had
a good series on our hands.
The second
test came by, and India suffered a first innings collapse again, being bundled
out for 187. Nathan Lyon, not a bad bowler at all, scalped 8 wickets on a
rapidly deteriorating pitch to become a wonder. The fans were rueful, and
another defeat seemed imminent. However, the Indian bowlers bowled with heart
and took advantage of the ridiculously low bounce to restrict the visitors to
276. The lead wasn’t big, but the Indian batting needed to prove their mettle
to make it seem so. 4 wickets fell below 150 and everyone seemed dejected when two
men, Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara, held their nerve and batted to take India to
205-4 at the end of the day. This was the first time in the home season when 2
batsmen had to bat under such intense pressure. They came through with flying
colours and were temperamental. Despite the collapse next day, I maintain this
to be one of the most valuable (and incidentally the largest) partnership of
the series. The 4th innings was a blur, with Australia being bundled
out for 105 in response to the target of 187. The quickies proved their worth
with some tight bowling which orchestrated a collapse in the latter part of the
innings, with Ashwin picking up 6 wickets.
This was a
fun test match to watch as it wasn’t one sided and both teams seemed to be in
the hunt with swinging fortunes.
I look
forward to more cricket of this calibre.
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