When you hope to bat through a day to draw a Test match, more than two batters need to get into double figures. And neither of them ought to give it away. In the end, there were some 12 overs remaining in the Melbourne Test, the new ball was due, and India had got it wrong. Again.
If it isn’t team selection, they get wrong the decision on winning the toss; if it isn’t keeping the flock together — Ashwin might be missed in Sydney — it is the struggling captain’s manner of reacting to situations rather than making things happen. If it isn’t loss of patience, it is stretching the improbable.
Virat Kohli, with a hundred in the first Test, looked like he had overcome some of his problems outside the off stump while making 36. Then the run out of Yashasvi Jaiswal when he was non-striker seemed to throw him. Skipper Rohit Sharma has looked thoroughly out of sorts. In a final throw of the dice he opened the batting, but returns of 31 runs in five innings at 6.20 beg for a cricketing call rather than a sentimental one.
Rohit or no Rohit, that’s the question
Captains have been dropped from a Test in the middle of a series before, and if Rohit plays in Sydney (starting Friday), sentiment would have triumphed over form once again in Indian cricket. To lose him and Kohli for a Test that India must win is risky. At stake is the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and a place in the final of the World Test Championship. Kohli is less of a gamble.
The only argument for retaining Rohit would be that vice captain Jasprit Bumrah will otherwise have too much to do. The fast bowler is crucial to India’s chances. Rohit has lost five of the his last six Tests, but dropping a captain is never easy. Nor is it easy to lead effectively when your own form is in tatters.
What a fabulous match Melbourne unfurled! There is much to admire in skipper Pat Cummins who brings to his job enormous skill in all areas of the game, along with great dignity. Australia have benefitted from his composure at all times.
Were we watching the future of Test cricket when teenager Sam Konstas was going berserk getting to his half century? As the General said of the charge of the Light Brigade, it was magnificent but it was not war, it was madness. His match-up with Bumrah is evenly poised after the carnage in the first innings was followed by a reminder in the second that attack based on defence is more lasting than the reverse.
While Australia discovered a batter in the top half of the order, India found one in the lower half. Nitish Reddy had already displayed the temperament and skill to top score in four of his first six innings but hadn’t gone beyond 42. Now he made up with an innings of character and certitude.
But did all the hype that followed, the media attention on his family, his past and his reunion after the innings rob the lad of some of his focus? All encomiums well deserved, of course, but probably ill timed? There was still a match to be won or drawn. The management, Gautam Gambhir and others should have protected him.
Jaiswal dismissal issue
Those looking for single causes and conspiracy theories for the defeat have latched on to Jaiswal’s dismissal off an attempted hook in the second innings. Rohit admitted that Jaiswal had got a touch and was out. The right decision was made even if the process was wobbly. Will a third umpire give a batter not out after viewing a spike on the Snicko because that’s what his eye tells him? Eyes can deceive, technology can fail. Still, it was silly of a senior cricket board official to shoot his mouth off.
As India prepare for transition, the outlines of the future are becoming discernible. Bumrah is closing in on Bhagwat Chandrasekhar series record of 35 wickets which has stood for five decades. He will be the bridge between generations. This means the choice of vice captain who will give Bumrah the occasional break and lead India in the next decade will be a crucial one.
Published – January 01, 2025 12:01 am IST
