The opportunity for India to consolidate on the high of winning the Perth Test by 295 runs was squandered away through a ten-wicket defeat in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide. At Adelaide Oval, the Australian bowlers kept their deliveries much fuller than the Indian bowling attack on the first two days of the game, which set the platform for them to win by ten wickets and level the five-match series 1-1. According to Jatin Paranjape, the former India cricketer and national selector, India’s failure to bowl fuller deliveries, in contrast to Australia’s approach, cost them the match. “I thought we didn’t bowl as well as we did in Perth. I thought the Australians kind of bowled much better than what the Indian team bowled. I thought Bumrah also was a little bit off-colour.”

“I don’t think they pitched the ball as further up to the batters than they should have. So this is the big reason why Australia went on to get a 150-run lead. The wicket in Adelaide helped the bowlers a lot, and not bowling well there was like a big miss for India,” said Paranjape to IANS in an exclusive conversation.

India’s bowlers also failed to exploit Travis Head’s weakness against short ball, which led to the left-handed batter making a brilliant 140. Paranjape, the co-founder of KheloMore and a member of the BCCI Cricket Advisory Committee, believes India’s bowling strategy against Head in the remaining three matches will be the most critical factor in determining the series outcome.

“Travis Head is somebody who goes about his batting as per his will and his technique is extremely different, which makes him a very dangerous player. Like, he scored 140 runs in 141 balls on such a challenging pitch. So if he gets off to a start, India will have to have some kind of watertight strategy to bowl to him. Otherwise, the series would very quickly run away from us.”

Another key factor in India’s loss in Adelaide was their much-reduced batting time of 81 overs across both innings, significantly less than the 183.7 overs in their Perth win. Paranjape wants Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and KL Rahul to bat for a longer time in the rest of the series.

“Definitely, we need to bat longer. I thought Shubman Gill was destined for a good knock in the second innings before a beauty from Starc got him. Jaiswal, Gill and KL Rahul, who is obviously not a youngster anymore, will have to graduate into senior players on this tour by scoring big hundreds. Like Jaiswal did it in the first Test match, so we need one out of these three to fire away and score a couple of hundreds in the next three Test matches – it’s as simple as that.”

Amidst all the gloom, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been a bright spot with the bat in the lower order, top-scoring in three of India’s batting innings with 41, 42 and 42. “I was super impressed with the way he played in the two Tests. Definitely, he has the potential to go big.”

“Like he’s going and playing his game in Australia and against the best bowling attack in the world. So I think the future is really bright. In future, he can be a really serious kind of alternative to Hardik Pandya,” added Paranjape.

He concluded by noting the ten-day break between the first and second Tests broke India’s momentum. During those ten days, rain reduced India’s two-day pink-ball practice game against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra to a limited-overs contest.

“That 10-day break did not help the Indian team. Like, you win one Test match and you would want for the second Test match to be pretty quickly coming up. That 10-day break has kind of mellowed the team down in terms of its preparation.”

“Again it was a pink ball Test match, which the team is not much used to playing. With the next Test match coming pretty quickly on the 14th, we need to regroup – it’s as simple as that.”

Jatin Paranjape, a former Indian cricketer and national selector, believes despite Rohit Sharma being far from his best in the 10-wicket loss to Australia in Adelaide, he is still confident of the Indian skipper performing better in the remaining three matches of the series. In his return to the number six position in Test cricket after a six-year absence, Rohit could only muster nine runs at Adelaide Oval over the two innings. A continued poor run in Adelaide means Rohit’s average in his last six Tests is only 11.83.

Rohit also faced criticism as captain for not using his bowlers effectively and setting proactive fields. Travis Head’s 140-run knock, headlined by his aggressive square-of-the-wicket scoring, exemplifies this; India’s response was to offer open fields and only bowl four bouncers, despite his known vulnerability to them.

“I know he’s had a really bad run in the last few Test innings. But I think form is temporary, and class is permanent. I have a very, very good feeling about Rohit Sharma coming good, as let’s not forget that he’s a Mumbai batter.

“They are known to kind of win against you when things are hard. I thought he was a bit off-colour in this Test match at Adelaide, but I’m sure that he will bounce back There’s nothing wrong in his batting, but he just needs to get an hour or two under his belt on the field,” said Paranjape to IANS in an exclusive conversation.

He also thinks Rohit should return to being an opener in the third Test in Brisbane, starting on December 14. “Being back in the opener’s slot is something which is a comfort area for him. So I expect him to come back into the top slot to open with Jaiswal and have KL Rahul batting at five. I also thought he was a bit off with his captaincy on the first couple of days and I’m sure he will turn it around in the next three matches to come.”

Paranjape, co-founder of KheloMore and a member of the BCCI Cricket Advisory Committee, praised Australian captain Pat Cummins’ exceptional leadership in the hosts’ victory in Adelaide.

“Over the last three-four years, he’s the best captain in world cricket and he took it upon himself by picking five wickets in the second innings and bowled some pretty unplayable stuff. I did believe that after the first Test match, Cummins will kind of need to lift the Australian team which he did so. I thought he was the standout performer for them in Adelaide.”

As the Border-Gavaskar Trophy heads to Brisbane tied 1-1, Paranjape predicts India will make two bowling changes: swapping Harshit Rana for Akash Deep, and replacing Ravichandran Ashwin with Ravindra Jadeja.

“Bumrah, Akash and Siraj will be a good kind of partnership for this next Test match because the ball will seam in the game at The Gabba. I also feel we might leave Ashwin and play Jadeja because it gives them more space with the bat at number seven or eight. The series is going to be super exciting from now, as it’s going to go down to the wire and I expect India to bounce back.”

Having served on the selection committee for India’s 2-1 Border-Gavaskar triumph in Australia in 2018/19, Paranjape concluded by saying the lack of pink-ball experience impacted India, but he remains unconvinced by the concept of day-night Tests.

‘The pink ball is very difficult to see under lights and the seam of the pink ball is black in colour. On the whole, the seam and theme of the ball is extremely difficult to see. If you’re playing just one or two Test matches a year or maybe just one Test match a year or one Test match every two years, it becomes extremely difficult for any player to play against pink ball.

“But for me I fail to see the point of pink ball cricket, because when you’re playing for the World Test Championship, you need to keep all the rules consistent. But then that’s what the ICC has decided, so I’m sure they have they have more gravitas than me but I think playing the pink ball Tests inherently is hard to see.”

Former Indian cricketer and selector Jatin Paranjape lauded skipper Rohit Sharma for his attacking brand of cricket during the home Test series against Bangladesh, particularly the Kanpur Test. The 52-year-old, who has represented Mumbai at domestic level, said that the second Test of the series will be seen as an “inflection point” in Indian team’s rich Test cricket history. India recently completed their 2-0 series win against Bangladesh at home. In the Kanpur Test, Team India missed two days of action due to rain and wet outfield after Bangladesh ended the first day at 107/3 in the first innings.

When Bangladesh started day four with the same score, the match looked heading towards a draw with two days left and only the first innings being played. But Bangladesh was first skittled out for 233 and then India got some quickfire runs, posting 285/9 and taking two Bangladesh wickets at the end of day four. On the next day, India bundled out Bangladesh for 146 and were leading by 94 runs. They got a target of 95 runs and chased it down easily.

Speaking to ANI at the sidelines of the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) season two Delhi trials, the head of selection in the competition said, “Since Rohit has become the captain, the intent and DNA of the team have become attack-orientated. The captain himself is leading from the front. Since the 2023 World Cup, we have seen our players go out and attack the bowlers from the start. Rohit has done it himself. We saw that in the T20 World Cup and the Kanpur Test as well. They have decided that their DNA is to attack, their natural instinct has become attacking, and they would not abandon it. I think this is just a trailer of what we will see in Australia (during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy) later this year.”

“You will look at it (the Kanpur Test) as an inflection point of the Indian team in Test cricket. We were always an attacking side. If you see our batting, right from Rohit to Ashwin, everyone has attack that comes first to them. They will play as per their natural instinct. It depends how the Border Gavaskar Trophy goes. But I think in such situations in the future, they will play such a way, irrespective of the opposition,” he added.

“Yes. You will look at it as an inflection point of the Indian team in Test cricket. We were always an attacking side. If you see our batting, right from Rohit to Ashwin, everyone has an attack which comes first to them. They will play as per their natural instinct. BGT depends how it goes. But I think in such situations in the future, they will play such way, irrespective of the opposition.”

Speaking about the Mumbai cricket scene, Paranjape said that Prithvi Shaw is the most talented batter in India.

Shaw, who last played for India in July 2021, has played five Tests, six T20Is, and an ODI so far in his carrer. Though he had a lot of hype around him because of him being the youngest Test centurion on debut for India and the winning captain 2018 ICC U19 World Cup, Shaw lost his place in the side to the likes of Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Ruturaj Gaikwad due to injuries, poor run of form, technical weaknesses, etc.

“I feel Prithvi Shaw is the most talented player in India. He will also be looking forward to the FC season with a lot of expectations, because it is going to be a big one for him. Shaw, Sarfaraz (Khan), Jaiswal and Iyer are Mumbai players whose DNA is to attack. That is how they will continue playing,” he added.

Notably, Paranjape himself played for Mumbai, scoring 3,964 runs in 62 first-class matches at an average of 46.09, with 13 centuries and 15 fifties in 95 innings. His best score was 218.

Even though Sarfaraz became the first Mumbai player to smash a double ton in Irani Cup, Paranjape feels that Rohit will continue with the ongoing combination during the upcoming three-match home Test series against New Zealand from October 16 and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia from November 22 onwards.

“Rohit’s captaincy hallmark is he keeps formation consistent,” he added.

Sarfaraz made his much-anticipated international debut this year during Tests against England after years of fine performances on the domestic circuit. He scored 200 runs in his first three Tests with three fifties. He was not a part of playing eleven during Bangladesh Tests despite being a part of the squad.

On spin all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin, who won the ‘Player of the Series’ award against Bangladesh, Paranjape said that his best years are ahead of him.

“Nothing short of fantastic (his performances against Bangladesh). He is a legend. He writes his name into the list of legends of Indian cricket. I think his best five years are ahead of us. He is really fit,” he concluded.

He was given the ‘Player of the Series’ award for scoring 114 runs, including a counter-attacking century in the first Test at his home in Chennai and taking 11 wickets.

The Indian all-rounder broke a lot of records and unlocked a lot of milestones in the series, both with the bat and the ball. He levelled with Sri Lankan great Mutthiah Muralitharan to become player with joint-most ‘Player of the Series’ records, with a total of 11.

In the Chennai Test, Ashwin scored a counter-attacking 113 in the first innings and took a six-wicket haul in the final innings to help his team win the game.

This was the fourth instance of Ashwin securing a century and five-wicket haul in a Test. Only England legend Ian Botham is ahead of Ashwin in this aspect, having managed to do this feat five times.

Also, this was Ashwin’s 37th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. Now, he has tied with legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne for joint second-most fifers in the longest format of the game. The only one ahead of Ashwin is Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan, who has 67 five-wicket hauls.

Ashwin also went past 750 international wickets, becoming the 12th player in the world and second Indian to do so.

The veteran is considered as one of the finest Test all-rounders of the generation, with 3,423 runs in 102 Tests and 123 innings at an average of 26.74, with six centuries and 14 fifties. His best score is 124. He has also taken 527 wickets at an average of 23.65, with 37 five-wicket hauls and eight ten-fers. His best bowling figures in an innings are 7/59.