Kolkata: The Indians have been heavily dominant in Test cricket recently. As a matter of fact, they have set a certain pattern as to how they would achieve a win, series after series. They would put a strong batting performance with a Virat Kohli or a Cheteshwar Pujara scoring big. The bowling led by ace offie Ashwin would dominate the proceedings with the cherry and create problems for the opposition batsmen and India would always win or settle for a draw at the end.
Well, that’s what been the trend over the last few series that the Indian team have played. But then came Australia. Under the pump even before the series began, they had to beat the No 1 team in their own backyard to prove a point. And so they did.
Giving India a taste of it’s own medicine, Australia literally ‘spun’ India out of the game. The wrecker-in-chief in both the innings was a certain left-arm spinner named Steve O’Keefe who came as a surprise to the Indian batsmen.
The hosts never really got going with the bat as they lost wickets at regular intervals, owing to misjudgement of the deliveries and wrong shots played at the wrong time. Even top class batsmen like Virat Kohli couldn’t tackle the Aussie bowlers which was a big heartbreak for all in India.
The unexpected had happened. After a run of 19 unbeaten tests, India were finally beaten by a resilient Australian side. The visitors gained a 1-0 lead thanks to a 333 run victory, which every Indian cricket lover would want to forget sooner than later.
A plethora of questions were hurled regarding the nature of the pitch after the match, which was rated ‘poor’ by the ICC. However, the truth was that the Indians were very poor in all areas of the game in the first test and this loss would be no less than a reality check for Kohli’s men.
The bowling wasn’t up to the mark as the Aussie batsmen hardly faced any problems facing the likes of Ashwin or Jadeja. The issue with no-balls and poor review decisions cost the hosts dearly. Adding salt to injury, their batting was thoroughly woeful.
Going in to the second test the tables have totally turned as now the hosts are under pressure and the visitors would be high on confidence. There are a lot of areas which needs to be addressed. The Indian openers need to be a bit more solid and look to build a partnership of some sorts, thereby building a good platform for the remainder of the batting to come.
The entire batting seems to be too dependent on the skipper, whose rare failure resulted in the humiliating loss. The middle-order should be looked into and Karun Nair, the triple-centurion could comeback into the team in place of Ajinkya Rahane, who seems to have a lot of issues with his batting against spin at the moment.
Jayant Yadav and Ishant Sharma, both of whom underperformed with the ball should be left out and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and youngster Kuldeep Yadav could make the cut. But we all know that captain Kohli doesn’t like experimenting with the squad too much, although he has never had an exact same squad play under him in successive tests.
The second Test starts tomorrow in Bengaluru, which is Kohli’s IPL home ground. History has been a witness to the fact that it is at this very ground where Kohli’s heroics in the IPL almost handed them their maiden trophy. Kohli would find no better a place to stage a comeback than the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium as the Aussies would come hard at the Indians yet again.
Will the Indian team stand up and fight their back into the series and justify their number 1 position in the five-day format? Or will the Aussies reign supreme yet again? A resilient Australian side against a determined Indian side is sure to prove to be an exciting encounter to cricket fans across the globe.