The Aussie spinners are not riding their luck. They are reading the Indians and devising effective plans
-Atreyo Mukhopadhyay
Sample this. Total 126. Average 12.60. What is this? The contribution of India’s specialist batters excluding Rohit Sharma and including wicketkeeper KS Bharat in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy so far. In two Tests, these five have played 10 innings between them and that India are still in the reckoning despite this output underscores the importance of the runs made by Rohit and his three spinners.
Of the 10, there are six single-digit scores and the highest is Virat Kohli’s 44 in the first innings of the second Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium. Other than the low returns, the manner of dismissals should scare India fans and worry the coaching staff. In the home team’s only innings in the first Test, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav fell to what can be called soft dismissals. As in, they committed unexpected mistakes rather than the bowlers forcing errors. In the second match, Shreyas Iyer got out in a similarly soft manner, but the other three specialist batters and Bharat were outthought and comprehensively beaten.
We are keeping Rohit out of this because he made a majestic hundred in the first Test. He has by a distance looked India’s best batter so far, followed by Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, not necessarily in this order. The rest of the story is food for thought for head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour. Batters of their calibre will not make unforced errors in every match, but Kohli & Co also succumbing to the guile of the Australian spinners means the problem is two-dimensional. There is application error as well as lack of expertise. This happening in conditions they grew up in multiplies the concern.
The challenges they faced have been similar in Nagpur and Delhi. In the first Test, off-spinners Todd Murphy and Nathan Lyon bowled predominantly from around the wicket, mostly at the leg stump with six fielders on that side. There were also deliveries angled across the right-handers which went past the outside edge. In Delhi, Lyon followed the same plan with greater purchase from the pitch and beat the inside edge as well as the outside edge. It was high-class and highly-skilled stuff to which the Indians had no answer. And that is the worry. These spinners are not riding their luck. They are reading the Indians and devising effective plans.
Given that the remainder of the second Test will be a trial by spin for batters and the next two are expected to be played in more or less similar conditions, those in the Indian XI included for their ability to make runs will have to get their act together. The team was in danger of conceding a massive lead in Delhi until Axar and Ashwin put together 116 for the eighth wicket. Even that may not be enough, given the way this Test is balanced after the second day. Jadeja, Axar and Ashwin have so far been part of five fifty-plus partnerships across two innings. This is unlikely in every outing and those selected to score have to deliver.
Numbers of concern
KL Rahul 20 & 17
Cheteshwar Pujara 7 & 0
Virat Kohli 12 & 44
Suryakumar Yadav & Shreyas Iyer 8 & 4
KS Bharat 8 & 6