-Atreyo Mukhopadhyay
The first day of the much hyped first Test against Australia could not have gone better for India. After Rohit Sharma lost an important toss and Pat Cummins chose to bat, it was up to the Indian bowlers to get the visitors out for as less as possible, considering that batting in all likelihood will become a tough proposition on this pitch at Nagpur’s VCA Stadium. The opposition all out for 177 thanks largely to comeback man Ravindra Jadeja’s five for 47 and the deficit reduced to 100 due to Rohit’s unbeaten 56, it was a good day for the hosts. But then, it was just one day. They have to work hard to make this early advantage count over the next few days. The following are the talking points.
How was the pitch?
The build-up to this game was dominated by talks about the 22 yards. Speculation was rife and wild about how much assistance it would provide to the spinners and from when. The Australian media went to town saying it’s a doctored strip and some of their former players even said that the ICC should step in.
Going by Day 1 evidence, the pitch certainly had something for the spinners. A few deliveries especially from Jadeja turned sharply. The bounce was inconsistent at times, some of them jumped and a few did not rise as the batters or the wicketkeepers expected. But all this was not what one could call alarming. It was certainly not a rank turner on the first day, although spinners will come into the picture more often on the subsequent days.
Recovery after early blows
Australia had recovered from the disastrous two for two in the third over. Having paid too much attention on how to cope with spin, David Warner and Usman Khwaja got out to the Indian new-ball bowlers. One more wicket at that stage could have opened the floodgates, but Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith weathered the storm. They saw off the new ball and handled the spinners with caution in the first session.
Smith is experienced in batting in these conditions and has a formidable record in India. But playing his first Test in India, Labuschagne dominated the third-wicket stand. His career average is 59.43 and in seven previous Test appearances in the subcontinent, this figure was 33.33. He still looked proactive and instead of getting bogged down, played some innovative shots against the spinners. At 76 for two at lunch, Australia were back on even terms if not fractionally ahead.
Where the game turned
No doubt it was Jadeja who brought India back in the game and broke Australia’s back. Returning from a long injury-induced break, he was characteristically keeping things simple without trying too hard. Spinners often tend to get carried away by assistance from the pitch, but Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are experienced pros who know that on such surfaces, keeping the ball in the right areas is more effective than trying to the ball to do extravagant things.
Of the five wickets he took, Jadeja got just one with a fair amount of turn. That was when he beat Labuschagne in flight and got the ball to spin sharply across the face of the bat to help KS Bharat complete his first dismissal as a regular wicketkeeper of the Indian team. Earlier, Bharat had a few dismissals under his belt but those were as Wriddhiman Saha’s substitute against New Zealand last year.
For the rest of the wickets Jadeja took, the ball either did not spin at all or did so marginally. It was his probing line, accuracy and the doubts in the mind of the batters created by the pitch that did the trick. From 84 for two, Australia slumped to 109 for five and even though the adventurous Alex Carey counterattacked by using the reverse sweep and shared a stand of 53 with Peter Handscomb, the Australian challenge evaporated as soon as Ashwin bowled the wicketkeeper when he attempted another reverse sweep.
Flying start by Rohit
India still had to ensure they did not lose early wickets and Rohit Sharma unfurled a flurry of boundaries in the initial phase which reduced the pressure on his team. Even a quiet start without losing wickets might have made things tougher in case of the fall of a couple of early wickets, but Rohit’s flying start dispelled those fears. Uncharacteristically, Pat Cummins bowled too many over-pitched deliveries on Rohit’s pads which were sent screaming to the fence in style and a with a lot of authority.
KL Rahul was a lot more tentative in the beginning and took time to play himself in before becoming debutant off-spinner Todd Murphy’s first victim. Preferred over the in-form Shubman Gill, Rahul poor run in this format continues from the Bangladesh series. The team management has shown faith in his abilities and it is his turn now to repay that faith. Everyone knows he has the ability. Maybe it’s a mental block Rahul has to overcome, which includes overcoming the fear of failure.
SKY’s high moment
Not many expected him to, but Suryakumar Yadav got the nod ahead of Gill. Most probably, the team management trusted his ability to destroy spin as an advantage and thought that the quick runs he can get will be an asset on this surface. Mind you, SKY is not all about T20 batting. He can bat in the other gear, which has been seen a lot of times in Ranji Trophy. Even remember watching him score 60-odd off 150 balls against Tamil Nadu a few years ago. This was a tough call for the captain and the coach. Now that they have made it, they should be backing him for a couple of games at least, if not more.