-Atreyo Mukhopadhyay
India taking a 2-0 against Australia in a Test series in India after two matches is not unprecedented. In Australia’s 15 tours of India starting from 1956-57, this happened thrice before, not including the ongoing edition of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The series in 2012-13 saw the visitors lose four out of four. So if the hosts win the last two Tests of this series, even that will not be a first.
What has certainly been a first already is the fact that Australia have now lost two Tests in about five days. The matches at VCA Stadium in Nagpur and Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi got over before tea on the third day. Given that a Test between two of the world’s top sides is expected to last five days or at least go to the fourth, this is threatening to become Australia’s worst India trip ever.
And that is because of the inexplicably inept batting by the players from the land of Don Bradman. In four innings, they have tallied 644 runs at an average of 161 per innings. In total, they have lasted 206.1 overs at an average of slightly above 51 overs per innings. Once they lost all 10 wickets in a single session and on another occasion, they lost nine in one. There have been just two fifty-plus knocks so far.
Is this the worst Australian batting unit to come to India ever? They have two more Tests to prove otherwise, but going by the way their batters looked battered before being actually battered suggests it will take nothing less than monumental to salvage pride, forget the series. The team that lost 4-0 in 2012-13 had Michael Clarke scoring some runs. In all, they logged a century and 12 fifties, other than totalling 408 and 380 on two occasions. Average total per innings was above 255. In comparison, figures are abysmal this time around.
However, numbers do not convey the way they approached the first two Tests. In Nagpur, they were psyched out by the thought of being confronted by spin on a dirt track and went into an overdrive to prepare for it. They were overcautious, full of negative thoughts and fears of demons in the pitch which were misplaced. It did offer turn, but many of the batters were dismissed playing for turn which was not there. Four of Ravindra Jadeja’s five wickets in the first innings came from straight balls.
In the second innings in Delhi, Australia adapted a different method. Buoyed by the 61 runs they scored off 12 overs on the second evening, they chose to stick to that tempo. Score as many runs as possible and as quickly as possible appeared to be the goal. This works at times, but is unlikely to pay dividends against two master spinners in these conditions like Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja. Most of them got out playing shots without paying heed to nature of the deliveries and the skills of the bowlers bowling them. In the end, they ended up inventing ways of getting out.
This shows that they have veered from one extreme to another rather than trying to find a balance. Test cricket is often about choosing the correct middle path, conceding some ground and capturing some ground as the situation demands. The team led by Pat Cummins seems oblivious of this axiom. This lot is confused in technique, cluttered in the mind and short on temperament. Against an Indian attack comprising seasoned spinners and highly capable fast bowlers, this is a recipe for disaster which might be staring them in the face now.
Preoccupation for sweeps and reverse sweeps, unwillingness to use the feet and inability to meet the ball with soft hands — the visiting batters have ticked many wrong boxes. That none other than Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja have satisfactory records in the sub-continent has added to their woes. Smith being not even a shadow of the batter who made four centuries in 2017 has compounded their problems, while Khawaja has also not been make better use of his skills which are suited to these conditions.
The biggest problem for Australia is their batters have let Indian bowlers have a look at their weaknesses. So despite their own bowlers doing a far better job, they have allowed Ashwin, Jadeja and others identify areas where they will be probed in Indore and Ahmedabad. Having decided against hiring a batting consultant specifically with regards to methods of handling spin, they have a bit of a break before the third Test starting on March 1. It will be make or break for them after that.