Hello 49204084041, India cries wrong number in Australia
India in the second innings of the Adelaide test recorded what’s their lowest ever test score, a score of 36/9, and with that they beat their previous lowest, a total of 42 recorded against England in 1974. A new record India seriously could have done without!
A score of 36 ensured that India went from a position of strength, a lead of 53 runs in the first innings, to setting Australia a modest total of 90 to win the first test. Australia obliged and finished the contest off with 8 wickets in hand. What’s worse is that Md. Shami, one of India’s fast bowling mainstays, ended up with a broken arm and is probably out of the test series.
Indian first innings
India won the toss and chose to bat first. On an Adelaide wicket which is typically slow on the first day and speeds up considerably on days two and three, this was a stroke of luck for India. However, India started poorly, the woefully out of form Prithvi Shaw getting out early, but consolidated well with Pujara and Kohli to get to around 180 odd for the loss of just three wickets.
As things were looking bright and beautiful for India, disaster struck. Ajinkya Rahane called Kohli for a nonexistent single, and once Kohli was mid pitch, turned his back on him. Having played a masterful innings thus far, and while looking set for another test hundred, Kohli perished for 74. This triggered a collapse of sorts and India folded for a modest 244.
Australian first innings
The Australian team has been struggling with their batting too, and their top order has missed David Warner like a fish misses water. The Indian bowling on the other was immaculate.
The pacers were patient. And the Indian bowling innings unfolded like a Quentin Tarantino classic, a typical slow burner. Slowly but surely the Indian bowlers spread their tentacles and in no time the Australian top order had been sent back to the pavilion, at one point Australia were reeling at 111/7.
But again the old habit of not being able to finish off the tail came back to haunt them, and Australia ended up posting 191. A total of at least 50 runs more than what should have been. A lead which should have been at least a 100 ended up being a mere 53.
Indian second innings
With a lead of 53 runs, India was still the popular choice for running out winners in this one, but what unfolded on the third morning was beyond comprehension. A batting collapse of epic proportions, which left even the most garrulous of commentators dumbfounded.
Hazelwood and Cummins run riot, picking up 9 wickets between them and all but guaranteeing an Aussie win at Adelaide. In under an hour India had surrendered and given the test match away.
4 9 2 0 4 0 8 4 0 4 1 — this was what all the eleven Indian batters scored, not one making it to double figures.
Australian second innings
The Australian batters rode the euphoria of their bowling innings. They knew they had only 90 to get and they batted accordingly, flaying at deliveries outside the off stump and dispatching anything on the pads. India was a bowler short having lost Shami to injury, and it showed.
In the end Australia were comprehensive winners by 8 wickets.
After the match Virat Kohli said that they did extremely well in the first two days but lost in that one hour on Saturday morning. While not disputing his stance, it is important to note that Kohli has ‘been there, done that’ before.
When India had lost the 2019 World Cup semi final in Manchester, he said that India had lost to that Trent Boult spell, in 45 mins of cricket. And again post the final of the 2017 champions trophy, where he said they lost the final to a 40 min phase of cricket, in a breathtaking spell by Md. Amir. This rhetoric of ‘45 mins of cricket’ has been heard in the South African 2018 tour, where India lost 2–1 and even in England 2018, where India lost 4–1.
Kohli must realize that Champion teams win these 45–60 mins that he keeps talking about. He must understand that the individuals he has around him, may not all be stallions like him. And India has had the same set of coaches and leadership throughout. So what have they done about this?
What has the team management done about the problem of opposition tailenders scoring big against them?
What has the fielding coach done to arrest the continuing fall in fielding standards of this Indian team?
India in this test had dropped at least 5 catches.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It’s time the BCCI asked for accountability.
If a team management, consisting of the captain, senior players and the head coach, is given absolute authority, like this Indian cricket setup, but still they can’t win you an ICC trophy or win consistently in test matches abroad, then they need to give up some of their privileges that comes with this authority. After all, these are professional people, and like in any other profession here too accountability is must.
Sourav Ganguly in his day was a fearless leader, and the Indian cricket fans expected to see that same fearlessness in the BCCI chief as an administrator too, but it has not been seen thus far. Maybe finally Dada will wake up from his slumber.
For the sake of Indian cricket’s biggest stakeholder, the Indian cricket fan, questions must be answered.The team has to show more courage and determination in the Boxing Day test match starting in about a week’s time. It will be tough to do that without Virat Kohli and Md. Shami, but try they must!
