It was an unfortunate toss to win, but India will look back at how they faced up to the challenge and question their methods
Sidharth Monga17-Oct-20241:53
Should India be worried about Australia after 46 all out?
If you were to fantasise a scenario in which New Zealand, coming off a 2-0 loss in Sri Lanka, were to challenge India in India – unbeaten for 18 straight series at home – the fantasy would have looked quite close to, if not exactly like, what happened in Bengaluru. It had been raining in the lead-up to the Test, the first day was washed out, overcast skies were expected, and as the final piece in the fantasy, you would expect New Zealand to insert India and run through them.The last bit of it, in fact, changed a little. New Zealand wanted to bat first, but were denied the death wish by India. That’s because of the dry pitch. If anything, India were clearer in what they wanted to do: bat first and play three spinners. New Zealand’s second spinner was Glenn Phillips, and they still wanted to bat first.With that stroke of luck, New Zealand put India through the wringer of good length and consistent seam movement. In the first session, Matt Henry drew an average seam movement of 1.3 degrees, Tim Southee 1 degree and Will O’Rourke 0.8. Himanish Ganjoo, analyst and cricket writer, tweeted it was not just the seam – 0.87 degrees median seam in 30 overs compared to 0.5 degrees in the last three years in India – but also 20% extra bounce compared to the last three years.Related
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Once both the sides misjudged the conditions and India were the unfortunate ones to win the toss, the New Zealand seam bowlers were just perfect for the conditions. No drive balls, about half the balls on good length, and the extra bounce for O’Rourke.That said, India will look back at how they faced up to the challenge and question their methods. This was not like the 36 all out, the closest such event in recent memory, where the ball actually seamed less that morning and India were bundled out in just 32 false shots. Here India batted almost out of muscle memory and hoped to just hit the bowlers off their length. It took 75 false shots for India to be bowled out, which is not a million miles away from about the 10 it usually takes for a wicket on an average in Test cricket.Yashasvi Jaiswal started off leaving the ball, but drove loosely to just the 12th ball he faced. There was no reason why he should have drove at that ball in particular: it was neither overpitched nor wide. He tried to walk at the bowlers to cut down the movement, but there were 21 false shots in his 63-ball stay, 10 of those drives and aggressive shots. He could just as easily have got out to a shot that looked ugly.Rohit Sharma was not so lucky. He was bowled the first time he tried to hit out. Rishabh Pant enjoyed Jaiswal-like luck, surviving 20 false shots and a dropped catch before nicking to second slip. Sarfaraz Khan, asked to bat higher than he does in domestic cricket, took the attacking option third ball with no luck.KL Rahul was out for a six-ball duck•Getty ImagesWhile it sounds brave and selfless of Virat Kohli and Sarfaraz to bat out of position, India will also question if KL Rahul was not the best man for No. 3 in these conditions. Rahul is one of only two Asian opening batters to have scored a century in all three of Australia, South Africa and England. Rahul’s resolute old-fashioned grinding down of England, in partnership with Rohit, was the reason why India drew 2-2 in England.If India had a week to prepare for the conditions they got in Bengaluru, chances are they would have buckled down similarly. Instead they did what came to most of them instinctively: counterattack. There is logic to that too, as you don’t want to be sitting ducks on a seaming pitch. You can’t dismiss this thought process straight off the bat, but as the control figures and the final score shows, you are leaving a lot to luck if you keep on attacking in these conditions and if the bowlers are not erring in length at all.Traditional wisdom suggests you try to ride out the period of extravagant seam movement and hope that you still have one or two specialist batters left when the seam becomes softer and the sun comes out. Here, India didn’t trust the traditional wisdom, either because things were so different to their expectations that they were too shocked to respond or because they consciously decided not to do so. The ones who did – Kohli and Rahul – were unlucky to get out before they could get in.You can still get out for 46 or 36 doing that, but you can look back and say you tried to give yourselves a chance and then move on and hope for better luck another day. India did just that in Australia after 36 all out. This day, you suspect, won’t be so easy to erase from memory.
