INDIANS BOX HOME SIDE IN
AUSTRALIA has been rocked and shocked by a patched-up India that landed punch after punch on Boxing Day before matching its pathetic total of 36 runs – but this time with nine wickets up its sleeve.
Coach Justin Langer declared the Aussies targeted 400 runs in the first innings on home decks – but his batsmen have now had two cracks (191 and 195) and haven’t even reached half of that magical number.
Winning the toss and batting first on Boxing Day has been a free pass for bowlers to put their feet up in recent years. But captain Tim Paine once again had to call upon his awesome foursome attack to bowl Australia out of trouble, and Mitchell Starc answered the call by trapping opener Mayank Agarwal for a duck in the first over.
Pat Cummins should’ve had debutant Shubman Gill for four, but Marnus Labuschagne – fielding at third slip – threw his hands at the catch so hard that the ball popped out.
Opener Matthew Wade (knee) finished his 33rd birthday with an icepack on his knee in a major concern after taking a tumble trying to save a boundary. Perennial 12th man Michael Neser replaced Wade in the field.
Seasoned players noted from the commentary box they had never seen the MCG pitch spin like this in a sign India selected wisely by partnering spinner Ravi Ashwin with Ravi Jadeja.
Much like Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, India’s bowlers stubbornly stuck to their plans and eventually reaped the rewards.
Remarkably, Steve Smith, Labuschagne, Paine and Starc were all caught down leg-side.
The tactics gave India a leg-up a week after captain Virat Kohli legged it back to Mumbai for the birth of his first child.
Stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane coolly led his team
from gully as Jasprit Bumrah (4-56) reminded the world why he is one of India’s biggest weapons.
In many ways, normal programming resumed on a day which confirmed last Saturday’s historic collapse by India (all-out for 36) and half-century by Joe Burns (duck on Boxing Day) were anomalies.
India’s most painful moment came when it was confident Australia’s captain was short of his crease, the fate suffered by counterpart Kohli last week.
One angle appeared to show Paine out and another angle appeared to show him in, so TV umpire Paul Wilson gave the batsman the benefit.
Shane Warne couldn’t believe it.
“Very surprised that Tim Paine survived,” Warne said.
“There was no part of his bat behind the line!” But it mattered little as Paine only lifted his score from six to 13.
Victorian Paul Reiffel – who played the first of his four Boxing Day Tests back in 1993 – umpired his first home Test with an eagle eye, his on-field decisions repeatedly backed up by DRS.
India’s debutants Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj were among the MCG’s 27,615 spectators in the first session as Rahane turned to spin well before Siraj’s swing.
Siraj knocked over Labuschagne and Cameron Green, and then held on to a Cummins slog-sweep to end Australia’s innings.
India went from sloppy to slick in the field, with the exception of untidy inclusion Rishabh Pant, who is clearly in the team for his X-factor batting and not his wicketkeeping.
At 3-79, the scoreboard somehow flattered Australia, with 10 of those runs coming as byes.
Former Test opener Michael Slater hit out at Australia’s top six. “I just question the intent of the Australian batting mindset at the moment,” Slater said on Channel 7.