Kohli plays his card well as pace delivers
PUNE: India’s performance on the opening day was remarkable as their bowlers were able to reinforce the fears Australia batsmen had carried into the Test series straightaway in the first match on Thursday.
Given how India had routed every opposition in the matches so far this season, Steve Smith & Co knew their task was cut out against the home team’s bowling attack.
That destroyer turned out to be pace spearhead Umesh Yadav didn’t catch them by surprise. Immediately on their arrival in India, Australia coach Darren Lehmann had warned his men of the threat posed by the fast men, while all the talk centred around R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Lehmann’s fears came true when captain Virat Kohli used Yadav to telling effect. Australia started the proceedings by confi dently negotiating the spin o Ashwin and Jadeja as Kohli held back Yadav till the 28th over o the innings.
Till that point, the move raised eyebrows among the experts, but Yadav struck in his very first over with the wicket of the well set David Warner. Relishing bowling with the old ball, the Nagpur pacer finished the day with figures of 12-3-32-4.
REVERSE SWING
Assistant coach Sanjay Bangar said opening with Ishant Sharma and the spin of Ashwin and hold ing back Yadav was a well thought out move.
“Umesh is known to bowl very well with the old ball. Even in the series against England, he got the ball to reverse. We held him back expecting that we would get reverse swing very early in the innings.
“It was a precise plan to hold back Umesh, and with two left handers at the top of the order, we went with Ashwin and Ishant,” said Bangar.
SLOW-PITCH STALWART
The turnaround in Umesh’s bowling started with the way he bowled against South Africa in the last Test of the 2015 series at Delhi. On a flat, slow wicket, he was a revelation with how effec tive he was with the old ball.
Explaining the improvement in Yadav, Bangar said what sets him apart is his balance at the crease. “He has definitely improved quite a lot, his stride in the crease has become shorter his wrist position has improved (and) since his lengths are far fuller,” he said.