Cricket gods smile on Australia
When Australia conducts its postmortem on the deciding test they will not be able to blame poor luck should they fail to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The Australians will seldom get a better chance to win a series in India. They are taking on a side missing its inspirational captain Virat Kohli, the cricket gods smiled on Steve Smith at the toss and they have been given a pitch with more pace and bounce than one would normally see on the subcontinent.
While the visitors took an unchanged XI into the match, India have gambled at the selection table, rolling the dice by picking three spinners only for them to be asked to bowl when conditions suited them least.
Smith and David Warner free-wheeled in the opening session, as Australia hurried to 131-1 at lunch on the first day.
One of the worst kept secrets in India was finally let out of the bag when Ajinkya Rahane, and not Kohli, wore the captain’s blazer out to the toss.
The stand-in captain was a karate black belt by the age of 11 but does not have Kohli’s on-field presence. A softly spoken man, Rahane has never captained at first-class level – a sign that he has not been thought of as leadership material.
That’s not to say Rahane cannot become a fine leader however a winner-takes-all test is a big stage to be calling the shots for the first time.
Kohli was reduced to running drinks in a high-visibility vest – something rarely seen by injured skippers – but India needed their leader turning up the heat on Australia’s batsmen rather than quenching his team’s thirst.
‘‘He’s he’s that kind of player in a situation like this with the series on the line he will be very animated and that will spread around the rest of the team,’’ former India team director Ravi Shastri said.
‘‘This is a very, very important game. When he’s due for runs and not playing, I imagine he has to be really bad not to play.’’
India’s intensity was noticeably down compared to the second test. They put down a catch off the first ball of the game and showed little urgency chasing balls in the field.
‘‘Fielding is all about attitude. That is a horrible start from India,’’ former Australian captain Michael Clarke tweeted.