Final Word
Adam Collins in India and Geoff Lemon of the ABC Down Under
Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon on the India v Australia series
Pages 24-25
After Australia’s draw in Ranchi, the boys discuss the looming and deciding fourth Test in Dharamsala Geoff Lemon: As a historian, I can say this with credibility. The last time Australia batted out day five for a draw, Churchill was still stomping about downing straight gin. Don’t lie and tell me you expected that. Adam Collins: As an obsessive with the lost art of stalemate, I’ve banged on about Australian sides lacking the mindset. But this isn’t the same side of six months ago. Humble, personnel changes were demanded, but a humble disposition has followed. As much as anything, this underpinned the escape. GL: Humility is what it’s about. I’ll display some after Shaun Marsh’s effort. Nearly set up a win in Bangalore, then people went back to bagging him after the second-dig debacle. I didn’t, but I have often enough. He was the rock, Peter Handscomb was the waterfall. AC: Marsh faced 197 balls in each of those innings. Different situations, but earned his plane ticket times over. The innings of his career considering Jadeja had four days of footmarks to aim for. How about Handscomb dancing down the track to Ashwin? Bloody loved it. Note that none of that happened until 90 minutes into his innings. Shifted gears at the perfect time, and the race was done. GL: Peter ‘Dancecomb’. He did come dancing. On India’s soul. I thought it was dusted when Renshaw and Smith went within four balls before lunch. Captains shouldering arms to lose off-stump to left-arm twirlers; a weird theme for a series. It was the kind of dismissal you’d expect to dispirit a team, especially after Pujara and Saha left them in the field for an aeon. That wasn’t quite Laxman and Dravid, but it was a hell of an effort. AC: CricViz had India spike from 50 to 77 per cent after Smith went. Cold comfort: he won’t rely on kicking outside leg-stump for hours. As much as I admire Pujara’s hand, watching him kneel into most of Steve O’Keefe’s 462 deliveries in the second innings was plenty. The 18th most balls bowled in an innings. But who else was patient? Glenn Maxwell. GL: Yes. A thousand times, yes. We talked about him all last week, so I won’t repeat it. But to take Australia’s… let’s say player with the most disproportionate ratio between ability and achievement. To see him finally get a chance, and know exactly what to do with it… bliss. Cricketing bliss. I commentated the hundred on White Line Wireless with the founder of the Swami Army, and even Angadh Oberoi couldn’t be mad about it. AC: He was nearly in tears in the Press conference. Maxwell, not Oberoi. Me too, let’s be honest. Let’s be honest, it was just the best. Speaking of: Patrick Cummins, Australian spearhead. Has a ring to it. Such a good news story. Not that it was ever in doubt that he had the talent. Sure, he used plenty of petrol as the innings wore on, but he never let it slip and bowled to a plan throughout. GL: He last bowled during Barack Obama’s first term. Would have been lovely if he could have got one more wicket and a bag of five. The less good news stories have been off-field. The sniping and the media storms. AC: It’s not getting any better. Today, new fictitious reports about stories were
supposedly being leaked. Last week, a make-believe ‘Beer Club’ with the players and journos. Virat doing himself no favours with the overall tenor. His performance before Ranchi – unable to substantiate his accusations that Smith was a cheat, then backing them in again – was so unnecessary. The issue was over. Now? Two weeks later! It is still a thing. GL: We all know the first rule of Beer Club is you don’t talk about Beer Club. But I reckon you’re drinking the KohliAid on this one. What’s Kohli actually done? He said he reckons he saw the Aussies looking at the dressing room for DRS tips. But how’s he supposed to prove that beyond saying what he saw? They’ve disagreed, but Smith left himself open to it by what he did while batting. AC: No such thing. I’m observing it at close quarters, and he’s got a long way to come to complement his batsmanship and captaincy. The ICC should have investigated to begin with, or the BCCI should have gone through with their complaint. Now it lingers. We’re on the cusp of one of the great series here. But this is thoroughly avoidable.You can probably tell I’m sick of it. GL: I reckon it’s one of those ones where if he played for us, most of the critics would back him. And vice versa. Anyway, it’s rich for the touring media to be sanctimonious. All those scathing takes about how the Ranchi pitch was a doctored conspiracy that would embarrass Indian cricket. Then it played perfectly well for five days. AC: If Smith called Kohli a cheat and couldn’t substantiate it, he’d be copping it. No doubt the pitch coverage didn’t marry up with how it played. But this is an important point: those who reported on it were echoing what the team were saying when they first saw it. We’re not horticulturalists. I took a photo from a million miles away in the commentary box and Twitter exploded. That will happen after Pune, where the curator said with candour that he was told by the BCCI what to do. There was context. But in the end, well played by the JSCA. They put on an absorbing Test, and I hope Test cricket returns there soon. GL: More important even, they’ve set up the last one perfectly. Winner takes all. No shared series, no mere trophy retentions, no such anti-climax. Unless there’s another draw. Impossible, surely. Would take an avalanche. AC: Dharamsala. Such a serene, peaceful place. Already in love with the joint.Yet it will become a cauldron on Saturday. GL: I won’t ask you to preview the pitch.