Pink-ball lessons for India bowlers in warm-up draw
MUMBAI: India couldn’t force a tour match victory at Sydney on Sunday, though that’s not what they were chasing. With the visitors as well as Australia having dumped the idea of playing their virtual Test elevens in the warm-up tie, it became all about maximising the takeaways.
Although India’s struggle for wickets once the pink ball got soft during the day is something they may want to learn from, they did tick many boxes in their quest to be best prepared for the opening Test starting in Adelaide on Thursday.
Australia A finally offered some batting resistance in the form of Ben McDermott (107*), Alex Carey (58) and Jack Wildermuth (111*) to reach 307/4 in their second innings. Having run through the batting in a single session under lights on Day 1, the Indian bowlers wouldn’t be too unhappy to be subjected to the kind of grind they should be prepared for come the real test.
Before settling for a draw, Mohammed Shami delivered two powerful punches to Australia’s Test preparations. Joe Burns and Marcus Harris, picked by Australian selectors to open at Adelaide, fell in Shami’s opening burst.
Left-handed Harris ended up clipping an incoming Shami delivery to the waiting fielder at leg-slip, to be dismissed for five. Nothing sweeter than an improvised fielding plan coming off if you are Shami and skipper Ajinkya Rahane. But it is not how Harris would have liked to celebrate his Test recall, having last featured in the 2019 Ashes.
His partner Joe Burns missed a straight forward, full-pitched in swinger from Shami, paying the penalty after overcompensating by changing to an offstump guard.
He has 62 runs to show in his last nine first-class innings and experts in Australia have been busy picking a stop gap replacement—Shane Warne has nominated Matthew Wade to open with Harris while some have gone for Marnus Labuschagne. If Burns keeps his place with David Warner injured, he will be left fighting some mental battles.
Task cut out
Removing Harris, Burns and Nic Maddinson, India had reduced Australia A to 25/3 in the 12th over. After that they managed only one more wicket. It was a lesson perhaps that wicket-taking once the pink kookaburra goes soft is going to take some stamina, variety and strategy.
One of which was employed by Jasprit Bumrah once the lights came on. He went around the wicket to Wildermuth, serving him with a barrage of bouncers. The batsmen somehow survived thanks to some release balls at the other end. It was a hostile spell from India’s pace ace with McDermott peppered with short balls as well, this time from over-the-wicket. There was one that got young McDermott, batting on 83, to hop. India presented another mode of how they can attack, if their lead seamers get a crack at using the pink ball under lights.
Skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara continued their customised preparations for Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon in the adjoining nets at SCG.
Rahane though would be a tad worried with his dismissals behind the wicke chasing wide deliveries.
Pant got a whirlwind hundred on Saturday evening, mostly attacking spin. If picked, doing it against Lyon would be a very different proposition. Mayank Agarwal got a stroke filled 61 but then he wasn’t facing Pat Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood here, which underlines the limitations of a tour game.
India still have the opening riddle (Prithvi Shaw-Shubman Gill) to solve. But they have got through the two warm-up matches largely unscathed, having inflicted some blows to the opposing dressing room.
India 194 and 386/4 (Hanuma Vihari 104*, Rishabh Pant 103*; Mark Steketee 2-54) vs Australia A 108 and 307/4 (Ben McDermott 107*, Jack Wildermuth 111*, Mohammed Shami 2-58). Match drawn.