Injured and inexperienced, bowlers keep India in fight
Injury-racked India’s debut bowlers Natarajan and Sundar help check Australia on Day 1 at Gabba
NEW DELHI: What’s the difference between the Indian team that played its third Test match ever — at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in 1934 — and the team that took the field at the Gabba for the fourth and final Test of the Border-gavaskar trophy on Friday?
The bowling unit of the 1934 team, having played all of two Tests previously, had more experience than the one on the field in Brisbane right now.
At Brisbane, India’s beleaguered bowling attack was led by Mohammed Siraj, all of two Tests old. His new-ball partner was Thangarasu Natarajan, in Australia as a net bowler for the Test leg of the tour till Thursday. Their two fast bowling partners: Navdeep Saini, made his debut in the previous Test; and Shardul Thakur, who made his debut in 2018 but bowled just 10 balls before being injured, was now playing his second Test. Completing the attack was another debutant — off-spinning allrounder Washington Sundar.
Here’s another number: zero. That’s the number of times before this Test that a team with a combined wickets tally of less than 100 has played a team with a combined tally of more than 1,000 wickets. The Indian XI boasted a total of 13 wickets walking into Gabba; Australia had 1,033.
This is all to say that this series is no longer about a clash of two teams; no longer a matter of skill against skill, but simply about heart, about an injury-ravaged side with hardly a standing XI, an inexperienced and tired squad, trying to stand up to Australia at their most impregnable home venue.
NEW DELHI: What’s the difference between the Indian team that played its third ever Test match—at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in 1934—and the team that took the field at the Gabba for the fourth and final Test of the Border-gavaskar trophy on Friday?
The 1934 team, having played all of two Tests previously, had more experience as a combined bowling unit than the one in Australia right now.
At Brisbane, India’s beleaguered bowling attack was led by Mohammed Siraj, all of two Tests old. His new-ball partner was Thangarasu Natarajan, in Australia as a net bowler for the Test leg of the tour till Thursday, and making his debut come Friday morning. Their two fast bowling partners: Navdeep Saini, made his debut in the last Test; and Shardul Thakur, who made his debut in 2018, but bowled just 10 balls before being injured, and was now playing his second Test. Completing the attack was another debutant— off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar.
Here’s another number: zero. That’s the number of times before this Test that a team with a combined wickets tally of less than 100 has played a team with a combined tally of more than 1000 wickets. The Indian XI boasted a total of 13 wickets walking into Gabba; Australia had 1033.
This is all to say that this series is no longer about a clash of two teams; no longer a matter of skill against skill, but simply about heart, about a injury-ravaged side with hardly a standing XI, an inexperienced and tired squad, trying to stand up to Australia at their most impregnable home venue. Then Saini, bowling his eighth over, limped off the ground with a groin injury and went for scans.
And yet…
Who was Sundar’s first Test wicket? Steve Smith.
Who was Natarajan’s second Test wicket? Marnus Labuschagne.
With those caveats, here’s the narrative of how Day 1 at the Gabba unfolded; a day when the already heavily depleted Indian squad woke up to find that the only two experienced bowlers left in the team, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin, were not available either. Ajinkya Rahane lost the toss. Siraj ran in to bowl his first over. Sixth ball, good length, angling away from David Warner, got the Aussie opener’s edge to fly in to the hands of a diving Rohit Sharma. Soon, it was Thakur’s time to pick up his first Test wicket with his very first ball of the day; Marcus Harris, the other opener, flicking it straight to Sundar.
A sunny Brisbane morning and a dream start to the battle.
In the opening spell, Natarajan too was impressive, making the ball leave the left-handed
Harris. Even Smith and Labuschagne played out his first sixover spell with caution.
But from then on, Australia’s two most prolific scorers began to assert control on what was a good batting pitch, albeit with a spongy bounce that may go on to play a big role going forward. Smith came down particularly hard on Thakur, driving him for five boundaries.
The blip in Australia’s innings came from Smith falling yet again for the leg-side trap that Rahane has so shrewdly orchestrated for him through the series. Sundar, introduced just before lunch, lured Smith into the trap—a drifter that Smith played loosely into Sharma’s hands at mid-wicket.
At this point, the day could still have been India’s, if Rahane had not dropped a sitter from Labuschagne off Saini when he was on just 37. Moments later,
Saini hobbled off the field. Labuschagne was dropped yet again, a much stiffer chance at first slip this time, as he crawled to his slowest half-century, off 145 balls.
Then the tide turned swiftly. Labuschagne’s next 50 runs came off 50 balls, as he raced to his fifth career century. This was the period Australia looked most threatening, with Labuschagne and Matthew Wade stitching a 113-run partnership for the fourth wicket. It was Natarajan who finally put an end to that by pulling a fast one on Wade. Sensing Wade’s increasing desperation to up the ante, Natarajan cramped him for space when he attempted a pull. Already committed to the shot, Wade failed to keep the ball down. Natarajan experienced a few nervous seconds with substitute fielder Prithvi Shaw and Shardul Thakur converging for the catch. Thakur held on to it to give the Tamil Nadu bowler his first Test wicket in a fairytale series for him where he has now made his debut in every format.
The day got better for Natarajan when he dismissed Labuschagne as well, caught by Rishabh Pant after he miscued a pull.
It did not do enough to dent Australia, as captain Tim Paine and all-rounder Cameron Greene launched an offensive that culminated into an unbeaten 61-run stand, with a drained and weary Indian bowling attack looking particularly ineffective after the 81st over when they took the second new ball. By then, the first hour seemed in the distant past.