Ashwin hopes to play his part, the Pant and Paine bromance and an all-round warning
▶ Chitrabhanu Kadalayil picks out the main talking points of Australia against India
Back in January 2004, Australia and India headed to Sydney for the final Test of their four-match series with the scoreline reading 1-1. This was the closest India had come, since the 1977/78 tour, to a first series victory Down Under. But, despite India’s domination for a majority of the five days, the game ended in a pulsating draw.
Fifteen years later, Virat Kohli’s men arrive in Sydney for the final Test in a stronger position: they lead the series 2-1 and cannot lose it even if they are beaten there. They have also retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by virtue of their 2016/17 home series win.
Yet, India might be feeling the pressure. As ruthless as this side may be, the anticipation that they could finally break a decades-long duck cannot be easy to handle. Tim Paine’s Australians will come hard at their opponents. They bounced back from defeat in Adelaide to win the second Test at Perth, so precedence should give them confidence.
Here are a few talking points ahead of the Sydney Test starting today.
Papa won’t play
Rohit Sharma will not play in Sydney having flown home to be with his wife and newborn. Given that he scored 63 in the first innings of the third Test at Melbourne, which India won by 137 runs, he will be missed.
The question is who to pick in his place. It depends on the pitch, which Paine reportedly pointed out looks dry given the hot weather conditions in the city at the moment.
If that is indeed the case, it might be worth picking an additional spinner (more on this later). The other option is to include seam-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya who has returned to the squad after nursing a bad back. Pandya may not yet be at the level of England’s Ben Stokes, but he does bring the X-factor to the side. When on song, he can change the course of a game with both bat and ball. Recall last year’s Trent Bridge Test where his 5-28 triggered an England collapse and eventually victory for India?
There is a risk in throwing him into the mix of things when he has not played a lot of cricket in recent times. But do not count him out.
Ashwin seeks turn of fortunes
For the best part of the past seven to eight years, Ravichandran Ashwin has been India’s No 1 spinner. He is even their strike bowler in home Tests.
The 32-year-old off-spinner, who is peaking in his career, has begun to make up for a lukewarm overseas record. He performed well in England last year. Ashwin also had a good start to this series, taking six wickets in the first Test at Adelaide before picking up an abdominal strain and missing the Perth and Melbourne games.
Regardless of whether the conditions at the SCG favour spin or not, he will want to play a part in a historic India win; more so if spin is a factor.
Can he be a man-for-man replacement for Rohit? On batting talent alone, probably not. Yet, Ashwin has a better record with the bat in the long format than does his good friend: he has scored more runs, more hundreds and more fifties than has Rohit.
Hence, if fit, India could go in with five bowlers, including three seamers (Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami) and two spinners (Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja).
Keepers finders of friendship
Rishabh Pant and Tim Paine have engaged in banter throughout the series, with Paine at one point facetiously suggesting from behind the stumps that Pant move to Hobart to play for his Hurricanes side in the ongoing Big Bash League. He also asked Pant if he could babysit his children while he took his wife to the movies. All in jest, of course.
Pant, like Paine a chirpy wicketkeeper, needled his Australian counterpart when he came out to bat, calling him “a temporary captain” on more than one occasion.
But when the teams met at the Australian prime minister’s residence on New Year’s Day, Pant posed for a picture with Paine’s wife and children, which predictably got a lot of play on social media.
The lesson here for the others is a bit of banter in the heat of battle can possibly blossom into a friendship. And that’s how cricket should be played.
Be wary of Labuschagne
India will do well to be wary of Australia all-rounder Marnus Labuschagne. A middle-order batsman who bowls leg breaks, he might get picked in the XI – possibly in place of out of form opener Aaron Finch.
India struggled against off-spinner Nathan Lyon in Perth. So imagine the challenge an Australian attack that includes five good bowlers could pose to India’s batsmen.
Little-known Labuschagne could well be the man lending balance to their playing XI.