India V Australia    Border- Gavaskar Trophy…Test series  2016-17

We have finally come to the last leg of a long home cricket season. After some woefully one sided test series between India vs New Zealand (3-0 to India in 3 tests), India vs England (4-0 to India after 5 tests) & India v Bangladesh (1-0 to India in 1 test) we are now midway into a strongly contested series between India & Australia which is 1-1 after 2 tests & 2 to play.  The earlier visiting sides this season did not have the bowling attacks to challenge Indian Batsmen on home pitches. The wickets prepared were good wickets taking spin 3^rd day onwards & Indian batsmen made merry. Even Karun Nair new to test cricket got a triple 100 against some ordinary England spin bowlers who would struggle to make into any Ranji team.(must add here that Karun is a very capable cricketer & not to take away any credit for his 300).

But enter Australia…this team poccess pretty good bowling resources and much better quality spinners. Starc-Hazlewood are the best new ball bowling pair in the world at present..followed by offie Nathan Lyon 200+ test wickets ..most of them on unresponsive Australian pitches. Steve Okeefe is a left arm spinner who bowls tight & spins it just enough. In batting Australia have Smith (renowned player of spin) & Warner (devastating at the top but struggles with spin). They have recently discovered 2 very fine youngsters in Matt Renshaw & Peter Handscomb who have already made a mark in test cricket before coming to India. However batting still looks their main worry with lack of depth..when you compare with England..who had a better batting unit but struggled in bowling.

Well, the series has started on a rousing note & not free from controversies  as one would expect India v Aus showdown to be in last 15-16 years.  On a poor wicket at Pune Australia won the all important toss & batted first scoring 260 in the 1^st innings .Judging the wicket a very impressive score which India soon found out when they were bowled out for 105  with Okeefe spinning the ball just enough & running through the Indian batting wih 6-35. Australia with a huge lead of 155 batted very positively in 2^nd innings to get 285- the right attitude on this pitch where mere defending would have been fatal..Renshaw the 20yr old batted very impressively on his 1^st Indian tour on such trecherous pitch getting 68 & 31. But it was Smith who scored a brilliant 100 in the 2^nd innings on an impossible wicket to bat on… attacking the Indian spinners..but his 100 was aided by 3 dropped chances by Indian team early in his knock which made lot of difference.  With 441 to win no team was going to survive on this pitch let alone win..& India duly folded for 107 losing by 333 runs & Okeefe taking 12 wkts for MOM award.Therefore it was poor thinking by Indian think tank to prepare a rank turner which played into Australia’s hands as aussies were having better spinners to exploit than any of the earlier visiting teams this season.

Steve OKeefe wreaker in chief at Pune

So onto Bangaluru,the garden city…for 2^nd test & would you believe it Aussies 1-0 up .  Pre series predictions were in favour of India winning 3-0 or 4-0  but here we are 0-1 down..as if the weaker football team turning out an impressive & unexpected performance against the fancier side in a 1^st half of a soccer match.

This time India won the toss & batted…most vital considering another substandard pitch…but the momentum the Aussie spinners had carried into this match and India meekly folded up for 189 with Rahul scoring a brilliant 90 with a shoulder strain…& this time it was the senior spinner Nathan Lyon getting good bounce & turn who became unplayable with 8-50…Aus ended 1^st day at 40/0 with all possibility of them taking unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series with another solid batting performance on 2^nd day.

But it was here that Indian bowlers bowled disciplined line & restricted Australian scoring to such an extent that they were suffocated all day & could score only 197 in the whole 2^nd day losing all their top batsmen, also Indian sledging of aussie batsmen & egging on the crowd helped a lot in India clawing back…on 3^rd day before lunch the Indian bowlers cleaned up the tail with Aus all out 274 with an 87 run lead..which was very crucial in a low scoring game but it was now a matter of 1 or 2 good partnership to wipe off the deficit for India(mind you Australia were to bat last)... Very good performance by all Indian bowlers but the one guy who bowled least got most wkts..Jadeja got 6 wkts & more fancied Ashwin only 2.

Indian 2^nd innings was a roller coaster ride…good start (Rahul 51) followed by few wickets & a crucial moment of the match…Smith drops Pujara on 4 .With India’s lead not too many at 4 down…Rahane joined Pujara & had the most significant partnership as it may turn out for this series..Their 100 runs stand put India firmly on top with Pujara getting 92 & Rahane 52.  Though Stark-Hazlewood (6 wkts) bowled brilliantly towards the end to restrict India at 275..188 will always going to be tough on this 4^th day pitch for any team..let alone Australia’s brittle batting.(and Aus have a tradition of messing up small target chases in the past- MCG 1981 ,Leeds 1981 etc)

Karun Nair's stumps knocked over by Stark

Renshaw ..who was proving to be a thorn in India’s flesh this time went cheaply to Ishant..Warner had no clue to face Ashwin & after scrapping for some time was dismissed..the Smith-Marsh stand looked threatening for a while till Marsh padded up & was given out  & more surprisingly did not review. Then came the big moment when Smith was lbw fr 28 to Umesh & consulted non stricker Handscomb for a review who indicated Smith to look to the dressing from for DRS help…against the rules of the game.  Umpire Nigel quickly stepped in & asked Smith to leave with some Indians complaining…Smith left & the rest of the batting meekly folded to Ashwin who had 6-41. India won by 75 runs, series 1-1… Once again the lack of depth of Australian batting got exposed…which may be a problem for visitors for rest of the series.  KL Rahul for his 90 & 51 was the MOM in 2^nd test.

Saha's brilliant catch on final day off Wade

So now we await Ranchi test from 16^th March…but it must be said that this present Australian side will not be pushovers anymore…they have got the required bowling ammunition & some decent batsmen to compete…Their main issue is lack of batting depth after top 5 which may cost them this series as it did cost them the 2^nd test.  India needs to have a more consistent opening partnerships & should go with 6 batters as 4 bowlers option seems to be enough on Indian tracks.  However the main issue is preparing proper pitches ..the pitches for both test matches were substandard and its not clear why Indian think tank is going for such pitches where winning the toss becomes more important. And as good as a lottery…If India had lost the toss at Bangaluru they would have lost this game…same with Australia at Pune…visitors would never have won at Pune if they had batted 4^th.   However it must be said Australia have found a way to compete in this series so we expect  a competitive last 2 tests. India did have a scare at Bangaluru..as Aussies were just 1 good day away from sealing the series but the Indian bowlers fought back.

Moreover although the pitches on view were substandard , it at least led to two gripping contests..the average viewer will always prefer exciting matches over one  sided run fests we had earlier in the season...& this Ind v Aus series is already attracting large crowds in the grounds & higher viewership in TV & media.

I still back India as favourites to win the series

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