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Did you notice? The Brisbane Test last week appeared as if Australia was playing Australia.
India bowled like Australia, with three quickies trying to imitate Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee. Many of them sledged like Australians.
Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron bowled at around 140 to 144 kilometres per hour, with the tall Ishant Sharma not far behind. This is good, as India has not produced such quickies in a long time. It adds to their wicket-taking potential.
And in Australia you need fast bowlers. But did they not overdo the bumper barrage? Their accuracy suffered because of their obsession with speed.
Karn Sharma in Adelaide and Ravichandran Ashwin in Adelaide were not fully utilised.
I will never understand why Ashwin was not included in the Adelaide Test where Australia’s spinner Nathan Lyon captured 12 wickets and was adjudged man of the match.
Australian batsmen who have lived on fast bowling as their daily diet were at first surprised by the speed of India’s fast, bouncing bowlers. But once they realised they were playing a sort of Sheffield Shield match against ‘fellow Australian bowlers’ they took command.
India’s strength in bowling has always been spin. From Vinoo Mankad, Bishan Bedi, EAS Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar and Srini Venkataraghavan to Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, the spinners have always won Tests for India – not only in India but also in Australia.
Now to the sledging: Australian cricketers have been sledgers for decades. Sledging makes them feel stronger. When Indian cricketers sledge they tend to lose the plot and lose a winning game.
A ho-hum Johnson turned into a killer with both bat and ball when sledged in the Brisbane Test.
Indian cricketers in recent years have been trying to copy Australia’s toughness and belligerence but with disappointing results.
You play to your strengths, not to your opponents’ strength. Pakistan played like Pakistan in UAE a few months ago and were runaway winners. Their batsmen and spinners won the Tests by huge margins. The Aussie batsmen succumbed to Pakistani spinners not because they were unplayable but because they thought they were unplayable.
They psyched themselves and saw spin when there was very little.
India should have added more spinners like Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha or Piyush Chawla to their squad. Each Test should have included at least one off-spinner and one leg-spinner.
Spinning all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is injured and will be replaced by rookie 20 year-old spinner Akshar Patel. Indian management should have called for more experienced Mishra or Ojha – especially for the Sydney Test.
To be aggressive is an advantage. But too much aggro leads to self-destruction. In the first Test in Adelaide, skipper Virat Kohli played masterfully to score 115 and 141 runs. But he threw away his wicket in both innings going for quick runs. In the second innings he went for big hits when three to four singles per over with an occasional four could have earned India victory.
Sadly, aggro has become Kohli’s signature tune when batting and fielding. A magnificent batsman and fielder, a cool head is needed for his and India’s success.