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Century-makers Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay left Australian skipper Michael Clarke without a prayer as they combined to give India command of the second Test at Hyderabad with an unbroken 294-run stand yesterday.
They clinically monstered the Australian attack that Clarke selected with coach Mickey Arthur and chairman John Inverarity for India to lead by 74 with the “Little Master” Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and double centurion MS Dhoni still to come.
Australia’s decision to drop Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon for Glenn Maxwell and Xavier Doherty was always asking for trouble.
And the selectors got it. Big Time.
As prayers weren’t answered nor rain intervened, Clarke desperately needs wickets in a hurry. But from where?
The scoreboard told the sorry tale – James Pattinson 0-56 off 18, Peter Siddle 1-51 off 19, Moises Henriques 0-38 off 19, Doherty 0-85 off 26, Maxwell 0-55 off 10, and David Warner had 14 ripped off his only over.
Why didn’t Clarke bowl a ball?
Why didn’t Shane Watson put up his hand to bowl a few overs? His country was in dire straits.
Pattinson is Australia’s best hope today, but he must improve his line and length on yesterday.
Henriques was the cheapest bowler as the medium pace all-rounder, but he’s a long way short of the Doug Walters of 1965 to 1981 and Steve Waugh from 1985 to 2004 to be a consistent partnership breaker. But it is early days for the New South Welshman.
Clearly Doherty and Maxwell aren’t Test quality as both Pujara and Vijay played well within themselves for the first session scoring just 49, They upped the tempo in the second to 106, and set sail in the third with 151.
And the way they batted suggests they could well bat most of today as well.
We will see a lot more of Pujara sooner than later.
His 162* was his fourth ton in just 11 Tests to go with his 159 against the Kiwis last August, and the 206* and 135 in back-to-back Tests against England last November – all in India.
The 25-year-old is an accumulator with plenty of time to play his shots.
In successive first-class games for Saurashtra late last year and early this year he cracked 203* and 352 – serious numbers.
Content to play second fiddle and to cement his place in the side after a double failure in Chennai, Vijay’s 129* was his second ton in 14 Tests after the 139 against the Australians in Bangalore in 2010.
The one bright spot for Australia yesterday was batting legend Matt Hayden in the television commentary box. He was excellent, and long may that be the case.
Hayden started by saying this will be the day the great Australian fighting spirit will surface. If only.
That was the only mistake Hayden made all day. But he was patriotic.
Let’s hope some of that Hayden magic can rub off today, especially on Maxwell.
After all, it was Hayden who presented the Victorian with his debut baggy green.
The side needs an injection of success from somewhere. Anywhere.