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In the doom and gloom of Australia’s humiliating defeats in the first two Tests against India, one beam of light, one glimmer of hope, was their skipper Michael Clarke.
Apart from Moises Henriques in the first Test in Chennai and Matthew Wade in the next Test in Hyderabad, the other Australian batsmen looked like babes in the wood about to be swallowed by hungry wolves masquerading as Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
After being defeated in Chennai by eight wickets, the tourists were trounced in Hyderabad by an innings and 135 runs in little over three days.
Innings defeat is bad enough. But look at this interesting statistic: Australia totalled 368 runs (9 declared for 237 and 131) in the recent Test to India’s 503 in their only innings. But wait, there is more.
Murali Vijay (168) and Cheteshwar Pujara (204) added 370 for the second wicket, which was two runs more than Australia totalled in both innings. In the second innings, Australia’s total of 131 was less than Vijay’s and Pujara’s individual scores.
Clarke was the only saving grace in both the Tests. He scored 130 and 31 in Chennai and 91 and 16 in Hyderabad.
However, he batted at no. 5, his favourite position.
By the time he arrived on the crease, the damage was done with the top four batsmen — David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phil Hughes and Shane Watson — batting like penniless millionaires, giving Indian bowlers the upper hand.
Clarke had to steady the ship which he did, but it was too late. By then the Indian spinners on helpful pitches – especially in Chennai – were feeling sixteen feet tall.
Despite winning the toss in both the Tests, a big advantage on dusty pitches, Australian batsmen, apart from Clarke, appeared psychologically paralysed.
To quote Clarke, “Our shot selection was horrible. No excuse for making only 237 in the first innings… Indian batsmen had the discipline and dedication. We have the talent but the way we have batted [in this series so far] is unacceptable.”
In view of experts, he should have batted at no.4. In hindsight, I agree with them.
So does Clarke. At the press conference after the game he said that he will bat higher in the next Test. “It’s not about me but my goal is to win.”
And if Australia wins the next two Tests which appears unlikely, they will retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as they hold it after their 4-0 win in Australia last year.
Will Clarke batting at no. 4 make a significant difference in the team performance? One thing is certain. Hughes has to go and Usman Khawaja should bat at no. 3. In my opinion Clarke batting at no.4 will reignite the tourists’ sagging morale.
Australian selectors should consider sending an SOS for SOK (off-spinner Stephen O’Keeffe) to bowl in tandem with either Nathan Lyon or Xavier Doherty.