In trying to undo Australia by serving up a rank turning pitch, the Indians only made it easier for the tourists. It is on a fairer, flatter surface that Australia would be more vulnerable, as we saw in Sri Lanka last year.
Extreme pitches foster short, low-scoring matches and so have a tendency to bring the two sides closer together, increasing the chances of an upset. In that way, they are similar to T20 cricket, where the compressed game makes for unpredictable results.
In T20 it is common to see an elite team defeated by a much less talented and accomplished opponent. That is a major part of its appeal. Test cricket, by comparison, throws up far, far fewer shocks.
That is particularly the case when they’re played on sporting pitches designed to push the Test into the fifth day.
It’s also why I predicted the surfaces for this series would not be dustbowls and instead would be batsman-friendly tracks just like all five decks in England’s recent series in India.
I was quite spectacularly wrong, but I’m now willing to go double or nothing and declare we will not see another raging turner in this series.
The fairly placid pitches in India’s recent home series against England and New Zealand widened the gulf between the teams. England’s batsmen did quite well on those decks, but their Indian counterparts knew the conditions better and outscored them easily.
The truly gaping chasm between the sides created by the flat pitches was in the spin department. The top two ranked bowlers in Test cricket, Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja, are masters of wringing every ounce of life out of sleepy Indian decks.
England’s spinners couldn’t go close to matching them, and regardless of what happened at Pune, I’m not convinced Australia’s tweakers can either. Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon comprehensively outbowled Jadeja and Ashwin at Pune.
A major factor in their success, however, was the woeful batting of the Indians, who at times looked lackadaisical and at others downright arrogant. The Indian batsmen have dominated at home to such an extent over the past six months that they clearly expected to do the same with ease against Australia.
With the ferociously competitive Virat Kohli at the helm it seems improbable we will see such an undisciplined and unfocused display from the Indians at Bangalore. This change in mentality, alone, will make life much harder for O’Keefe and Lyon.
Then there’s the fact the Bangalore pitch is very unlikely to offer them anywhere near the same assistance as the surface at Pune.
Lyon’s two most impressive performances in Asia both have come on dustbowls – at Pune, where he bowled beautifully, and at Delhi in 2013 when he snared nine wickets in a Test where spin accounted for 29 of the 34 wickets to fall.
Both of those pitches offered him huge assistance, with Lyon earning startling turn and bounce. It is when this help has been absent that Lyon has really struggled in Asia. Putting aside those two Tests on dustbowls, Lyon’s average in Asia is just a touch under 50.
O’Keefe, meanwhile, was rendered utterly toothless on a batting paradise at Dubai on his Test debut against Pakistan. The left-armer actually bowled nicely in that match, maintaining his trademark nagging line and length, but on a benign pitch against experts of playing spin in such conditions, he had zero impact.
Despite having produced one of the all-time great spin performances at Pune, O’Keefe is far from guaranteed of success if the remaining three pitches in this series are similar to that Dubai road. If the Bangalore deck is brimming with runs I would confidently back Ashwin and Jadeja to outperform the Aussie spin duo.
After having things their own way at Pune, the bowlers from both sides look set for tough labour over the next month. The remainder of the series shapes as a batting shootout between the sides.
In such a scenario the toss of the coin will be remarkably significant, particularly for Australia, who have not coped well with scoreboard pressure in recent years.
If India win the toss on a road and rack up a giant score (they averaged 550 in the first innings against England) the Australians will be under immense pressure. By comparison, India showed against England that they were not at all intimidated by the opposition batting first and churning out a good score.
England made 477 and 400 batting first in the last two Tests of that series, yet both times India incredibly charged to an innings victory. On those flat decks, India looked utterly unbeatable.
This is why it was such a shock they opened the door for Australia by offering up a rank turner at Pune.
Australia won’t be so lucky again in this series.
Sumit Roy
Guest
Yadav will be in the mix with this reverse swing.He has improved a lot this season.Shami may be back in the 3rd test.
Sumit Roy
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Umesh is bowling well. Indian pace attack is not all that bad, although Ishant not so sure.Kuldeep Yadav is in the squad as a Chinaman bowler.
Sumit Roy
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It's 9-1 so far this Indian summer. Pune was the worst pitch of the 11 games played so far
Sumit Roy
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Keep your anglo centric view to yourself. Why are games in oz played in conditions that suit quicks?
ss
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It's 06/03/2017, the third day of the 3nd test. Can Ronan O'Connell please enlighten us on his thoughts so far?
Nudge
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I don't think that the current Aus team would lose absolutely anything if Starc, Hazlewood, Warner, Smith, Lyon, or O'Keefe were all unavailable for the second test. Well, I probably shouldn't say "absolutely anything" because we would miss Smith the best bat in the world. Actually Warner's no 5 in the world as well. Come to think, we could come up short in the bowling having to replace the whole bowling attack. But there is no way of knowing. I really have made an empty statement. ?
Rob
Guest
1. Warner has never been patient but is still capable of smashing 100 in a session of cricket if the pitch is flat. 2. They have worked out Renshaw has little trouble playing spin and isn't intimidated by their crazy appealing. They may be backing the local food vendors to take him out. 3. Handscomb looked all at sea, but so did 11 Indian batsmen. Kohli the # 1 Indian bat looked like a cork in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in his second dig.
Bee bee
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The two swamps are key. Improvement from them and the rest hold firm then we will be extremely tough to stop. I think swamp senior will punish India if they prepare a road.
Matth
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Yes but Warner's first innings was super valuable. It was obvious that the second innings fling was a preconceived plan
Matth
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I'd rather poke the bear and win one than to have meekly handed over the series so we didn't poke them
Matth
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Hartley will retire when his legs fall off, not before. But Pierson might be able to get a few starts as a pure batsman in the middle order in the meantime, to get settled in
Matth
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Warner's first innings in Pune was quality. It was worth 80 on another pitch, was slower than his usual pace, and that opening partnership with Renshaw, contrasted nicely with the Starc/Hazlewood break thoughts in the Indian first innings. I have high hopes for Warner in this series now.
Matth
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Absolutely, and with India going in with only 5 batsmen (like us), this left the all rounders with too much to do. So Starc and Hazlewood in that first innings were vital. Equally, the opening partnership between Renshaw and Warner, which did not seem massive at the time, turned out to be crucial. I am thinking differently to most in this site. I saw enough from Warner in that first innings to think he will succeed in this tour. High thirties on that pitch was like a solid 80 elsewhere, and it was his second slowest thirty plus score, so his game was adapting.
Matth
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And I would say most of those posters have never been more happy to be wrong in their lives
Matth
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Yes, on a turner, the surprise wasn't that it brought our spinners into the game. The surprise (freaking miracle actually), was that our batsmen stood up in uncomfortable conditions. I can't remember that happening much in the last decade.
Matth
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On your first point, if we did that you might end up talking to yourself. There was a heck of a lot of pessimism about, in outing from me. Very happy to have been proven wrong.
Matth
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Of course they are not the same, but sometimes you have to make a call based on imperfect data. S Marsh has not played in India. Khawaja hasn't either (I think). So in that case their performances on other spin friendly pitches might be the best indicator, certainly better than basing the decision in how they've travelled on South Africa and New Zealand, for example. I'm not sure I agree with the selectors' decision regarding these two, but I can understand the rationale they used to make it. This is why I take exception to those calling it a national disgrace, etc, as it is a defendable position.
Don Freo
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Ussie came to OZ as a kid. You won't hear a more Aussie twang in his voice. He'd be sad if anyone said he was not Aussie enough to play Aussie of Origin cricket.
qwetzen
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Nudge said: "“Indeedy. But iirc, he played his early cricket in the ACT. CI agrees as it lists him as an ACT rep at U17, U19 and men’s.” "I like it how you you think Khawaja shouldn’t be included as a blue because he was born in Pakistan but Lyon should be a canberran because he played underage cricket there even though he was born in NSW’s." Nope. I was excluding UK because I thought he was 18 when he emigrated to Oz. This would have made him pretty much the finished article and probably meant that he'd played 1st grade in Islamabad. As it turns out, I was wrong. He emigrated "as a young child" and went to Sydney's Westfield Sports School. "You don’t mind cherry picking stats yourself pal." Indeedy. I only plucked about 23 years out of OzTest history. Your 3 year period is much more relevant. "Then you go on a full ramble about the Aussie team from 6 to 10 years ago and even go back to the Chappell era." To highlight that Aust can produce great sides without major input from NSW. I don't understand why you can't comprehend this. "Well qwetzy I ain’t no spring chicken buddy but I wasn’t around in that era. If you noted in my post I’m talking about now. Not 30 years ago." So cherry-picking then. "By the way mate, how do you reckon the Aus side would be going at the moment if the NSW’s guys were unavailable?" Would have been winning far easier Nudge! Which is my way of saying; There is no way of knowing. You're making an empty statement.
qwetzen
Guest
Paul D said: "I’ll be as disagreeable as I want." Even if you give Lions supporters a bad name?