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India may have arrived in Australia with their best-ever Test pace attack but their batting shapes as vulnerable in the four-Test series starting on Thursday.
The tourists were extraordinarily reliant on superstar batsman Virat Kohli during their Test series losses in England and South Africa this year and that looks likely to be the case once more in Australia.
Kohli was monumental across those eight Tests in England and South Africa, making 879 runs at 55, including three centuries, despite facing some of the world’s best bowlers on often spicy pitches.
Taking into account his dominant Test record in Australia, where he’s scored nearly 1,000 runs at 62, Kohli appears set to have another huge series down under.
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
But he’ll need to because the rest of the Indian batting lineup have been in dire form on the road this year.
Quite incredibly, in England and South Africa, the remainder of the Indian batsmen (including wicketkeepers and batting all-rounders) combined to average just 21 with the bat:
This is how the batsmen who are in India’s squad for the Tests against Australia fared in India’s eight away Tests this year:
1. Virat Kohli – 879 runs at 55
2. Cheteshwar Pujara – 378 runs at 29
3. KL Rahul – 329 runs at 23
4. Ajinkya Rahane – 314 runs at 26
5. Rishabh Pant – 162 runs at 27
6. Murali Vijay – 128 runs at 13
7. Rohit Sharma – 78 runs at 19
8. Parthiv Patel – 56 runs at 14
9. Hanuma Vihari – 56 runs at 28
That is an appalling return for the batting lineup of the world’s number one team and highlights just what a one-man army India have become away from home.
Making matters worse, India lost their first-choice opener to injury in their only warm-up game of this tour when teen prodigy Privthi Shaw rolled his ankle against the Cricket Australia XI.
That unfortunate incident means veteran Vijay is now all but certain to open in the first Test alongside KL Rahul, with Pujara at first drop. This would leave India with a top three who have been woeful away from home in Tests this year.
Rahul and Pujara both have question marks over their ability to flourish in the Test nations which most support pace bowling – Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand.
Pujara averages just 29 with the bat from his 21 Tests across those countries, compared to an average of 64 in Asia, highlighting just how out of his depth he is away from familiar conditions.
The foundation of Pujara’s success in Asia is his mastery of spin bowlers, against whom he scores freely. But in Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand, where pace is king, Pujara frequently gets bogged down at the crease.
His strike rate drops from 51 in Asia down to a dawdling 39 in those four countries. This inability to keep the scoreboard moving means bowlers feel in control against Pujara, as do opposition skippers, who can set attacking fields to him.
Rahul, too, is yet to master conditions in those four pace-friendly countries, where he averages only 25 from nine Tests. One of the most naturally-gifted batsmen in Test cricket, Rahul all too often gifts his wicket with needlessly-reckless strokes.
After four years of playing Test cricket he still has not improved upon this issue and it becomes all the more of a hindrance away from home.
Vijay, meanwhile, was outstanding on India’s last Test tour of Australia, carving 482 runs at 60, but is coming off a horror run in England and South Africa this year. Those two nations’ Test attacks picked apart the defence of Vijay, who looked extremely susceptible to balls directed at the top of off stump.
His footwork was a mess, which in turn affected his balance at the crease. Turning 35 years old in a few months’ time, it is possible Vijay has just hit the wall as a Test batsman, as many before him have around the same age.
Many Indian fans and pundits considered Vijay lucky to be included in the squad for this series and he now looks set to be thrust back on to the frontline due to Shaw’s injury.
While Vijay will take confidence from his 129 in the second innings of the tour match I wouldn’t read much into that belligerent innings against a very-weak attack.
The task of taming Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon will be vastly more difficult. Likely to bat at five, behind Kohli, is Rahane who like Vijay had a great tour of Australia last time around, with 399 runs at 57.
Also like Vijay, Rahane is in very poor form in Tests and is being picked on deeds from the distant past rather than on recent form. In his last 13 Tests Rahane has averaged 22 with the bat. At number six in their batting lineup India seem to be picking from between white ball star Rohit Sharma and newcomer Hanuma Vihari.
Vihari has just one Test to his name, while Sharma averages only 18 with the bat from his 20 Test innings in Australia, South Africa and England.
Then, at seven, is expected to be rookie wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, a freewheeling strokemaker still looking to find his way in Test cricket. So, Kohli aside, India’s batting looks just as vulnerable in this series as Australia’s.