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India are here for a four-Test series! Great news, because following some in-depth investigation, I can exclusively reveal India is a cricket-obsessed nation. Or perhaps cricket is an India-obsessed sport.
Either way, here are the ratings for the First Test between Australia and India.
Coverage
Grade: C+
The Test was broadcast on both Foxtel and Seven, as well as a multitude of radio stations. Each media outlet had dozens of former international cricketers working for them, resulting in Adelaide Oval being overrun with ex-cricketers. Just as the Bible (aka Wisden) foretold.
Channel Nine, meanwhile, had Ellen, which was where Michael Clarke somehow ended up.
Both television stations had their good points. For example, Channel Seven had the innovation of showing a watermarked score during ad breaks. Clever! Foxtel, on the other hand, just didn’t show ad breaks at all. Cleverer!
But they also had their bad points. For example, an annoying tendency for commentators to refer to the Australian side as ‘we’ or ‘us’. Perhaps any commentator who continues to talk in such a fashion should be forced to play in the Second Test. Bonus: In Mark Waugh’s case, it would almost certainly strengthen the batting.
Between the two commentary teams, there was probably one really excellent team that could be put together. Maybe we can convince the heads of Seven and Foxtel to build such a commentary superteam. If only so we can hate-watch the leftovers on the other channel.
Australia’s Fielding
Grade: A-
Virat Kohli won the toss and India batted, losing four wickets in the opening session.
The big wicket was Kohli, who was snared by an outstanding catch by Usman Khawaja. Yes, you read that right. Khawaja has improved his fielding immensely over the last year or so. Indeed, his fielding is now so good that he was able to disrupt a Fox Cricket drinks break interview with Marcus Harris on the fourth day by lobbing an ice cube down the back of his shirt. Such an improved player.
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Khawaja took the catch off Pat Cummins’ bowling, who at that point had the impressive record of having taken Kohli’s wicket twice in the four balls he’d bowled to him. Still, on the bright side for Kohli, Cummins had also bowled two balls to him that hadn’t taken his wicket. So, y’know, glass half full.
The day ended with Cummins running out Cheteshwar Pujara, hurling the stumps down from side-on while flying through the air like the superhuman he almost certainly is. It was so amazing that Major League Baseball social media went crazy for it, which is the only fielding metric that most fans consider valid these days.
Shaun Marsh
Grade: B-
One ball into the second day, Australia were batting, in pursuit of India’s first innings total of 250. All the talk, despite Aaron Finch’s best efforts, was of Shaun Marsh’s dismissal.
Marsh dragged a wide ball from Ravi Ashwin back onto his stumps to be dismissed for just 2. It meant he’d scored six single-figure scores in a row at Test level, making him the first top-five Australian batsman since 1888 to achieve such a ‘feat’. I imagine that the baseball folk excitedly covered this tidbit as well.
As always, unlucky for Marsh, who’d been hitting them well in the nets and who looks so good once he gets going. Is it his fault that he’d exhibited both poor shot selection and poor shot execution? Of course not.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
The odds against such a combination are immense. What Marsh needs is an extended run at Test level, with the full support of both coach and selectors. Give him a chance. That’s all we Shaun Marsh fans have ever asked for.
But it wasn’t just Marsh who looked uncomfortable. All the Australian batsmen struggled, to the point where commentator and Twitter troll Michael Vaughan claimed that he’d ‘never seen an Aussie team at home play with so much trepidation.’
Well, of course not, Michael. You’re usually only over here when England tour.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Grade: A-
Taking a fifteen-run lead on the first innings, India started to pull away, thanks to a combination of successful DRS reviewing and excellent batting from Pujara.
The reviews were particularly frustrating for Australian fans. Remember when we were able to laugh at dud decisions against India because they refused to use DRS? That was great fun.
Cricket is always better with a healthy dose of schadenfreude. I guess we just have to settle for the schadenfreude of Australia being terrible with the bat this summer due to entirely self-inflicted reasons.
Pujara, who’d made a first-innings century, again top-scored for India in the second innings. He made 71 before being caught by Finch off the bowling of Nathan Lyon. Finch, in fact, ended up with three catches at short leg off Lyon (including one from big-hitting wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, where short leg is required to field at cow corner).
Pujara’s ongoing refusal to throw his wicket away with a mindless shot is a pretty disgraceful display of unsportsmanlike behaviour, in my opinion. If he continues with such batting, I can see this series becoming a powder keg.
Still, wonderful misdirection from India to have everybody in Australia fretting about Kohli and His Magnificent Net Batting™ while Pujara snuck in virtually undetected. No wonder India are the number one team in the world.
Consistency
Grade: B+
Chasing 323 for victory, Finch channelled ‘big duck energy’ to be dismissed for a pair. Luckily for him, the wicket was overturned by an Ishant Sharma no ball, allowing him to make eleven more runs.
Meanwhile, Harris became the most consistent batsman in Test history, matching his 26 in the first innings with 26 in the second innings. With Khawaja and Peter Handscomb also falling, Australia needed 219 runs on the last day with six wickets in hand.
Could the embattled Marsh guide Australia home and redeem himself against all the h8ers?
Ha ha ha. Of course not. Instead, he joined the entire bottom half of the batting order in combining for partnerships of 35-odd that each looked incredibly comfortable right up until the point they were broken. As a result, Australia fell a heartbreaking 31 runs short of an against-the-odds tie.
But Marsh did make enough runs to secure his spot for the rest of the series. And, ultimately, isn’t that the most important thing?
