India won the first Test in Adelaide yesterday by 31, but the only reason the baggy greens came so close was the determined tail wagging batting of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood.
And to prove the point, they did it in both digs.
In the first dig, Cummins and Travis Head put on 50 for the seventh wicket.
Starc joined Head for a 27-run stand for the eighth wicket, and Lyon made an unbeaten 24 in a 31-run stand for the ninth wicket.
Hazlewood was dismissed for a first ball duck, but the three previous stands accounted for 108 of the 235 total to get the Australians to within 15 of India’s first dig.
The Test came alive in India’s second dig when Starc and Lyon combined to claim the last four wickets for just four runs.
That gave India a 322-run lead which had loomed as 360-370 before Starc and Lyon struck – an out-of-the-question target.
But 323 for victory gave the brittle Australian lineup a small sniff, albeit unlikely.
And so it proved until the attack again showed the top order how runs could be made.
Cummins joined his skipper for a 31-stand for the seventh wicket, and Cummins repeated the dose with 41 with Starc for the eighth, and 31 with Lyon for the ninth.
Lyon continued the good work with a 32-run 10th wicket stand with Hazlewood to get within 31 runs of an unlikely victory.
The tail had put on 135 of the 291 Australian total, with Lyon starring with two unbeaten knocks of 24 and 38, leaving Cummins as the pivot twice with scores of 10 off 47, and 38 off 168.
The strike rates tell the story:
Lyon’s unbeaten 62 off 75, batting 10, topped the strike rates with 82.67.
Starc’s 43 off 78, batting nine – 55.13.
Tim Paine’s 46 off 93, batting seven – 49.46.
Debutant Marcus Harris’ 52 off 106, batting two – 49.06.
Head’s 86 off 229, batting six – 37.55.
Peter Handscomb’s 48 off 133, batting five – 36.09.
Shaun Marsh’s 62 off 185, batting four – 33.51.
Hazlewood’s 13 off 44, batting 11 – 29.55.
Aaron Finch’s 11 off 38, batting one – 28.95.
Cummins’ 38 off 168, batting eight – 22.62.
And Usman Khawaja’s 36 off 167, batting three – 21.56.
That translates to the top six scoring 295 off 858 – strike rate 34.38.
And the bottom five – 202 off 458 for a strike rate of 44.10.
Sure it wasn’t a win, but when you look at the world’s top six ranked Test batsmen – Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Cheteshwar Pujara, and David Warner, the Australians did very well without Smith, and Warner.
A whole lot better than India would have done without Kohli and Pujara.
India’s Cheteshwar Pujara celebrates after reaching a century during the first cricket test between Australia and India in Adelaide, Australia,Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
So it’s off to the brand new state-of-the-art Optus Stadium in Perth, starting Friday, for the award-winning ground’s Test cricket debut in the second of the four-match series.
How the wicket will play in the 60,000-seat stadium is a virtually unknown factor, but if Australian top six can pull their weight, and the bottom five keep firing, it should be a fascinating Test.
One thing for sure, at least half the crowd will be Indian supporters now their side has a genuine sniff of an historic series win Down Under.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
There’s not only lots of recent migrants, but tens of thousands of Indian students. These together definitely outweigh the tourists among the crowd. Hopefully the next generation will be barracking for Australia and expanding our pool of talent.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Was Lyon suddenly not so “determined” when he played a wild drive and got dropped by Pant when on 8? People who just look at the scores in one game and try to invest them with a whole lot of meaning don’t really understand much about cricket, numbers or probabilities. Of course, Khawaja, Paine, Handscomb, etc were as determined as the tail. They just made fatal mistakes. The tail made lots of similar mistakes and got lucky, though I suppose Khawaja’s was closer to a brain explosion than an ordinary error.
anon
Roar Pro
I believe the numbers, but the people in the stands wildly cheering on the Indian side couldn't possibly be Australian citizens who moved their lives here. They'd be cheering for their home country of Australia if they were Australia.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
India is the country where the most migrants come from these days. 118 000 have become citizens in the past 5 years and there are about 70 000 Indian students studying here. https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/punjabi/en/article/2018/06/19/indian-migrants-top-source-citizenship-australia https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/hindi/en/article/2018/02/16/number-indian-students-studying-australia-seven-year-high
anon
Roar Pro
They couldn't possibly live here. If I uprooted my life to India, if I gained Indian citizenship, if I had an Indian passport, if I pledged my allegiance to India, I'd feel treasonous if I didn't support India. That would be my home. There's no way that the tens of thousands of Indian supporters at those matches are Aussie citizens. They are surely tourists.
IAP
Guest
The Indian supporters don't travel a long way to come to the cricket - they live here. You can guarantee that there will be massive Indian crowds in Melbourne, and Sydney especially.
anon
Roar Pro
Credit to the Indian supporters though. They have travelled a long way to passionately support their country. It must be a real boon to Australian tourism to have tens of thousands Indians coming to Australia to fervently support their countrymen. It's almost like we bat ourselves into holes. 15 year ago we'd score at 4 an over no trouble. Now we aim for 2.5 per over. Even in ODIs. The Hobart game we were chasing a 300+ total yet Marsh and Stoinis were at the crease just pushing it around for dot balls for 7 overs. Stoinis eventually took chances and hit a lot of boundaries, but for all his big hitting only managed 63 off 76. You've got to be turning the strike over constantly.
Big Red V
Guest
I wish people would see this as ANOTHER loss and not some sort of admirable / gritty / backs against the wall defeat. It was a loss and a poor one at that. There are still many passengers in that team and Starc's attitude and body language really needs some attention. He may be having residual issues with his latest injury and if that's the case, put him aside and try someone else. The fact India win by 31 without a significant contribution from Kohli and a very jittery opening combination, does not bode well when they start to kick into gear. Unfortunately I cant see any of our top 6 being spoken of in the same light.