By 1991 the great West Indian era was closer to its end than its beginning. Gorden Greenidge and Viv Richards were close to retirement and Malcolm Marshall was playing in his final home series.
Australia sensed they could beat them. They had a good top order and a handy fast bowling unit featuring Merv Hughes, Craig McDermott and Bruce Reid.
The West Indies won the series on the back of some great cricket, and part of that was how ruthless they were to Australia’s tail.
In the first Test Australia lost their last five wickets for 14 runs. In the third Test Australia lost their last four wickets for one run.
They lost five for 34 and five for eight in the fourth Test. The series was over and Australia went 2-0 down with a Test to play.
The West Indies had developed a pattern of having Australia six for and then all out very quickly. There was no frustration in the field with a nuisance tail-order batsman holding up an end while the bowlers got annoyed with it all. They just got the tail in and out and allowed their batsmen to get on with business.
What happened to India’s tail twice in Perth will always make it difficult to win Test matches. Sure, the bowlers are there primarily to take wickets, and batsmen like KL Rahul and Murali Vijay, who have both been having a summer holiday in Australia to date, need to stand up. But the tail cannot be so brittle.
At the moment they are a walk in the park for the Australians. After Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had got India to within touching distance of Australia’s first-innings total, the last four batsmen contributed a total of ten runs. India conceded a first innings lead where batting last was always going to be a difficult assignment.
It didn’t get any better the second time around for the final four Indian batsmen. Between them they managed a total of two runs. Australia came home with a wet sail to level the series.
The top teams find ways to dig themselves out of trouble. On many occasions a Paul Reiffel or a Jason Gillespie helped Australia fight their way out of a corner. Malcolm Marshall or a Dale Steyn had also done it for their respective teams. There has to be some fight. There has to be some resistance.
To fall over and surrender will only make it harder as India attempt to make history by winning in Australia for what would be the first time.
Their lower order have more than a week before the third Test starts to get to the nets and pick up a bat as well as a ball.
Cricket Buffet
Roar Guru
I agree, Ashwin is an excellent number 8.
Cricket Buffet
Roar Guru
Thanks mate. With Ashwin back in Melbourne, assuming he comes back, they will get a bit more help with runs in their lower order, and they really do need it on their effort in Perth. A bit more application too wouldnt hurt.
Paul D
Roar Guru
if Ashwin recovers for boxing day none of this is an issue. He's a fantastic player, as important for them as Nathan Lyon is for us, not to mention an excellent batsman for someone coming in at 8.
Paul
Roar Guru
Your piece is right on the money, CB. The problem for India is, these guys can't improve enough in a week to make a difference in the next Test.
Mon
Guest
The Indian tail doesn’t need any improvement at all. Just leave them be.
Nick
Roar Guru
Jadeja is one of the best home spinners in the world. He's rank ordinary overseas. India know this. He would have been as risky a pick as Yadav was. Jadeja averages 40 with the ball outside of Asia, and only 29 with the bat. He probably should have played, but he would have only stemmed the bleeding with a few more runs with the willow and perhaps a wicket or two more than Yadav. The openers cost India this match, while the Australian openers won it. The tail needs to do a bit better with the willow, but they at least are doing their jobs with ball in hand. the openers have no excuse.
Cricket Buffet
Roar Guru
The wicket looked green and Jadeja outside of India is not the bowler, not even close, to the bowler he is in India. However if they played him and batted him at 8 their tale wouldnt have been as long as it was. Lets not forget how big an influence Jadeja had on the 2017 test series.
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
I actually think India's biggest mistake was not taking Jadeja into the test. He has a test century and is one of the best spinners in the world.