Cheteshwar Pujara is not only the outstanding performer in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, but he’s been the most significant reason why the baggy greens have mentally disintegrated.
Pujara has been relentless, with patience beyond Job.
He’s batted a tick over 30 hours to accumulate 521 runs facing 1258 deliveries.
To put that in context, Pujara has out-performed three of Australia’s top order on his own.
Aaron Finch has scored 97 off 214, Usman Khawaja 194 off 580, and Shaun Marsh 183 off 440, totalling 474 runs off 1234 deliveries.
Throw in Pujara’s three tons – 123, 106, and a series high 193 – and he’s a binocular distance ahead of Australia’s rookie top scorer Marcus Harris’ 79.
And he’s been joined by Virat Kohli’s 123, Rishabh Plant’s career-high 159*, and Ravi Jadeja’s 81 – all more than Harris.
As a result, India will win the series 3-1, a first Down Under, and thanks to Pujara’s inspiration Australia’s world-class four-prong attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon has been put to the sword.
Lyon is the only one of the four to have this series average better than his career average.
He’s bowled a marathon 242 overs to be the leading wicket-taker with 21 at 30.42 – career average 31.95.
But the three quicks are well above career averages.
Cummins has bowled 145 overs to take 14 at 27.78 – career average 23.25.
Hazlewood’s 152 overs has netted 13 at 30.61 – career average 26.83, while Starc’s 139 overs have yielded 13 at 34.53 – career average 28.43.
They’ve bowled 678 over between them to capture all 60 wickets, while the part-time bowlers have bowled just 53 overs with combined figures of 0-174.
No wonder the big four are so knackered in intense heat they have been left out of the three-match ODI series against India to charge their batteries for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka.
To add insult to injury, six Indian bowlers have a better average than Cummins’ Australian best of 27.78.
(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Jasprit Bumrah’s 20 wickets have cost only 16.80 apiece, Kuldeep Yadav’s three at 23.66, Ishant Sharma’s 11 cost 23.81, Ravi Ashwin’s six at 24.83, Ravi Jadeja’s seven cost 27, and Mohammad Shami’s 15 at 27.40.
The last straw is that skipper Tim Paine has won only one of his seven tosses since Steve Smith was suspended – and that’s the only Test the Australians have won.
On the other side of the coin, Virat Kohli has never lost a Test when he’s won the toss and that record after the SCG will stretch to 19 wins and three draws.
So it’s been one-way traffic, and the Australian selectors have as much to blame as the players.
Thankfully, it’s only 82 sleeps until Steve Smith and David Warner are again available for selection.
Sarang Khargonkar
Guest
So Paul, you are saying Aus can't win a test at home if they don't win the toss? Well guess what, India beat Aus in Dharamsala in 2017 in the series decider in India after LOSING the toss. India beat England at home 4-0 after losing 4 out of 5 tosses. On your comment about India losing to Eng this year, Sam Curran was the difference and you will find out this year yourselves in Ashes that he is not a tailender. By the way, India didn't get beaten comfortably. They lost 2 tests by margin of only 31 runs and 60 runs. Eng series scoreline would have read India 3-2 had India won those 2 tests. Also, remember, India lost all tosses in that series. If Aus gets those type of wickets in coming Ashes, be prepared for 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Poms.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
He’s batted a tick over 30 hours to accumulate 521 runs facing 1258 deliveries. While driving to Sydney today i was remembering the Ch 9 idiots bagging out Renshaw last year because he wasn't scoring fast enough for their liking.
Niranjan Deodhar
Roar Pro
One of the main reason why India won the Adelaide Test was Cheteshwar Pujara, scoring brilliant 123 in the first innings and stout 71 in the second. One of the main reason why India were able to put up big scores was Pujara, piling on runs in heaps and bounds throughout the series. One of the main reason why Australian bowlers were made to chase the lather in scorching heat was Pujara, holding one end up, batting for lengthy duration of time as Indian batting revolved around his stellar performances. And one of the most important reason why India is going to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy is Pujara, doing what no other batsman did from either side, just bat and bat and bat and slowly but surely disintegrated the opposition bowling attack!
David Lord
Expert
Paul, most significant reason is not ALL.
Paul
Roar Guru
But David you've put ALL of these things down to Pujara because "he's the reason why Australia mentally disintegrated". He hasn't caused guys to drop catches, bowl without purpose, etc. I put it down to guys not getting the rub of the green and in some cases, not being Test standard
David Lord
Expert
Paul, the evidence is very visible with not one Australian century in four Tests and 35 reaching 20, but only eight cracked 50-plus - very un-Australian. Even more apparent in this SCG Test the six Australian dismissals on day three were all victims of self-destruction. Throw in the dropped catches in the series, and the slow to react chances, plus the number of deliveries that have aimlessly gone through to keeper Paine, and it's little wonder the Australians are well-beaten in this series. That's mental disintegration in my book, they are much better cricketers than what we've seen.
Paul
Roar Guru
"he’s been the most significant reason why the baggy greens have mentally disintegrated". What evidence to support this comment do you have David? I didn't see ANY signs of mental disintegration and but for the fact Kohli won two tosses and batted when Melbourne and Sydney were roads, we might have been witnessing a different result. Pujara is an excellent player when conditions suit him but was flat out scoring a run in both the SA and England series. Ditto with the Indian bowlers. They have by far the best of the conditions in Australia and in fairness have taken advantage of them, but in terms of mental disintegration, what shape were they in after getting hammered in Perth, with players openly arguing about team selections, etc. The same bowlers could hardly get a tail ender out in England and lost that series comfortably. Pujara has been the difference between the teams, completely agree, but to suggest any more than that is a real stretch.