Australia produces its masterpiece

Every creator, every person, every team is capable of creating a masterpiece. Something that operates as the purest statement of their quality.

Australia’s victory in the first one-day international against India served as their purest statement. A dominant victory against a strong team in their home conditions.

A victory that did not rely on luck, but instead relied on 11 players executing their skills to their best ability and defeating a talented opposition.

A masterpiece does not unfurl its wings immediately. It takes time. It will fly when it is ready –
A.D. Posey

Australia’s masterpiece was not something that unfurled its wings immediately. In fact, at the half-way mark of India’s innings Australia were in a bit of trouble.

India were only one wicket down at that stage, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul were batting nicely, and India were well on track for a score over 300.

To give a sense of how strong India’s position was, we can look at their recent history from similar positions.

Since 2017, when India have been one wicket down (or better) at the half-way point of their innings, they have an average score of 330. Their lowest score from that position was 274, and that was in South Africa.

Australia’s effort to hold India to a middling total of 254 was masterful. Like any masterpiece, there was an element of struggle in the creation, but once Australia got going, there was no stopping them.

The secret to a masterpiece is ten per cent inspiration and 90 per cent perspiration – Mario Vargas Llosa

Looking back over India’s innings, there was no single astonishing moment that led to India’s dismantling. Instead, it was a bowling and fielding unit operating at peak capacity and performing their roles masterfully.

But it is not accurate to say that Australia’s masterpiece was formed out of 100 per cent perspiration. The inspiration came from Aaron Finch’s response to the arrival of Virat Kohli.

Considering India’s relatively inexperienced middle order, Kohli has taken on an outsized importance to India.

Instead of continuing with the spinners, Finch immediately turned to Pat Cummins who has a strong record against Kohli and immediately put the Indian skipper under pressure. The second brilliant move was how Finch set up his fields to Kohli.

From the fast bowlers, Finch put himself in as a wide-slip. Early in his innings, Kohli heavily relies on gliding the ball down to third-man to establish momentum, but putting in a slip places an element of doubt in that shot.

Whilst Cummins did not get Kohli’s wicket, these two early moves meant that he struggled to gain any momentum in his innings and was out forcing a shot against Adam Zampa.

From that point on, Australia performed their tasks with almost flawless perfection. Bowlers were accurate, and were well supported by their fielders.

Even when Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja looked dangerous, Australia never gave too much away, in only one over were they able to hit multiple boundaries which prevented India from getting a foothold back in the game.

Australia’s bowlers seemed to know that if they kept hitting their spots, then the wickets would eventually fall.

The other piece of inspiration came with the approach of Finch and David Warner with the bat. Nowadays a chase of 255 is not overly threatening, but early wickets can invite pressure on subsequent batters.

Not only did the Australian openers blunt a strong Indian pace attack, they counter-attacked superbly. At the 10 over mark, they had scored at 8 runs an over and the game was effectively over.

Captain David Warner of Australia. (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)

The masterpiece still required completion though, and Warner and Finch crafted superb, chanceless knocks to lead Australia’s to its most dominant one-day performance in some time.

A true masterpiece does not tell everything – Albert Camus

As great as Australia’s efforts were, there is still much to be said for the rest of this series. The unanswered question for Australia is how their rejigged middle order is likely to perform.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith were well-paid fielders in the first match, but it will be interesting to see whether their blossoming batting relationship will translate from the white clothes to the white-ball.

For India, the key question is whether they have crafted a team that is well placed to succeed against Australia. India are simultaneously too top-heavy and a little shallow.

I question the value in playing three openers and pushing Kohli down to number four. As well as Dhawan and Rahul played, it may be better to drop one of them and have Kohli batting at No.3 and then playing another all rounder such as Hardik Pandya or Vijay Shankar.

Such a move may lessen their top-order quality, but would provide them with more power at the end of their innings as well as providing a further bowling alternative.

These questions will be answered in the games to come. In the meantime, it is worth reflecting on a beautifully played game by Australia.

A game of consummate execution and domination of a worthy opponent. A game in which they truly created their own masterpiece.