The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Opinion

Where to now for India after 36 all out?

Roar Guru
20th December, 2020
Advertisement
Autoplay in... 6 (Cancel)
Up Next No more videos! Playlist is empty -
Replay
Cancel
Next
Roar Guru
20th December, 2020
67
1488 Reads

The number 36 was already ignominious in Indian cricket.

Sunil Gavaskar, India’s finest ever batsman, continues to get mocked to this day for the 36 runs he scored off 60 overs in the 1979 World Cup match against England.

Now, 36 all out in the second innings of Adelaide will forever be a taunt that the Indian team will have to hear wherever they go.

Where do the Indian team go from here?

That wretched first session in Adelaide not only killed the first Test for India, it also put their near future in danger.

The hard blow to Mohammed Shami’s right hand has destabilised the gun bowling unit. Virat Kohli, India’s best Test batsman, was already slotted to leave Australia after the first Test.

The perfect storm is upon this team. Now, Ajinkya Rahane, the stand-in captain, has to stand up and plot India’s come back.

For a team to rise from an ignominy such as the 36 all out, it needs its strongest characters to stand up and take charge.

Advertisement

Ajinkya has a few such strong characters in the squad and should build the team for the Boxing day Test around them.

Bowling
Jasprit Bumrah is the first among those indomitable characters, and Ajinkya should ask Bumrah to lead the fast bowling unit.

Ajinkya has to pick one among Mohammed Siraj or Thangarasu Natarajan or Navdeep Saini to replace Shami. Siraj showed plenty of fire in the warm-up games.

Natarajan, with his left-handed variation, has already had an impact in the limited-overs leg of this tour. Saini bowled poorly in all the matches that he has played so far in the tour.

I will pick Natarajan for his left-handed variation and for the spirit in him that comes from his tough upbringing.

Ravichandran Ashwin is a fighting cricketer and should hold his spot. If Ravindra Jadeja is fit to play, Ajinkya should take him into the team.

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin should keep his spot. (Photo by Peter Mundy/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Advertisement

Jadeja has shown all through his career that rare ability to stand up in adversity. He spent many years of initial career being taunted by the cricket watching public and some pundits.

He proved them all wrong through his talent and focus. On this tour, it was his innings in Canberra alongside Hardik Pandya that turned the fortunes of this team around.

India went on to win that ODI and soon the T20 series.

Batting
Ajinkya has to lead the batting unit and make them stand up after that disastrous performance. He has shown in the past that he can stand up against adversity.

We had a short peek into his spirit during the second innings in the Dharmasala Test in 2017. India was chasing 100 odd runs to win the Test and the series.

They lost two quick wickets with Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood breathing fire on a pitch with good bounce.

Ajinkya walked in and smashed Cummins around scoring a rapid 38 off 27 balls to seal the series. Earlier in that series, Ajinkya combined with Cheteshwar Pujara to stitch a vital second innings partnership in the Bangalore Test to help India gain the upper hand for the first time.

Advertisement

Ajinkya should also remember his century at Lord’s in the 2014 series on a green pitch against James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Rishabh Pant is another strong character who I will add to the playing XI at the expense of Wridhiman Saha.

Rishabh has a strong batting record in Australia, loves to attack every time and is a good wicketkeeper.

Additionally, India needs a left-hander in their top order to break the line and length of the Australian bowlers.

We saw the danger of allowing Hazlewood and Cummins to settle on a line and length on a pitch with fire.

Rishabh Pant of India

Rishabh Pant of India (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

KL Rahul will be my next pick into the team. KL had a horrible time in Australia during the 2018 Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Advertisement

However, through his limited-overs exploits, Rahul has regained his confidence. Rahul played well during the limited-overs leg of this tour as well. He has a good record against Australia from the 2017 series and 2014/15 series.

I will open the innings with KL Rahul and Mayank Agrawal in the Boxing Day Test.

Pujara is a calm and collected man. I expect him to be ready and be the rock on which the Indian batting will be built on during the Boxing day test.

Mayank Agrawal must look back at his debut performance in Melbourne to get his confidence back. During that Test, he played this same bowling unit with a positive mindset and freedom of a newcomer.

Mayank showed the rest of the batting crew how to play Nathan Lyon. He needs to bring back that aggressive intent to score.

I will play Shubman Gill ahead of Hanuma Vihari.

Gill is an attacking player, reliable on the back foot and is new on the scene as well. Vihari did not show enough intent to score in both the innings in Adelaide. Ajinkya needs to err on the side of aggression to script the team’s come back.

Advertisement

Learning from history
Ravi Shastri should speak to the Indian team about the various instances from history when teams have come back from terrible defeats. Kolkatta Test of 2001 is the first one he should talk about.

Ravi should ask VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid to address the team and speak to them about this match.

The next one on his list should be the story of India’s come back in the 2017 Australia series after getting bowled out for 100 odd runs in both the innings in Pune.

Getting shot for 100 odd twice in home conditions is as bad as 36 all out in Adelaide. Many of the players from that 2017 team are part of this squad, and they should talk about how they scripted that comeback.

Ravi should show the team the tape of the 2011 series between Australia and South Africa. At the start of the second innings of the first Test at Cape Town, Australia was in a similar position to where India was in the 2020 Adelaide Test.

Aussies squandered the advantage and lost the Test by getting bowled out in the second innings for 47.

Advertisement

However, the Aussies came back in the second Test and beat the South Africans to level the series 1-1. The Indian team should know that 36 all out is not the end of the series.

Ravi should show Ben Stokes’s miracle innings during the 2019 Ashes at Headingley against this Australian attack.

Aussies had rolled the English over for 67 runs in the first innings. From 67 all out to winning the Test scoring 370 plus in the second innings is a stuff of legends.

Indian team should know that they can come back in this series!

My Indian XI for the Boxing Day Test
Mayank Agrawal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Thangarasu Natarajan

close