The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Opinion

Five takeaways from the Boxing Day Test

Roar Rookie
31st December, 2020
Advertisement
Autoplay in... 6 (Cancel)
Up Next No more videos! Playlist is empty -
Replay
Cancel
Next
Roar Rookie
31st December, 2020
3

Here are some of my takeaways from the Boxing Day Test.

1. Jasprit Bumrah is a superstar
If it wasn’t clear enough already, Jasprit Bumrah has yet again staked his claim as one of the finest fast bowlers of our time. The tight lines he maintains make life mighty tough for even the best in the business. Put simply, as a batsman you must manufacture something rather than waiting for a mistake from him.

What Australia have done is the latter, hence their dismal run rate this series. With a sublime average of 20.68, Bumrah has achieved the best-ever numbers for any bowler since 1970 (criterion set at 75 wickets). It’s hard to imagine a 16-Test old fast bowler leading an attack and here Bumrah is, busting one myth after the other.

2. Cameron Green’s defence
After the first Test, I was of the opinion that Cameron Green is not quite ready for international cricket. He seemed to get stuck in the crease and as a result, poor rotation of strike was a concerning facet of his game. I’ll put my hand up and say I was wrong. The way Cameron Green battled it out late on Day 3 amidst some high-class bowling being thrown at him was commendable.

He’s got a resolute defence. When a batsman has that, he’s cracked a huge component of Test cricket. Like South Africa did with Jacques Kallis, Australia must do with Green. Some players are just meant for the higher level and find their feet on the go. They do not require the rigours of domestic cricket. I’m certain that Cameron Green will get better and better as he goes along the tough journey that is international cricket.

3. Shubman Gill’s composure
With a technique so sound at an age so young, Shubman Gill is destined for greatness. It’s one thing to get beaten to genuinely good fast bowling. What separates the good from the great lies in the response. After seeing off a barrage of deliveries, Gill immediately pounced on the scoring opportunities by driving, cutting and pulling his way through to a well-compiled innings.

Under tough circumstances, he showed great composure. It was one of those little moments where you just knew that you’d seen the start of something special.

Shubman Gill of India.

Shubman Gill. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Advertisement

4. Steven Smith’s demons continue
Watching him bat in the second innings, it was evident that Smith was so hell-bent on not giving his wicket away to Ravichandran Ashwin that he forgot about the existence of Bumrah’s angling-in delivery, which naturally poses a threat to his shuffle. A form slump at the start of a series puts any batsman in a very tricky position, mentally and physically.

When he’s more worried about Ashwin while facing Bumrah, it’s most definitely a mental battle. All the great batsmen have been through this phase and with Steven Smith, a hundred is always a question of “when” rather than “if”.

5. Travis Head’s misfiring starts
Might be an unpopular opinion, but I still see a huge Test match future for Travis Head. Because of how irresponsibly he got out in the second innings, it’s easy to forget that he was involved in Australia’s highest partnership of the match. There was a segment of play during the first innings where he absolutely looked the part.

What I quite enjoy about Head’s batting is that more often than not, he fights out the early phase of his innings, which is generally seen as the toughest one. All he requires is that little bit more patience at the crease to get through those periods of lapses. It’s almost like a switch – once he activates it, the big runs will come. Australia must persist with Travis Head.

close