FLEM'S VERDICT: Head must come back but Aussies need to change game plan or they’ll get another thrashing

Well, that was an absolute thrashing. It started well when the Aussies won the toss and batted but as I mentioned in the preview for this Test, first innings runs are at a premium in India and unfortunately we couldn’t capitalise and only scored half the runs we needed. It’s tough to come back from there.

Australia can make all the line-up changes they want after the first Test flogging inside three days but it’s not going to make any difference unless they drastically alter their game plans. 

Plans that give themselves the best chance to score runs in Indian conditions. They can make changes to the bowling line up but if we are not making a decent total first up, we are cooked.

You don’t want to have it but a crisis meeting is needed after the first match of the series to have any hope of turning it around. 

It was just a comprehensive pumping. And I don’t think just getting selection right is gonna automatically provide winning Test matches. Game plans have to be discussed as well.

When you’re 1-0 down and you’re coming off a thrashing, there’s also the mental component which needs to be addressed. 

Players shake hands after India defeated Australia in Nagpur. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

A lot of the dismissals were LBW with batters playing the wrong line for the spin.

What are we going to do to take that out of play? 

This pitch in Nagpur was supposed to be a nightmare for left-handers but India’s No.7 and No.9 both scored half-centuries so it couldn’t have been too bad. 

They could do worse, the Aussies, than to have a look at their game plan – they didn’t sweep too much, they kept it simple, didn’t go for massive cover drives.

In the end it just played like a normal Indian wicket with a bit of turn and the Aussie batters couldn’t handle it. 

I was absolutely astonished the Aussies dropped Travis Head. He was average on the Pakistan tour and had a poor series in Sri Lanka but I just feel he’s not going to be a reliable run-making machine every innings like Steve Smith but he’s a match winner.

Even if he comes off only three innings out of the eight, they can be run-a-ball hundreds like we’ve seen him do against England, West Indies and South Africa. 

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He could peel off a knock like the ton that Rohit Sharma scored for India, which was the decisive innings of the Test.

The fact that they played Matt Renshaw in the middle order in Sydney tells me that they were always going to play him over here instead of Heady. 

For the next Test, if Cameron Green is fit, he comes straight back in at his usual spot at six and Heady should probably get the nod over Peter Handscomb with Renshaw also missing out.

Heady also gives them a third spin option which they missed big time in Nagpur.

The openers struggled, which is a problem, particularly in the first innings when they both got out to the quicks but with their experience, you’ve got to stick with them. 

Ravichandran Ashwin celebrates taking the wicket of Matt Renshaw. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Not scoring at least 300 in the first innings after winning the toss, the batting let us down. They were always behind the eight-ball after getting dismissed for 177. 

I think Marnus Labuschagne and Smithy looked pretty comfortable in both innings but one of them, if not both, have to go on and get a hundred. 

Handscomb didn’t look too bad in each innings and at least he seems to back his method of playing spin by looking to get down the crease at every opportunity.

Alex Carey’s first innings in particular was solid for Australia but he probably fell into the trap of premeditating his sweeps too often, particularly the reverse ones.

With the bowling, it’s going to be interesting. Mitchell Starc, if he’s fit, is a no-brainer to come straight back in but Scott Boland would be unlucky to miss out.

Todd Murphy celebrates taking the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Boland got more reverse swing and I actually thought he bowled better than Pat Cummins even though he didn’t get any wickets. 

We got Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli cheaply, which was great but that’s not going to happen throughout the series. 

Murphy was phenomenal – it was a wise choice and it was proved right. He bowls a bit more like Ravichandran Ashwin. You can see when Nathan Lyon is bowling, because he wants more overspin which works in Australia, the seam goes from mid-off to fine leg for a right-hand batter whereas Murphy’s is just about horizontal.

He has some subtle variations. The one that he sent down to get Ravindra Jadeja bowled without offering a shot was a beauty – the ball went down like a leg-spin seam even though he bowled it with an off break action.

There is no bigger test for young overseas spinners than India but Murph thrived the longer he was bowling and looks a fine bowler for the next decade. Well done.

Having Starc back also means the tail won’t be as long because we only got a handful of runs from our four bowlers with the bat while India nearly made 200. 

With Swepson going home for the birth of his child he will be replaced by his Queensland left-arm spinning teammate Matt Kuhnemann who could make a surprise Test debut if the Australians decide to play Green as an opening bowler and roll with three spinners. He is coming off a Shield game at the MCG so at least he is match fit if he does debut.

But Kuhnemann does lengthen our tail. Having Starc back would mean the tail won’t be as long because we only got a handful of runs from our four bowlers with the bat while India nearly made 200. 

India’s side is perfectly balanced with the three spinners who, as we saw, can all bat as well. I heard Sharma saying having Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar Patel in the side in India is like captaining Starc, Cummins and Josh Hazlewood in Australian conditions.

You don’t have to do much as skipper, just let them work out what they’re doing and it pretty much always works.

Delhi is a bit of a fortress for India – they haven’t lost there since 1987 so the odds are stacked against the Aussies but if they don’t change their mindset they will have no chance of getting back in this series.