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Opinion
Watching the Australian team collapse on day three of the second Test was like watching a car crash in slow motion.
The batters just looked shellshocked, they panicked and their game plan to sweep at a much higher rate than the Indians was exposed.
After day two I thought we had a strong opportunity to win this match, level the series and head into the last two Tests with a puncher’s chance.
But instead the batting was dreadful, India win by six wickets and any chance of getting the Border-Gavaskar Trophy back evaporated.
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To have a rivalry in sport there needs to be competition but that’s four series in a row India have beaten us now, two over there and two in Australia. They’ve got our measure and they know it.
Pat Cummins leads his team off the ground after they were defeated by India on day three of the Second Test at Delhi. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
I’ve written before that when you’re building a game plan, you’ve got to base it around the skills you’ve got, what the pitch is doing, what the bowlers are doing and what the match situation is.
You’ve got to be able to adjust and a few of the batters did that in the first innings but that second dig when nine wickets fell for just 48 runs it was like seeing two cars about to collide in a crash in slow mo – it just kept happening.
Travis Head opening for David Warner worked late on day two – he ended up with 43 off 46 and got out to a very good ball from Ravichandran Ashwin but if he was able to stay there another hour, we’d be looking at a run-a-ball hundred.
Usman Khawaja with his 81 and Peter Handscomb getting an unbeaten 72 showed the template of how to score. They didn’t play like Head, they played to their strengths – they trusted their defence and played a full face of the bat with soft hands.
Handscomb doesn’t sweep a lot, he tries to get down to the pitch of the ball or right back and was punching a lot through point there.
Uzzy has really worked on his sweeping and I wouldn’t say he overdoes it. In hindsight, I think he will learn from his second-innings lap sweep dismissal and simply hit the ball harder next time.
Matt Kuhnemann of Australia is bowled by Ravindra Jadeja of India. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
They deflected a lot and nudged, which a lot of the subcontinental batters do in their home conditions. They certainly knew that the longer they were out there it became easier even though it was never easy.
I think that 30-ball benchmark is generally what we talk about as the time you need to spend in the middle in India before you are even close to being settled in.
Way back in 2001, I remember playing a warm-up game and it looked like we were going to lose to Mumbai and I came in to bat as a tailender with Steve Waugh and he told me to trust my defence.
An off-spinner’s bowling, there’s four people around the bat and the last thing in my head was that I was going to trust my defence but although it was really hard, I battled through with him and around the 30-ball mark, a spinner tossed one up and I didn’t try and overhit it, just punched it through the covers and it went to the cover boundary.
It was seriously like a fog had disappeared in one shot.
When they’re around the bat, you feel like you want to get rid of them by playing a big shot to spread the field.
But what we saw on day three was the opposite – most of the batters played extravagant shots way too early in their innings.
At 1-65, I was thinking we’d be giving them up to 250 to chase and that would have been winnable.
They felt like they were getting caught on the crease in the first innings so they go 180 degrees the other way and sweep everything.
Six dismissals to sweeping and the CricViz analysis showed we swept 11% of the balls in India was 1% so for me that tells you it’s low percentage play.
It’s not trust, it’s panic. There’s always some sort of risk but with anything, you’ve got to have a calculated risk.
Out there it was a fight or flight situation and the Aussies didn’t stand up to be counted.
The Indian batters rubbed it in with their run-chase – they didn’t sweep, they just used their feet to get down the pitch, smother the spin and play the ball into the gaps with a few big hits thrown in.
Marnus Labuschagne has looked pretty comfortable and got a start in all four of his trips to the crease but we need him to go and get a big one because he’s the most settled of all the batters.
It’s a shame that Nathan Lyon’s efforts went to waste because he had ripped the game open with his bowling and set Australia up for a shot at victory. Todd Murphy outbowled him in the first Test but Lyon was back to his best and deserved more.
Matt Kuhnemann went OK in his debut but I don’t think they’ll keep him in the side for the third Test with Mitchell Starc coming back.
Cameron Green is a must-have at six because he brings balance as the all-rounder so he will replace Matt Renshaw, who looks a shot duck after his three knocks.
From what I’m hearing it doesn’t look like Warner’s going to be right for the next game so I’d be keeping Head at opener as the way to go with Handscomb up a spot to five.
Green and Starc being back will be a massive help to the tail because even though Pat Cummins chipped in with a handy 30 in the first innings, they’re not getting enough from the lower order and India are providing stubborn resistance after the main batters are out.
Marnus Labuschagne of Australia is bowled by Ravindra Jadeja of India. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Cummins should have brought himself on straight away when Axar Patel was batting on day two. At 7-139 we had India in real strife and Patel doesn’t like the short ball as much but by the time Cummins brought himself on, he was set and it was too late.
We thought there was a danger with a quick becoming captain that they would underbowl or overbowl themselves and Pat just needs to bowl more.
That partnership of 114 that Patel had with Ashwin changed the complexion of the match.
And Ashwin’s bowling partnership with Ravindra Jadeja needs to be recognised as one of the best in world cricket up there with James Anderson and Stuart Broad – their numbers together are insane.
As a bowling duo, they’re both accurate, get drift , use the angle and even when they get hit for four, they adjust on the run whether it’s a change to the field or going around the wicket.
They’re total opposites in many ways. Ashwin is tall right-armer who looks really intense, isn’t afraid to run out the batter at the bowler’s end whereas Jadeja, who the late, great Shane Warne called “the rock star” when he had him in the IPL is a really cool cat but just as effective.