India made a stunning comeback in the Bengaluru test to level the series 1-1. The thrilling final day at Bengaluru has left the cricket lovers gushing for more! All the events - wickets, runs, swing, seam, spin, DRS reviews, momentum swings; everything seemed to be happening in fast-forward mode. Almost as if, Day 4 was a microcosm of the three previous days. So the long gap between the Bengaluru and Ranchi tests was welcome. Everybody, including the fans, needed to catch some breath after that breathtaking match.
The JSCA International Stadium at Ranchi is set to make its debut as India's 26th test center. The average first innings total in the two Ranji matches held earlier this season is 140. Progressively the pitch became better for batting in those games. Also, it has been known to assist both the seamers as well as spinners. As per media reports, the pitch for the upcoming test match has an unusual dark color about it and experts believe that it won't bounce a lot. The dark color of the pitch may be on account of moisture which would mean that spinners relying on overspin (like Lyon) may extract some bounce on the first couple of days. The moisture in the pitch should also help bowlers who can extract seam movement. The pitch should become better for batting on Day 2 and Day 3.
Reliving the Thrilling Day 4
The day started with the match in balance. India started off cautiously - only 11 runs came off the first 8 overs. There were a few nervy moments for India - both against Pujara. First, when he a popped up a Steve O'Keefe delivery to forward short leg, where the usually brilliant Handscomb could only catch this one on a half-volley. And then again in the next over, when Lyon trapped Pujara LBW through a viciously spinning delivery which kept low, only to be overturned by DRS. The ball-tracker confirmed that the ball was spinning down the leg side. These anxious moments aside, the first 45 minutes of the day were calm & serene. This, however, turned out to be the calm before the storm. Australia took the new ball immediately after the 80th over. And this decision turned the match in Australia's favour. Mitch Starc, bowling fast & full, swinging the new ball into the right-handers, created havoc and within a space of 3 balls, had the well-set Rahane LBW, castled the in-form Nair and nearly got Saha too. In the very next over, Hazlewood got Pujara and Ashwin in quick succession. Pujara could not get to a well-deserved 100, falling in the nineties for the first time in his career. In his next over, Hazlewood got Umesh Yadav and this left India tottering at 258-9. Ultimately, Saha and Ishant got 16 more runs before O'Keefe got Ishant. India were all out for 274, losing the last 6 wickets for 36 runs, thereby setting Australia a target of 188. This was an in-between kind of a target; neither the 225+ that would have made India the firm favorites (esp. given the position they were in at the start of Day 4) nor the kind of total that Australia could've just cantered through.
The Aussies started their chase in a brisk manner, probably aware that the new ball was the best time to pick up quick runs. Ashwin started off very well, repeatedly troubling the shorter man, Warner. On the other hand, Ishant got the Aussie bedrock, Renshaw, pretty early. It was a very good ball - bowled from round the wicket, angled in, bounced & seamed away, taking the glove on its way to Saha. Despite this early hiccup and a few other nervy moments, Australia had galloped to 42-1 after 9 overs, a run rate of 4.67 (far ahead of the run-rates achieved in the previous three innings of the match). This is when disaster struck for Australia. Ashwin, who was bowling from over the wicket to Warner and was hit for a 6 off the last ball of his previous over, switched to round the wicket and on the very first ball, Warner tried to sweep a flighted off-break and was wrapped on his pads. The umpire gave it out and after a surprising moment of hesitation, Warner went for the DRS. The ball tracker showed that the ball barely hit Warner in the line of off-stump (in fact, to the naked eye, it appeared that the ball had hit him outside the line) - this was adjudged as umpire's call. Further, the ball seemed to be hitting the outside of off-stump - again adjudged as umpire's call. Given the evidence, DRS had to agree with the on-field umpire's decision but it was a highly contentious decision and one that would have a lasting impact on the outcome of the match. Smith and Shaun Marsh continued the steady flow of runs and took Australia to 67-2 when a slew of serious errors in judgement rocked the Aussie boat again. Firstly, Shaun Marsh shouldered arms & was wrapped on his pads to a Umesh Yadav delivery from round the stumps. Then, the umpire Nigel Llong, adjudged him LBW when the ball was clearly going to miss the stumps. Shockingly, Smith and Marsh decided not to review the decision! That decision of not reviewing was probably based on the fact that they had just lost a review (Warner) and did not want to risk a scenario where they would be left with no reviews for 65 overs. India of course, did not mind these dollops of luck but were very much aware of the danger that Smith posed. He was expertly handling the spinners and was keeping out the grubbers delivered by Indian seamers. However, in the 21st over, another grubber from Umesh proved one too many for Smith and he was hit plumb in front of his stumps. Surprisingly, this time, Smith was rather keen on reviewing and even looked up to his dressing room for help with DRS. This was a clear breach of rules and the umpires intervened, sending Smith on his way. Even Kohli had a thing or two to say to his Aussie counterpart. This was the final nail in the coffin for Australia, and despite Handscomb and Mitch Marsh putting up a brief resistance, a rampaging Ashwin proved too much for the lower-middle order. Very much like their opponents, Australia lost the last 6 wickets for 38 runs with Ashwin picking up 5 of them. He roared back into form with a match-winning spell of 6-41 in the 2nd innings while KL Rahul, for his twin-fifties in a low scoring affair, was adjudged the Man of the Match. India won the match by 75 runs and leveled the series in emphatic fashion.
The much-dreaded thunderstorms arrived in the evening but thankfully, the match was over by then. It would've been cruel if rains were to decide the outcome of such a thrilling match.
The Decision Review System has added spice to the ongoing series. It's not just those decisions which were reviewed, but even those that could've been reviewed but weren't, that added to the drama. By common consensus, India were pretty ordinary with their usage of DRS in the first test. While fielding, in both their innings, they wasted their reviews within the first 40 overs. While batting in the 2nd innings, they wasted their reviews within the first 6 overs! None of the wasted reviews were even close to overturning the umpire's decision. On the other hand, Australia were very judicious with their usage of review system, never reviewing those where they had some doubt, and they ended up with multiple successful reviews throughout the match.
India's first innings at Bengaluru seemed to be a continuation of Pune when Kohli left a relatively straight & fuller delivery from Lyon and was trapped plumb in front. If the leave wasn't shocking enough, he decided to outmatch that with a shocking review! In Australia's first innings, India missed a trick by, ironically, not going for a review against Shaun Marsh when he gloved a Umesh Yadav delivery to Saha. He was on 14 at that time and went on to make a crucial 66. In between, Marsh went for a great review when adjudged LBW to Yadav and managed to get the decision overturned. India meanwhile continued with the trend of "hopeful" reviews and were out of their 2nd set of reviews (granted after the 80th over) by the 94th over!
Things however, began changing in India's 2nd innings. Kohli reviewed what looked like a genuine 50-50 LBW call and was probably unlucky that there was no conclusive evidence proving whether the ball hit the bat first or the pad. Even Pujara got an LBW call overturned. The Aussies, meanwhile, continued to be judicious with their use of DRS.
The review system left a significant impact on the match in Australia's 2nd innings. First, the Warner dismissal was clearly a contentious call where the benefit of doubt should have gone in favour of the batsman. Then, Shaun Marsh not reviewing a howler was clearly influenced by the Warner review. Lastly, the Smith episode where he, after being adjudged LBW, looked up his dressing room for advice on whether or not to go for the review, caused a lot of bad blood between the two teams. Smith insisted "brain-fade", Kohli alleged ongoing tactic and ultimately, the two cricket boards had to intervene and call a truce.
The Aussies started their chase in a brisk manner, probably aware that the new ball was the best time to pick up quick runs. Ashwin started off very well, repeatedly troubling the shorter man, Warner. On the other hand, Ishant got the Aussie bedrock, Renshaw, pretty early. It was a very good ball - bowled from round the wicket, angled in, bounced & seamed away, taking the glove on its way to Saha. Despite this early hiccup and a few other nervy moments, Australia had galloped to 42-1 after 9 overs, a run rate of 4.67 (far ahead of the run-rates achieved in the previous three innings of the match). This is when disaster struck for Australia. Ashwin, who was bowling from over the wicket to Warner and was hit for a 6 off the last ball of his previous over, switched to round the wicket and on the very first ball, Warner tried to sweep a flighted off-break and was wrapped on his pads. The umpire gave it out and after a surprising moment of hesitation, Warner went for the DRS. The ball tracker showed that the ball barely hit Warner in the line of off-stump (in fact, to the naked eye, it appeared that the ball had hit him outside the line) - this was adjudged as umpire's call. Further, the ball seemed to be hitting the outside of off-stump - again adjudged as umpire's call. Given the evidence, DRS had to agree with the on-field umpire's decision but it was a highly contentious decision and one that would have a lasting impact on the outcome of the match. Smith and Shaun Marsh continued the steady flow of runs and took Australia to 67-2 when a slew of serious errors in judgement rocked the Aussie boat again. Firstly, Shaun Marsh shouldered arms & was wrapped on his pads to a Umesh Yadav delivery from round the stumps. Then, the umpire Nigel Llong, adjudged him LBW when the ball was clearly going to miss the stumps. Shockingly, Smith and Marsh decided not to review the decision! That decision of not reviewing was probably based on the fact that they had just lost a review (Warner) and did not want to risk a scenario where they would be left with no reviews for 65 overs. India of course, did not mind these dollops of luck but were very much aware of the danger that Smith posed. He was expertly handling the spinners and was keeping out the grubbers delivered by Indian seamers. However, in the 21st over, another grubber from Umesh proved one too many for Smith and he was hit plumb in front of his stumps. Surprisingly, this time, Smith was rather keen on reviewing and even looked up to his dressing room for help with DRS. This was a clear breach of rules and the umpires intervened, sending Smith on his way. Even Kohli had a thing or two to say to his Aussie counterpart. This was the final nail in the coffin for Australia, and despite Handscomb and Mitch Marsh putting up a brief resistance, a rampaging Ashwin proved too much for the lower-middle order. Very much like their opponents, Australia lost the last 6 wickets for 38 runs with Ashwin picking up 5 of them. He roared back into form with a match-winning spell of 6-41 in the 2nd innings while KL Rahul, for his twin-fifties in a low scoring affair, was adjudged the Man of the Match. India won the match by 75 runs and leveled the series in emphatic fashion.
The much-dreaded thunderstorms arrived in the evening but thankfully, the match was over by then. It would've been cruel if rains were to decide the outcome of such a thrilling match.
Key themes in this series
Pitches
While it's fair to say that the pitches have been spinner friendly (spinners have taken 57 of the 80 wickets to fall in the series), the fast bowlers have also had an impact, esp. in the Bengaluru test where they accounted for 14 out of the 40 wickets that fell. Pune served up a rank-turner with the pitch crumbling on day 1 itself thereby offering vicious turn & bounce. On such a pitch, quick left-arm orthodox spinners became more dangerous and both the captains relied more on spin vis-a-vis pace. The Bengaluru pitch on the other hand offered variable bounce (more on the lower side) which brought the fast bowlers into play as well as slow turn which forced the spinners to rely more on variations in flight & uneven bounce. The charts below bear this out.
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| Data source: ESPNcricinfo.com |
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| Data source: ESPNcricinfo.com |
Starc, the batsman, as crucial as Starc, the bowler
As Australia's premier strike bowler, Mitch Starc has bowled at high pace throughout the series. He's got the ball to swing into the right-handers from over the wicket, got it to rear up from a good length and has gone round the wicket in search of reverse swing. Even though he's picked up only 5 wickets, each of those have been top order batsmen. Equally impressive has been his performance with the bat. He's amongst the top 5 run getters having out-scored both Warner and Kohli. In fact, he's accounted for 54% of the runs scored by the last 5 Australian batsmen across all innings (118 runs out of 217). In a series punctuated with low scores, where no team has crossed 300 and teams have not been able to cross 125 on three separate occasions, Starc's contribution with the bat has had a major impact. His absence for the remainder of the series, therefore, will be a massive blow to the Aussies.
Top order thrives, middle order flops
From both sides, an opener and the no. 3 batsman has thrived. KL Rahul has been India's star performer with the bat, and with 215 runs, is the highest run getter on either side. He, alongwith Pujara, has ensured that, even though India has not got off to solid starts during the series, it has made a comeback as a batting unit. On the other hand, Aussies have been assured of a solid start mainly due to the increasingly dependable Renshaw and the captain-prolific, Steve Smith. These four batsmen occupy the top four positions in the batting charts. On the other hand, the failure of David Warner and Virat Kohli has been most surprising. Neither of them has totaled even 100 runs in the series. While Warner has got starts in 3 out of 4 innings, he has generally struggled against Ashwin and hence, has not been able to convert them into big scores. Kohli, on the other hand, has misjudged either the line of the ball or the movement off the pitch on three occasions, and this has resulted in cheap dismissals. All in all, the middle and lower order has undone the good work of the top order.
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| Data source: ESPNcricinfo.com |
Aussie spinners outbowled the Indians; Umesh stands out amongst quicks
In their first three innings, the Indian batsmen were dominated by the Australian spinners. They kept the runs down and picked up 26 out of the 30 wickets. The impact was such that India could only stitch together two 50-run partnerships across these 3 innings. On the other hand, Ashwin, Jadeja and Jayant Yadav were less impactful in the first test match and couldn't run through the Australian batting line up. This allowed the Aussies to stitch together four 50-run partnerships in the first test itself. However, first Jadeja and then Ashwin began pulling things back in the 2nd test. They matched the Aussie spinners in the first innings of the 2nd test match and then finally, outbowled them in the 2nd innings with Ashwin leading the way.
In the pace bowling department, while both Starc and Hazlewood have had their moments, Umesh Yadav has been the standout quick bowler from either side. He picked up 6 wickets in the Pune test and 3 top order batsmen in the Bengaluru test. Umesh has been quick, economical and has consistently generated pace & movement.
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| Data source: ESPNcricinfo.com |
DRS usage & impact
India's first innings at Bengaluru seemed to be a continuation of Pune when Kohli left a relatively straight & fuller delivery from Lyon and was trapped plumb in front. If the leave wasn't shocking enough, he decided to outmatch that with a shocking review! In Australia's first innings, India missed a trick by, ironically, not going for a review against Shaun Marsh when he gloved a Umesh Yadav delivery to Saha. He was on 14 at that time and went on to make a crucial 66. In between, Marsh went for a great review when adjudged LBW to Yadav and managed to get the decision overturned. India meanwhile continued with the trend of "hopeful" reviews and were out of their 2nd set of reviews (granted after the 80th over) by the 94th over!
Things however, began changing in India's 2nd innings. Kohli reviewed what looked like a genuine 50-50 LBW call and was probably unlucky that there was no conclusive evidence proving whether the ball hit the bat first or the pad. Even Pujara got an LBW call overturned. The Aussies, meanwhile, continued to be judicious with their use of DRS.
The review system left a significant impact on the match in Australia's 2nd innings. First, the Warner dismissal was clearly a contentious call where the benefit of doubt should have gone in favour of the batsman. Then, Shaun Marsh not reviewing a howler was clearly influenced by the Warner review. Lastly, the Smith episode where he, after being adjudged LBW, looked up his dressing room for advice on whether or not to go for the review, caused a lot of bad blood between the two teams. Smith insisted "brain-fade", Kohli alleged ongoing tactic and ultimately, the two cricket boards had to intervene and call a truce.
Leading up to the Ranchi test
Pitch
Team compositions
Mitch Starc's injury will be a big blow for the Aussies. Another Mitch (Marsh) has also been ruled out due to injury and that means Australia will be forced to make at least two changes. They've flown in Pat Cummins as a replacement for Starc and he's likely been rushed in to enable a like-for-like replacement (strike bowler to be used in short bursts). However, I won't be surprised if Australia opt for Jackson Bird. Also, I expect them to bring in Marcus Stoinis to replace Mitch Marsh.
For India, M Vijay should make a comeback as an opener. It's unlikely that they'll drop Karun Nair and bring in Jayant Yadav.
With the series now in balance and with both teams now aware of each other's strategies, this should be another engrossing affair. Australia can retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy if they win here. Kohli & co. would be eager to prove that Pune was an aberration. Let's Play!
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