IND vs AUS | Takeaways - Australia trying to copy India and Zing bails’ reluctance to move out of groove

IND vs AUS | Takeaways - Australia trying to copy India and Zing bails’ reluctance to move out of groove

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India continued their winning momentum thanks to a mighty batting performance form the top-order and a worthy finish by the middle order to beat Australia by 36 runs. In the process, Australia also tried to copy the approach India adopt but the lack of firepower, in the beginning, failed them.

Australia adopt India’s approach 

It is not a secret why India are one of the most successful teams in the world. A strong top-order, a fine all-rounder and two world-class wrist spinner to go with arguably the world’s best pace bowler. However, it is their approach which belies the modern-day trend of going gung-ho from the outset and the process leaves many in shock. Well, it did at The Oval today. India started slow, not like the one against South Africa, but they adopted a slow and steady approach with Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan playing to their strengths and biceped the first 20 overs without any visible loss of intensity. 

With Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya, India set up the launchpad for a 350 score, almost in an unassuming manner. One of the most important things to consider in the innings that they hardly tried any unconventional thing even though Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc kept the short ball barrage going. The key was to attack the lesser accomplished bowlers, and they targeted that 20 overs by Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa, and Marcus Stoinis. Once that was accomplished, they focused on that one boundary per over and the odd extra one that came was actually the bonus. 

However, Australia, always a more attacking side up top, tried India’s approach, notably because they had the resources to pull that off. However, their waiting game cost them a lot as the odds were stacked heavily in India’s favour at the time and they failed to take off. A tough opening spell by the Indian pacers saw David Warner fizzle down and couldn't accelerate against the spin despite the increased attacking intent. With Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja not being the most attacking batsmen out there, it became evident that the chase was going nowhere. It failed in the end but Australia found an approach, and if they can build on that, that won’t betray them that often.

Steve Smith and the art of playing spin

For one year that Steve Smith was not in international cricket, one would’ve expected him to develop bad habits, majorly because he was playing a lot of T20 cricket in between. But when your name is Steve Smith, you can reverse any fantasy and come back with the same intensity as was the case a year ago. You could literally understand that from his innings today.

With Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal bringing in two entirely different aspects to the fore in the middle overs, he changed his stances accordingly - he either opened himself up or cut down his trigger movements to a huge extent at other times to keep the diabolical Kuldeep at bay. That made Virat Kohli sweat big-time as setting a fixed field became almost impossible with the former Australian skipper negotiating on both sides.

To go with that, Smith’s approach of going forward only when the ball is tossed up helped him as he used his wrists to open up the angle which helped him play through short mid-wicket. Although he couldn’t up the scoring rate the way Australia would’ve liked, it ended up validating his charismatic ability. More than anything, Australia would sleep well knowing that their hero is alright and can kick on from here.

Dear ICC, Don’t sacrifice cricket for technology

Yes, it is not new. In fact, this is the fifth time in this tournament that the zing bails stay put even when the ball hit the stumps with absolute ferocity. Think of those bowlers, who put all their energy to stream in and deliver the ball in the hope the red cherry would get the better of the batsman. What was the inspiration left if things keep on happening like this? 

On the very first ball of the second over, Bumrah bowled a short of a length delivery and Warner decided to hop across on the defensive push. As expected, Warner ended up having an inside edge and the ball rolled back onto the leg-stump and the bails didn’t move off the groove. Commentators were surprised but as has been the frequency of the event that no one was actually in the mood to discuss it. 

Sure enough, zing bails, flash stumps and the resultant camera angle that comes with it helps the broadcasters show the game in a more inclusive way but what about the cricketers then? Once or twice is fine but can cricket fall prey to such incidents time and time again? As a matter of fact, this is the 11th day of the World Cup, and we have seen bails not falling for the fifth time. 

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