India vs Australia | Takeaways: Aaron Finch’s lack of temperament and Ravindra Jadeja’s overseas importance

Can Aaron Finch play Test cricket?

It was the first Boxing Day Test at the MCG in 40 years that didn't have Bill Lawry as the commentator and it is also the first Boxing Day Test where two local Victorian batsmen went out to open the innings, signalling a slow end of New South Wales’ dominance in Australian cricket. However, is it of worth for Australian cricket? Marcus Harris, of course, seems like an exciting prospect, but Aaron Finch seems to be doing nothing in the whites. See him come to the crease with that under-confident look and attempt those needless drives, you will see him being packed in a shell. And his dismissal today - caught at second slip while poking wide of his body - was as dreadful as it could get.

Before the second innings, Finch had been averaging just six runs per innings to balls at his stumps and Bumrah tried a bit thinking Finch would be so consumed by the straight ball that he would drop his guard to the wide one. The dismissal had little do with Bumrah’s ability but more about Finch’s dropping of the guard and the lack of patience to be at the top of his game in the five-day format. 

When live on air, Ed Cowan, today, said that Finch should be demoted down the order, it is worth remembering that he has a Sheffield Shield average of 31 which is very less to trust him as an anchor as well. If he gets a go-ahead for the Sydney Test, then it will be really surprising as Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns are waiting in the wings. While Renshaw’s slow and orthodox Test match approach was the reason behind his ouster, if Australia need anyone at this time, it is him. Against an Indian bowling line-up which is breathing fire, all that the team need is a strong-headed person at the top to play out the new ball which would have given a semblance of hope to other players in the middle-order.

MCG 2018 - Virat Kohli’s brilliant captaincy

Virat Kohli has been criticised enough for his defensive captaincy and the time has come for Kohli to demand some credit through his innovative leadership. While the way he used the bowlers in this Test was commendable, his planning was impeccable for every wicket. Yesterday, India took a clue from the way Pakistan set-up Finch in Dubai and dismissed him in the same way and applied the short ball pressure to get the better of Marcus Harris, and those were clear cases of immaculate planning.

They came up with something similar in the second session today. India's plans after lunch had been to attack the stumps with Ravindra Jadeja from one end and try to get outside edges through Mohammed Shami from the other end. When that didn’t work as Khawaja was staying sufficiently leg side of the ball and defending from very close to his body, Kohli moved into leg gully for Shami and asked him to angle them in at Khawaja. It worked almost immediately.

Shami is one of those gifted bowlers whose wrist position, the backspin he imparts on the ball, and the seam position are perfectly aligned in one direction so as to give the ball late movement in the air. Shami can make the ball move laterally after pitching too and always at his best when he is allowed to work on both edges. So, before Kohli moved to leg gully, Khawaja didn’t have any problem in sending the insides edges going around on the back, but after that, the added pressure got the better of him and he was dismissed.

From now on, Jadeja should get overseas preference

He reached the World No. 1 ranking last year and now, he is the only spinner in the top-five rankings for bowlers. It is by no means a small achievement. Ravindra Jadeja achieved them on the back some solid performance for India in home conditions, but always relegated down the pecking order when India play overseas. However, he did everything right when the opportunity comes along and never shied away from giving his all. From scoring that fighting half-century in Southampton to bowling his heart out in this Test, Jadeja has been a wonderful commodity for India. 

The lack of trust of the team management could be attributed to a number reasons, but majorly because both England and Australia have a fair number of left-hand batsmen and as conventional logic states Jadeja becomes a less potent threat. However, convention and perception don’t always hold true as he showed in this Test as Jadeja can use the rough exceedingly well. Given the fact sides are fielding more right-arm pace bowlers, a left-hand batsman should have more rough to contend with than the right-hand ones and Jadeja came at the top on that count. 

Today, he bowled a major share of the overs, while keeping the run rate down, making sure the fast bowlers remained fresh. Jadeja excels at in the Test format because he was relentless and doesn’t experiment like Ashwin. Experiments may give him some success in a match or two, but in the long run, you sometimes have to resort back to the normal things. To go with his relentlessness, Jadeja's fielding gives him an edge over Ashwin. If Sydney doesn’t provide a completely different look, then India may contemplate going with both, but Jadeja should get more opportunities.