India vs Australia | Takeaways: Australia’s deceptive bowling and Mitchell Starc’s reinvention
BCCI
Mohammed Shami’s first six-fer in Tests helped India bowl Australia out for 243 runs in the second innings, but the real star in the bowling was Jasprit Bumrah. While Indian batsmen failed to get going once again, Mitchell Starc’s “inswinging” reinvention brought some smile to Aussie faces.
How good was Jasprit Bumrah?
After what had happened in South Africa and England, it was all but sure that this was going to the battle between two fine pace-bowling attacks. Adelaide set the tone for it. All six of the quick bowlers had an impact on the match, with each picking up at least two wickets as 25 of the 40 wickets in the match fell to pacers.
After a blip in the first innings of this Test, Indian bowlers made a fine comeback in the second innings and although they bowled a higher percentage of deliveries on short of
Australia’s seamers were actually a fraction quicker than their Indian counterparts, but Bumrah’s accuracy to keep a nagging line meant he was able to exploit the cracks and the hard-rolled pitch made him a threat even though the ball was not showing any signs of movement. Australian batsmen, who are quite adept at fending the rising ball away, were all at sea by his variations. In the second session on day four, Bumrah once again opted for a short ball tactic to Tim Paine. Given Paine was dismissed by pulling and hooking in Adelaide, it was a legitimate tactic that reaped dividends through Mohammed Shami. The entire structure was built by Bumrah though.
Australia’s perfect execution of plans keeps them in good stead
A target of 287 on the fiery pitch was always going to be difficult for Indian batsmen. So much so that the result was almost a given when India gave an unnecessary 36 runs for the last wicket partnership between Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. It was going to be a fiery test for KL Rahul and to avoid the opening burst, the underconfident batsman needed to be more watchful.
However, Australia had already set up a plan. After pushing the first three balls across the off-stump, Starc got the fourth one to duck back in. Rahul wasn't sure whether to play or leave and that lack of assurance allowed him to drag the ball back onto the stumps via an inside edge. It was a perfect set-up and that is doing wonders against Rahul recently. Kohli also suffered the same fate as Nathan Lyon perfectly set him up even though the Indian skipper was set in the crease.
Lyon employed a silly mid-off for the Indian No. 4 which made the latter uncomfortable to advance down the track. So he had to bring in a slight change in technique when he padded from his crease in order to negate the
Mitchell Starc’s reinvention
Much of Mitchell Starc’s success was based on the simple formula of exploiting his terrific speed by bowling in an aggressive manner on the full-length. By pushing his length right up, he targets the stumps and as a result, he gets benefited from his pace and movement. While length is something that comes naturally to him, he seems to have lost control over his line since his last five-wicket haul in Tests against South Africa in Durban in March.
He bowled in the late 130s in Adelaide. When Australia took the new ball, he struggled to control the swing and drifted most full balls down leg. His failure to get the line right might have something to do with his run-up as he was leaning back a little bit more while being at the crease. However, he corrected that in the Perth Test.
Today, when he unleashed those inswingers to the right-handers, it became so difficult for the batsman to know whether to play or leave and with the game progressed he increased the number of
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