India vs Australia | Takeaways: The Bumrah factor and India’s wrong decision before second dig

12/28/2018

Jasprit Bumrah secured his third five-wicket haul in the year by securing the career-best figures of 6 for 33 as Australia were bowled out for 151. The Test, however, should be remembered for the way India planned the dismissals from the beginning and remained successful in getting them as well.

India come with a plan and execute it perfectly

The Dubai pitch on which Australia played Pakistan last month and the MCG one for the ongoing Boxing Day Test didn’t have a lot to differentiate from the very look of it, at least for the first couple of days. Both were docile and the bounce was not true at all. In Dubai, Australia handed the debut to Aaron Finch and this series is the first international assignment for another Victorian Marcus Harris. From India’s tactics in the first session today, it was quite evident that India had watched the videos of the Dubai Test carefully to devise their game-plan for this match.

In Dubai, Mohammed Abbas bowled a full ball which angled in and when Finch tried to drive hard on the up, he gave a low hard catch to the short mid-on near the pitch where Asad Shafiq was stationed. It was not the only over that Abbas had kept a fielder close, probably to tackle Finch’s propensity to play down the ground shots against the full balls. India, however, took a clue from that. Virat Kohli stationed a fielder close to his bowler - at the left of short mid-wicket - but Finch was no Warner. His temperament is never suited to red-ball cricket and he proved that by playing the Ishant Sharma full delivery on the stumps to the wide of mid-wicket and Mayank Agarwal took a swift catch to end Finch’s innings.

Cricviz's data analysis has something to say about it. Finch averages only 6.8 when the ball was on full and angled in, and due to the presence of seam movement, it made Finch unaware of his stance in the first place. He made a mistake of judging Ishant Sharma and fell prey to India’s carefully crafted plan. Similarly, for Marcus Harris, who got a couple of blows on his helmet in Melbourne and found some blows in the Perth Test, was extremely careful against short balls and went for hook shots as he was fearing to get hit on the body. It required him to stay patient and fend the balls away, but the inconsistent bounce did the trick for Harris. India remained successful in taking the openers down.

Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler in the world at the moment. Period.

It is not the airing of a random opinion rather a statement of a fact. Today he had almost everything that a pace bowler ever aspires to have. He had pace, swing, seam, yorkers, bouncers, and coupled them with brilliant variations to keep the batsmen guessing and sometimes, leaving them outfoxed completely. After Marcus Harris was forced into an expansive shot by him, he conjured Shaun Marsh with a slower ball to trap him in front, but the way he did it and the mechanics of it was the proof of why Bumrah is leading the way currently.

The first five deliveries of the same over were over 139kph and moved away from the left-hander, giving him the idea that it would be the same case on the last ball of the over, which was incidentally the last ball of the session as well. However, the sixth delivery was 34kph slower than the fifth that Marsh never anticipated. His control of lateral movement also played a major role as he was on the top of his wrist position, and subsequently the seam position, which helped him make a change in the last minute. The ball moved in an unexpected direction and to an unexpected degree to catch Marsh plumb in front.

Some days down the line, the day might not have been remembered for Bumrah, and Pat Cummins may take the biggest piece of cake of the day thanks to that fiery display in the last few minutes of the day, but if you look at all the six deliveries of Bumrah, you will be sure that was as good as fast bowling gets. Bumrah just proves that he is not just an unorthodox bowler, but intelligent one to be feared.

Why India’s decision of not enforcing the follow-on is wrong

Boxing Day 1985. How a close Indian cricket follower could not think of that Test each time Boxing Day comes along? It was one of India’s biggest chances to prevail on the Australian soil as the home team were going through a rough patch during that time. At the MCG, India had Australia on the mat at 127/6 and although Greg Matthews improved the total to 262, the visitors only needed 126 in 2 sessions to win the game. What a set-up it was! But then rain arrived and India squandered a big advantage as they made of declaring the innings late.

Cut to present. India scored 443 runs before declaring yesterday. It was a show that many have termed as a defensive way to play a Test match as Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara never tried to up the ante. However, the Indian bowlers did well to restrict the Aussies to a sub-par total, giving India a lead of 292 runs in the first innings. India had to bowl only a total of 67 overs, and by no means, they could have been tired.

The logic should have been to let Australia chase in the fourth innings instead of them doing it. But by asking their openers to make another dig immediately, they missed a trick because 60% rain has been forecasted for Saturday and Sunday. If it rains tomorrow and the game delays a bit, then Australia would try to play negative cricket and try to enforce a draw. On the other hand, India could have tried dismissing another couple of wickets by the end of the day and the fragile nature of the Australian batting line-up may get the second crack almost immediately. A chance missed? If the game interrupted by rain and game moves in Australia’s favour, then Virat Kohli won’t have anyone to blame but himself.