Australia digs its own grave as India finally ready to claim Down Under prize

However, the tide has changed massively in Aussie cricket after the Newlands scandal. From being the most dominant and offensively bold team force in the sport to being annihilated in the almost-familiar conditions in South Africa and then on the placid UAE pitches to Pakistan, it has been quite a downhill ride after Cricket Australia handed over the bans to Steve Smith - the modern-day Bradman, David Warner - Australia’s answer to Virender Sehwag in Test cricket, and well, Cameron Bancroft, a not-so-significant, but very important character in the present context. 

However, his form was on a downhill spiral and he was eventually dropped from the team halfway through the Test series against Pakistan but was almost certain to be in the starting XI for the Adelaide Test after he made an unbeaten 145 for Toombul in Brisbane. But his Sheffield Shield form was far less productive as he was dismissed for 3 and 0 against South Australia. But in the next match, he made a fine 89 against WA which speaks the volume of the fact that he can make a comeback to form and all he needs is a bit more confidence on him. 

Looking at the last Pakistan series, one thing is clear that the Australian batsmen don’t have the proper defensive technique and that resulted in them edging more often, but Renshaw is brilliant at it. He hardly ever loses his wicket while defending and loses his wicket in every 103 balls while defending at a time Test opening batsmen lose their wicket in 71.3 balls. 

The opposite holds true for Glenn Maxwell. The Victorian is a hard-hitter who swears by his strike rate rather than average. While there is no doubt to the fact that he is an erratic performer in the red-ball format of the game, it must not also be forgotten that last summer, he tallied 707 runs at 50.50 in the Shield cricket, including one innings of 278 runs against New South Wales. When he was dropped for the Pakistan series last time in UAE, coach Justin Langer stated that the lack of centuries was the reason for Maxwell’s non-selection. However, the fact is Maxwell’s contribution in the team is far more than just scoring big. 

As per Cricviz data analysis, Maxwell has played less false shot percentage and only seven players have batted with lower ‘risk’ proposition in the domestic first-class competition. However, of those players with a lower false shot percentage than the Victorian, none play more attacking shots than him. This is the nature that makes Maxwell stand out among the lot and it is only prudent to give him chance in the team that is made of straw and tissue paper, and hardly any spine. 

Instead of ousting Maxwell for the tour, Cricket Australia should have asked themselves the question where was the fault initially. The management first restricted him from signing an English county contract mid-year in 2017, saying he should instead prepare for Australia A’s tour to India in August and September. While that was a good way to keep him in the scheme of things, they eventually didn’t choose him for the tour of Pakistan, despite his proven credential of batting well on sub-continent wickets. Then, the selectors didn’t mind adding Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, and Marnus Labuschagne thanks to their performances on that A tour in Bangalore and sent Maxwell a clear-cut message, which I think they were not even aware of earlier.

Marcus Harris is definitely an inclusion Australia are excited about, especially after he scored 1,514 runs at 42.05 in the 2017-18 season and 437 at 87.40 in the first four Sheffield Shield rounds this season, including an unbeaten 250 against New South Wales, but he is way too erratic a  performer to be trusted upon. Contextually, he is partnering Finch at the top, one can rest assured about the stability of the openers now.

One might argue the same against India as well whose batting is no less than disappointing and especially the way they played spin bowling in Southampton and the struggle against English pacers is a story told so many times to be repeated once again. While the movement through the air and off the seam created regular problems for Indian batsmen - apart from Virat Kohli - in England, it will be the extra bounce in Australia that will be a factor. But this Indian team as proven in the last series in 2014-15, have always been better in playing authoritative horizontal bat shots and can cope with the testing extra bounce. The inclusion of Rohit Sharma again has made it even stronger and unless the team tries so hard to lose the series, they will escape through a 2-1 series win at least.