GUEST COLOUMN by former Australia cricketer, AFL player and now host of ‘The Athlete Diaries Podcast’, Guy Walker.
Guy has teamed up with Cricketnews.com to be a part of our coverage on the Border – Gavaskar Trophy, during India’s tour to Australia
India succumbed to a disappointing nine-wicket defeat on day three of the much anticipated first test between Australia and India, at Adelaide.
It was a game of cricket to remember – not so much for India who will look to put it past them, but Australia will be buoyed by the fact that they managed to get the mighty Indians out cheaply in the second innings.
Here are, in my view, the top take-away points from the game ahead of the second test.
India’s collapse for 36 runs in the second innings
I’ve already heard some of my Indian friends call this it as a moment in history “The Adelaide Collapse”.
Who would have thought a team led by Virat Kohli would be bowled out for 36 on one of the most beautiful batting wickets in Australia.
A balance of some incredible bowling and poor shots made for one of the most amazing days in test cricket I have ever witnessed.
As each amazing batsman came in, we all kept thinking he will recoup the batting.
I think from an Indian perspective the most disappointing dismissal of the innings was Virat. I can see where he was coming from, he’s an aggressive batsman that wants to put the pressure back onto the bowlers. But at 3 for nothing trying to smash one through the covers may not have been the shot his mates in the shed would have been hoping he’d play.
Australia’s fast bowlers were equally incredible
Yes, India didn’t bat well but you can’t take anything away from Australia’s bowlers. To be honest, if you look at most of the wickets the Indian batsman were just undone by some incredible bowling. Aside from Kohli most of the recognized batsman just copped some balls that would get anyone out.
This is the danger for India going forward.
You have 3 absolute world class bowlers that bowl 140km+ that swing or seam the ball and never bowl bad balls. How an earth can you get 300+ against a bowling attack like this?
I didn’t even mention the world’s best off spinner too. He’ll tie up an end, take wickets and give the fast bowlers a spell.
Don’t get me wrong I actually loved the aggression of the Indian fast bowlers, especially to Australia’s lower order. Australia’s attack are on another level though, it’s going to be interesting to see how India try to combat it.
Virat headed home!
I know most of you are absolutely gutted Virat Kohli is going home, so am I! I love the way he goes about it, the Aussies respect because he’s aggressive. They don’t often face that and his passion is great. He’s a huge loss but I actually think this gives Indian cricket a massive challenge that could actually be beneficial.
This gives a chance for Ajinkya Rahane to experience a test match as captain against the Aussies in a do or die series. I’d like to see him back himself in and be aggressive, back in your bowlers and batters. Have a crack and put the Aussies under pressure.
It also gives a chance to another batsman.
Most of all what I think it’ll be good for is the Indian batsman not being able to rely on King Kohli to get the job done. In most games they know that if all fails, they’ll probably still win as they have the king but now it adds more responsibility on their shoulders. Take the bull by the horns and be the man to score a hundred!
Australia’s batting
This is positive and negative for India. I personally think the Australian batsman were disappointing. If it wasn’t for Tim Paine – who actually looked better out of his skin. Best I’ve ever seen him bat.
Let’s start with Marnus Labuschagne. Great player, but I really do think he looked really ugly both innings. Dropped three times for 40 inn the first innings and a bizarre shot second innings. Steve Smith struggled as well and Ashwin bowled beautifully to both of them.
Why I say this is a positive and a negative for India is because Smith and Marnus haven’t got any runs and the Indian bowlers know they can get them out.
The negative for India is these two will be hungry as ever for runs. These two will work so hard to make sure they succeed in the next test and this will be closely watched by me. If the Indian bowlers can get them both cheaply in the first innings then it may shape that way for the rest of the series.
Moving to Australia’s openers is another topic. Joe Burns to me looks very suspect, yes, he got a few runs second innings but the game was dead.
I think Will Pucovski will slot straight in with Burns and Will is a star. I can’t wait to watch my little mate get out there!
Indians can target Burns and like I said before, target Smith and Marnus early!
The Prithvi Shaw situation
If you want to learn a few things about batting sit down and listen to Ricky Ponting analyse batting for a day, he is a master. He called Prithvi’s first innings dismissal to a tee.
Like majority of Indian batsman, they play with flair and their techniques are a lot different to us here in Australia.
Indian batsman uses their hands more and load up their swing by picking up their hands to get their bat near their head. Most of the Indian batsmen like Virat load up with their hands going straight behind them but Prithvi loads up with his hands going out towards point which makes his bat comes in from a different angle.
This opens him up to the one that either nips back or swings back. The exact way he got out both innings.
Prithvi is an incredible player, I played against him a few times and you could see how classy he is.
I think the Aussies have worked out his weakness. They would have had meetings and watched his dismissals. Unless he changes something, he’ll have his name written on another ball like in his first two innings.
You can’t have that big of a gap to 3 Australian fast bowlers that bowl 140+ and either swing it or seam it back in.
We will see if Prithvi can overcome his challenges and get his game back on track or will he be dropped to make way for Shubhman Gill.
What it’s also doing is exposing India’s top batsman too early. They came out at 2 for 20 in both innings with the ball still swinging and that is what they don’t want.