Well, Australia were quite confident before they arrived in the country. It wasn’t any false sense of security but rather based on solid facts. They had a successful tour of Pakistan and Sri Lanka and they were utter dominant at home. The batsmen were amongst the runs and the bowlers ran rings around their opponents. Allan Border, the former captain, predicted a scoreline of 2-1 to Australia. Within the space of 3 days, their hopes have been dashed. Now, they are as vulnerable as they were on previous tours. Australian perspective of the first test.
Australia will have to blame their media. The first day of the much anticipated series between India and Australia, got underway at Nagpur. Prior to the start of the series, there were lot of chatter in the Australian media over the nature of the Nagpur pitch. No one knows how the pitch is going to behave but already allegations of cheating were hurled in the western media. The Nagpur pitch was under the scanner even before a ball is bowled.
Social media was abuzz with charges of pitch doctoring to suit the needs of India followed by rebuttal of those charges. One New Zealand newspaper has even got a headline as India’s ploy. The headline has been framed in such a way that India is about to defeat Australia in war and not a game. South African and English newspapers have carried headlines to similar effect.
However, what transpired over the 3 days, I think it will only be fair to blame the Australian media for the performance of their team.
Whenever a team visits the sub-continent, they will have to expect spinning pitches. Pakistan have been an exception. However, the pitches in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will turn though the degree of turn will vary.
Positives for Australia
It was without an iota of doubt, Todd Murphy. Before the series, no one would have expected Todd to play any part in the series. Swepson and Agar were ahead of the pack to partner Lyon. Having said that, Murphy leapfrogged everyone and the team management must be commended for an excellent selection. With 7 wickets in his very first game and that too with exemplary control over his craft, Todd Murphy has announced himself to the world. He is the heir apparent to Nathan Lyon whenever he decides to hang his shoes. What is more is that Murphy regularly plays in Big Bash and is quite adept with the white-ball too. Australia just may have found an all-format spinner. Victoria coach, Chris Rodgers, was all praise for Murphy or rather he was surprised with Murphy’s returns for the game.
“I don’t think anyone was imagining that. We all hoped he’d get two or three and just contribute and just control the scoreboard as well,” Rogers said on Tuesday.
“But to go and get seven-for, and it wasn’t just the fact he got seven, he got excellent batters out and he did control the scoreboard. He got a little bit of tap at the end, but apart from that, he was just outstanding.
The Indian batsmen never really got on top of Murphy. It says a lot about his control.
The positives, I couldn’t think of any other
The negatives for Australia
The continued poor form of David Warner. Australia set off to India on horses for courses policy. It explained the dropping of Head and Renshaw being included in his place. However, why aren’t they able to follow the same logic when it comes to Warner? He is a senior and has scored loads of runs albeit in favourable conditions but has been found wanting in Asia. Infact, in his diary, he seems to have noted “never again to subcontinent”. It clearly shows that he does not think that he can be a success in Asia. Ideally, Warner himself should have told the management that he is not willing to travel. That would have saved the management a lot of trouble and they could have picked an appropriate replacement.
Here he again did not trouble the scoreboard. Leave alone spin, he was all at sea against the medium pace of Shami. His cluttered mind got the better of him. Having elected to bat, Australia were soon in trouble having lost both their openers with spin not even introduced. Warner being the senior batsman, must have taken a lot of responsibility and perhaps, if he had played his natural game, probably he could have done better.
Nathan Lyon’s lack of bite
Lyon was the main threat before the series. He is still because the series is not yet over. The way the Indians handled Lyon made a big difference in the eventual outcome of the game. Lyon will certainly be disappointed. One end, he saw how Murphy bowled and how he was handled and at the other end, he remained virtually wicketless. However, he served a reminder for anyone who doubted his credentials with a beautifully flighted delivery to go through the defense of Surya Yadav. If India can conquer Lyon, that will decide the series.
Ofcourse, Cummins and Boland weren’t expected to do much and they didn’t do anything.
Smith and Marnus
Both of them showed that they are capable of handling spin and they were quite successful for a decent time. When they were together, Australia, if they weren’t rollicking, were going along at the steady pace. The wicket of Marnus paved the way for destruction. Having said that, both these batsmen were expected to score the bulk of the runs. Their failure directly affected Australia.
Renshaw & Handscomb
Honestly, I do not know the reason either of them played. Ofcourse, the injury to Green paved the way for Handscomb but why did Renshaw play ahead of Head? Afterall, Head would not have done any worse than Renshaw.
Wrapping up Australian perspective of the first test
Well, it is just one test. Australia can still bounce back in the series. They can motivate themselves by looking back at how India came back from an absolute hammering at Adelaide. However, it is easier said than done. Indians over the last 20 years have consciously tried to improve their game against the bouncing ball. The results in Australia and South Africa have shown that it is producing the results. Yes, they have lost the ability to play spin. The same cannot be said about Australia. A month before the series is not enough.
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