The expected Adelaide debacle 2

Shubman Gill is another who continues to frustrate. In close to 40 Tests, his average is less than 40. This is not the hallmark of a batsman who is touted as Kohli’s replacement. At Adelaide, he looked good but once again, he could not make either of the innings count. Australia where he announced his arrival as an international batsman of repute, is expected once again to launch Gill. Like Rohit, he is pleasing to the eye but what use it is does not translate into runs?

One man attack

If the state of the batsmen has been abysmal, the bowlers are not far off either. The bowling has become a one-man show. Bumrah needs to pick up wickets. Bumrah needs to stem the flow of runs and Bumrah needs to scare the opposition. What are the other bowlers doing? It was because of Bumrah, India won at Perth. He broke the top and middle order and the other bowlers mopped up the rest. Australia are extremely scared of Bumrah and that much is evident. They also know that if Bumrah is watchfully, kept out, the rest of the Indian bowling is harmless. This gives them tremendous confidence. Siraj and Harshit Rana are not only incapable of building on the gains but they are prolific too. It makes the job of Bumrah that much more harder.

The average speed of Harshit Rana is in the early 130s. If it is not combined with sufficient movement and seam, international batsmen will not be worried. Scott Boland bowls at this speed but his height and subtle movements is what makes him dangerous on Australian pitches. If Rana lacks these, why is he on the tour? He is young and built pretty well. He can learn on the job but on an important tour, when you have just three seamers with only one expected to take wickets, it is a luxury India cannot afford.

Siraj and his conduct

With Shami injured, the selectors may argue that they do not have much choice but whose fault was it to not groom a seamer, be it Rana or someone else? Rana must consider himself blessed to make his debut on those hard and bouncy Australian pitches. If he fails to make use of this opportunity, he can only blame himself.

To make matters worse, Siraj has been fined for his poor conduct. As Gavaskar rightly mentiond, Siraj’s outburst against Head was completely insane. Here was a batsman who had just scored 140 bludgeoning runs against whom you did not have any answer, you send him off with an expletive? By the time Head was dismissed Australia was in a commanding position. It is not new. Siraj has been doing this for a very longtime despite his dreadful record which makes him look all the more foolish. Perhaps, Siraj finally feels the heat upon himself but this is not the way to release the pressure. He must let his bowling answer the critics. Get wickets, run through sides, complement Bumrah.

Without any of these, the more he indulges in such behaviour, the more he looks ridiculous. He needs to learn from Bumrah who despite his phenomenal performances, goes about the business of making the batsmen uncomfortable without indulging in any histrionics. Yes, Bumrah does scream after he picks up a wicket but it is never directed at the batsman. Siraj does not differ from offering an advise or two even if he as much as beats the bat. Siraj averages below 3 wickets per Test which is unpardonable even for someone from Asia.

Head the tormentor

In this day and age, where every aspect of a cricketer is available for analysis, it is baffling to see that India have not been able to dislodge Head. He has hurt them in multiple formats. The hundred in the WTC Finals followed by the hundred in the ODI World Cup.

Yet, he continues to plunder runs against us. Head is a suspect against the short-ball but that aspect of his batting has not been consistently examined. If India entertain any thought of surprising Australia in this series, they will have to find a way to see the back of Head sooner rather than later. Any significant length of time he bats, he would have already batted Australia into a position of strength. One of Siraj or Rana or if included, Krishna or Akash Deep will have to become the Neil Wagner of this team. Consistently and predominantly bowl at the head of Head.

Wrapping up the expected Adelaide debacle 2

The series itself is being fought by two mediocre teams. Make no mistake about that. Both India and Australia lack quality in their ranks. The batsmen struggle on pitches that aid seamers and the bowlers, with the exception of Bumrah, struggle when there isn’t much assistance. It is confounding to learn that these are the top two teams in the world. It goes onto show how much the standards have fallen in international cricket. An overwhelming majority of the Indian supporters expected a 0-5 result. Having won at Perth, one can say that they have already exceeded expectations. However, looking at Australia, winning the series must be considered par for the course.