The G day one

An attendance of more than 80K for day 1 on of the Border Gavaskar Trophy at the G, is incredible. Boxing Day cricket has its own charm which has diminished after all these years. On the field, it was Australia’s day. They managed to cross 300 and have lost only 6 wickets with a well set Smith and Cummins at the wicket. Australia will hope to extend their innings whereas India will want to knock off the remaining wickets. The G day one, had its fair share of drama to with the suspect being the usual Virat Kohli. For the first time in this series, the top order of Australia performed in unison whereas for the Indian bowlers, there was a slight, only slight, respite for Bumrah.

The Kohli Konstas incident

Virat Kohli is one lucky cricketer. Despite his innumerable poor conduct on the field, he has somehow survived harsh punishment. This was one such incident where the fault lay squarely on Kohli. Based on the TV footage, it is clear that Kohli who was somewhere in the mid-off region, moved towards Konstas and barged straight into him. This was completely unacceptable. Konstas was within his region and was looking down when all of a sudden, he was confronted by Kohli. It was a needful aggression on the part of Kohli. Konstas is half the age of Kohli, yet Kohli found it worth the time to needle a teenager. If he hasn’t been playing for India, Kohli would have been banned multiple times. The behemoth that BCCI is, is what saving Kohli time and again. This must stop.

ICC rule states that Relevant here is another set of rules in ICC’s Code of Conduct (CoC). The article 2.12 of CoC reads:

“Any form of inappropriate physical contact is prohibited in cricket. Without limitation, players will breach this regulation if they deliberately, recklessly and/or negligently walk or run into or shoulder another player or umpire.”When assessing the seriousness of the breach, the following factors (without limitation) shall be taken into account: (i) the context of the particular situation, including, without limitation, whether the contact was deliberate (i.e. intentional), reckless, negligent, and/or avoidable; (ii) the force of the contact; (iii) any resulting injury to the person with whom contact was made; and (iv) the person with whom contact was made.”

Kohli has been fined 20% of the match fees and given one demerit point.

Kohli is clearly feeling the pressure of being useless for 5 years. He wants to remain relevant.

The extraordinary debut

Australia found Bumrah to tough to handle. They jettisoned McSweeny and summoned Konstas with the aim of upsetting the rhythm of Bumrah. They were rewarded rightaway with Konstas playing some outrageous shots on the first morning of his debut. Indians will be reminded of a certain Virender Sehwag, who some 20 years ago, laid into the Australia bowlers to the tune of 195 runs. Konstas could not carry on with his innings but messed with the lines of Bumrah. If Bumrah is taken care of, the rest of the Indian bowling is not that threatening. Some of the shots, the reverse flick-scoop, scoop were extraordinary. Ofcourse, he had his fair share of fortune when in the first over, he was beaten 4 times by Bumrah. He tried to counter that with reverse scoop but only connected thin-air.

Things turned on its head, when he managed to connect the reverse scoops thrice in the subsequent overs. The first spell of Bumrah went for 38 of just 6 overs. What Konstas’s innings did was, it did not expose Khawaja to Bumrah. He faced only 3 deliveries from Bumrah. Konstas followed that with moving to leg and hitting the fast bowlers through the covers. It looked good when it came off but those were high risk shots which he will be advised to put them in the backburner.

The unlucky Akash Deep

Siraj, one could not fathom the need to continue with him. I would have preferred Prasidh Krishna instead of Siraj. Prasidh is an unknown quantity. He may or may not have been influential but he would not have been as disastrous as Siraj who gives away close to 5 runs an over. Siraj comes across as someone who does not think while bowling. He is the second highest wicket taker for India in this series but most of those wickets have come when Australia were in a commanding position. His lack of any impact is the reason, Bumrah is overloaded.

The same cannot be said about Akash Deep. He induced 38 false shots before getting a wicket. At Brisbane, he induced 58 false shots but couldn’t get any. Perhaps, it is better if he shares the new-ball with Bumrah rather than Siraj.

Gill missing

The surprise of the morning was that Shubman Gill did not find a spot in the team. It is another matter that in a team of batting tards, dropping Gill will make any impact. Though I do not mind Gill not playing, given his highest score of 40 after the 91 at The Gabba 4 years ago, I would like to see similar yardstick applied to Rohit and especially, to Kohli.

Wrapping up the G day one

The rest of the day did not go that well for India. Australia are on the ascendancy. They have more than 300 with 4 wickets remaining. With the brittle Indian batting, that is always a daunting score. However, the pitch looks to be batting friendly. MCG offers the best batting condition on day 2. India must aim for a large enough total to entertain any thoughts of a win.