The Melbourne Test

The Border Gavaskar Trophy, has reached the halfway stage. Cricket Australia designed the series in such a way that by the time the teams reach Melbourne, Australia would have won the series, India would have been humiliated, especially, after the drubbing at the hands of New Zealand, the media would have made a mincemeat of them and that the Tests at Melbourne and Sydney will be a piece of cake for Australia after India were mentally down and out. Towards that end, pitches at Perth and Brisbane were prepared with extra spice and Adelaide anyway, Australia will always reign supreme. Events did not transpire as Cricket Australia envisioned. The Melbourne Test is 3 days away and Australia have not won the series yet.

Border Gavaskar Trophy at this stage, is still with India. This Australia did not expect. Reports have emerged that Melbourne will carry more bounce than usual. Sydney will always aid spin, which will hel India. Not that they are good against spin but the bounce will be low to pose any serious threat by the fast bowlers. As a result, Australia are desperate to ensure that they win at Melbourne. Among the two teams, I think it is Australia who will be worried because not only they have not won the series yet, leave alone winning the series, they are not even leading before Melbourne, they know that with the low bounce on offer at Sydney, India may well escape with a draw.

Hence, the pressure on Australia is immense to win at Melbourne. Prior to the New Zealand India may have entertained thoughts of winning in Australia. After New Zealand, all those thoughts evaporated and it is India who will be much more satisfied because they are still in the series.

Bouncy pitch on offer

With a bouncy pitch expected at Melbourne, going against its characteristics, Indian batsmen will have to show that they are capable of scoring runs. With the exception of Rahul, no other Indian batsmen have shown the inclination to stay at the wicket and try to treat the ball on its merit. This includes Jaiswal, whose struggle at the top, especially against Starc, now borders on the ridiculous. Yes, he is on his first trip to Australia and has a brilliant 160 to boot but his illadvised and nonsensical comments about Starc and his bowling speed, has haunted him. He must be capable of backing up words with runs but he hasn’t. Worse still, Starc has got him on multiple occasions on this tour already.

Kohli and Rohit Sharma are beyond their best and are unlikely to make an impact in the final two Tests. Gill is another who has a highest score of only 36 outside of Asia in 4 years. It is only in India such batsmen are persisted with despite his prolonged non-performance. The bowling is still a one-horse show unless Siraj, Akash and Jadeja decides enough is enough and that they will support Bumrah by picking up wickets.

Having said that, I still think that the Indian dressing room will be happier of the two not only because they themselves will be surprised that they are still alive and more specifically, India have done extremely well in the last 3 Tests played at Melbourne. In 2014, the Test was drawn and India won the Tests in 2018 and 2020. Special mention must be made about the 2020 win because it was achieved on the back of the 36 allout humiliation. In a way, Melbourne has offered the team a comfort that no other Australian venue has.

The Australian perspective

As for Australia, they have lost the services of Hazlewood but will be bolstered by the arrival of Scott Boland. Boland has a tremendous record at Melbourne. The demolition of England a couple of years ago, is still fresh in the minds of those who watched that game. Melboune has suited Boland more than any other Australian venue. An unknown angel is more dangerous than a known devil. This is exactly what India is confronted with. They have seen Hazlewood and have played umpteen number of games against him but Boland is a bit of an unknown entity. Sure enough, there are lots of videos of his bowling but facing his bowling on the 22 yards is a different experience.

Travis Head is the only batsman on either side, to tower head and shoulders above everyone else. His dominating display at Adelaide and Brisbane demoralised the Indian bowlers. When he is batting, the Indian bowlers and the captain run out of ideas and just wait for him to make a mistake. Smith got a hundred but just like Kohli, it still does not feel like Smith is back to his best.

Everyone is waiting to see what Sam Konstas can do. The 19-year old has been pounding on the door with every Australian clamouring for his inclusion. Now that he has been and is sure to make his debut, we will see.

Wrapping up the Melbourne Test

This is a golden opportunity for India to win the 3^rd successive series in Australia. It would be a gigantic achievement if India could manage that. The fact that we have won the last couple of Tests at Melbourne and Sydney to follow, India could not have hoped for any better. They unexpectedly won the first Test and now have a chance to equal South Africa who are the only nation to have won three consecutive series in Australia in this millennium.

Australians will be under added pressure because Cummins has termed that the BGT is an important series for him to win because he has won everything else. If Indian batmen could somehow manage to put him under enormous pressure, either by way of denying wickets to him or by batting long, he is bound to crack. Starc is another who doesn’t like to bowl long spells if it doesn’t result in wickets. Lyon will have added role to play at Melbourne and at Sydney.