3 minute read

Blink and you missed it. 2020 has seen some abhorrent and weird things – Day 3 in Adelaide was a lovely exclamation point and perfect encapsulation of the year.

Can India rebound? Especially now that their leader, their genius, their hero has gone home!

AUSTRALIA V INDIA

Second Test

26 - 30 December 2020 @ MCG

'I got this feeling inside my bones - It goes electric, wavey when I turn it on'.

The Aussie bowlers were channelling their best JT when they walked out on the third day at the Adelaide Oval. Boy did they turn it on and sure had 'the feeling'.

Had you rocked up late to the ground or turned on your Radio/TV just a little after the start thinking I've got all day to settle in and relax, well that was like missing the jump in a 1000m race.

Timberlake also said, 'I can't take my eyes up off it, moving so phenomenally.' You don't often hear Test Cricket referred to in that manner (in the T20 era particularly) but how apt.

Momentum is a great thing in sport. Even with what appeared two evenly matched teams, that irrepressible flow of the game was more a tidal wave.

As Tim Paine entered the arena with India in some command and the prospect of chasing even 220 plus on a sporting deck, he would have had all his plans made around containment.

While the night-watchman was swallowed up quickly, they had the sight of a human wall in Pujara followed by a box-office star in Kohli. It would only take one partnership early around 50+ and the game takes another direction.

However the incredible consistency of line and length (and beyond 140 clicks too) made many a good player lose the grasp of their off stump.

Knicks became the norm. You usually associate unplayable bowling with searing bouncers or swerving yorkers. But the constant asking of a batsman's technique saw the outside edge taken with regularity. It was a conveyor belt.

Patrick Cummins has become such a talisman. He's the go to when times are tough. But his bounce and pressure belies his skill as well. He knows Kohli's real only weakness is when the ball is around that 5th/6th stump line. Flirting becomes more the norm.

Get on his pads and it disappears through mid-wicket with the speed of a mongoose strike. But the cobra struck this time as Cummins lured Virat into another of those free-hand drives and Cameron Green took a good but lucky snare.

Josh Hazlewood is far more metronomic. McGrath used that method for his 563 wickets. I'll put the ball in a dangerous place – now you deal with it as you see fit.

Hazlewood is a very decent comparison to his fellow NSW country hero. He's even a bit faster too which complicates matters for those with the willow.

When you toss in Starc's variation, Lyon's threat and ability to dry up an end plus the addition of Green as an allrounder for about 10 overs a day and even Labuschagne's leg spin, it becomes as treacherous a path for any batting line up to negotiate.

And yet remember with under an hour left on Day 1, India was 3-188 and Kohli with Rahane looked in control. A score of 300+ was a mere formality it seemed.

From that moment of shear madness from the vice-captain, India managed 16 more wickets for 92 runs in the rest of the match. How one moment can impact!

Through all this, the circumstances of the collapse fail to take into account the influence Tim Paine's knock had later on the second day.

In after Green's debut knock ended and then subsequently with a total at 7-111, he added another 80 vital runs with the tail. It was almost Steve Smith at Edgbaston-like – almost.

He played with more freedom than any other player in the game and that switch in the energy level was the flick that inspired. A late wicket on that day was followed by the mayhem. It could and should not be forgotten.

One of the issues that squeezed India was their lack of lefthandedness. Every batsman was a right hander and not only played into the great channel-bowling of the home team but also did not allow any free swinging of the bat to release the clamps.

You can see at least Rishabh Pant coming in – either as the keeper of simply as the batting replacement for Kohli. His tantalising stroke play and combative approach could be what they need.

India will also need to replace Mohammed Shami after his broken arm means he missed the rest of the matches. That is a shame for both him, naturally, and also the series as he's a very good bowler who didn't get the luck.

To the MCG where you'd love to see a similar pitch with something for everyone. Scores in the midrange (250 plus) make for far interesting contests than 550 plays 450.

Australia has their own conundrum. What happens with Joe Burns? For all the excitement of that day and his late flourish of 51no, there was still a degree of scepticism. Will his technique hold up through the series? He seems a team man but for how long will the selectors be able to ignore.

Is Warner an automatic recall, do they keep a winning team, would Pucovski have played otherwise? So many questions and longer term they remain unresolved in the eyes of many. Warner was rushed to Melbourne to avoid any Covid restrictions that could occur but that is now moot as he won't play.

It will take a remarkable effort by the tourists to recover from any psychological damage. On top of that you lose one of your linchpins with the ball and of course your stimulus and flair with the bat (and the captaincy too).

Tack on the hardly normal nature of the current cricketing bubble and they will do well to avoid capitulation.

India still has good players in Pujara, Rahane, Bumrah etc but they need to be superhuman now.

One person who'd love some time at the crease and hasn't found the extraordinary success in recent times is Steve Smith. He now heads to the MCG where he's played seven times. His average there is 113 with four hundreds. Seems a better than most chance of a few runs – just requires his back to stay supple.

There was no way India could 'stop the feeling' as the game moved at electric pace last time. Can they slow it down to halt what seems the possibility, nay inevitability, of a total annihilation.

Boxing Day itself will give as good, and immediate, an indication as you could want.