It’s a shame that on a day of high-quality test cricket, there is talk of a run-out and what followed in the next half hour more than persistent bowling in what were less than ideal conditions for the home team and the expert hit to counter them by about 80 overs.
The run-out, of course, could still have a decisive voice in the Test, but this was a day when the Indian batting engine room rolled up its sleeves, got dirty and made sure the team did not squander the advantage. winning the toss, regardless of the three terrains lost during 45 stump runs.
In the first over of the test, it was clear that it would be hard work for the Australian bowlers to take ground. A genuine advantage with the new ball was not carried to slipping. Not a single one would do it all day. However, it also soon became clear that scoring runs would be hard work, especially when over-toned straight deliveries were hitting directly in the middle or in the middle. It was a slow pitch with a strong rebound in which the margin for error was perhaps more for bowlers than batters, but again, the edges wouldn’t just carry away.
India likes to score fast, Australia likes to cut off hitters. It wasn’t happening either. So Australia changed their attack straighter and trusted Nathan Lyon more than they would have liked on the first day. In Lyon’s sights was his nemesis, Cheteshwar Pujara, who had reduced the champion to launching a plea for mercy of “Aren’t you bored yet?” on the last tour.
At the sight of Lyon, Pujara, his characteristic phlegmatic self until then, in 21 of 104, began to jump out of his fold. He’s not doing it out of arrogance, but out of the need not to allow Lyon to count on pitches that draw defensive shots forward. It is the most dangerous place to be when Lyon is bowling because it will keep hitting the bat joint and eventually get either edge. And while it may seem risky to some, Pujara can take a step towards spinners because it is a skill that has been honed over hundreds of hours of spinning. He steps back to judge the length and catch the ball throw or go off the line and push the pad in case of being hit in flight.
On the last tour, especially in the crucial first test, Lyon had failed a trick by failing to place a silly point or a silly half, allowing Pujara to keep pushing his pad or kicking the ball. Lyon had commented then that it was a fair plan against him, and now he needed to respond.
Lyon may not have been able to respond emphatically during that series, but here he had a plan: the silly mid-off. Now Pujara had two receivers to deal with if he went out. He even offered that mean fool a half chance earlier. Forced to play with his leg now, he got more inside edges than he usually has, but he kept backing away. In fact, he was ahead of 14 balls of the 35 he faced from Lyon. At 40%, this rate was significantly higher than its usual 17%.
Lyon kept bouncing, asking tough questions, but Pujara was not in control of just three of the 14 balls he got close to. More importantly, he was quick to cash in every time he forced Lyon to go short. Ultimately, Lyon was good enough to take out Pujara’s dreaded forward defense. One of those four dove deep enough to land out of reach and place the inner edge on the platform. Lyon only believes in bowling with the toughest breakouts that draw hitters forward and play with field locations a bit. “That’s what works in Australia,” he said last time.
Pujara spoke of Lyon with respect at the end of the day: “Only the revolutions that he achieves in each and every one of the balls, he likes to throw. He wants to throw as many overs as possible. That is another advantage he has. And his line and the length is really good, which I think has improved a lot. His revs are much better than four or five years ago. He likes to take up the challenge. He is someone who enjoys bowling. “
This is surely not the last time we’ve seen of this fascinating contest, but unfortunately, for cricket lovers, not the Kohli family, we are close to seeing the latest from a modern master for this tour. Virat Kohli seamlessly switched to test mode after months and months of limited hitting. He came in unprepared for match time, it wasn’t physically possible for him to play all of the limited overs cricket, then the warm-up game and then be completely intense for Tryouts, but you couldn’t say that. by the way he hit.
There was a time when Kohli’s response to the spell test used to be a counterattack. Now, however, Kohli is so confident in his game and confident in others that he knows the exact answer for different match situations. And like the No. 4 before him, Kohli is adept at neglecting shots or introducing uncharacteristic shots on the fly.
Kohli played just two coverage units at pace, presumably due to the strong rebound. Consequently, it also reduced defensive thrust from the outside, which meant they weren’t dragging it, aligning the lbw balls better. The trade-off was the strike rate – this was his second-slowest fifty in test cricket, but he’d done his best to eliminate the two layoffs teams often attempt against him.
To make up for a bit, he threw Lyon just the third ball he faced from roulette, a shot he hates to play in Trials so he doesn’t give the pitcher a chance. He also led Lyon against the turn even though he generally uses the traditional method of spinning in tests.
In that sense, this was a better inning than, say, Edgbaston, because here he really did take all the risk out, which was not the case in Birmingham, as was evident from the edges that did not come to hand and the sacks that were. fallen. On the other hand, there was less lateral movement to deal with here.
In the end, when he seemed ready to end the drought of the century, Kohli fell because he stood his ground. He likes quick singles to deny bowlers a prolonged try against a batter. Hours before, he saw Pujara deny him one of those singles. Then Ajinkya Rahane had to dive for another. Even during the run-out, Kohli did nothing wrong: he trusted his partner instead of looking at the ball and was fully committed to the run. It was just that Rahane had hit the ball too well and close to the fielder. It’s a mistake that happens every now and then, and it will probably happen more often if you trust these quick singles. The merits of such a strategy can be argued, but not of the rest of Kohli’s entries.
If this is the best we can see of Kohli in this series, he has already set the bar quite high.
Sidharth Monga is assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
.
