FULL SCORE CARD
Rahane, who will take over the leadership roles from Kohli after this test, drove a full Lyon delivery halfway through and called up his partner for the race. Kohli responded immediately, and by the time Hazlewood picked up the ball, the Indian captain was already halfway up the field, only to see Rahane rooted in panic, realizing there was no race in sight. As Australians would say, Kohli had just been “roasted”!
Rahane’s fundamental mistake defined India’s day and ended an extraordinarily controlled, unusually patient and very timely tackle by Kohli (74 of 180 balls, 8×4).
The captain was also unusually reserved in his reaction to such firing. Rahane raised a hand in apology, then arched skyward and grimaced. At the time, Kohli had hastily withdrawn from the process and with it had gone India’s chances of dominating the game in the early innings.
The hour of twilight had come, the pink ball it was only slightly uneven, the temperature plummeted and India lost two crucial wickets in the next 18 races. Rahane (42 of 92; 3×4, 1×6) never fully regained his composure and went four deliveries to the new ball, and Hanuma Vihari delivered a bare shot to Hazlewood on a fastball.
That India was able to pull out stumps on the first day of the first round at 233/6 was thanks not only to Kohli and Rahane but to the fearsome Cheteshwar Pujara, who chewed 160 balls and 218 minutes for his 43 and thwarted an impeccable bowling line. Australian. -above.
With pronounced rebounding, slow outfields, and Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins asking tough questions, the hitting wasn’t easy when Pujara faced off. Having understood that the rebound allowed him to leave long balls, he began to play a game of cat and … mouse with the pacemakers, finally falling to Lyon after an interesting battle in which he struggled to cope with the strong rebound of the spin.
The flip side of this approach was painfully slow running speed, two limits in the first 25 overs, and just 66 runs of 30 overs in the second session, as Kohli took a leaf out of Pujara’s book and avoided any risk entirely.
Perhaps their initial brush with misfortune had made them wary: Kohli might have come out on 16 off Lyon, if Paine had reviewed his own catch and discovered that the offside sharp break had tickled Kohli. Pujara could have come out for a duck and 2 if its edges had not died early.
The move to get in with Prithvi Shaw fell through when Starc pushed his second ball of the morning through the batter’s attractive batter gap. Shaw’s lack of confidence and form saw him late and off-balance on the incoming ball. The starter now has 5 ducks in his last 11 innings in all formats, leaving India with some serious ideas to do. Meanwhile, Agarwal was carried away by Cummins’ brilliance.
The softer pink ball made the run easier, but the Australian players were rigorous and tenacious. In the end, it was India that was filled with regret.
.
