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TThe changes are not much more drastic than this. When Ajinkya Rahane led India to a series leveling victory against Australia in Melbourne, putting it 1-1 with two Tests to play, the tradeoffs had to count on at least the fingers of both hands.
It was not just the usual difficulty for any team to win test matches away from home. Start with the fact that it has been 10 days since India had been eliminated by 36 in Adelaide, a full test entry made with 23 overs on the inside. Through past tours in which much weaker Indian teams were completely outmatched in alien conditions, even against combinations like Lillee and Thompson or McGrath and Warne, none had suffered such indignity.
For people who dedicate their lives to being good at a specialized thing, such failure would be deflating and humiliating in ways that are difficult for the rest of us to understand. Think of a celebrity chef setting the studio on fire, live.
At that time, the captain must leave the course. Virat Kohli and his commanding silver beard, the man with 60 international hundreds, the guy who has made tons on each of his last three Australian tours, knocked out of the lineup. He was trading his teammates for a newborn baby, presumably thinking he was less likely to shit.
But it was not only that. When India won Australia two years ago, the first time an Indian team accomplished such a feat, it relied on the power of bowling. India brought a whole battery, an arsenal, the Schwarzenegger version of bowling that was outfitted on that beach in Commando. The height and swing of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami the ruthless precision, the mysterious trajectory of Jasprit Bumrah, with the bench depth of Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Five exceptional fast bowlers, ready to go.
This time, Bhuvneshwar was injured long before the tour. India flirted with Ishant being fit in time, but she wasn’t. Shami’s arm was broken when the final indignity of the 36 was not eliminated, then Umesh made a noise in his calf after three overs of the second inning in Melbourne. From the armory, Bumrah is the only gun that keeps firing, relying on Ravichandran Ashwin’s spin to accompany him.
Put all that together, and India will not have the right to compete in Melbourne. They should have been on track to fall 4-0, saved only by the weather. Instead, they produced one of the most marked reversals, a repudiation of the idea of momentum compared to the reality of skill.
The most interesting thing is that there was a lack of drama in the whole thing. No smoke bombs, lasers, all the Matrix cosplay. There was tension and intrigue, but this didn’t hinge on a gorilla barrage or a six blaze. Basically, there was a team that quietly outmaneuvered their opponent steadily over the course of three and a half days, until their victory went from probable to inevitable.
This was Kohli’s India remodeled during the week as Rahane’s India, transforming like a cartoon into the image of the new captain. Solid, sober and too good. It was Rahane who made the difference, influencing the game from day one. Australia winning the toss and the hitting should have deflated itself, usually a sentence of two days of bowling pain. But Rahane brought in a field of attack, applied the clamps and they left.
Australia struggled to score and the risk was always there. Rahane’s use of leg glide and leg gully brought the grounds of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, the two Australian bankers for racing. His offside cordon was active elsewhere. His use of Mohammed Siraj in his debut helped fire Cameron Green. Then on the second day, Rahane got to hit.
Before that day, the legendary off-roader Vinoo Mankad was the only Indian player with two tons of testing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. By the end of the day, Rahane had joined him, following his insane and fearless counterattack from Mitchell Johnson in 2014 with a much more measured effort against a bowling attack that worked in unison. For hours, Rahane resisted suffocation, then, on the latches against the second new ball, he broke free. His 112 led India to a 121 lead.
Once again, it was Rahane’s resource ordering in the second inning that kept Australia at 200, despite India missing an opening fast pitcher early in the show. Then on the final day, Rahane had to come in at 19 for two, a nervous moment even in a little 70 chase. It was the kind of contribution from a less celebrated player throughout the match that would have ever come from Rahul. Dravid. Think Adelaide 2003, Dravid had to score 72 unbeaten in the second inning to win the game after 233 in the first.
In his quiet wake his team arrived. Shubman Gill on debut, unafraid to play his shots as he opened the batting to make 45 and 35 not out. The inclusions of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, who were as vital in supporting Rahane’s century as he is in marking it. The shared bowling duties of Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja and Siraj.
Games aren’t supposed to end that quickly at the MCG. Teams are supposed to hit forever. India was supposed to be engulfed in the mud of the central porthole, each as flat and dull as the other. But lead curator Matt Page did his part in a wonderful tone, inhaling oxygen in what was once pure carbon dioxide, and India did her thing while wearing it. Reanimating something that seemed drained of life is a very special ability. Maybe Page and Rahane can exchange notes.
