With the second day of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series looking quite happy for the hosts, especially after all the Australian media rant about the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium being ‘doctored’ being decisively laid to rest by the Indian batters right from the time they began batting, the visitors were left with little to complain about.
Nagpur: With the second day of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series looking quite happy for the hosts, especially after all the Australian media rant about the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium being ‘doctored’ being decisively laid to rest by the Indian batters right from the time they began batting, the visitors were left with little to complain about. To be fair, the cricketers themselves had little to say, At the end of the day, India looked good left with a crucial 144-run lead with three first-inning wickets still intact.
Did the batter struggle? Largely, no. Rohit Sharma looked as good as he has done through his career against the Australian fast bowlers and spinners alike for the best part.
As for the rest, the issues with KL Rahul were more mental than technical, while Cheteshwar Pujara’s wicket was a soft dismissal. The plan for the sweep was there and he fell for it. As for the rest, surely a little better was expected of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav, but it is not a perfect world.
While Todd Murphy was good, or as good as any foreign spinner has been made to look on Indian tracks, the massive ‘threat’ to the left-handers that the Australians had imagined, was eventually shown to be exactly where it is – in their heads.
Speaking of heads, the Australian fans and media got one thing right – how on earth did Travis Head not play. Same thing, the devils in the mind, since Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel showed that even lower-order left-hander can flourish.
Jadeja, back into the Indian camp after a long hiatus, has already done enough to be top candidate for the Man of the Match crown, with two innings and a bit still to play.
With two days gone, Australia’s hopes of making repeated inroads into the Indian batting were only partially vindicated. The pitch played as well as Indian tracks do, but things will get that much more testing as the days progress, so any lead is like gold dust.
But the best thing still was the manner in which the Indian batters made the Australian claims of foul play look laughable. Even Jadeja’s finger and the ointment he used came up for discussion.
But that’s how it always is with big sides like Australia and England. They come with a plan, to eat into the rivals’ plans and mindset, bit by bit. That is frequently nowadays blows up in their faces is something that give unlimited joy to Indian supporters, so bring it on, this is entertainment unlimited.
