Remarkable control from the Australian bowlers resulted in massive pressure being built up which led to a steady supply of wickets as India folded for 189 on the first day
The Report by Alagappan Muthu04-Mar-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:15
‘Surprised by the Bengaluru pitch’
First there was control, then panic and eventually wickets. Most of them went to Nathan Lyon, whose 8 for 50 was the best ever haul by a visiting bowler in India. He personified Australia’s ability to adapt to unfavourable conditions – which included a lost toss – and by the end of the day they had ransacked 10 wickets for 189 runs, put up a score of 40 for 0 themselves and did their chances of retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy no harm whatsoever.Most teams coming to the subcontinent will be aware they have to invest heavily in maintaining tight lines and lengths for pressure is as good as any help they might receive off the pitch to pick up wickets. The batsman starts to feel trapped, doubts begin to fester, he searches for release and…India know this template well. Yet they lost Cheteshwar Pujara on the stroke of lunch. Virat Kohli gave his wicket away – and then a review as well – by padding up to a straight ball. Were it not for KL Rahul’s 90 on his home ground in Bengaluru, they would have been in far worse shape. And that is saying something considering they were bundled out for under 200 for the third time in as many innings.Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were in prime form with the new ball. Six of the first 12 overs on Saturday were maidens, the result of their getting just enough movement in the air and off the pitch. Lyon was precise with his line and smart with his length. He got the ball to turn and bounce sharply on some occasions and on others he made it drift and go straight on. His biggest strike, though, was simply down to a set up.Kohli was new to the crease and only a few seconds ago had a good length ball jumped past his inside edge and hit his thigh pad. Something told the Indian captain he could trust the bounce here, that if he was playing on the back foot, the ball was unlikely to threaten his stumps. That made picking length very, very important. Lyon flattened his trajectory, Kohli left the ball, suckered into believing it was short, it thudded into his pad in front of middle stump and umpire Nigel Llong put his finger up. While the error in judgment can be forgiven, the gamble with DRS was less so for it was driven not by logic but hope, and even a little bit of fear at losing the best batsman in the team giving Australia the kind of momentum they would love.Watching all this from the other end was Rahul. His innings spanned 205 balls – the next best was a mere 66 – was a battle all through. He was struck on the glove as Starc peppered him with bouncers. He was often unsure against Hazlewood’s two-way movement. He could have been caught on 30 but even Peter Handscomb, whose agility is already becoming legend, was unable to hold on to a rather difficult chance low to his left at silly mid-off.Nathan Lyon’s 8 for 50 was the best figures by a visiting bowler in India•Associated Press
Rahul had the mettle to work past his troubles, to not buckle to pressure and go looking for that boundary that makes him feel better for but an instant. He had had enough of that in Pune. Normally a free-flowing batsman – evidenced by his striking the first ball of the match to the point boundary – he understood the importance of a big score and buckled down to get it. With time at the crease, his defensive game grew tighter but most of all, he was able to absorb all the pressure Australia piled up on him.The same could not be said of his team-mates. Ajinkya Rahane hurtled down the pitch against Lyon only for the straighter ball to beat his outside edge. He was so far past the crease that Matthew Wade even had time to recover from a fumble and pull off the stumping. The 17 runs he made marked the ninth time out of 10 innings that he has fallen for a score under 30. Karun Nair, who was brought in to lengthen the batting line-up, playing for the first time since his 303 not out in December, committed the same mistake against O’Keefe and this time the ball turned sharply to leave him stumped too.Against the vagaries of the M Chinnaswamy strip – hosting a Test for the first time since large-scale renovations of the outfield – and the discipline of the Australian bowlers, it was difficult not to imagine India as those kids waiting for Mum and Dad to slack off so they can raid the sweets in the pantry. But by the end of the day, with no hope of their craving being satisfied, they could only fold their hands over their chest and go “this sucks”.By tea, Australia’s GOAT had gutted India’s middle order and sent back their big three. The first of his wickets was a major turning point. He had a set Pujara caught at short leg off what became the very last ball before lunch and a 61-run second wicket partnership was broken.Against a bowler in such rhythm, the lower order folded quickly. R Ashwin was undone by a spitting cobra. Wriddhiman Saha edged one that didn’t turn as much as he thought. Ravindra Jadeja inside edged a catch off the pad to slip – which was only confirmed when Smith made fine use of the review available to him. Even there, Australia were thumping India. And it all tied in to Lyon’s skill. A newfound skill.In the early part of his career, he couldn’t figure out how to bowl on turners. He would either be too slow and too full and get driven a lot, or too quick and too short leading to outcomes a lot worse. Here all of his wickets came off the 5 to 6m mark. For a batsman, that meant even if he came forward, he couldn’t reach the pitch of the ball. To then make connection, he has to push his hands out in front and that compromises his balance. Playing back is a risk too because Lyon’s overspin generates awkward bounce.Against that, the extra batsman was of little use. M Vijay, however, was not among of the XI having injured his left shoulder in the 333-run defeat in Pune and in his place came Tamil Nadu team-mate Abhinav Mukund. The 27-year old was representing India for the first time in over five years and his team was using their eighth opening pair in the last 12 months. He got an eight-ball duck, the partnership yielded only 11 runs, the position is clearly cursed, it time to call Scooby Doo yet?