Team India short changed by Rohit, Kohli and senior bowlers in Adelaide humbling

It took under seven sessions for Australia to burst the Indian bubble. The seeds that had been sowed on Friday’s opening day germinated on Sunday afternoon in the form a series-levelling ten-wicket victory , reopening old wounds as India’s unsuccessful tryst with day-night Tests in Adelaide extended to a second consecutive match.

Rohit Sharma was quick to refute suggestions that this defeat will open up ‘scars’ going into next week’s third game in Brisbane. ‘Scars’ is a strong word and this is just one defeat when seen in isolation but four in the last five Tests if one takes the New Zealand series at home too into consideration. But the argument that this result therefore proves that the Perth victory a fortnight back was an aberration doesn’t hold too much water.

Much like how everything that could go wrong for Australia did so at the Optus Stadium, the boot was on the other foot at the Adelaide Oval. Beyond the toss, which could have been decisive had India made better use of that advantage, nothing worked for the Indians, there was little of substance from them as a unit. The batting was a letdown in both innings and the bowling especially disappointing on the first night when Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj had a brand-new pink cherry at their disposal.

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As hard as the two pros tried on the second day, the damage had already been done. Travis Head then tore into the flagging, tiring attack with gusto to all but settle the issue. Australia’s 157-run lead was substantial, nearly adequate to force an innings loss. India now have two additional days to reflect on this loss before they return to Gabba and the scene of one of their most famous Test victories, in January 2021 with everything to play for.

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India did everything right in Perth despite being bowled out for 150, Bumrah playing the lead role with the ball. Here, 180 was decidedly below par. Rohit said he felt his team was about 30 or 40 runs short in the first innings when maybe 95 to 100 might have been a more accurate number. With 275 on the board, India could have attacked a little more and Rohit would have been spared the delicate balance between looking for wickets and keeping the deficit to a minimum. That wasn’t to be, not after India lost three for 12 in the first session of the match after having offset the first-ball dismissal of Yashasvi Jaiswal through a 69-run stand between KL Rahul and Shubman Gill.

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India’s batters were culpable of making similar mistakes at various stages of the match, with lapses in concentration accounting for Gill in both innings and a decided fallibility outside off accounting for Virat Kohli twice in the game. Of all the top-order batters, Gill looked the most assured, playing close to his body and meeting the ball under his eyes. He handled movement too quite well but was undone by fullish deliveries, closing the bat face and perishing leg before and bowled in the two digs. He did show promising signs, however, and that’s something India will take heart from in a game where, Nitish Kumar Reddy excepted, they had no basis for encouragement from a batting standpoint.

Rohit and Kohli’s form remains a concern

Kohli’s sustained vulnerability in the corridor must be worrisome. The second-innings hundred in Perth suggested that he had found a way to keep his desire to feel for the ball early in his innings under check, but that proved a false dawn. The former skipper hit the nets on Sunday afternoon even as India’s lower order tried to delay the inevitable, but with him, it now seems more of a mental rather than a technical issue. His famed discipline of yore must necessarily make a reappearance if Kohli is to continue to enthrall Australia like he has done in the past.

Equally of concern is the form of the captain. Rohit has been dismissed for single-figure scores eight times in his last 12 innings, and efforts of 3 and 6 on his return to the middle order after six years are hardly what he would have had in mind. While it is true that he got very good deliveries in the two innings, from Scott Boland in the first and his counterpart Pat Cummins in the second, Rohit will feel he should have done more with his footwork, at least in the first innings. To his credit, the skipper refused to use the unfamiliar pink ball as the reason for his or his team’s failures, but Rohit will be acutely aware more than most that his credit points are gradually running out and he needs to make a meaningful contribution sooner rather than later.

Pacers fail to recreate Perth magic in Adelaide

Bumrah and Siraj can be excused for one ordinary spell each with the ball, though that ordinariness had a big say in how the Test unfolded. In Perth, India defended 150 with tigerish zeal, attacking the stumps, pitching the ball up and reaping rewards. Here, they didn’t make Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne play enough straightaway, and even though the two quicks made amends with four-wicket hauls each, lack of support from the raw Harshit Rana meant the pressure on the batters eased when they were both off the attack, unlike in Australia’s case where Boland, coming in for the injured Josh Hazlewood, held his own and even out-bowled Cummins at various stages in the first innings.

And while it might appear to be a moot point, R Ashwin didn’t exactly cover himself in glory on the third afternoon. Brought in for Washington Sundar because of his indisputably more storied wicket-taking abilities, circumstances didn’t allow him to attack enough with the ball. But as one of the most senior players in the side, he had a great chance to show spunk and spirit with the bat in the second innings. Ashwin has six Test hundreds, the last of which came less than three months back in Chennai. Nitish was looking a million dollars at the other end and Ashwin could have at least attempted to engage him in a stand of some import.

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Instead, he twice tried to pull Cummins and narrowly failed to make contact, until persevering again and gloving a third successive attempted pull through to the wicketkeeper. Not a good look at all from someone hailed as a smart, intelligent cricketer. His dismissal might have counted for nothing in the final analysis, but the manner of it must have rankled Ashwin. Or, at least, it should have.

Humbled and outclassed under lights, India will seek a turnaround at the Gabba. That’s certainly not beyond them. Better execution and collective will won’t be out of place, nor will be meaningful runs from the captain and his predecessor. After all, they are the bulwarks of this batting unit.