India vs Australia: Virat Kohli and Co finally learnt the virtue of patience and art of sustained intensity in historic series win

“Aren’t you bored yet?” Perhaps the one moment that encapsulated Australia’s emotions in the Test series was when Nathan Lyon walked back to his bowling mark and cheekily uttered the above words in the 74th over of India’s first innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground after Cheteshwar Pujara had just brought up his 18th Test century. They were frustrated. They were bored. Pujara doesn’t get bored. He can stay at the crease and bat hours, sessions, days, months, years. For him, batting is like meditation. In fact, it’s he who gets the opposition bowlers bored, with his dogged approach. [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Cheteshwar Pujara’s patience and calmness rubbed off on the entire Indian team. AP[/caption] Defend. Defend. Defend. Dead bat. Dead bat. Dead bat the ball onto the ground and that too effortlessly. The action is over within seconds and the bowler is back to his mark after an effort ball. It is a routine that gets the bowlers, fielders and captains bored, not Pujara. He then kills them softly. And perhaps, after scoring three tons and batting over 1000 minutes in the series, it was the question Pujara should have asked back to Lyon, but Pujara being Pujara, he just responded with a smile.

And after a frustrating ‘so near yet so far’ 2018, the whole country also smiled. The Saurashtra batsman’s batting was the difference between the two sides. Right from the time he strode out to the crease at 15/2 in the 7th over of the Adelaide Test, he kept belting out a lesson in the art of patience. The lone ranger scored 49.2 percent of the team’s runs, faced endless balls and batted many sapping hours in the 40 degrees Adelaide cauldron. Throughout the series, Pujara batted with the calmness of a Buddhist monk who was on the path to enlightenment. And this calmness rubbed off on the entire team. It wasn’t just a series where this vibrant Indian side etched its name in the cricketing folklore. It was a series where they learned crucial lessons and rectified their mistakes. It was a series where they learned from their No 3 batsman that the only ‘intent’ that matters is the occupation of crease. The 2013-14 South Africa series instilled the belief that this Indian side can compete overseas, even in SENA countries.  However, they were stuck at just competing well with no significant results to talk home. Test after Test, they gained the advantage and then squandered it. They just couldn’t unleash the finishing blow. They just couldn’t employ the theme they so successfully employed at home - pressure. Chokehold. Pressure. Stranglehold. Pressure. Submission. Pressure. Knockout blow. Sustained pressure was what was missing in their arsenal. They would lose the match in one session with a slight lapse in concentration. In Australia, they finally learned the art of sustained intensity as well which enervated the home side and presented India with a chance to deliver the knockout punch. For most of the Test series, the batsmen batted time and the bowlers built pressure with uninterrupted accuracy and precision. In Melbourne, India posted their highest total away from home in 2018 - 443/7d and they followed it up with their highest total in SENA countries in the last 10 years  - 622/7d - at the SCG. It was the first time they went past the 500-run-mark since 520 against New Zealand in Hamilton in March 2009. The batsmen strived for application. This series was just the fourth time the Indian batsmen had faced 1000-plus balls in an innings in an away series on two different occasions. They averaged more minutes per wicket at the crease (71) than the England (63) and South Africa (58) this year while facing 63 balls per wicket compared to 42 in England and 38 in South Africa where the bowlers longed for support of the batsmen. Right through 2018, the emphasis was on building partnerships. In Australia, they finally did - the average partnership per dismissal was 34.69, significantly higher than in South Africa (20.60) and England (25.23). They also averaged more fifty-plus partnerships per match — 4 (a total of 16 with 12 50-run stands and four hundred) compared to 3 in England (five 100-run stands and 11 50-run stands) and 2 in South Africa (six 50-run stands and no 100-run stands). This was also the slowest they have batted in the last 19 years in SENA countries as they averaged just 2.94 runs per over throughout the series. Their strike rate of 46.21 was their third lowest in the SENA countries since the turn of the century. “We just wanted to go back to basics, not be flamboyant, just have the old hard grind out there for runs.,” Kohli said in the presentation ceremony after the series win. “I want to give a special mention to Pujara, he’s been outstanding in this series.” [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Virat Kohli too deviated from the aggression and adopted a patient approach throughout the series. AFP[/caption] The bowlers chipped in with wickets regularly. Their strike rate of 52 in this series was the second best in a series of four or more matches behind 49.8 during the West Indies tour of India in 1978-79. Boxes were hit, helmets pinged, and speed guns consistently clocked 140 kmph. There was aggression, there was guile. They roared after scalping every wicket. One of the biggest challenges of bowling in Australia is adapting to the bouncy pitches. The Indian pacers adjusted their lengths well and wove a choking web. The good and full-length deliveries were punctuated by the odd short delivery that sucked the batsmen in. And then there was that slower delivery from Jasprit Bumrah to Shaun Marsh which will go down in annals and get etched in memories. This was the first time that India did not concede a century in a four or more match away Test series. They bowled at an economy rate of 2.55, their best away from home in a series in which they picked up at least 30 wickets since 1993 against Sri Lanka (2.28) and also their best in the last 25 years in a series in SENA countries. It says a lot about the chokehold they maintained throughout. Led by Bumrah, the partnership-breaker, India never allowed the partnerships to fluster them. Australia’s average partnership runs per wicket of 25.90 was the third lowest for a team against India in a home series (in which the opposition teams have scored at least 1500 runs) after 23.97 by New Zealand in 1967-68 and 24.86 by Pakistan in 1954-55. The Aussies had just one century stand in this series, the joint-least by any home team has scored against India (among series’ in which home teams have added at least 1500 runs), along with South Africa in 1992-93. It all started off with that Pujara ton in Adelaide which showed the way to the rest of the batsmen who seemed like competing to win the award for the worst shot of the innings on the opening day of the series. On a wearing Day 3 Adelaide wicket, Kohli, uncharacteristically, batted 104 balls for his 34 at a strike rate (32.69) lower than Pujara’s (34.80) during a crucial phase after India had lost both the openers in quick succession. Kohli too had deviated from his aggressive norm to patience against the pressure and accuracy of Lyon and the Australian pacers, especially Cummins. Rahane too followed a restrained approach. Ashwin applied the choke and control from one end in the second innings (bowling a staggering 52.5 overs) which acted as a catalyst for the pacers who succeeded with relentless accuracy. India ended up winning their first ever opening Test of a series in Australia. A positive start was what India were craving for, for years and they finally got one. Perth was a blip India could have avoided. Partly because the selection of an all-pace attack had come under the scanner. The pacers erred in the first session with their lines and lengths and the game drifted away. It was rare, but they bounced back hard. At one point on Day 3, it seemed like Bumrah would get a wicket off every ball. But such is the unforgiving nature of Test cricket, even a blink of an eye is not acceptable. The batsmen, except Kohli, faltered and the Test was gone. However, there were positives and learnings. The captain oozed class with one of his best centuries on a lively wicket. The way the Kohli-Pujara duo dealt with the unflinching discipline of Lyon and Cummins on Day 2, in which they didn’t hit a single boundary for 22 overs, was meritorious. The battle was Test cricket at its best. Post Perth, the learning had accelerated and rectifications put into practice. There was no looking back from then on. The patience curve took a steep upward slope in Melbourne. The new opening pair saw off the first hour, something which Pujara and Kohli constantly had to do. Pujara played out another masterclass, Kohli played Robin to the Batman following the same approach on a two-paced pitch. One of the telling stats was, he ended the series being slower than Pujara. 41.22 was his second-lowest strike rate ever in a series away from home, after 2011 West Indies where he ticked at 33.62. In Melbourne, Australia were made to toil for 169.4 overs in the first innings. Ricky Ponting thought Pujara’s slow approach might cost India the match. India ended up winning the match with a session to spare (The win could have come earlier had the first session of the final day not washed out due to rain). The bowlers kept picking up wickets at regular intervals and didn’t allow partnerships to fluster while Mayank Agarwal’s 42 off 102 balls amidst the Cummins-storm in the second innings flew under the radar. After bowling 124 overs in Adelaide and 172 in Perth, the Indian pacers were still going strong. They picked up 15 out of the 20 at the MCG, bowling an approximate 93 more overs. There was no talk of rest. There was no talk of fatigue. Bumrah, Shami, and Ishant ransacked the oppositions with 131 wickets in 2018, the most by a troika in a calendar year, racing past Garner-Holding-Marshall’s tally of 130 in 1984. Michael Clarke described them as ‘Energizer batteries’. Most importantly, they were hunting in a pack. This was a massive deviation from the past where fatigue would creep in and bowlers’ intensity levels would drop. They mastered the art of bowling with the old ball and outclassed a world-class Australian bowling attack. [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Boxes were hit, helmets pinged, and speed guns consistently clocked 140 kmph. There was aggression, there was guile. They roared after scalping every wicket. AFP[/caption] At the SCG, India batted and batted and batted Australia out of the Test. Even the marauding Rishabh Pant joined the ‘patience’ bandwagon by then with a measured approach. They forced the Aussies to take the third new ball for the second match in a row and made to bowl more than 372 overs combined at MCG and SCG which piled on the misery. This is the first time a visiting team has declared in three consecutive Test innings in Australia. The Aussie bowlers looked exhausted, fielders tired and for once it seemed like Test cricket was travelling in reverse given the ruthlessness of the Australian teams of the yore. Pujara had batted for more than 1000 minutes and faced more than 1000 balls in the series which felt like a million to Paine. And for once, the Australians panicked; their muddled minds led to a  difference of opinion between the captain and the bowlers. A slogged Australian team had been paralysed. “It’s not so much the number of Tests but the number of balls that this Indian batting line-up has made us bowl. That takes its toll,” Paine said on Day 2 in Sydney. “We spoke about that right back in Adelaide, that’s something we wanted to do to their attack. We haven’t quite been able to do it and they’ve done it to ours. At the end of a long series, you can get some real rewards if you can make teams bowl lots and lots of overs. I think that’s what you saw late today. You have to tip your cap to India, they’ve worked extremely hard for three-and-a-half tests to get us where they got us today.” The relief and joy in the Indian camp as they celebrated under the overcast skies at the SCG was palpable; they even broke into a ‘Pujara dance’ at the Sydney Cricket Ground after the long wait was finally over. It was a series where India competed, and for a change, won. They were patient, ruthless, smart and relentless. It was a massive learning curve. One which might prompt the opposition bowlers into asking their batsmen, ‘Aren’t you bored yet?’ time and again. With stats inputs from Umang Pabari