Down Under- The tour so far

Today was supposed to be the fifth day of the 2^nd test match and the exact halfway point of the series. But it does not come as a major surprise that Australia won at the Gabba within 4 days. Gabba is to Australia what Karachi was to Pakistan. They never lose here. But, it will surely raise a few eyebrows if it were to be told that Australia won in 4 days despite being 247/6 in reply to India’s 408 after the 1^st hour of play on day 3. Or for that matter, that Australia had also won the first test from a point where India required 120 odd runs from around 30 overs with 8 wickets in hand in the final session at Adelaide. Reverse a couple of sessions from Australia to India’s favor, and Australia could have faced the biggest ever crisis in their recent past going into the Boxing day Test 0-2 down. Instead, it is business as usual, and Dhoni and India are staring at another 4-0 drubbing.

First things first, there has been a massive improvement from the 2011-12 series. The batting so far has not looked out of place. But the bowling, despite being aggressive, has not yet looked good enough to take 20 wickets. But with 2 bowlers consistently bowling 145+, it can only get better.

In Vijay, India may have finally found an opener who can serve them well for the next few years at least. He has been exemplary so far. Cliche as it may sound, but knowing where the off stump and leaving balls in the first hour is the key to success for openers in Australia, unless of course you are Virender Sehwag. And Vijay has been leaving a lot of balls confidently. And once set, he has the full range of strokes to punish the bowlers.

Vijay has looked in complete control in the series so far

Apart from Vijay, Kohli looks to have recovered from his bad English dream. His batting at Adelaide reminded a lot of Tendulkar in the late 90s. It just seemed there were 2 different wickets. One was unplayable, the other was flat. The critics may point out that Adelaide was more of a subcontinent wicket and his subsequent failure at Brisbane. But, Kohli looks in good touch and another big one is definitely on the cards at the MCG or the SCG. Rahane and Pujara have both looked good, but never capitalized on their starts. On big overseas tours, this is a cardinal sin.

The 2 major visible weak links so far has been Dhawan and Rohit. Despite his 81 at Gabba, Dhawan still does not evoke much confidence as an opener. The innings of 81 might just give him another couple of matches to prove himself, but he needs to do it fast. As for Rohit, let’s just say that so far on this tour, Rohit Sharma has been Rohit Sharma. We can talk about talent and application later. But if India wants to salvage something from this tour, he needs to be replaced immediately by either Rahul or Raina.

Australia can be a difficult place for bowlers. The Kookabura ball doesn’t swing once it gets old. And with the bright sun, and true pitches, the margin for error becomes negligible. More so, if the opposition opener is David Warner. Unlike previous tours, this time there has been a specific plan for most batsmen. The short pitched stuff against Haddin worked. Against Johnson it didn't. Even against Warner, the plan was to bowl full round the wicket to make him play early on in his innings. But, there were too many release balls. The vision was correct, not the execution. And Henry Ford wasn't really wrong when he had said that vision without execution is nothing but hallucination.

Ishant Sharma has improved a lot as a bowler in the last 12 months, and despite being the slowest, looked India’s best bet to pick up wickets. Umesh Yadav with his pace and a hint of swing looked good as well. But, Aaron, despite his speed, does not look threatening enough. Combine that with his economy of close to 6, and suddenly Dhoni has a problem. But, this pace bowling attack has enough raw talent and will eventually succeed, and might as well become India’s best ever pace attack. Whether they will transform some of that potential into success in this tour is the question.

But the same cannot be said of the spinners. Karn Sharma leaked runs and did not look much of a threat at Adelaide, which had considerable turn and bounce. Even Ashwin did not look really penetrative at Brisbane. But at least, he kept a lid on the runs. Considering that so far Lyon has easily looked the best spinner from across both the teams, it can be said that India’s continuous churning of world class spinners might finally be over. With Sydney, the venue for the 4^th test, traditionally favoring spinners, Ashwin will have to up his notch a level or 2 for India to win.

It has been a competitive and engrossing series so far. With all the aggression and positive intent shown, India does not deserve another 4-0 whitewash. India can no longer win the series, but can retain the Border Gavaskar trophy if they win the next 2 test matches. If I were a punter, I won’t put my money on them to win the tests. But in life, stranger things have happened. Boxing Day at the MCG should be fun.