On the final day of the series, it took Pujara 97 balls just to reach double figures. Over 211 balls, he hit just seven boundaries while being hit nine times. But while Australia could hit him, they could not dismiss him. Pujara’s defiant 56 set the game up for Rishabh Pant to take India to victory, with the help of brisk cameos from Ajinkya Rahane and Washington Sundar.
If batsmen are as skilful as Pujara, such a stoic approach is perhaps better-suited to Australia than anywhere else. Unlike in England, batting becomes appreciably easier as an innings progresses, with the Kookaburra rapidly losing the swing offered by the new ball. The heat also renders bowling in Australia more physically demanding.
While Cameron Green is a cricketer of outstanding potential, at this stage in Test cricket he is emphatically a batsman who can bowl, rather than an all-rounder. He did not take a single wicket in the four Tests against India in the last Australian summer. Indeed in both India’s twin series victories down under, all of Australia’s wickets came from the same four bowlers.
Batting for as long as possible allowed India to exploit the inconsistency of Mitchell Starc – he averaged 37.4 across the two series, yielding 3.2 runs an over – and the paucity of threat from Australia’s fifth bowler. Few can play as Pujara do. But if Haseeb Hameed or Rory Burns can absorb many balls from Josh Hazlewood’s and Pat Cummins’s early spells, there will be no reason to bemoan their strike rates.
Dealing with Nathan Lyon
Australia is renowned as a graveyard for finger spinners, emphasising the excellence of Nathan Lyon in taking 399 Test wickets, including 200 at 33 apiece at home. But when India won in Australia a year ago, Lyon mustered only nine wickets at 55.1 apiece.
Pant’s contemptuous treatment of Lyon meant that he could not exert his normal control with the old ball. His calculated aggression set up India’s draw at Sydney – by making an Indian win a realistic prospect, he led Tim Paine to remove close catchers, thereby reducing the risk of losing wickets. His unbeaten 89 completed India’s heist at the Gabba.
