All-round Bumrah sparks India’s hopes after batters fail in grassy Sydney

NEW DELHI,JAN 3 : Jasprit Bumrah’s India were left in a heap of trouble on Day 1 of the New  Test match in Sydney. After opting to bat first on a spicy Sydney Cricket Ground deck, India were bowled out for just 185 runs. Big names – Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul failed to put up resistance as Australia pacers rolled over the visitors by making use of the full 7mm of grass left on the pitch. The green-tinged wicket mixed with overcast conditions made it perfect conditions for the Australian quartet to dominate the India team, taking the upper hand in the final Test match of the series.

Some semblance of balance was brought back into the encounter very late in the day when stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah not only added a crucial 37 runs with Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj, but also fired up India with a terrific 2-over-spell in the final minutes on Friday.

The Indian team returned to bowl only 3 overs late in the day, and perhaps gave an idea of how this Test match is going to pan out. Jasprit Bumrah bowled India’s two of three overs and made Usman Khawaja skip and hop throughout his short spell. Bumrah, managed to hand India the breakthrough of Usman Khawaja in the last ball of Day 1 – something that the team desperately needed for a mental boost after a tough day.

Like a typical fast bowler, Bumrah raged with his deliveries, and walked to the Australian openers, demanding accountability for their time-wasting tactics. Bumrah’s anger rubbed on the Indian team, who celebrated Khawaja’s wicket vociferously, letting Australia know that they were not out of the competition just yet. Bumrah’s bowling perhaps provided India with the hope that 185 might just be enough, much like it was in Perth’s first innings – the only game that India have won so far in this series.

That however, does not take away the fact that the visitors reeled under pressure for the better part of the day in Sydney.

Drama began at the very start of the day, when Jasprit Bumrah walked out for the toss instead of Rohit Sharma. Bumrah explained that the selfless captain had rested himself so that India can form their best XI. Many did not buy into the logic and slammed the Indian management for not calling a spade a spade – that Rohit had been dropped due to poor form.

If the captain’s controversy was not enough, India were put on the backfoot at the toss itself after Jasprit Bumrah opted to bowl first on a greenish wicket at the SCG under overcast conditions. While India should not be blamed for opting to bat at the SCG, a track that is expected to break as the game goes on, but India could have taken the call based on more visual evidence than historical data.

India chose to once again play 2 spinners on the track, that had 7mm of grass left on it. The result, as it turned out, was a horrible one for India – as they were bowled out for just 185 runs.

India batters, already low on confidence, found it difficult to bat on in the seaming conditions and lost two wickets in the first 10 overs of the game (7.4 overs). Pegged back, India dropped anchor with Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill to bring up a steady partnership that lasted till the final over of the morning session.

Sunil Gavaskar slammed the layering of grass at the SCG pitch – calling it excessive. He responded to Justin Langer’s comments after the former Australia coach said that he had never seen this much grass on any SCG pitch in his entire career.

“Justin Langer, who’s played in Australia, has said he’s never seen so much grass on a pitch. But what you would have noticed is that no former Indian player has complained or whined about it. If a pitch in India is bereft of grass and looks like it’s going to turn, so many former players from different parts of the world criticise our pitches. But former Indian players rarely complain because we understand the importance of adapting to overseas conditions,” Sunil Gavaskar said on the broadcast.

As if the grass was not enough, thunder struck when Shubman Gill’s concentration went for a walk after a short exchange with Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne in the 25th over. As the Australia duo complained about Gill’s time wasting, Shubman chirped back, reminding the batters that they take their own sweet time as well.

The back and forth put a crack in Shubman’s concentration and the batter hurled himself down the wicket against Nathan Lyon on the very next ball. Lyon, adept in changing in the length of the ball very late into his stride, dumped it a little short, and an advancing Gill, edged the ball into the hands of Steve Smith at first slip.

This marked yet another failure for Gill, who now has failed to cross the score of 40 outside of Asia since 2022. Gill averages 17.93 in 15 innings outside of Asia since 2022, which only widens the batter’s home vs away record in Test cricket.

Virat Kohli now has gotten out 6 times out of his 7 innings by edging the ball outside of off-stump. The only innings that he did not edge the ball to the slips and the keeper was during his gritty innings of 100* in Perth.

On the day, Kohli was lucky not to be on a first ball duck. After coming out to bat in the 8th over of the first innings, Kohli edged Boland to Steve Smith. The former Australia skipper almost pulled off a stunning catch at the slips, but the decision was reversed by the third umpire.

Joel Wilson, the third umpire, who has faced criticism for contentious decisions against Australia in the past, examined the replays. Initially, he appeared convinced that Smith had his fingers under the ball, but after reviewing multiple angles, he revised his conclusion.

This was the 6th time that Kohli got out by edging the ball outside off stump. The Indian No.4 has been challenged in the corridor of uncertainty throughout the series, and has managed to edge the ball every time despite looking set.

After being berated by Rohit Sharma and Sunil Gavaskar for playing silly shots, Rishabh Pant came out with a grit that has not been seen before. Pant, known for his exuberant counter-attacking shot, dropped anchor in Sydney. Rishabh took multiple body blows, including one terrible hit on his right shoulder, that saw the physio rush out and apply ice-pack to the wicketkeeper-batter.

Pant and Ravindra Jadeja played out 151 balls together, stabilising the Indian innings. However, Pant, at one point of time, had enough, and got on the counter-attacking train. Pant slammed debutant Beau Webster for a terrific six through the line, but was not able to hold onto that tempo. In the 57th over of the innings, Pant once again top edged a rising ball and handed a simple catch to short mid-wicket while trying to pull Scott Boland.

If it were not for the stand-in captain’s rearguard action, India could have been bowled out for 150 runs. Jasprit Bumrah hit 22 runs off 17 balls, adding crucial runs in partnerships with the tail. Bumrah’s contribution might not have frustrated Australia, but the bowling attack might have to rethink their strategies given they have time and again let the Indian tail wag after bowling out the top-order early.

Bumrah hit three boundaries and crunched one to add to his batting repetoire since the third Test in Brisbane.

If any pacer really enjoyed the SCG pitch, it was Scott Boland. After taking 6 wickets in Melbourne, which is much lower than his standards, Boland hit the ground running at the SCG. The pacer laid an early marker with 4 wickets in the first innings. The bit that was most impressive about Boland’s bowling was that he did not give India batters even an inch. If it were not for the 3 consecutive boundaries that Bumrah hit of the pacer late in the Indian innings, Boland’s figures could have read 20-8-19-4. That is ridiculous accuracy for a third pacer in any team in the world.

Boland picked up the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy to wreck the Indian batting line-up. The pacer’s control on a seaming deck helped the Australia team not only take wickets, but keep the run flow in control as well, something that they were not able to in Perth and late in Brisbane when they needed to take out India’s tail.

On Friday, Boland finished with 20-8-31-4, helping Australia set the early marker on Friday. The team will now hope to press on and move the Test match in at a good pace, before rain hits Sydney on the final day of the series.

-PTI