“When you have to go, you have to go. That’s life,” said Australian opener Matt Renshaw, after the first day’s play in Pune. You would want to think he was being philosophical about things in general, having experienced his first day of Test cricket on Indian soil.
Instead, he was talking about the odd incident that took place some 20 minutes prior to lunch. Owing to an upset stomach, the 20-year-old opener walked off the park along with David Warner, who had just been bowled by Umesh Yadav. Until then, Australia had been chugging along nicely and the score read 82/0. Suddenly, there were two new batsmen at the crease.
“Steve Smith wasn’t thrilled that I was going off. He called me back to understand the situation, and I told him that I had to go. I was struggling to hold it until the lunch break. I was just hoping that I don’t let my team down,” Renshaw said.
His words need to be taken in context of the day’s proceedings. Australia were placed at 82/1 at one stage, and then collapsed to 205/9. Then, they recovered thanks to a counter-attacking half-century from Mitchell Starc in the final session. On a day where this odd nature’s call incident was noted, the proceedings – atleast from Australia’s point of view – were about coming and going, and in between, staying at the wicket as long as possible.
“We have two pacers, one all-rounder and lots of batsmen,” said Steve Smith after he won the toss and opted to bat. It was a vague answer when asked about his team selection, one brought forth by the state of the pitch. Bone dry is the term that came to mind at first look, and after a few overs, abrasive was the watchword, as the new ball got ‘old’ quickly.
It obviously played right into India’s strategy. Virat Kohli opened with Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, thus holding back Yadav for later, as Smith’s prediction of the ball turning from the word go came true. Ashwin found turn on his second delivery, and it raised a few eyebrows. Raging turner, three-day Test, weakest touring party, etc. are a few choice terms thrown at the visitors in the last couple days. Australia, though, are known for their resilience.
Solid opening partnership
Renshaw later confirmed that he half-expected a trial by spin from the very outset. In that light, facing Ashwin from the get-go wasn’t really a surprise for him and Warner. And their approach to counter this particular threat was fascinating. The two openers had come out with a resolve to not get bogged down, and rotated strike as much as possible to not let Ashwin settle down.
For quite a while, it worked as they mixed the odd streak of aggression with their running between wickets. Renshaw and Warner hit 10 fours and a six between them, and ran 27. In effect, it got their feet moving for they needed to use the depth of crease against the spinners. Ashwin somehow beat both batsmen and didn’t dismiss them. Jayant Yadav tried too hard, and bled runs. The big surprise of the morning session was when this opening duo took Ravindra Jadeja for runs in his opening spell.
The miserly left-arm spinner gave away four runs per over as Renshaw even hit him for a massive six over long on. At that juncture, they had added 40 runs off ten overs. Australia were going great guns, and the key to both batsmen’s stupendous showing was how they were getting inside the line bowled by spinners, whilst defending. When attacking, they simply didn’t overdo it.
And this is where nature’s call came at the wrong time. Sure, Warner was gone, but it only made sense for Renshaw to continue. Yet, he couldn’t and there can be no real debate about this personal situation. However, there can also be no argument that walking off did cost Australia crucial momentum.
Drying up the runs
Smith and Shaun Marsh needed time to get going, and this is when lunch came up. Afterwards, Kohli showcased once again why is quickly learning on the job. On such spin-friendly pitches, the third spinner often performs the holding role. However, Jayant Yadav had been taken for runs, and so he turned to Sharma. At the other end, he unleashed Jadeja, and with an inside-out field in place, the Indian skipper dried up the runs.
Sample this. Smith and Marsh batted together for 19.1 overs. They added 37 runs at 1.93 per over. Smith and Peter Handscomb batted together for 12.4 overs. They added only 30 runs at 2.36.
Now, there are two ways to look at it. One, Smith played out 95 deliveries, Marsh faced 55 balls and Handscomb another 45, looking comfortable against spin at times. Yet, at one particular stage, with the score reading 132/2 in 53 overs, Australia didn’t seem on top of proceedings.
There was always this danger of losing a couple quick wickets – as is the norm on such pitches – and handing back the advantage. Suddenly, Ashwin and Jayant Yadav struck in quick succession and the scorecard at 149/4 in 60.1 overs read a lot different.
This is the underlying point. At present, the world’s No 1-ranked Test side boasts of a plethora of bowlers who can string together partnerships. Their mantra is to dry up the runs, and keep plugging away at the opposition, in a bid to squeeze out wickets. This ploy worked in West Indies, against New Zealand and then against England. It worked in Pune on Thursday as well, when after tea Australia collapsed from 159/4 to 205/9, as Ashwin-Jadeja mixed their bag of tricks with Umesh Yadav’s pace fury.
Foot off the pedal
Of course, there are times when they take the foot off the gas pedal. It was seen in how Starc was allowed to score freely, with proceedings getting dull and India playing a waiting game. “We would have liked to keep them down to 230. But both Renshaaw and Starc showed if batsmen apply themselves on this pitch, there are runs to be scored,” said Indian assistant coach Sanjay Bangar.
Australia’s end-score of 256/9, thus, puts the pitch debate in perspective. There is no doubt that it will wear down intensively as the match progresses. But this wicket didn’t turn out to be the raging turner it was expected to be.
And so, the question is if it will exhibit slow turn going forward? If so, India will only be too happy to bat on day two and attempt to put on a big score in order to dictate terms. If not, then thanks to Renshaw and Starc, Australia have put some very valuable runs on the board. Either way, we will know soon enough.
