Both shared 78 runs partnership and the job was done within first hour yet one ball to go of 19th over. There are a number of things that Australia did right and for India, they missed the trick in the first innings when they were bowled out for 109 runs. Let’s take a look at things that changed this game:
Proactive Captaincy From Steve Smith
A lot can be talked about this matter. Now, Steve Smith has captained Australia in India five times and he has 50% winning record with one draw. For a touring side, that is remarkable achievement. Smith was more involved and invested in the game, during post match presentation, he said that he enjoys bowling in these conditions because every ball is an event.
He only scored 26 runs but he looked more positive than previous games. He was more involved with constantly making field changes, creating doubts in the batters mind. The most striking difference between Cummins and Smith was that Cummins allowed the game to drift away while Smith dictated the game.
Top Order Failure Of Indian Batters
Rohit Sharma scored a ton in the first match at Nagpur, since then no top order batter succeeded to even score half century. But Pujara did it, perhaps too late from the veteran. The problem has been their opening batter, KL Rahul couldn’t produce what team was looking after so came Shubman Gill in the team. He scored 21 in the first and 5 in second.
In the first innings of India, the top four contributed total 56 runs while Australian top four contributed 126 runs. Well, that says where the problem lies and it needs asap solution.
Nathan Lyon Knows The Method
It started with Matthew Kuhnemann who was as good as he could be on day 1, Indian batters helped these bowlers. But in the second innings when it really mattered, Nathan Lyon did the clinical work, one of the most beautiful spin bowling performance in Indian by a visiting bowler.
Lyon got 64 for 8 without trying anything out of the course. He is accurate and believes in his stock ball which is traditional off spin. He picked the spot and kept Indian batters guessing which way it will turn. They lost patience more easily than Lyon himself would have expected but it was a class bowling act.