India’s 146-run defeat in the second Test in Perth is seen as major news for more reasons than one.
The discussion is not on poor batting display, but on things like selection, finger wagging by two Indian players on the field and some pundits (read former Test stars) gunning for captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri over several issues.
Coming as they do midway through a big series which everyone expected India to win, more so after taking a 1-0 lead in Adelaide, these pinpricks can do more harm to the side than good. The main issue on which the team management and the critics differ is not playing a frontline spinner and going in with four fast bowlers.There was certainly case for left-arm Ravindra Jadeja, who could have kept batsmen in a bind with his accuracy.
But the flip side of the argument is the number of left-handers in the Australian side, particularly in the top order. A naturally frustrated Jadeja, who was made to field as substitute for long stretches, had an on-field scrap with Ishant Shamra, stump microphones picking up the colourful language used by the two.
Kohli was clear that playing a spinner never crossed the team management’s mind as it had decided on playing four quicks on a grassy track, although his pace spearhead Mohammed Shami seemed to differ when he said that the team could have done with a spinner.
The argument was stretched by none other than Sunil Gavaskar, who wants both the captain and coach to be shown the door if India do not win the next two Tests at Melbourne and Sydney. But to say that Nathan Lyon got wickets and so should anyone else is borne out after part-time offie Hanuma Vihari dismissed two top-order batsmen in the first innings.
Lyon returned match figures of eight for 106 on what was not on a turner. He extracted bounce from a right length and fooled batsmen into playing for turn. Who says Indians are the best players of spin? England’s off-spinner Moeen Ali has 24 Indian wickets from six Tests. The way the Australians keep faith in their best spinner is what the Indians should see. Lyon, who dismissed Kohli seven times, has played the last 60 Tests without being dropped.
There are suggestions that some players should be sent back to Ranji Trophy.
But how many will give up on a fat pay pack that comes for playing in the Indian Premier League and prefer serious, red-ball cricket?
Australian Glenn Maxwell, one of the most exciting players seen in the IPL in recent years, has decided to play more first-class cricket in a bid to regain his Test spot. He has realized that at 30, time is running out as he has not been able to have the required first-class cricket to back his desire to play Test cricket.
“I think where I am right now in my game, I’m supposed to be at the peak of my powers and I haven’t played enough first-class cricket for how old I am and how long I’ve been around my state team,” he was quoted in the Australian media. In Maxwell’s agonizing lines, there is a lesson for young Indian cricketers and administrators and selectors, who think big hitting and four imaginative overs with white ball are good enough to judge talent.
The question to be asked is how many Test cricketers have been asked to play Ranji or Duleep Trophy when their feet are not moving or they are not able to leave the moving ball judiciously? Very few top-class cricketers are able to adjust their game to play all three formats. But right now, the worry should be how to get back into the series Down Under.
(The writer is a veteran commentator and views expressed are personal. He can be reached at sveturi@gmail.com)