This is not the first time India have gone one up in a Test series overseas. MS Dhoni’s side took a 1-0 lead on the 2014 tour of England, by winning the second Test after drawing the first. Yet, they lost the series 1-3. Virat Kohli’s team has won the first Test of the series Down Under, something none of their predecessors attained in 70 years. There is another feat, hitherto not achieved by any Indian team. They won Tests in South Africa, England and Australia in the same year. But celebrations can wait till the team achieves the major goal, of winning a series in Australia for the first time.
Can they do it? The general feeling is yes, for reasons enumerated before they embarked on the tour. It’s not belittling Australia, without two of their best batsmen, Steve Smith and David Warner, their batting looks too brittle. The Australians think they have three top-rated fast bowlers plus a fantastic off-spinner to counterweigh for their bating mishaps. But like it can happen to the best of the teams, they looked a bowler short in the second innings when Mitchell Starc looked out of sorts, spraying the ball all over to force Tim Paine to take him off after two overs with the second new ball.
On the other hand, Indian bowlers have been taking wickets by the bagful this year, starting from South Africa where they took all 60 wickets in three Tests. In England they claimed 82 out of the 90 on offer. Add the 20 from Adelaide and you can’t ask for more.
The work of the pacers is laudable. They to carry on in the Australian summer for three more Tests. There was a period on the fifth day when they looked desperate when Australia’s tail-enders started inching their way to the target. Ravichandran Ashwin kept the spirits up by pegging away from one end, bowling 52.5 overs. His economy rate in the two innings combined was less than two runs an over.
If bowlers did their job, Kohli found two batsmen who can be trusted. When he took over as captain, he had doubts about the roles of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. It took a while for him to realise both are key parts of the batting order who need not be consistent stroke-makers like him to overpower the attack.
Pujara showed his value yet again, while Rahane dropped the anchor when required and went after the bowling when necessary. Kohli will be hoping that Murali Vijay and KL Rahul carry on from their 63-run sand in the second innings and regain their known form overseas, having scored hundreds in Australia on the 2014 tour.
A solid start followed by Pujara, Kohli and Rahane can provide the ideal launch pad for Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant go after the attack. Pant should be more confident after equalling the world record for catches by a wicketkeeper.A team cannot expect the lower-order to bail it out, though Indian bowlers can learn from the way their Australian counterparts batted to take the side close to winning. It is not that Indian bowlers have never contributed with bat, but these days they seem to be concentrating more on bowling.
The second Test, at the new Optus Stadium is expected to have the familiar bounce of the good old WACA, unnerving the batsmen. That should not make the bowlers fancy their chances by experimenting, forgetting the basics. Both batsmen and bowlers must click together more often to win a series.
(The writer is a veteran commentator and views expressed are personal. He can be reached at sveturi@gmail.com)