Middle-order muddle: A six-wicket collapse to forget at Sydney for Team India

After the third day's play, Cheteshwar Pujara acknowledged that this was an ongoing problem and that the team had had a talk about it.
Rishabh Pant is given a pain killing tablet during play on day three of the Sydney Test. (Photo | AP)
Rishabh Pant is given a pain killing tablet during play on day three of the Sydney Test. (Photo | AP)

CHENNAI: Indian cricket fans were treated to a familiar sight at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday. After a strong foundation, wickets fell in a heap as one batsman after another perished. It was deja vu as they went from 195/4 to 244 all out, losing their last six wickets for 49 runs. In overseas conditions, collapses like this have sort of become de rigueur.

After the day's play, Cheteshwar Pujara acknowledged that this was an ongoing problem and that the team had had a talk about it. "Have to address (it), we have also spoken about it," he said. "Not that we aren't aware of it." Being aware of it is one thing, actively taking steps is a completely different thing.
Even if they are, it has not paid off, not yet anyway.

Since the start of the South Africa trip in 2018 -- the beginning of the last SENA (Tests in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) cycle, India's batting efforts have frequently been pockmarked with collapses of this nature. Chasing 208 to win the first Test at Cape Town, the visitors were 71/3. Virat Kohli got out and 20 overs later, they had lost the seven wickets for 64. "When you are playing overseas, it's never easy," he said. "You have to bat well as a lower-middle order."

These collapses after decent openings have unsurprisingly led to India losing multiple Tests in the same country. That 2018 England tour was a case in point.

In the first Test, they went from 100/3 to 182/8 in the first innings and 141/6 to 162 all out in the second. It was a similar story in the fourth Test. In the first innings then, they went from 142/2 to 195/8. In the second innings, 123/3 became 184 all out. "Our major concern is we are losing wickets after we are six down," Pujara said. "The lower middle-order has to bat well."

They began 2020 in the same fashion, as two collapses in as many Tests in New Zealand saw them losing the series 0-2.

Even though Pujara insisted that the lower order are putting in effort to improve this worrying trend — "if you look at the way (Jasprit) Bumrah has been batting, he has been improving," he said — the proof as they say is in the pudding. On the evidence of this series, the pudding seems to be undercooked.
They might have a chance to redeem themselves in the second innings but the question is, will they take it?


India's middle-order collapses since the start of 2018

South Africa 2018
1st Test 71/3 to 135 all out
2nd Test 49/3 to 87/7

England 2018
1st Test 100/3 to 182/8
141/6 to 162 all out
4th Test 142/2 to 195/8
123/3 to 184 all out

Australia 2018
2nd Test 223/4 to 283 all out

New Zealand 2020
1st Test 88/3 to 165 all out
148/4 to 191 all out
2nd Test 194/4 to 242 all out
72/3 to 124 all out

Australia 2020/21
1st Test 188/3 to 244 all out
3rd Test 195/4 to 244 all out

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com