MELBOURNE: Just as India walked off the field at 12.30 PM local time on Thursday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, they seemed resigned. Sam Konstas had set the tone upfront; Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne had followed through as Australia went to lunch with a score of 112/1 in 25 overs.
It was a session that had many firsts. From Australia fielding their youngest-ever Test opener to Jasprit Bumrah getting hit for a six in the longest format after three years to Australia getting their best opening stand since 2023 Boxing Day Test and so on. But most of all, it was about Konstas disrupting India's plans and setting the tone for the rest of the innings in front of 87,242 fans on debut.
In a session where India bowled 26 overs, Bumrah bowled almost one third of it — eight overs, three maidens for 41 runs — split into two spells. And this came despite India fielding six bowlers, opting Washington Sundar over Shubman Gill. While one could argue that they wanted Bumrah to bowl most while the ball had some movement — the fact that Konstas threw him off the length and India fielded two spinners on a pitch that was flatter than expected despite them having a piece of the teen sensation in Canberra felt a bit confusing.
India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar would later explain that the purpose of Washington coming in was to give the pacers a breather post 50 overs till the second new-ball comes into play. That was exactly what Rohit Sharma did — he did not bring the offie till after Tea even when Khawaja was cruising past a half-century.
Now, credit where it is due, Konstas took the risks and it paid off on the day. However, it is hard not to ignore India once again following the ball on the field. Konstas reverse scooped Bumrah and soon there was a fielder in the deep. Bumrah stuck to length and the teenager hit him down town. Konstas was exceptional in executing what he came out to do but the same cannot be said for India. "He batted really well and then we felt that that is an area that we had to stop. You had fielders in those areas and often that happens when a player is known to play certain shots, you want to make sure that you have fielders there and you still bowl to your lengths, your strengths. It's Test cricket, so you don't necessarily have to change your deliveries. It's just having the fielders in the right place and you still try to hit top of the off-stump more often than not. And that was pretty much the plan," Nayar would explain later.
That is not how things went down on the field. Konstas frustrated the Indians with his batting display. Virat Kohli even had a run in with the youngster, bumping his shoulder in between overs. Kohli was later fined by the ICC for that incident. Without uttering a word, the teenager had got under the skin of Kohli and by extension, India. That was visible as the bowlers were struggling with their lengths. Khawaja was the beneficiary, especially against Siraj. Bumrah kept beating the left-hander and Akash Deep was unlucky but Sharma's struggles with sticking to a plan and executing it as captain continued.
Even after Konstas got out, Khawaja and Labuschagne were allowed to take easy singles with no drop in the run rate. They were not in a hurry and played multiple maidens, but it did not look like they were going to get out any time soon. Khawaja got to his fifty and looked set for a long day on the field. At the brink of lunch, a momentary lapse in concentration from the left-hander meant he played a pull — a shot Khawaja would nail in his sleep — against a ball that stopped on him and hit it straight to KL Rahul. Such was the dismissal that even Bumrah could not believe it. Similarly, Labuschagne, too, suffered a soft dismissal while trying to take on Washington.
It was only Travis Head, who left a ball and got bowled by Bumrah, for whom India had a plan and executed it perfectly. After being quiet for two sessions, the Indian diaspora that had filled the MCG finally found their voice. From thereon till the end of play, they got behind every ball India bowled, cheering on Akash Deep, who did induce few plays and misses. But such was the other bowlers' line and lengths that Alex Carey and Steve Smith — the last of the top four who scored fifties — added 53 runs from just 80 balls. Akash Deep finally got his reward in Carey as Australia finished the day on 311/6.
At the start of the day, where all roads in Melbourne led to the G, fans swarmed the stands in their hopes to see the visitors dominate the proceedings. They were treated with one of the most audacious Test debuts in modern cricket history. For India, they would want to take confidence from the late wickets, but more importantly, Sharma and Co would want to come back with better plans and remove Smith and the rest sooner.