INDORE: ON Tuesday, Rohit Sharma had raised the possibility of requesting a green seamer for the fourth Test if the hosts made it 3-0 at Indore. The batters would have made that call by now on the evidence of what transpired on Wednesday.
India are not the side they once were when facing opposition spin. They have, in the last two years or so, been troubled by the likes of Jack Leach, Taijul Islam, Moeen Ali, Todd Murphy and Ajaz Patel. None of those spinners are in any hurry to enter the ‘Spinners’ Hall of Fame’ any time soon.
On Wednesday, another name was added to the above list; Matthew Kuhnemann. When the series began, he was their fourth-choice spinner. A little over two hours into the day’s play at the Holkar Stadium, he was showing off the red ball with which he had taken his first fifer.
The left-arm spinner, though, was relegated to a subplot. Sure, he was accurate enough and did what was asked of him. The main talking point was the deck that was doled out for the Test. One can only speculate if there was not enough time to prepare a Test match-worthy wicket — the third match, after all, was originally slated to be held in Dharamsala before it was rearranged — but it certainly looked a touch on the undercooked side. Raging. Gripping. Turning. Jumping. Spitting. These are all words you normally use to describe a two-three day old pitch. When it starts to play tricks five overs old into a Test, you have got a problem.
After an auspicious start by the hosts — Sharma was out twice in the first over but the visitors didn’t opt to take reviews so early — Kuhnemann sent Sharma packing thanks to a ball that gripped, jumped and beat his outside edge. The captain, who had already been beaten once in that over while going for an expansive stroke, had danced down the track to hoist him over long-on. Alex Carey completed the rest. The oddball spitting on Day 1 is nothing new; perhaps, therein lies the challenge. But this pitch was already having more problems than an advanced mathematics textbook.
And it truly went rogue to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara. On one off four, he went back to a seemingly innocuous Lyon off-spinner that landed on a seventh stump line on length. After landing though, it curved back in sharply to breach through Pujara’s defences before taking the middle stump. On air, Matthew Hayden was expressing his sympathy for the batters. “You have got to give them a chance (to survive),” he said on commentary. He had a point. According to a graphic put out by the host broadcaster, the degree of turn on that ball was 6.8*. In fact, the average degree of turn in the first session was 4.9*, a full degree greater than the average of the entire match at New Delhi.
The misdemeanours off the surface continued after Pujara left. Ravindra Jadeja felt that across back-to-back deliveries, the second of which removed him for four. He had only successfully reviewed a leg-before decision to a ball that didn’t spin as much. Off the next ball, a touch shorter and wide off the off stump, he went to cut it. But it stopped on him and the catch was accepted at cover when he tried to place it behind square. Shreyas Iyer came and went in a blink and it was 44/5 after the first hour. To be fair, everyone needed a drink after that first hour.
Post that stoppage, the hosts enjoyed a good passage of play as Srikar Bharat and Virat Kohli equipped themselves well, given the situation. Normalcy was restored pretty soon as Kohli was trapped in front, the delivery straightening after pitching. That’s the other challenge when you play on pitches like these; you never feel settled.
At lunch with the hosts at 84/7, it was curious to see coach Rahul Dravid come down from the pavilion to have a close look at the surface. He was looking at it like how a principal would look at an errant student. He had reason to wear that expression. There were next to no footmarks. The rough was 30-over old. As advertised, it was dry. Yet, it was a bunsen before the sizable weekday crowd had broken for lunch on the opening day. In the end, they stumbled to 109 off 33.2 overs. By legal deliveries, it’s their fifth shortest innings of all time before being bowled out at home.
Sharma, in the pre-match press conference, had also alluded to winning this game and confirming their berth in the World Test Championship final. They now face a right old fight to win this match.
Day 1 Scorecard
India (1st Innings): Rohit st Carey b Kuhnemann 12, Gill c Smith b Kuhnemann 21, Pujara b Lyon 1, Kohli lbw Murphy 22, Jadeja c Kuhnemann b Lyon 4, Iyer b Kuhnemann 0, Bharat lbw Lyon 17, Patel n.o 12, Ashwin c Carey b Kuhnemann 3, Umesh lbw Kuhnemann 17, Md Siraj run out 0; Extras: 0; Total: 109 (in 33.2 ovs) ; FoW: 1-27, 2-34, 3-36, 4-44, 5-45, 6-70, 7-82, 8-88, 9-108; Bowling: Starc 5-0-21-0, Green 2-0-14-0, Kuhneman 9-2-16 -5, Lyon 11.2-2-35-3, Murphy 6-1-23-1.
Australia (1st Innings): Head lbw R Jadeja 9, Khawaja c Gill b Jadeja 60, Labuschagne b Jadeja 31, Smith c S Bharat b Jadeja 26, Handscomb batting 7; Green batting 6; Extras: 17; Total: 156/4 (in 54 ovs) ; FoW: 12-1, 108-2, 125-3, 146-4. Bowling: Ashwin 16-2-40-0, Jadeja 24-6-63-4, Axar 9-0-29-0, Umesh 2-0-4-0, Siraj 3-0-7-0.
