India tour of Australia 17 Dec - 19 Jan: Tests

[alfie]

All out 195. Useful 20 from Lyon but you'd think that is seriously under par for day one at the MCG.

Aussie bowling got 'em out of jail dramatically in Adelaide. Wonder if we will see a repeat here ?

Going to be an interesting dozen or so overs tonight.

[alfie]

36/1 at the close.

Agarwal removed immediately by the excellent Starc ; but Pujara and an impressive new boy in Gill made it to stumps in the face of some terrific attacking bowling. Gill did give a chance off Cummins - put down by Labuschagne at slip - but other than that played very well , both defending and taking every chance to score : finished on 28 not out and looks a mile better than Shaw so I'm bemused as to why he wasn't selected in Adelaide.

India very much on top ; but not underestimating the Aussie bowlers...tomorrow will be a real battle. Looking forward to watching it ...

[GarlicJam]

A good days cricket for India. Just the response they needed after the debacle of Adelaide.

Very poor effort with the bat by most of the Australian team.

New boy Gill was lucky to survive the first few overs, but did well after that. Aus will need to bowl well and take their chances to have much hope tomorrow

[sussexpob]

Australia's batsman really need to take a look at themselves tonight, because that was some appalling cricket from them today. Not a single one gets a ball they shouldnt easily deal with. If Burns is playing at balls that wide, then its time to go. If Wade thinks its appropriate to go for the Alamo shot 30 runs into a test, then he has to go. Paine, Smith and Marnus all got out to buffet balls on the pads. Green was undone by a simple piece of away, away, in swinger, and played the inner so badly and bought the bluff so easily, Id be tempted to say there is no need to find anymore out about him. Head is playing miles away from his body and not committing his weight to either foot. Old Boycott would be in his element laying destruction on this shower of abysmal technique. As India, I would certainly be testing that leg stump in the second innings again (I think with Smith it might be a plan, but Paine trying to play straight to ball he should just tuck round the corner says to me he isnt comfortable playing it).

India didnt have to do much, Australia gift wrapped this innings in Christmas paper and left it under their tree. Cant imagine Australia will bat this badly again in the series (in terms of score maybe, but the whole of the top 7-8 getting out to not a single worthy ball is going to be difficult to repeat). In many ways they were lucky too, as India lost every single umpires call.

Good response from Starc late in the evening. Australia will need more of that to get back into it.

[alfie]

India finding batting tough today against some fierce Australian bowling. That morning session was fun to watch from the TV ...perhaps less so for those facing Cummins and co at 22 yards

Think India did well to lose only two wickets.

SP's criticism of the Australian batting is valid up to a point : but I think a little less than generous to the Indian bowlers and fielders...the pressure they put on all the bats throughout the innings undoubtedly had a lot to do with the batting errors that actually resulted in the wickets. It isn't always the ball that gets the wicket that is the key. I think they - and captain Rahane - deserve a lot of credit for yesterday.

Have to say I'm enjoying seeing an old style MCG wicket that gives the bowlers a proper chance...though it is possible this one might be tilting a bit too far the other way. In the old days you'd expect batting to get a little easier over the next couple of days but some of the spinning deliveries suggest this may not happen. Staying tuned...

[alfie]

Last hour today might be very significant for the destination of this match. New ball due now and with India 232/5 Australia really need to strike with it quickly.
Rahane on 73 holding the innings together and Jadeja is supporting him very well at present. But not a lot of batting to follow these two , although Ashwin is no mug.

Here comes Starc...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Hundred partnership. India bossing this now. Especially if there's turn.

[Red Devil]

That century from Rahane was badly needed!

Dropping 6 catches in Aus 1st innings in 1st test really cost India there, and today Aus dropped 5 so India were able to edge ahead.

India missing 3 of the main 4 seamers (Ishant, Shami and Bhuv Kumar) as well as Kohli (and Rohit) so would be a big win if they can do it.

Long way to go yet, the concern is always how quickly the India tail can go. Pitch is turning and Ind bat last so Ind will want a lead of 150+

[sussexpob]

SP's criticism of the Autralian batting is valid up to a point : but I think a little less than generous to the Indian bowlers and fielders...the pressure they put on all the bats throughout the innings undoubtedly had a lot to do with the batting errors that actually resulted in the wickets. It isn't always the ball that gets the wicket that is the key. I think they - and captain Rahane - deserve a lot of credit for yesterday

Chicken and egg, Alfie. My own take is India didnt have to do much to force errors, the Aussies made the Indian's bowling seem much better by playing it so badly. The first three bats got out to no sustained pressure nor worthy balls. Head then came in and was a train wreck to anything at a right length, his static footwork and weight hanging back turned a lot of simple balls into good ones. On another day his dismissal could have happened within an over, the pressure had nothing to do with it. He simply spent nearly 100 balls playing identical balls in the same poor way and in many ways got lucky to make it that far. Seen a stat that suggested as soon as India went around the wicket, he hardly laid a bat on anything (and in his test career he has been out 80 percent of the time that way).... so if anything the Indian bowlers had not done their research, his stats go crazy bad when seamers come round to him. When they did, he was a sitting duck.

Marnus hung around and again on another day he could have been out 3 times lbw (one was overturned that I have to agree with Warney, looked out - different point but either there is phantom bounce in this wicket, or Hawkeye is off for christmas still, been 3 calls from it that looked wrong), but again its not the pressure that did him. India noticed his safety valve was coming across his stumps and flicking into the leg side, they shoved a fielder there and he pretty much flicked the ball straight to him straight away. Its just stupid play, any batsman has to be aware of the field and adapt to it, Marnus seemed to be caught sleeping. Green's ended up so off balance to that inswinger he ends with the bat above his head in one hand fallin over nearly. Paine plays a straight batted shot outside leg stump. These arent just bad dismissals, they are almost embarrassing at this level.

[sussexpob]

Got to credit the Aussie bowlers for a spirited fight back, but the Indian's are here to play. Catches taken might have changed the outcome and rallied a fight back, but India have simply batted better. They have rode the pressure and not give it away.

Pitch now both sides have bowled looks more helpful than day 1 suggested. Australia will do very well to avoid defeat from this position..... getting to the point of another 36 all out being needed. If India push the lead to 150-200, it could be all over without having to bat again.

Well done to Rahane for his 100...not having a bad game as captain.

[meninblue]

There was too much pressure on Ajinkya to score some runs to save his place and also as a captain. He has done well this innings, but he needs to play more innings like this.

Hopefully India manages to get atleast 40 more runs tomorrow

[yuppie]

India must be thinking another 100 runs and the they have a great chance of evening not having to bat in the second innings.

[bigfluffylemon]

I agree with SP. Burns looked all at sea immediately, Wade only knows one way to play (and it isn't conducive to opening when the ball is moving), and Head doesn't know how to dig in and score when its tough either. Marnus looks nothing like the 2019 version, has got two starts but in both ridden his luck to a ridiculous extent.

I hate so say it, but Aussies are really missing Warner.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Nothing for Australia so far. This really should be a series levelling win for India. 100 lead, five wickets in hand.

[alfie]

Ha...it would be a strange day when SP and I see eye to eye on anything

But seriously : I do not think we are particularly far apart on this . I absolutely agree that the Australian batting was very poor on Saturday ; and further to that I was not particularly surprised as apart from the excellent Smith I would rate them as "distinctly ordinary" as a Test batting side. The bowling excellence often camouflages this fact - as it did in Adelaide - but in general it is "No Smith , No Australia".

My point however that regardless of the Australian ineptitude , the Indian bowling was for the most part extremely well thought out and well directed throughout the day. The field placings were remarkably effective in strangling the scoring rate even in the rare periods where batsmen were at the wicket for some time , despite a very fast outfield. The fact that three catches were taken in the leg trap can , I suppose , be put down to poor strokes or coincidence ; but I would have thought it logically also points to the Indians having done some homework and executed a plan...

The fact that several batsmen made it easier for the bowlers to take their wickets doesn't mean the balls that dismissed them were not "worthy" . Sure , Burns is a limited player badly out of form : but his dismissal was a standard openers caught behind ...had his name been , say , Warner , his wicket would have been at least fifty percent credited to good bowling - less so pressure as he wasn't there long enough to experience it. Although given his season's woes perhaps nine balls without scoring constitutes sufficient pressure anyway Wade , as BFL says , is no opener , likes to dominate ...but surely his impatience to get after Ashwin was what led to his rash shot , and the fact that he felt it necessary to play it is a tribute to the bowler. Daft shot - or deceived in flight - take your pick. Or both.
And pressure certainly played its part after lunch. I quote Marnus Labuschagne : "People are coming up with new ways.Today they came up with a heavy leg side field and bowled very straight and didn't give us anything scoring options on the off side". Horses mouth , no ?

The pitch indeed assisted the bowlers - and continued to do so yesterday. But it certainly wasn't an all out 200 pitch...and should not have resulted in such a score even in the face of some very good bowling. At the same time , if anyone doesn't think Bumrah and Ashwin in particular bowled consistently beautifully - and should be credited with doing so even if better batting had resulted in a more "normal" score line - then we must have been watching a different game.

Chicken and Egg ; indeed. Or Snake and Mongoose , if you like...and I think the mongoose deserves a little more credit for winning this particular battle.