Hurricanes look to turn the tables on revitalised and at-home Heat

No jinx under Rahane's captaincy as India level series

“Winning a test in Australia is always special but to do so given the wounds of Adelaide and the absence of key players makes it one for the ages,” read tweet from commentator Harsha Bhogle after India levelled the series against Australia in Melbourne. India chased down paltry score of 70 runs after having a couple of early hiccups on Tuesday. Well Bhogle’s judgement about the win has been on point. This isn’t just a special win but an emotional one too. The Indian fans were left in despair after what all happened in Adelaide. Having dominated the Test for almost six sessions, hour an hour of disappointing run saw the visitors getting bundled out for 36 and eventually lose the game. This wasn’t the end of problems for India. Pacer Mohammed Shami had got injured and was ruled out, skipper Virat Kohli was returning back home for the birth of his first child and the inconsistent opening batting was exposed. Cut to Boxing Day where Ajinkya Rahane was forced to don the captain’s hat. But this wasn’t just another instance when the deputy was taking up the position in the skipper’s absence. There was much more to it. For starters, if India had suffered a defeat in this Test, the side would have lost the chances of winning the series. But the concern wasn’t just about winning the Test and levelling the series but it was about picking up an XI. Bold Calls Rahane started off the proceedings with a bold step of playing two debutants in one single match. Shubman Gill replaced Prithvi Shaw while Mohammed Siraj had come for injured Shami. The two youngsters didn’t disappoint either and played a vital role in the visiting team’s success in Melbourne. While Gill scored 45 and 35* in respective innings on debut, Siraj picked up a total of five wickets. Another couple of changes that were seen in the side were— Rishabh Pant finding a place for himself while Ravindra Jadeja too donning the Test jersey. Playing the anchor’s role Mayank Agarwal’s rough patch continued while Cheteshwar Pujara too hasn’t made any significant contribution on the scoresheet so far. He did play out a lot of deliveries but Pujara not being among runs is a different and major issue for India. This did become a cause of concern as India were reduced to 64/3 in reply to Australia’s 195 in the first innings. Then came the time when the skipper took the responsibility on himself and there was no looking back. Rahane had a couple of crucial partnerships with Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant respectively and then frustrated the home side’s bowling attack with a stand of 121 runs with Jadeja. The left-right duo stitched an important partnership that certainly steadied the ship for India and eventually handed them a lead in the first innings. Rahane went on to score a ton but his celebrations showed that he still meant business. There were no high jumps or aggressive celebrations. He just acknowledged the crowd showing his bat and was back to take the guard. He continued from where he left and continued to score runs but in a cautious manner. Unfortunately for India, the right-handed batsman was eventually dismissed for 112 becoming a victim of a controversial runout. Backing the players There were instances in the game that would have left any captain fuming. He initially got runout after a yes-no call with Jadeja. A well set Rahane had to return back to the pavilion. But the dismissal didn’t irritate him. He in fact gave a pat on the back to Jadeja and went back silently. Another instance of Rahane’s calmness unfolded when Siraj pushed him to take a DRS call that didn’t go India’s way. The ball had pitched outside the leg-stump line and a review was wasted. But the captain didn’t utter a word and backed the youngster. Instinctive Owing to his instincts, Rahane made the perfect bowling changes and also placed the fielders at the ideal positions that fetched him wickets . Eventually, Siraj returned with a three-for while Jadeja, Bumrah and Ashwin scalped a couple of wickets each. Ravindra Jadeja—No more a bits and pieces player Last year a comment from the former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar did the rounds after he called Jadeja a bits and pieces player. A lot of heated stuff was exchanged on the social media. Well the fans have moved on from this but it seems Jadeja is up to prove a point and he once again did what he is best at. The left-handed batsman first steadied the ship for the side with skipper Rahane in the first innings and went on to score an important half-century. The left-arm player also chipped in with important wickets. But Jadeja’s heroics ain’t something new. He is a well-known batsman when it comes to domestic circuit. He has played some fine knocks and has even notched up three triple tons. Rahane certainly capitalised on Jadeja’s batting ability more and it played perfectly well for India. Rahane’s report card As far as Rahane’s report card as a captain in this Test is concerned, he has been just phenomenal and has ticked all the boxes. He scored crucial runs, backed his players and made some important calls and the right time that helped India level the series. He is calm but a shrewd captain who is holding the fort well for now.

Sri Lanka series to continue even as stringent lockdown announced in South Africa

The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced stringent lockdown measures to curtail the fast rate of spread of the covid-19 in the country. However, it wouldn’t affect the ongoing Test series between South Africa and Sri Lanka as sports have been exempted from the closure list. A govt order read that "Sport, arts and culture activities, including both professional and non-professional matches, by recognized sporting bodies are allowed." However, there is a precondition to it that "only journalists, radio, television crew, security personnel, emergency medical services, and the necessary employees employed by the owners of the venue ... are allowed at the venue of the ... match", and that "only the required number of players, match officials, support staff and medical crew required for the sports match, are allowed at the venue". Reacting to the new lockdown measures which see the ban of public gathering in hotspot areas, the interim board of Cricket South Africa assured, "the new restrictions will not impact the ... match currently underway at ... Centurion". The second Test at Wanderers on January 3, would go ahead as planned as well. It has been a very dangerous wave of covid-19 that is going on in South Africa. The country had recorded 14,796 cases of Covid-19 on Christmas Day alone. In total, the one million cases mark has been breached by the nation as well.

Ravi Shastri lauds Rahane's captaincy for 'one of the greatest comebacks' in history

For whatever it meant for the fans of cricket and especially Indian fans, the win at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test was indeed a special moment for the men in blue. But, for Ravi Shastri who has garnered more headlines and attention for his bullish statement than his observations as the coach of the India team, it was ‘one of the great comebacks in the history of the game.’ Shastri was the man addressing the post-match press conference after India’s eight-wicket win over the hosts, the coach did not hold back pulling out his another set of hyperbole. To be fair to him, he explained that the events such as getting bundled out for 36 runs in Adelaide and then turning things around swiftly in a short period of three days as the reasons behind him rating the win so highly. "This will go down in the annals of Indian cricket...world cricket...as one of the great comebacks in the history of the game. To be rolled over for 36 and then three days later get up and be ready to punch was outstanding. I think the boys deserve all the credit for the character they've shown. A real character," Shastri said in the virtual press conference. India were dominating the proceedings of the Test match on the back of stellar bowling performances by bowlers accompanied by proactive captaincy by Ajinkya Rahane. He backed his instincts to pull out tricks that outfoxed the hosts' batsmen. In the second innings as well when the lower order of the Australian batting line up tried hard to grind it out and delay the inevitable, he was calm and kept all his bowlers focussed and did not allow the hosts to get running away with the game. He was tied down when Umesh Yadav went off the field to never come back to bowl, but his reassurances helped the debutant Siraj bowl with a full heart and it paid dividends for the team. Coach Shastri was highly appreciative of Rahane’s shrewdness as well as calmness while being in control of the proceedings in the middle. "He's a very shrewd leader, he has a good understanding of the game, he's a good reader of the game. And I think that his calm composure out there in the middle helped the debutants as well, helped the bowlers as well. There was a calming influence there. And in spite of losing Umesh, he did a great job out there," Shastri said of Rahane’s qualities as the captain of the side. However, Shastri downplayed the widely-discussed aspect of Rahane that he is a bowlers’ captain and said that he was not aware of any term like that. “I don't know, I'm hearing it for the first time. What is a bowling captain? There is no definition as such for that," Shastri argued. The team dominated the hosts in all aspects of the game, but in Shastri’s views, it was Rahane’s ton that set the tone and snatched the momentum away from the Aussies. He said that the right-hander came at a crucial juncture, but went on to bat for six hours when the condition for batting was the toughest out of the playing conditions in the four days of the Test match. For his magnificent hundred in the first innings to set up a lead for India, and guiding the team home while chasing on the fourth day, Rahane was awarded Man of the Match award. "I think it [turning point] was the innings of Ajinkya Rahane. The discipline on such a big stage in a massive arena. To come as captain of your team, bat at No. 4; when he came out to bat we were two down for 60 and then to bat 6 hours on probably the toughest day to bat. Because it was overcast all day, the sun never came out and he batted for 6 hours. Unbelievable concentration. I thought that was the turning point, his innings was the turning point," he added. There were some tough calls made by the team management that also included Shastri himself and playing Jadeja as the fifth bowler as well as banking on him and Rishabh Pant to cover for the void left by Virat Kohli was one of the prominent ones. In the hindsight, Jadeja’s addition turned out to be a masterstroke as Umesh Yadav got injured in the second innings, leaving the team with only four bowling options and Shastri does not want to walk back on the decision of playing five bowlers. He believes that Jadeja has grown as a genuine all-rounder and that he can bat at the number six or even five position if the team needs, and it brings another advantage for the team. He's [Jadeja] a genuine allrounder. That's why he bats where he does. He can bat at 6, he can bat at 5 on a given occasion. He's a genuine, genuine all-rounder. And he lends a lot of balance to the side. Also when you play overseas there's always a chance of one of the bowlers getting injured, like you saw with Umesh. So with Jadeja, it gives a better balance and it also gives the fast bowlers some respite with Jaddu and Ash doing the bowling," Shastri said of Jadeja. Shastri also heaped praise on Siraj to bowl long spells and put in a lot of effort while bowling in the second innings when the pitch was not providing any bit of assistance. Shastri emphasized the importance of playing an aggressive brand of cricket and said that playing with that kind of approach rubs on to the players when they are given an opportunity in big matches like the MCG Test. "That's the brand of cricket we have been playing for the last three or four years," Shastri said. "When you saw these two debutants show that kind of maturity and discipline there, it was great to see. Today Siraj's effort was outstanding actually. He might not have the numbers to show for it but the discipline and the ability to bowl long spells, the maturity he showed for someone playing his first Test, doing the job he had to do once we lost Umesh, was outstanding.” Other than Jadeja’s decision, the team management had also decided to drop Prithvi Shaw and handed a debut to Shubman Gill, who according to Shastri batted with more maturity than someone batting in his debut Test test match. He credited Gill for batting with confidence and praised the right-hander for not shying away from the big fight against the Australian pace bowlers whom he combated with absolute flair. "Shubman going and playing with that kind of flair, later on, was great to see. Great character. More than anything else, great character. He looked very very mature for someone playing his first Test match. He looked very calm and composed. Wasn't afraid to play his shots, which was great to see. Even in the second innings, it was very easy to get into a shell but he went out there and played his natural game, which was great from the team point of view." India must have felt dejected after the humiliation they received on the third day of Adelaide and with Virat Kohli returning home along with the injury to Mohammed Shami must have complicated matters for the team management. It would not have been unwise of the team management to discuss the loss and the way forward from the debacle in Adelaide, but Shastri said that there were no chats about the third day of the Adelaide Test as he believed that the key for performances like the one the team pulled off at the MCG was to move on from the disastrous half an hour period at the Adelaide Oval that cost India the game they had nominated for the most part. "No chat. And when we arrived in Melbourne, it was the things we have got to do to get up and fight,” Shastri added. Shastri confirmed the return of Rohit Sharma, who will join the team tomorrow and it has given the team management a problem of plenty from the situation of plenty of problems in Adelaide as Gill has looked solid and ideally can’t be dropped without doing anything wrong but to stabilize the shaky top order. However, Mayank Agarwal has looked out of sorts in all the four innings he has batted on the tour so far, and with the return of Rohit, the team management will have to contemplate taking another big decision on whether Rohit should be induced back to the playing XI without having any sort of match practice. "About Rohit - he joins the team tomorrow. So we'll have a chat with him to see where he's placed physically because he's been in quarantine for the last couple weeks. We've also got to see how he feels before we take the call.”

Inside Out | Shubman Gill announces his arrival in Tests. But the real test begins now

When Ajinkya Rahane-led team management would have decided to hand Shubman Gill his Test debut at the MCG, it must have been with the expectations of some substance, and not only promises, because his predecessor at the top of the order—Prithvi Shaw had that in abundance. The expectation of substance from Gill has not come purely on the basis of his run-scoring alone, but the team management including Rahane had seen him for close quarters while he was batting in the two tour games leading up to the first Test at Adelaide. This team under Virat Kohli is highly competitive and it seems there are more than one contenders for each spot in the XI, and hence the players sitting in the wings have two initial tasks at their hands while they think of playing on the big stage. First, to break into the playing XI and then after succeeding in that, paying off the faith immediately as others are knocking the door very hard which would be opened in case of failure to convert promises into substance. It can be widely argued that the latter puts a lot of pressure on young players but they have no options but to live with the fact that in Virat Kohli’s team, there are no rooms for players not delivering on their promises with limited opportunities in the team and that not all players get an equal amount of chances to prove their worth. Gill got the opportunity to fulfil the first task on the very first day of his Test debut after Indian bowling attack pulled off a heroic bowling efforts to bundle Australia below 200 runs, but Indian openers were to bat a handful of covers from the relentless pace trio of Australia in the phase of the day, where they had nothing to gain, but all to lose. Gill was on debut, and he could see the challenges he had before him on the very first day of his batting and how different the situation was than the other situation he might has faced playing for India A and Punjab in the Ranji Trophy. He also saw Starc delivering a fiery over where he made his partner Agarwal look like an amateur who could pick neither the line of the ball, and neither the movement in the air and off the pitch. He saw his partner getting into a tangle and exposed against Starc and may well have visualised the baptism of fire that was about to begin for the Punjabi lad. Cummins did not disappoint him and tested all his skills outside the off stump. He could leave alone the balls which he could see outside the line of his off stump, but Cummins was skilful enough to move the ball away from the line of the off-stump to keep Gill feeling for the ball. Openers need the rub of the green to go their way in order to survive those periods of the game, and he actually got one when Marnus Labuschagne dropped him at the second slip, handing him another life and opening another window where Gill could see his batting blossoming. Gill never looked back at that false shot and when Starc tested his backfoot game on the very next ball, he was up to the task to show that all the hype built around him and his technique was quite justified. Gill grew in confidence and made sure Starc was served a lesson that he is not afraid of backing himself to play according to his strengths, however great the bowling attack he was facing and that he was not carrying any baggage of the dominance he has had on his opening partner Mayank Agarwal and predecessor Prithvi Shaw. When Gill was inducted for the first time in the team, his technique and flow of batting had impressed none other than Virat Kohli, who had famously recalled not having even 10 per cent of the flair at the age of Gill. The statement showed the value Gill was getting in the leadership group of the Indian team, and as stated earlier, it was Gill’s moment of reckoning in the late phase of the first day at the MCG. He was tested severely on the morning of the second day and ultimately was defeated by Cummins, but not in the battle of technical deficiency as that of his predecessor Shaw, but in the game of nerves and patience. On the fourth day of the Test, he was confronted with another similar challenge, as his senior batting partners Agarwal and Pujara were eliminated quickly by Starc and Cummins. Starc employed his tricks on bringing the balls back into Agarwal and finally sucked him into playing a ball he should have left. Gill was watching all of that happen from the other end, and was readying himself to face Starc. Starc tried similar tactics against him, but Gill was right on the top of the ball and the position he was getting just before the release of the ball while shaping up to face Starc emphasized why he is rated so highly by the team management. Ultimately, the second bout of the battle of nerves was won by Gill, and when Hazlewood came into the attack on the historic score of 36, Gill was rich on confidence, and when he dismissed a short ball of Hazlewood in front of the square, it was a shot to announce his arrival on the big state. Gill has successfully managed to achieve the first challenge of getting into the team and showing he belongs to this level, but he would be realistic to know that the real test of both his technique and temperament will begin now. A batsman of his pedigree always has to deal with the disadvantage of being too good to be ignored. He will be under perpetual scrutiny of two types throughout his career. One, of intensive scrutiny by opposition teams when in a rich vein of form, and another of worrying scrutiny while struggling from lack of form. He would do well to look at the career of someone like his captain in the 2018 U-19 World Cup—Prithvi Shaw whom he has replaced in the team and Mayank Agarwal who is on the cusp of exclusion even after becoming the leading run-scorer of Indian in the last two Test series. Or else, he can also look at this tour as a series that has defined players in different eras and players such as Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, VVS Laxman, who have brought their A-game against Australia in their backyard and never looked back again. There is no prize for guessing what Gill would be looking forward to achieving from this series, but he will have to make sure to be relentless with his technique and mental ability just like Starc and Cummins were when he stepped on to the MCG pitch with the bat in hand.