India must answer tough questions to limit Australian punches in Boxing Day Test

When the BCCI had revealed about the paternity leave of Virat Kohli and said that he will not be available after the first Test Down Under, fans and experts had weighed in that the just-finished Test at the Adelaide Oval was the best chance for the Indian team to get the better of the home side. At the same time, they also argued that once Kohli will depart, the series will keep getting tougher for the Indians. The belief stemmed from Kohli's utter dominance in terms of his batting numbers over the last decade, especially in Australia and the fact that India registered a historic series win under his leadership a year ago.  At the same time, they also had the fear that if the Indian team fails to win in Adelaide, and hand over the advantage to the home side in the first test itself, the road from thereon will be a very tough one to come back in the series.

The worst fear came true in Adelaide as the Australian pace attack led by an accurate Josh Hazlewood ran riot and forced a surrender out of the Indian batting to their lowest score of 36. 

Although they were sure of a formidable challenge from the Australian batting with the return of Steve Smith and David Warner (at some point in the series), they had also expected Indian batsmen to up their game to match the Australian bowling attack but the humiliation in Adelaide has sent the fans and critics of the Indian team into a frenzy and they expect the team to bring wholesale changes come the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. After the debacle, the team management including an under pressure stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane has a lot more issues to ponder than they would have hoped before the start of the Test series.

Shaw vs Gill vs Rahul

Virat Kohli and the team management backed Prithvi Shaw to come good in Adelaide overlooking his recent form with the bat and a definite chink in his technique that was exposed by quality swing bowling in the IPL and the Test series against New Zealand early this year. Kohli cited the continuity factor and the fact that Shaw was able to hit a half-century in New Zealand behind selecting him for the first Test, but Australian bowlers were well aware of where they had targeted Shaw.

The Australian pace attack is famed to be relentless and coming into he game with a proper plan, they ripped open the gap between Prithvi Shaw and his bat, and with that the lack of solidity at the top order. Shaw was dismissed in identical fashion in both innings and it clearly emphasised that the flaw in his batting was much deeper than a dip in form.

One of the challengers for the top order spot, Shubman Gill, was ignored for the Adelaide Test despite showing all the qualities of a batsman who can handle seam bowling. Another contender for the opening role is KL Rahul who has earned a call up to the Test squad on the back of strong performances in the white-ball formats and his pedigree as a batsman. 

With Shaw failing in Adelaide, there is a loud chorus for his exclusion from the team, but opinions are divided on who will take his place at the top of the order? 

Opinions are divided on who should be the second opener for India apart from Myanak Agarwal, and the team management may well have their task cut out to decide the batting order. 

A school of thought is backing Shubman Gill to open at the MCG for Prithvi Shaw, while others have backed KL Rahul to open with Agarwal in the Boxing Day Test.

The fact that Rohit Sharma has landed in Australia and may well walk back in the playing XI after the completion of his isolation period, has also created a quagmire for the team management. 

Changing openers and handing Shubman Gill a debut at the top of the order or bringing back Rahul to open for just one game when the openers for the third Test are more or less decided will bring nothing but instability to the playing XI, and the team management may well opt-out of too much chopping and changing.

The team management may go for a safer option of playing Gill at the position of Virat Kohli and then deciding between dropping Shaw for Rahul and continuing with Shaw at least for one more game. However, there is a strong possibility of KL Rahul’s return at the top of the order in the second Test and he has the backing of one of the best batsman to have ever played Test cricket, Sunil Gavaskar, who has openly backed his inclusion. Gavaskar has also backed Gill to bat in the middle order at the place created by Virat Kohli’s absence.

Six ‘specialist’ batsmen or five ‘specialist’ bowlers

The team management would have another issue to sort out before the team walks out in the middle at the MCG. Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the remainder of the test series, and it leaves the team with Jasprit Bumrah as the only first choice bowler in the line-up. 

Consequently, the team management might face the dilemma of playing five bowlers or playing six batsmen at the MCG, which has produced flattest of flat wickets in the recent past.

Playing only four bowlers like in the Adelaide Test, may force captain Rahane to come back to Bumrah, again and again, and for the worst fear of the team management, he may be over bowled to the ground like Bhuvneshwar Kumar was done on the tour of England in 2014.

But, playing five specialist bowlers would mean thinning the batting lineup and in that case, the team management would need a cushioning of a wicketkeeper who has better batting credentials. There is no doubt about who is that man of India among Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant.

Playing both Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin and asking Rishabh Pant to bat the number six position would be a brave call to make especially after the debacle in  Adelaide, but the team management should not overlook that option given the kind of pitches that have been seen at the MCG in the last few years.

Shami’s replacement

The think-tank would be hurting at the loss of Shami, and more so when they are already without Ishant Sharma. The hole that Shami’s absence has created is so big that Sunil Gavaskar has said that the BCCI should send Ishant Sharma if he is fit enough to bowl 20 overs, irrespective of the travel complications the pandemic-hit world has imposed on people.

Mohammed Siraj is the frontrunner to debut at the MCG and replace Shami at the bowling line up based on his excellent showing in the tour games.

Another contender, Navdeep Saini is not too far below in the standings although he did not look as menacing as he was expected to be before the series in the tour games. Saini is tall and can extract steep bounce and can fulfil the like-for-like goals of the team in the absence of Ishant Sharma.

The Indian team management has some tough calls to make before the second test and such tough calls will have to be made if the state of the Indian team has to improve. However, both Rahane and coach Ravi Shastri would do well to guide the youngsters out of any sense of insecurity and help them in coming out of that disastrous session in Adelaide. 

The pressure has well and truly increased on the touring side and they will have to move on from the horrific phase of the game in the last test and walk onto the field at the MCG with the belief that they can win in Australia, otherwise, the perpetual threat of a clean sweep has never gone away from them since the news about Virat Kohli’s paternity leave and Ishant Sharma’s absence broke out.

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