4 Reasons Why India Lost The First Test Against Australia

By Yash Mittal

Updated - 27 Nov 2023, 05:04 PM

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli after getting dismissed [Photo-AP]

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A day that started with the Test match beautifully poised and India harboring hopes of doing what no other team has ever done: Beat Australia in a pink-ball Test, the duo of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins not only crushed their hopes with absolute disdain, but they also ensured that India fell to the lowest point in their Test match batting history.

From becoming the first-ever team to deny Australia a first-innings lead in a pink-ball Test to registering the fifth-lowest total [and their lowest score] in Test history, India’s journey from zenith to nadir was complete within a span of one horror session, once again exposing their batsmen’s inability to counter the moving ball.

But, was that the only reason behind India losing the opening Test?

Here’s a look at four reasons why India failed to repeat an encore of 2018 at the Adelaide Oval:

 

THAT run-out

India, Australia
Virat Kohli after getting run-out [Image Credits- Twitter]
Now, you can turn around and say, ‘Oh aren’t you a bit harsh? Run-out happen and despite that India was still in a good position to win the Test match’

And, yeah, it will be unfair to pinpoint the entire blame of the defeat to Ajinkya Rahane’s rare ‘brain-fade’ during which he sold his skipper Virat Kohli down the river, it still played a massive role in what eventually happened two days later.

First of all, let’s understand the context of the situation when THAT run-out took place. After having patiently negotiated the Australian attack for a better part of the first 2 sessions, the pair of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had finally begun to take control of the proceedings via an 88-run-stand in the evening session.

Virat Kohli was in the midst of a chanceless knock and was looking prime for another hundred at the Adelaide Oval. What’s even more crucial was the fact that the new pink cherry was just around the corner. With India boasting of a long tail, the visitors needed the duo to be there at the time of the new ball.

And, then tragedy struck on the last delivery of the 77th over. Rahane drove the ball to short mid-off, invited Virat for a quick single, Virat obliged by sprinting to the middle of the pitch before Rahane changed his mind. Virat had nowhere to go and for once Nathan Lyon safely gobbled the ball to affect an easy run-out.

Rahane was never the same after that run-out and that was displayed to the hilt when he failed to move his feat on a fullish length delivery by Mitchell Starc. He was trapped plumb in front and the slide started. 4-188 became 5-196 and then 6-206 with Hanuma Vihari falling in quick succession against the new pink ball.

Wriddhiman Saha and Ravichandran Ashwin rekindle some hopes of a lower-order fightback but once Saha fell on the second afternoon, India lost their last four wickets for 11 runs to eventually get dismissed for 244.

 

Butter fingers

There is a reason why they say ‘catches win matches’, but it seemed like the Indians had forgotten that when they took the field on the second day.

Marnus Labuschagne looked like a walking wicket during his stay at the crease but just as the Aussie No.3 cried ‘No runnnn’ during his exaggerated leaves outside the off-stump, Indian fielders, it seemed, heard that he was shouting ‘Don’t catch’ every time he lobbed the ball in the air.

India, Australia
Prithvi Shaw drops Labuschagne [Photo-Twitter]
While Wriddhiman Saha dropped a difficult chance when he edged Bumrah in his initial few deliveries, Jasprit Bumrah and Prithvi Shaw dropped absolute sitters to take the count of dropped catches to three.

It eventually took a brilliant delivery by Umesh Yadav, one that trapped Labuschagne plumb in front to dismiss the Australian, but by then he has added 47 precious runs to his tally.

India wasn’t done yet, though. After Umesh Yadav trapped Labuschagne LBW and bounced out Pat Cummins to reduce Australia to 7-111, Mayank Agarwal decided to join the party when he dropped Tim Paine at the deep square-leg boundary when he was on 26.

Paine’s dismissal would have reduced Australia to 8/111 but with Agarwal dropping him, the Aussie skipper made full use of the reprieve as he stroked a match-winning 99-ball 73*, one that helped the hosts significantly wipe out the lead.

Inability to wipe out a lower-order

They neither contribute with the bat nor can they dismiss the opposition lower-order. Well! This has been the recurring theme of Indian Test cricket for decades now. Generations have come and gone, faces have changed but the script has largely remained the same, despite the fact that we now boast of probably our greatest-ever fast-bowling units.

The Shamis’, the Ishants’, the Bumrahs’, they knock over the greatest of batsmen around the world with disdain, but even they have not been able to address this long-standing plague of Indian cricket. South Africa 2018, England 2018 [Remember Sam Curran?], Australia 2018- Remember Nathan Lyon at Adelaide Oval in 2018 where he nearly led Australia to a win out of nowhere? New Zealand 2020 [Kyle Jamieson?], and now the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval, there are enough instances now that prove that India is simply not able to dislodge the lower-order; a limitation that has proved to be really costly during tours of SENA countries.

The limitation was once again exploited to the hilt by Tim Paine and co in the first Test as the lower-order stitched as many as 80 runs for the last three wickets to take the total from 7/111 to 191 all-out, which in hindsight proved to be really significant.

Surgical Precision by Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood

India
Josh Hazlewood was the wrecker-in-chief [Photo-Getty]
Well! You can moan all you want about Indian batting’s shambolic display in the second innings; one that saw them get dismissed for the nation’s lowest-ever Test score in their stories history, but at the end of the day, you have got to doff your hat off to the surgical precision displayed by the predators-in-chief Patrick Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

Yes, you can say that the Indians could have helped themselves by being more proactive in their footwork, but then it is easier said than done when robots masquerading as fast bowlers like Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were getting the ball to seam and swing at a high pace; forcing the batsmen to play at every single delivery.

Pat Cummins started the procession by dismissing nightwatchman Jasprit Bumrah before he knocked over the two main pillars of Indian batting in Cheteshwar Pujara and skipper Virat Kohli. While Pujara was dismissed by a near-perfect delivery, one that he had to play, Virat Kohli was lulled into an extravagant drive that only went as far as the gully region.

And, if Cummins wasn’t enough for India to deal with, Josh Hazlewood once again pulled on his Glenn McGrath moniker to notch up a five-wicket haul in a mere 25 deliveries. Yes, just 25 deliveries. India’s annihilation was complete and just to sum up what was a shambolic day, they proceeded to lose their fast bowler Mohammed Shami courtesy of a brutal bumper by Pat Cummins, forcing him to bow out of the series with a fracture.

Also Read- KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Siraj To Be In India’s Playing XI For The Second Test

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