Aussies dominated the Indians on all 3 sessions of the day and Steve Smith was brilliant in his field placements and bowling changes. Of course, it augurs well, if you have world class performers like Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. Starc was bowling at high 145 kmph and Indian batsmen would have felt like playing him on Australian soil rather than Indian wickets. Hazelwood bowled the nagging off stump line and Spinners were fantastic too. Lyon bowled with such control through out, that he has raised an open challenge to Ravichandran Ashwin to match his performance and to let the world decide, who is the best off spinner in business ?
Indian Batsmen are getting tested on their grafting skills and their patience against a world class bowling attack. Including the first test in Pune, in all the 3 innings, Indians have exposed themselves out. Virat Kohli is currently making errors in his judgement as to which balls he should play and which ones to leave. Rahane is a free flowing batsmen and always had looked comfortable against pace bowling. He is terribly weak against spin bowling and he is due for a big score for long time now. Nathan Lyon completely blocked his run scoring options with smart field placements from steve smith and they planned Rahane's wicket neat and clean. Others are all inexperienced and aussies utilized it to their advantage.
All the bowling all rounders who performed really well so far against other attacks are surrendering without any fight against Aussies. Ashwin, Jadeja, Jayant Yadav have no answers against aussies so far. Virat Kohli has some pride to not fit the same playing eleven in 2 consecutive matches. Is it a healthy way to test your bench strength ? As of now, Aussies have planned for each member of our indian squad and the scores in the 3 innings are testimony to that. Our Batting unit has to click so that our bowlers fight with their heads high. Ashwin is a champion bowler and he should also have a solid score behind him to put up a fight. 1-0 down and winning the toss to bat first, was ideal scenario for our batsmen to set the series alive. 189 all out would obviously make the bowlers droop their shoulders down.
K L Rahul's innings was well appreciated by everyone, but I still feel that he has to go a long way to become a better test batsmen. He is still vulnerable outside the off stump and his shot selection given the field placement is also questionable at times. A Handy lead of 100 should be enough for Aussies to rule the second test. If Indian bowlers create any chance by restricting the lead to less than 50, then we are in for a good test match, as Aussies would find it tough. The 4th innings would pose such a challenge for them to score even 150 runs. Jadeja and Ashwin would be crucial, but the pace attack of Umesh yadav and Ishant also has to pick wickets to create a winning chance.
Looking forward for a good second day...
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