Forget pitch doctoring, look for cure!

The first Test has exposed Australia’s weakness against good spin bowling on turning pitches. If they waver further, they are in big trouble

The mouth-watering India versus Australia Test series featured a lot of chatter about selection and pitch doctoring in the lead up.

The noise was exactly that in the case of the pitch, as not unexpectedly it turned out to be nothing more than a fairly typical first day Indian red-soil wicket. It was by no means impossible to play on as Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith showed, but the Australian team failed to post a testing first innings total.

The state of the pitch was put into perspective by the Indian captain Rohit Sharma. He played a masterful innings which displayed confidence in his own defence, his wide stroke range on a turning—but not impossible pitch—and his iron clad discipline.

Rohit’s confidence in his defence was crucial. If a player doesn’t trust his defence on Indian pitches he can easily be panicked into doing something that he’s not capable of and this ends up in an embarrassing dismissal.

Not only did Rohit reveal a wide range of shots, he also frustrated the Australian bowlers with the way he only played them when the time was right. Rohit showed all players (home and touring) how to play on Indian pitches and his example was flawlessly followed by the much improved Ravindra Jadeja.

Also Read: A case for embracing failures

Rohit opening, a great move

The move to open in Test cricket saved Rohit’s career. He looked like wasting his enormous skill down the order, but batting above Virat Kohli has stopped Rohit being overawed by the ex-skipper’s popularity. However, captaincy has also played a big part in Rohit’s revival as the discipline required to lead a team has added another level to his batting.

For his part, Jadeja displayed the improvement in his game in both batting and bowling. He’s always had talent, but now he also has the belief. To see the clever tweaks he’s made in both skills tells you that Jadeja has a high cricket intelligence.

On the subject of pitches in India, the first thing a touring player has to realise is that he’ll face a diet of spin. However, he should also understand that the quicker bowlers are not without skill. If a visiting player thinks anything else, he is badly mis-informed.

The selections in this match were a mixture of brave choices and one that was a head scratcher. The omission of Travis Head, despite his troubles against good spinners, was difficult to fathom.

The choice of off-spinner Todd Murphy in his first Test after only seven first-class games was brave. Nevertheless, it also displayed great faith in Murphy’s skill level. 

Murphy was economical, but also claimed wickets and he was unafraid to bowl a leg-stump line to contain the Indian batsmen. The problem was, Australia’s lack of first innings runs meant the bowlers had to perform the most difficult of tasks—taking wickets while also containing the batsmen.

In the end, Australia’s choice to favour economy over the need to claim wickets quickly took its toll and India capitalised on bowlers tiring from a heavy work load.
The first Test has exposed Australia’s weakness against good spin bowling on turning pitches. How they react—if they can ensure this doesn’t mean their mental capacity to cope in India—it will keep them in the series. If they waver, they are in big trouble.

Ignore pitch talk

The subject of pitch doctoring is nothing new in the media. Players need to ignore this little game or else it has a debilitating effect on the visiting team.
Far too much emphasis is put on how pitches are going to play and on doctoring. It’s worth remembering that both teams have to play on the same pitch.

The reality is that India have developed into a very strong side all-round the world, with a special feel for how to win at home. If Australia, which has a weakness against spin in India, don’t adapt to conditions quickly they are going suffer the same fate that has befallen other visiting sides.

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