Indians weaker against tweakers

In the gripping series between Australia and India its fair to say the battingmdashboth individual and teammdash has been indifferentFinally at the Sydney Cricket Ground SCG things regained some form of normality with totals in excess of 300 and Steve Smith finding comfort in his own little batting world None too soon with previous totals more often under 200 and even dipping as low as 36 with Ajinkya Rahanes brave Melbourne Cricket Ground MCG century an aberration batting stocks were at a pretty low ebbFlat Sydney pitchThe SCG surface was the flattest of the first three Test pitches which adds to the perception that modern batsmen are better at powerhitting than surviving sustained spells of hostile bowling The truth is more likely there are batsmen in each era more adept at survival than others its just there are currently fewer of them because of the drastically changed landscape of the gameNevertheless there are a few aspects of the batting that stand out so far in the seriesFirst and foremost its no longer correct to say Indian batsmen are the best players of spin bowling They may not be worse than some others but theyre definitely not better There have been times in this series when they certainly were not smart players of spin bowlingIn the first innings at the SCG Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara were classic examples They both plodded forward in defence ball after ball from Nathan Lyon which is not only lazy footwork but its also asking for trouble Neither was dismissed by Lyon but it was more good fortune than sound footworkIt was surprising in Pujaras case as his footwork was proactive in the second innings and in playing this way he looked more like the player who dazzled on debut against Australia in 2010Generally in the first innings Pujara was very predictable and that played into the hands of the Australian attack The theory of having Pujara diligently wear down the Australians was a good one on the previous tour when Virat Kohli was there to take advantage but in the skippers absence the number three had to score more freelyThe Australian batting despite the emergence of Marnus Labuschagne and the potential of Will Pucovski and Cameron Green still very much revolves around Smith Despite five of the six top order positions now being capably filled the batting looks most serene when Smith is in longterm occupationLikewise the Indian lineup is so much stronger with Kohli in the middle acting as the batting general However theyll be pleased with the emergence of Shubman Gill who not only looks a player of real class but is also a counterattacking opener a precious commodityTo round out Indias best sidemdashone that will provide a real challenge if they reach the World Test Championship finalmdashthey need Hardik Pandya at full fitness His allround presence gives India more selection options in order to take advantage of their blossoming and versatile attackThe other area of need for India is improved catching theres no point in having a strong attack if theyre constantly thwarted by spilt chancesThat leads to Rishabh Pants presence as keeper Hes fine standing back but he hurts the team standing up to the spinners If Pant regularly bats as he did in that spirited second innings knock then he justifies wearing the gloves However if the standard fare is only quickfire 30s then theres an argument for Wriddhiman Saha retaining the glovesFragile battingNevertheless the fragility of both teams batting has contributed greatly to the enthralling nature of the series A collapse is never far from reality and consequently neither team has been able to establish absolute authorityThe resilience and fight shown by India has been matched by the class of the Australian attack and their neversaydie attitude If these two teams reach the final of the World Test championship and they are both at fullstrength it should be one of the great winnertakeall battles