The Wrap; Australia's tour of India, 2017

The Wrap; Australia’s Tour of India, 2017 (Australian analysis)

Overs: 23.4

Steven O’Keefe to Lokesh Rahul;

23.5: “Rahul beautifully pushes a short of a length delivery off the backfoot towards midwicket and gets the double, which gives India the win! Rahul is absolutely pumped, jumps in ecstasy.”

With that, Australia’s slightly inconsistent but extremely promising tour of India came to an end. This series was one that promised a lot for Australia, but it just wasn’t meant to be. After the first Test, they seemed to have lost the momentum. It was only Steven Smith, who on a consistent basis showed that they aren’t going down without a fight. Throughout the series, Australia seemed to have gained control of the day’s play, but India seemed to get out of the trouble by some absolutely brilliant individual performances. That is exactly what Kohli has been emphasizing on for so long. When the chips are down, there has always been somebody who has stepped up, and that is probably why India are ranked number one.

Getting back to this series, let’s start by talking where exactly Australia went wrong, especially after the first Test. Firstly, Steven O’Keefe had been neutralized by the Indians. After the first test, they had assessed themselves and worked on their technique against left arm spin. It was evident from the way that they tackled him in the 3 remaining tests. As Lyon was applying pressure, O’Keefe was releasing it from the other end. Secondly, Warner not scoring runs was a huge dent to the otherwise inexperienced Aussie batting line up. There was too much pressure on the fragile middle order who, more often than not, crumbled. It was too much to ask for, and Jadeja certainly did not make things any easier for them. Warner, being a senior member of the team, had to score runs if Australia were to win the series. He has been to India for a Test series back in 2013, where he fared off a lot better than he did this time around. I had mentioned earlier on this blog that the onus was on Smith, Warner and Shaun Marsh to score majority of the runs, out of which only Smith was successfully able to do so.

Though, there are plenty of reasons as to why Australia shouldn’t be too disheartened by the series loss. Matthew Renshaw batted very responsibly on most occasions and showed that he is a long term prospect for Australia. The 21-year-old had scores of 68, 31, 60, 5, 44, 15, 1 and 8 in the 4 match series. Sure, he will need to work to convert those 60s to 100s, but he is a very promising batsman and has shown great maturity on this tour. Matthew Wade too, showed a lot of grit in the last couple of matches. Coming into this tour, there was a lot of doubt over his ability as a test batsman. I think it’s safe to say that the critics have been silenced for now. Apart from these positive signs, obviously Steve Smith’s efforts were monumental, but that was expected from a world class batsman like him. All in all, Steve Smith will be a proud captain with this bunch, and will look forward to taking this team to another level with all of the promise, potential and talent that they possess. With the Ashes set for later this year, the Australian fast bowling looks deadlier than ever; Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson. If all of them are fully fit, I don’t see why Australia won’t unleash them against the English batting line up.

Now, let’s have a look at where exactly Australia lost the plot. By that, I’m referring to a couple of selection mistakes that they made in the course of this series. Firstly, I felt that not selecting Usman Khawaja cost Australia a lot. He should have replaced Marsh after the first Test. Except that one knock, Marsh looked almost hopeless against the Indian spinners. In all other conditions, Khawaja gets the place ahead of Marsh, but why not in India? Yes, he had a bad tour of Sri Lanka, but he has improved a lot and scored tons of runs against Pakistan and South Africa since then. The man was in red hot form and not selecting him was a blunder of some sorts. The second selection mistake was Glenn Maxwell. After the first couple of Tests, Glenn Maxwell was brought into the playing XI for the injured Mitchell Marsh. Although he did score a century, he did not bowl much. Stoinis could have bowled a lot more overs and he is a more than good batsman. Also, he has spent an entire season with the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, so he is familiar with Indian conditions. Maxwell came in as an all-rounder, but his bowling is just about good enough to be considered as ‘part-time’. I don’t see Maxwell fitting in as a long term option for Australia in the longest format, especially as an all-rounder. Stoinis should be persisted with and should be given as many opportunities as Mitchell Marsh has enjoyed as an all-rounder.

Concluding this, it was a fantastic attempt from Australia to try and beat India in their own fortress, something which other top teams have failed miserably in trying to do. Coming into this tour, a lot of people including a few Australian legends had predicted the worst for Australia. But Australia had pushed India to their limits and beyond, which was commendable on their part. Going into the Ashes later this year, the Australians will be filled with confidence against England, who performed terribly themselves and gave no fight whatsoever to India. Before this tour, I was of the opinion that the efforts by Alastair Cook in 2012 were the best by a foreign Captain in India, but Steven Smith has come very close to matching that in this tour. This series just wasn’t meant to be for a very spirited Steven Smith, who led a young and potent Australian Team in their quest to conquer India in their backyard.